Efren Manalang Reyes,, nicknamed the Magician and Bata, is a Filipino professional pool player. A winner of over 70 international titles, Reyes was the first player to win world championships in two different disciplines in pool. Among his numerous titles Reyes is a four-time World Eight-ball Champion, the 1999 WPA World Nine-ball Champion, a three-time US Open winner, a two-time World Pool League winner and a 14-time Derby City Classic winner – including an unprecedented five Master of the Table crowns. By defeating Earl Strickland in the inaugural Color of Money event in 1996, Reyes took home the largest single event purse in pool history. Many analysts, fans, and current and former players consider Reyes to be the greatest pool player of all time.
Ding Junhui is a Chinese professional snooker player and has been considered the most successful Asian player in the history of the sport. He began playing snooker at age 9, and rose to international prominence in 2002 after winning the Asian Under-21 Championship, the Asian Championship, and becoming the youngest winner of the IBSF World Under-21 Championship at age 15. in 2016 Ding won the Six-red World Championship.
Geet Siriram Sethi of India is a professional player of English billiards who dominated the sport throughout much of the 1990s, and a notable amateur (ex-pro) snooker player. He is a six-time winner of the professional-level and a three-time winner of the amateur World Championships, and holder of two world records, in English billiards. He, along with Prakash Padukone, has co-founded Olympic Gold Quest, a Foundation for the Promotion of Sports in India.
Stephen Lee is an English former professional snooker player. He turned professional in 1992 and was ranked in the top 16 between the 1997/1998 and 2007/2008 snooker seasons, reaching a career-high of fifth in the rankings. He won four ranking titles between 1998 and 2006, reached the semi-finals of the 2003 World Championship and the final of the 2008 Masters. Thereafter, his form declined dramatically and as a result he dropped out of the top 16 after a run of eleven consecutive seasons, meaning he would no longer automatically qualify for tournaments. A return to form in the 2011/2012 season saw Lee reach two consecutive finals in ranking tournaments and collect his fifth title, as well as regaining his top 16 seeding. Lee was a strong break-builder compiling 184 competitive century breaks during his career, and his smooth cue action is regarded by some pundits as the most natural the game has seen.
The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour. They are maintained by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. A player's ranking is based on their performances in designated ranking tournaments over the preceding two years, and it is updated after every tournament. The world rankings were inaugurated in the 1976/1977 season and the point tariffs used to be set by the governing body, but the rankings transitioned to a prize money list in the 2014/2015 season.
The World Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It had previously been known as the Professional Players Tournament, the LG Cup and the Grand Prix. During 2006 and 2007, it was played in a unique round-robin format, more similar to association football and rugby tournaments than the knock-out systems usually played in snooker. The knock-out format returned in 2008 with an FA Cup-style draw. The random draw was abandoned after the 2010 edition. Mark Williams is the defending champion.
The Masters is a professional invitational snooker tournament. Held every year since 1975, it is the second-longest running tournament behind the World Championship. It is one of the Triple Crown events, and although not a ranking event, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious tournaments on the circuit. The reigning champion is Judd Trump.
Anthony Stephen Hamilton is an English professional snooker player noted for his strong break-building technique and distinctive appearance. He has spent five seasons ranked among the game's top 16, and fifteen in the top 32, reaching a career-high of number ten in the world in the 1999/2000 season. Known as a prolific break builder, Hamilton has compiled more than 250 competitive century breaks during his career. Hamilton won his first ranking title in 2017, beating Ali Carter 9–6 in the final of the German Masters. At age 45 he is the third oldest winner of a ranking event after Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy (46).
Tyler Edey is a Canadian pocket billiards player. He reached the first place at the 8-Ball Championship. During the 2006 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship he survived the group stages, the round of 64 and the round of 32, but was eliminated in the round of 16 by Liu Cheng-chuan. This performance secured him a spot in the 2007 edition of the tournament.
Jasmin Ouschan is an Austrian professional pool player from Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Her first professional competition occurred in 2002, but she did not officially become a professional member of the Women's Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) until 2007. She is currently one of the top-ranked women in the world according to the 2010 prize money list and by the WPBA rankings. At times, she has been ranked as the number one female player in the world. Since 2006, she has been listed among the top-ten women in the annual prize money rankings. Ouschan competes regularly with men on the Euro Tour and in 2008 became the first woman to earn a medal in an open world pool championship.
The World Straight Pool Championship, sometimes marked as simply the World Tournament among other names, is a pocket billiards (pool) competition, that has been held annually in United States in its present form since 2006. It is one of the successor tournaments to the historical World 14.1 Continuous Championship (1912–1990). During the modern tournament's early years, it was the only global professional title for straight pool. The event is organized by Dragon Promotions, in part to restore the game's popularity in the United States. Throughout the current event's history, only the 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2010 editions were sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) to be world championships. Since then, the tournament continues to be held under its current name without WPA sanctioning.
Liu Chuang is a Chinese former professional snooker player.
The 2006 SAGA Insurance Masters was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 15 to 22 January 2006 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, England. It was the 32nd edition of the tournament, and the last time that the tournament was held at this venue. The tournament was part of the 2005/2006 season.
The Six-red World Championship is a six-red snooker tournament, played with the six colour balls and six reds. Kyren Wilson is the reigning champion.
The 2011 CaesarsCasino.com Snooker Shoot-Out was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 28–30 January 2011 at the Circus Arena in Blackpool, England. The event was sponsored by CaesarsCasino.com. It was played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker.
The Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 9 was a professional minor-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 10–13 November 2011 at the Lotto Arena in Antwerp, Belgium.
Andy Segal, nicknamed "the Magic Man", is a trick-shot pool champion from Huntington, New York. He began as a professional nine-ball player in the 1990s, and was a regular on the Camel Pro Billiard Tour before switching to trick-shot competition in 2002. A full-time pro player since 2007, Segal holds three world records in artistic billiards. He is known for his television competition appearances on ESPN, and has won many such events, including Trick Shot Magic, the World Cup of Trick Shots, the WPA World Artistic Pool Championship, and the Masters Artistic Pool Championship. Segal also performs trick shot exhibitions all over the world, and in films and television.
The 2013/2014 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 6 June 2013 and 5 May 2014. From this season every qualifying match was held open to the public at various venues in the United Kingdom, replacing the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield. The number of wild-card players at the Chinese ranking events, except the Shanghai Masters, was reduced from eight to four and former Main Tour players were excluded. A professional player could not be selected for more than one wild-card match during the season.
Shaun Peter Murphy is an English professional snooker player, who won the 2005 World Championship. Nicknamed "The Magician", Murphy is noted for his straight cue action and his long potting.
