Keith Deller

Deller's victory over Eric Bristow in the tournament by 6 sets to 5 was probably the biggest upset in the history of the championship. He also beat world number 3 John Lowe in the quarter finals and defending champion and world number 2 Jocky Wilson in the semi-final to become the only player in history to defeat the world's top three ranked players in the World Championship. The champion's prize money in 1983 was £8,000.

His checkout of 138 to clinch the trophy is amongst the most memorable in darting history.[2] Bristow had left himself 50 to stay in the match, but decided to throw for single 18 with his last dart to leave double 16 instead of a more difficult attempt at the bullseye. Deller then hit treble 20, treble 18, double 12 for the title, and even to this day commentators often refer to 138 as the "Deller checkout" if a player is left with that score.

Despite a meteoric rise to World Champion, his career results failed to maintain that level. On the defence of his world title, he lost in the first round to Nicky Virachkul, and he only won three further matches in the BDO World Championship in subsequent years. He did win the British Professional Championship in 1987, but generally his world ranking continued to fall, and he even failed to qualify for the World Championship between 1989 and 1993. One of his more notable achievements in the years following his world title win is his 100.30 average in his quarter-final match against John Lowe in the 1985 World Championship; this made him the first-ever player to record a three-figure average in a BD0 world championship match.

Deller was one of the players who broke away from the British Darts Organisation in 1992 and joined the WDC, now the PDC. This saw him gain some more television exposure, and he did produce a few resurgent performances to reach the semi finals of the 1998 PDC World Championship and also the semi finals of the 1998 PDC World Matchplay. Deller dropped out of the top 32 of the PDC's World Rankings around 2005 and therefore had to attempt qualification for their major tournaments – which he failed to do for the 2006, 2007 and 2008 PDC World Championships. He now competes much less on the circuit, including around half-a-dozen UK Open Regional events during 2007, preferring to perform in more lucrative exhibition matches with fellow legend players such as the late Eric Bristow and Lowe.

• 1983: Winner (beat Eric Bristow 6–5)
• 1984: 1st round (lost to Nicky Virachkul 1–2)
• 1985: Quarter-final (lost to John Lowe 2–4)
• 1986: 2nd round (lost to Alan Glazier 1–3)
• 1987: 1st round (lost to Brian Cairns 0–3)
• 1988: 1st round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)

• 1994: Group Stage (lost to Steve Brown 1–3 and Kevin Spiolek 1–3)
• 1995: Group Stage (lost to Larry Butler 2–3 and Kevin Spiolek 1–3)
• 1996: Quarter-final (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4)
• 1997: Quarter-final (lost to Phil Taylor 1–5)
• 1998: Semi-final (lost to Dennis Priestley 1–5 and lost the third place match to Rod Harrington 1–4)
• 1999: 1st round (lost to Bob Anderson 2–3)
• 2000: 2nd round (lost to John Lowe 1–3)
• 2001: Quarter-final (lost to Phil Taylor 0–4)
• 2002: 1st round (lost to Rod Harrington 3–4)
• 2003: 2nd round (lost to Richie Burnett 3–4)
• 2004: 3rd round (lost to Peter Manley 2–4)
• 2005: 2nd round (lost to Wayne Jones 1–3)