At the tournament he failed to qualify for the knockout stage, losing all three group matches to Michael van Gerwen, Mervyn King and Roland Scholten.

[1] He entered the 2009 Winmau World Masters as the number two seed, and despite having had several darts to win the match, lost in the last 16 stage in a major upset to Lourence Ilagan of the Philippines.

[2] However at the 2009 Grand Slam of Darts, Waites used Walk This Way by Run-D.M.C., to avoid a clash with Chelsea Dagger, the music played during breaks.

[1] At the 2010 Grand Slam of Darts, Waites once again reached the final by winning all three of his group matches, then following up with comprehensive victories over Raymond van Barneveld, Co Stompé and Steve Beaton (who had earlier eliminated Taylor).

[1] At the 2012 Grand Slam of Darts, Waites topped his group by beating Phil Taylor 5–2, avenging his heavy loss to the same player in the 2009 final.

[1] He then beat Richie George 6–1 to set up a final against two-time runner-up Tony O'Shea, which Waites won 7–1 to win the title.

[1] However, his season ended in disappointment when, as the defending champion, he was eliminated in the first round of the 2014 BDO World Darts Championship 3–0 by eventual runner-up Alan Norris.

[3] It was the first time Waites had lost in the first round of the world championship, and afterwards he complained of a lack of preparation due to injuries as well as a power-cut shortly before his match started, though he still gave credit to Norris for his performance.

[4] Waites's indifferent form continued at the start of the 2014–15 season when he lost in the first round of the World Trophy to Jim Williams.

[1] At the 2015 World Championship, Waites opened his campaign with a 3–2 win over Sam Hewson, to set up a second-round tie with Ross Montgomery, which he lost 4–0.

[1] It was announced after his first round victory at the 2019 BDO World Darts Championship that he would be heading to PDC Q School after the Lakeside tournament and could finally make the switch to the other side of the sport, if all went to plan in Wigan.

This time he was successful, beating Keane Barry 5–0 in a play-off match on the final day to earn a two-year PDC Tour Card.

[1][5] In his PDC World Championship debut in 2021 he beat Matt Campbell 3–2 in the first round, before losing to Nathan Aspinall by the same score in the second, despite having 4 match darts.