Dobey started playing darts in 2010 at a local club. He received the nickname "Hollywood" due to wearing a baseball cap while playing darts.
2015 Dobey's first major TV appearance came in the
2015 UK Open where he lost to
Nathan Aspinall 5–1 in the first round. At
Players Championship 11 he had deciding leg victories over
Jan Dekker,
Kim Huybrechts and
Max Hopp to reach the last 16 of a PDC event for the first time, where he was defeated by
Mark Webster 6–2. Dobey qualified for the
2015 World Series of Darts Finals and lost in a last leg decider to
Terry Jenkins 6–5.
2016 At the
2016 German Darts Masters, Dobey saw off Ben Davies 6–1 and then averaged 100.64 in a win over
Robert Thornton and 102.25 whilst beating
Dave Chisnall 6–4. In his first PDC quarter-final he averaged over 100 again, but lost to world number one
Michael van Gerwen 6–5, having led 5–4. At
Players Championship 19 Dobey beat
Stephen Bunting 6–3 to reach the semi-finals and took out a 120 finish after
Adrian Lewis had missed match darts. This meant he played in his first senior final, but lost
Simon Whitlock 6–4. He qualified for the
2016 European Championship and was eliminated by
Joe Cullen 6–2 in the first round. Dobey also played in the
Grand Slam of Darts for the first time and wins over Lewis and
Scott Mitchell saw him advance to the knockout stage, where he hit a ten dart leg to move 9–5 up on
Jamie Hughes. However, Hughes closed the deficit to force a deciding leg which Dobey took to advance to his first major quarter-final, but he was outclassed by
James Wade who won 16–5. His performances gave him a
PDC Pro Tour spot in the
2017 World Championship, where he beat
Justin Pipe 3–1 in the first round. In the second round he lost to
Dave Chisnall 4–2.
2018 At the
2018 World Championship, Dobey drew
Phil Taylor in the first round. Taylor was appearing in his final World Championship following his decision to retire after the conclusion of the event. Dobey lost 3-1. He played in the
2018 UK Open in Minehead, reaching the fifth round before losing out to
Corey Cadby. Dobey reached 2 finals on the Pro Tour in 2018, losing to
Michael van Gerwen 6–2 in the final of Players Championship 5 despite having an average of over 109, and then losing to
Krzysztof Ratajski 6–2 in the final of Players Championship 21. These performances aided him in qualifying for the
2018 Players Championship Finals where he had a run to the quarter-finals, losing out to eventual winner
Daryl Gurney 10–2.
2019 He qualified for the
2019 PDC World Darts Championship via the Pro Tour, reaching the last 16 stage with 3–0
whitewash wins over
Boris Koltsov, and
Steve Beaton and a 4–3 win over
Vincent van der Voort. He lost to
Gary Anderson 4–3, in a match which saw 28 180s thrown, 15 of them by Dobey. Following
Gary Anderson's withdrawal from the
2019 Premier League, Dobey was selected as one of nine 'Contenders'. He would play a one-off match against
Mensur Suljović on night one in
Newcastle. Dobey started well leading 5–1 before Suljović would win 5 consecutive legs to lead 6–5. Dobey would win the final leg to draw the match 6–6. Dobey reached his fourth PDC final at the
2019 Danish Darts Open, winning through as a non seed, but lost to
Dave Chisnall 8–3. He reached the semi-finals at both the
2019 World Grand Prix and
2019 Players Championship Finals.
2020 At the
2020 PDC World Darts Championship, Dobey was
seeded into the second round for the first time as 22nd seed. He defeated
Ron Meulenkamp 3–2 in his opening match. This set up a tie against
Fallon Sherrock in the third round, who had beaten
Ted Evetts to become the first woman to win a match at the PDC World Championship before eliminating 11th seed
Mensur Suljović in the next round. In their match, Dobey came back from 2–1 down to defeat Sherrock 4–2. He then exited the tournament after a 4–3 loss to
Glen Durrant. Following the end of the World Championship, Dobey was once again selected as a 'Challenger' (re-brand of 'Contender') for the
Premier League. He played on Night 7 in
Milton Keynes where he lost 7–2 to
Daryl Gurney.
2021 In 2021, Dobey won his first PDC ranking title at
Players Championship 18 in
Coventry. Along the way he defeated
Jeff Smith,
Luke Humphries,
William Borland,
Jonny Clayton,
Stephen Bunting,
Maik Kuivenhoven &
José de Sousa. Dobey then went on to claim his 2nd ranking title at PC28 in
Barnsley, he defeated
Rob Cross in the semi-finals where the pair threw a combined average of 224.68 (111.73 for Dobey).
2022 At the
2022 PDC World Darts Championship, Dobey won his opening match 3–2 against
Rusty-Jake Rodriguez. He was originally supposed to play
Michael van Gerwen in the third round, but van Gerwen withdrew from the tournament after testing positive for
COVID-19. Dobey received a
bye to the fourth round, where he lost 4–3 to
Luke Humphries despite leading the match 3–1. He avenged his loss to Humphries in the first round of the
2022 World Grand Prix, beating Humphries 2–0. He faced
Adrian Lewis in the second round and won the match in a last-leg decider after Lewis missed a match dart on the bullseye. He was eliminated by Michael van Gerwen in the quarter-finals. Dobey got a surprise win against Michael van Gerwen in the first round of the
2022 European Championship, beating him 6–5 and claiming his first ever career win against the three-time World Champion. He defeated
José de Sousa in the next round and
Dave Chisnall in the quarter-finals to reach his third televised semi-final. He lost to eventual champion
Ross Smith 11–9.
2023 At the
2023 PDC World Darts Championship, Dobey reached a World Championship quarter-final for the first time. He defeated
Martijn Kleermaker in his opening match before eliminating former World Champions
Gary Anderson and
Rob Cross. In the quarter-finals, he lost 5–0 to
Michael van Gerwen. On 29 January 2023, Dobey reached his first televised final at the
2023 Masters. He beat reigning Masters champion
Joe Cullen,
Luke Humphries,
Dirk van Duijvenbode and reigning World Champion
Michael Smith before defeating
Rob Cross 11–7 in the final. The following day, Dobey was confirmed to be in the
2023 Premier League, his first full-time inclusion in the event after two years as a 'Challenger'. In his full-time
Premier League debut, Dobey won night one with victories over
Peter Wright and
Nathan Aspinall before winning a last-leg decider in the final against
Michael van Gerwen with a 160 checkout. His run to the night seven final included a historic 6–0 win over Michael van Gerwen, making Dobey the first player to
whitewash van Gerwen in the Premier League. Dobey lost 6–4 to Gerwyn Price in the final. The next week on night eight, he played in front of his home crowd in
Newcastle. Dobey marked the occasion with a special walk-on, using "
Going Home: Theme of the Local Hero" by
Mark Knopfler as his walk-on song due to the song's connection to Dobey's favourite
football club
Newcastle United. He won his opening match 6–4 against
Michael Smith but lost to Gerwyn Price 6–4 in the semi-finals. Dobey only registered two more wins in the latter half of the league stage and finished in seventh place after being overtaken by
Dimitri van den Bergh, who won night sixteen. Dobey reached three consecutive quarter-finals in televised ranking events, beginning at the
2023 World Matchplay where he defeated
James Wade and Michael Smith before losing 16–12 to eventual champion
Nathan Aspinall. At the
2023 World Grand Prix, he beat
Dimitri Van den Bergh in the first round and earned a 3–2 win over Michael van Gerwen in the next round to progress to the quarter-finals. Despite leading the match 2–1, he was eliminated after a 3–2 loss to Joe Cullen. Dobey lost to eventual champion
Peter Wright in the quarter-finals of the
2023 European Championship. On 1 September 2023, Chris Dobey announced that he signed with darts manufacturer Target Darts.
2024 At the
2024 PDC World Championship, Dobey
whitewashed defending champion
Michael Smith 4–0 in the fourth round to reach his second consecutive World Championship quarter-final. He played
Rob Cross for a place in the semi-finals and established a 4–0 lead, one set away from winning. However, Cross then won five consecutive sets to win 5–4, after Dobey missed one dart at bullseye to win 5-2. Dobey topped the
2024 PDC Players Championship (PC) Order of Merit ranking, winning three titles. He won
PC7, defeating
Josh Rock 8–4 in the final. He hit a
nine-dart finish in his third round win over
Mickey Mansell. In August, Dobey won
PC19, defeating
Cameron Menzies 8–6 in the final. In October, he won
PC25, defeating
Stephen Bunting 8–3 in the final.
2025 Dobey made it three successive
PDC World Championship quarter-finals at the
2025 event, defeating
Alexander Merkx,
Josh Rock and
Kevin Doets along the way. In the quarter-finals, Dobey faced
Gerwyn Price and went 2–0 down before leveling the match at 2–2. He won the next two sets to go 4–2 up but missed five match darts, allowing Price to reduce the gap to 4–3. However, he won the next set to win the match 5–3 and reach his first World Championship semi-final, where he was defeated 6-1 by
Michael van Gerwen. He was subsequently announced as part of the
2025 Premier League line-up on 6 January. After finishing as runner-up in the second Players Championship event, Dobey won his first title of the year at
Players Championship 3, defeating
Jelle Klaasen 8–4 in the final. He earned a sole nightly win during the 2025 Premier League on night 11 with a 6–2 victory over
Stephen Bunting in the final. He finished the league stage in sixth place with 17 points. Dobey won his second Players Championship title of the year at the 17th event by beating
Dirk van Duijvenbode 8–7 in the final. At the end of June, Dobey reached a career-high ranking of sixth in the PDC Order of Merit. He earned his third title of 2025 at the
penultimate Players Championship event, defeating
William O'Connor 8–6 in the final.
2026 Dobey defeated
Xiaochen Zong 3–1 in the first round of the
2026 World Championship. He was eliminated from the tournament following a 3–1 loss to
Andrew Gilding in the second round. Dobey won his ninth Players Championship title by defeating
Stephen Bunting 8–1 in the final of
Players Championship 3. == Personal life ==