Gould enjoyed a good run in the qualification for the 2003 World Snooker Championship, winning eight matches, beating Alain Robidoux and Stephen Maguire.

Gould had a strong start to the 2010–11 season, reaching the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters after beating Stephen Hendry 5–3, and scored his major ranking quarter-final at the World Open, where he lost 1–3 to Peter Ebdon.

[5] In November, Gould won the Power Snooker, a new cue sport tournament which was introduced in 2010, beating reigning champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final.

He began with a 3–5 defeat to Jamie Cope in the Wuxi Classic, but then beat Ken Doherty 5–3 and Cao Yupeng 5–4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Goldfields Open where he lost 2–5 to Mark Davis.

[12][14] At the Snooker Shoot-Out, the event where each match is played over one frame lasting 10-minute under shot clock rules, Gould won the title by beating Mark Allen in the final.

[12] There he won three of his six matches to progress to the semi-finals where he beat Ding Junhui 3–0, before seeing off Ali Carter 3–2 to win the tournament with a century break in the deciding frame.

[20] As the tournament is non-ranking Gould was unable to halt his slide down the rankings which meant he needed to win three qualifying matches to reach the first round of the World Championship.

[22] Gould won three matches to advance to the quarter-finals of the 2014 Wuxi Classic and came from 0–57 down in the deciding frame against Stephen Maguire to beat him 5–4.

[26] At the inaugural World Grand Prix, Gould knocked out Alan McManus 4–1, Mark Selby 4–2 and Peter Ebdon 4–2 to meet Judd Trump in the semi-finals.

[27] He had a chance to exact revenge in the very next event as he met Trump again in the quarter-finals of the PTC Grand Final after eliminating Michael White and turning the tables on Shaun Murphy, but was beaten 2–4.

[28] However, Gould's good season ended with a surprise 6–10 loss to amateur Adam Duffy in the first round of World Championship qualifying.

[29] Gould's season began at the Australian Goldfields Open, where he beat Marco Fu 5–4, Michael Holt 5–3 and Matthew Selt 5–1.

[30] He then eased past Stephen Maguire 6–1 in the semi-finals to play in the second ranking event final of his career, in which he made two centuries and came back from 5–7 down to level John Higgins at 8–8.

Gould would also suffer disappointment at the UK Championship as he let a 5–1 lead slip against underdog David Grace in the quarter-finals, losing 5–6 after having several chances to close out the victory.

The defending champion beat Jamie Jones 5–0, Ricky Walden 5–3 and Ryan Day 5–2 to face Ali Carter in the semi-finals and he was defeated 2–6.

The run gave Gould the final place for the World Grand Prix and he edged out Mark Selby 4–3, before losing 3–4 to Joe Perry.