Early career Gilbert began his professional career by playing
UK Tour in 1999, at the time the second-level professional tour. In the
2007–08 season Gilbert reached the last 32 of three tournaments without progressing further. Most notably he qualified for the
2007 World Championship where he led
Stephen Hendry 5–1, before succumbing to a 7–10 defeat. To qualify he beat
Alfie Burden,
Gerard Greene and
Mark King. The other two were the
2007 Welsh Open – where he won his two qualifying matches then beat
James Wattana in the last 48 in
Newport, before losing 0–5 to
Steve Davis – and the
2008 Grand Prix, where he again faced Hendry and again challenged him before succumbing 4–5. Gilbert went one better at the
2009 Welsh Open, beating
Mark Williams and
Joe Perry before losing to
Mark Selby in the last 16.
2011–12 season The
2011–12 season was somewhat of a breakthrough year for Gilbert as he reached the last 16 in two ranking event tournaments for the first time. He went from qualifying round one to the venue stage of the first tournament of the year, the
Australian Goldfields Open, beating
Passakorn Suwannawat 5–4,
Alfie Burden 5–2,
Dave Harold 5–4 and
Mark King 5–0 to set up a wildcard round match at the venue against James Mifsud, which was later changed to a last 32 encounter due to the withdrawal of
Graeme Dott. Gilbert won 5–1 to meet
Mark Williams in the last 16, and was beaten 2–5. Gilbert struggled to replicate the form he showed in Australia until the final and biggest tournament on the snooker calendar, the
World Championship. He qualified with victories over Stuart Carrington,
Jimmy Robertson (with a final frame decider),
Mike Dunn and
Fergal O'Brien and drew 11th seed
Martin Gould in the first round. There he won his first-ever match at the
Crucible 10–8, although he had to withstand two comebacks after leading 6–2 and 9–5. In the second round he was defeated by
2010 World Champion,
Neil Robertson 9–13. Gilbert had led 3–1 after the first four frames, but then trailed 3–5 and 6–10 after the first and second session respectively. He finished the season ranked world number 57, inside the top 64 who automatically retained their places for the
2012–13 season.
2012–13 season Following on from Gilbert's successful 2011–12 season, he struggled for form this season as he could only qualify for the
World Open in
Haikou, China. There, he beat
Lu Ning 5–0 in the wildcard round, before losing 4–5 to
Matthew Stevens in the first round. He couldn't repeat last season's run to
The Crucible as he was defeated 6–10 by
Marco Fu in the final round of
World Championship Qualifying. He ended the campaign ranked world number 41.
2013–14 season Gilbert's
2013–14 season was his most consistent year to date as he qualified for all but two of the ranking events. In his opening match, he defeated
Jak Jones 5–3 to qualify for the
2013 Wuxi Classic in China where he beat
Andrew Pagett 5–2 in the first round. He went on to beat
Alan McManus 5–2 to reach the last 16 of a ranking event for the fourth time but lost 2–5 to
Joe Perry. The tournament was one of the eight
European Tour events on the calendar and Gilbert performed well in the others with two further last 16 runs to finish 16th on the
Order of Merit and qualify for the
Finals for the first time in his career. There, Gilbert gained revenge over Selby by whitewashing him 4–0, but lost 1–4 to Perry in the second round. Gilbert played in his third
World Championship this year after seeing off
Jimmy Robertson in the final round of qualifying. He faced the previous year's runner-up
Barry Hawkins in the first round but from 4–2 up he lost eight frames in a row to succumb to a 10–4 defeat in a performance he branded as useless.
2014–15 season Gilbert lost 3–5 to
Stephen Maguire in the first round of the
2014 Wuxi Classic and then failed to qualify for the next two ranking events. He won his first matches at the
UK Championship 6–4 against
Elliot Slessor and 6–2 against
Mark Joyce, but lost in the third round 2–6 to
David Morris. Gilbert was eliminated at the first round stage of the
German Masters,
Welsh Open and
Indian Open. Gilbert's tournament ended with a 2–5 loss to reigning world champion
Mark Selby. Gilbert was ranked 35th after the
World Championship, the highest he had finished a season at that time.
2015–16 season Gilbert was eliminated in the qualifying rounds of the opening two ranking events of the
season. Gilbert's form continued later in to the month at the
International Championship as he knocked out
Xiao Guodong 6–5,
Oliver Lines 6–4 and
Ryan Day 6–4 to play in the first ranking event quarter-final of his career. He came back from 2–4 down against
Marco Fu to edge it 6–5 which included a 130 break and then saw off
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 9–5. In the final, Gilbert was level with
John Higgins at 4–4, but lost 5–9. The £65,000 runner-up's cheque was the biggest of his career and he moved up to 21st in the world rankings afterwards. Gilbert stated that his newfound form was down to a new cue he acquired from fellow professional
Matthew Selt six weeks previously. He moved up to world number 22 at the end of the season.
2016–17 season Gilbert saw off
Rod Lawler 5–0,
Zhou Yuelong 5–2 and
Zhang Anda 5–0 to play in the quarter-finals of the
World Open, where he was beaten 5–2 by
Neil Robertson. Gilbert lost 2–6 to
Jamie Jones in the fourth round. He won two matches to qualify for the
German Masters and eliminated
Marco Fu 5–3 in the first round, but was then defeated 5–4 by
Stuart Bingham despite holding a 4–2 advantage at one stage. After being 6–1 up on
Fergal O'Brien in the final qualifying round for the
World Championship the scores were locked at 9–9. The decider took 123 minutes and 41 seconds, breaking the record for the longest frame in snooker history, with O'Brien taking it on the final brown. He finished the season 19th in the world rankings, his highest to that date.
2021–22 season David Gilbert won his first ranking title at the
2021 Championship League. He defeated
Mark Allen in the final 3–1. He made strong breaks of 59 in the second frame and 57 in the fourth. Gilbert's strong start to the season continued at the following tournament, the
2021 British Open, where he reached the quarter-finals, losing 3–4 to eventual runner-up
Gary Wilson, despite leading 2–0 and 3–2. Gilbert also performed well in the qualifying held across August and September for the
2021 Northern Ireland,
English, and
Scottish opens, defeating
Ian Burns,
David Grace, and
Simon Lichtenberg, 4–0, 4–2, and 4–1 respectively. At the
2022 World Championship, Gilbert lost in the first round to Ronnie O'Sullivan 510.
2022–23 season At the
2023 World Championship, Gilbert was defeated 4–10 by Stuart Bingham in the first round.
2023–present At the
2024 World Championship, Gilbert defeated defending champion
Luca Brecel in the first round 10–9. After winning two more matches, Gilbert reached the semi-final where he was beaten 11–17 by Kyren Wilson. At the
2026 World Championship, Gilbert exited in the first round following a 5–10 defeat by
Ding Junhui. ==Personal life==