2011–12 season ranked number 36. Hamilton reached the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters by winning five matches, but he lost 2–5 against Mark King. Hamilton, however couldn't qualify for the final stages of the remaining ranking tournaments, as he lost 5–6 against Marco Fu at the UK Championship, 0–5 against Tom Ford at the German Masters, 1–5 against Joe Perry at the World Open, 1–4 against Andy Hicks at the Welsh Open, 1–5 against Perry at the China Open and 9–10 against Ken Doherty at the World Championship. Hamilton also participated in 10 of the 12 Players Tour Championship events, with his best performance coming in event 11, where he reached the semi-finals, losing 3–4 against Martin Gould. Hamilton finished 42nd on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit, outside of the top 24 who qualified for the Finals. 2012–2013 Hamilton began the 2012–13 season ranked number 32. He could not qualify for the first four ranking events, as he lost 4–5 against Michael White at the Wuxi Classic, 3–5 against Jimmy Robertson at the Shanghai Masters, 3–6 against Ryan Day at the International Championship and withdrew from the Australian Goldfields Open. He lost 2–6 to Ian Burns in the qualifying stage of the UK Championship, but then defeated Burns 5–2 and Jamie Cope 5–0 to reach the last 32 of the 2013 German Masters. He recorded a 5–4 victory over Judd Trump, and then lost 2–5 to Ali Carter. Hamilton also qualified for the Welsh Open, but lost 2–4 to Stephen Maguire in the last 32. Hamilton played in nine of the ten Players Tour Championship events this season, with his best result coming in the Kay Suzanne Memorial Trophy, where he defeated George Marter, Ryan Causton, Andrew Higginson, Michael Wasley and Mark Selby, before losing 3–4 to John Higgins in the semi-finals. This performance helped him to finish 34th on the PTC Order of Merit, outside of the top 26 who qualified for the Finals. Hamilton's season ended when he lost 4–10 to Dechawat Poomjaeng in the third qualifying round of the World Championship. 2013–2014 Hamilton began the 2013–14 season ranked number 43, after dropping 11 places in the rankings during the previous season. He qualified for the Wuxi Classic by defeating Jamie O'Neill 5–1. At the venue he defeated Ryan Day, Stuart Bingham and Mark Williams to reach the quarter-final, where he lost 3–5 against Robert Milkins.