Kevin Spiolek

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Kevin Spiolek

Personal information
Date of birth	May 5, 1962 (1962-05-05) (age 46)
Place of birth	Cambridge,
Organisation (see split in darts)
BDO	1987 to 1993
PDC	1994 to present
Current World Ranking	184 (PDC, Feb 2008)
BDO Grand Slam Events - Best Performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter-final 1992
World Masters	Semi-final 1987
PDC Majors - Best Performances
World Ch'ship	Quarter-final 1995
World Matchplay	Quarter-final 1997
UK Open	Last 128, 2005
Other Televised PDC events - Best Performances
Other Tournament Wins
Tournament	Years
n/a	n/a
Other Achievements
1993 - Last player to beat Phil Taylor at World Championship outside the final until 2008
Infobox last updated on: 3 March [2008]].

Kevin Spiolek (born May 5, 1962 in Cambridge) is an English darts player who played during the 1980s and 1990s. He made a brief return to form in 2006 when qualifying to play in the PDC World Darts Championship.

His best form came in the late 1980s where he reached the semi finals of the 1987 Winmau World Masters losing to Bob Anderson. In 1988, Spiolek reached the final of the prestigious News of the World Darts Championship, losing to Mike Gregory.

Spiolek is one of the only players to have beaten Phil Taylor at the World Championships - having knocked him out in the second round at Lakeside in the 1993 World Championships - the last time that there was a unified World Championship. Spiolek went on to reach the quarter-finals that year, which was his best ever performance in the tournament.

He joined the other top 16 players in 1992 who created their own organisation (the World Darts Council which later became the Professional Darts Corporation). In 1994 he reached the final of the Greene King Masters - losing to Phil Taylor. Spiolek played in the first seven PDC World Championships after the split in the game with his best performance being another quarter-final in 1995.

He reached the final of the North American Cup in 1996 and the quarter finals of the World Matchplay in 1997 but then gradually faded from the scene. His performance in qualifying for the 2006 PDC World Championship (where he lost in the first round to Peter Manley) kept him in the top 100 of the PDC world rankings until January 2008.

He had continued to play in the domestic Pro Tour events on the PDC circuit during 2005 and 2006 - playing in more than 10 events on the PDC Pro Tour but he has remained inactive on the circuit since the Players Championship in Gibraltar in January 2007.

Now works as an Area Sales Rep for a stainless steel stockholder