In May 2012, Hubbard earned a place in the German Darts Championship by defeating Andrew Gilding and Kevin Dowling in the UK qualifier.
[2] In the first round of the event in Berlin he pulled off the best result of his career to date by knocking out reigning two-time world champion Adrian Lewis 6–4.
[10] Hubbard qualified for the Grand Slam of Darts again thanks to his 2011 World Youth Championship title, but lost all of three Group C games against Simon Whitlock, Dean Winstanley and Kevin Painter to finish bottom of the table.
[11] Hubbard qualified for the 2013 World Championship, his first, by finishing 34th on the 2012 ProTour Order of Merit,[12] claiming the fourth of sixteen spots that were available to non-qualified players.
[18] Hubbard advanced to the third round of the UK Open for the second time of his career in 2014, but was thrashed 9–1 by world number one Michael van Gerwen.
[19] At the fifth Players Championship, Hubbard enjoyed notable 6–0 and 6–4 victories over Wes Newton and Van Gerwen in reaching his first semi-final on the PDC tour, which he lost 6–1 to Brendan Dolan.
[21] Hubbard was ranked world number 74 at the start of 2015, meaning he had to enter Q School in order to win his place back on tour.