Portal:Cue sports

The Cue Sports Portal

Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as cushions. Cue sports, a category of stick sports, may collectively be referred to as billiards, though this term has more specific connotations in some English dialects.

There are three major subdivisions of games within cue sports:

Carom billiards, played on tables without pockets, typically ten feet in length, including straight rail, balkline, one-cushion carom, three-cushion billiards, artistic billiards, and four-ball
Pocket billiards (or pool), played on six-pocket tables of seven, eight, nine, or ten-foot length, including among others eight-ball (the world's most widely played cue sport), nine-ball (the dominant professional game), ten-ball, straight pool (the formerly dominant pro game), one-pocket, and bank pool
Snooker, English billiards, and Russian pyramid, played on a large, six-pocket table (dimensions just under 12 ft by 6 ft), all of which are classified separately from pool based on distinct development histories, player culture, rules, and terminology. (Full article...)

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The 1983 World Snooker Championship (also known as the 1983 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 16 April and 2 May 1983 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. This was the third and final world ranking event of the 1982–83 snooker season following the 1982 Professional Players Tournament. Sixteen seeded players qualified directly for the event, with an additional sixteen players progressing through a two-round qualification round held at the Romiley Forum in Stockport, and Redwood Lodge in Bristol. The winner of the event received £30,000, and the tournament was sponsored by cigarette company Embassy.

Alex Higgins was the defending champion, having won the 1982 championship, but he lost 5–16 to Steve Davis in the semi-finals. Davis, the 1981 champion, won the event for the second time, defeating Cliff Thorburn 18–6 in the final. A total of 18 century breaks were made during the tournament. The highest was made by Thorburn in the fourth frame of his second round match against Terry Griffiths, where he compiled a maximum break of 147 points, becoming the first player to make such a break in a World Championship match. (Full article...)
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The 2019 Champion of Champions (officially the 2019 ManBetX Champion of Champions) was a professional snooker tournament that took place between 4 and 10 November 2019 at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, England. It was the ninth Champion of Champions event, the first of which was held in 1978. The tournament featured 16 participants who had won World Snooker events throughout the prior snooker season. In 2019, the Women's World Champion competed at the tournament for the first time. As an invitational event, the Champion of Champions tournament carried no world ranking points.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion having defeated Kyren Wilson 10–9 in the final of the 2018 event. O'Sullivan lost 5–6 to Neil Robertson in the semi-finals. Robertson defeated reigning world champion Judd Trump 10–9 in the final to win the championship, having required foul shots in the penultimate frame to avoid losing the match. There were 20 century breaks during the tournament, eight of which were made in the final. Mark Allen compiled the highest break of the tournament, a 140, in his semi-final loss to Trump. The tournament's total prize fund was £440,000, the winner receiving £150,000. (Full article...)
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The 1984 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 1984 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purpose of sponsorship) was a ranking professional snooker tournament that took place between 21 April and 7 May 1984 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. The event was organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, and was the eighth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible since the 1977 event. The event featured 94 participants, of which 78 players competed in a qualifying event held at the Redwood Lodge in Bristol from 1 to 13 April. Of these, 16 players qualified for the main stage in Sheffield, where they met 16 invited seeds. The total prize fund for the event was £200,000, the highest total pool for any snooker tournament at that time; the winner received £44,000.

The defending champion was English player Steve Davis, who had won the title twice previously. He met fellow-countryman Jimmy White in the final, which was played as a best-of-35-frames match. Davis took a significant lead of 12–4 after the first two sessions; although White battled back into the match, Davis eventually won 18–16, becoming the first player to retain the title at the Crucible. Rex Williams secured the championship's highest break, scoring a 138 in the 12th frame of his first-round loss to White. Eight century breaks were made during the competition, the fewest since the 1978 event. The tournament was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy, and broadcast by BBC. (Full article...)
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The 1988 World Snooker Championship, also known as the 1988 Embassy World Snooker Championship for sponsorship reasons, was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 16 April to 2 May 1988 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), it was the sixth and final ranking event of the 1987–88 snooker season and the twelfth consecutive World Snooker Championship to be held at the Crucible, the first tournament there having taken place in 1977.

A five-round qualifying event for the championship was held at the Preston Guild Hall from 22 March to 2 April 1988 for 113 players, 16 of whom reached the main stage, where they met the 16 invited seeded players. The tournament was broadcast in the United Kingdom by the BBC, and was sponsored by the Embassy cigarette company. The winner received £95,000 from the total prize fund of £475,000. (Full article...)
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The 2021 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2021 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 17 April to 3 May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 45th consecutive year the World Snooker Championship was held at the Crucible Theatre and the 15th and final ranking event of the 2020–21 snooker season. It was organised by the World Snooker Tour. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred and broadcast by the BBC, Eurosport and Matchroom Sport. It featured a total prize fund of £2,395,000 of which the winner received £500,000.

Qualifying for the tournament took place between 5 and 14 April 2021 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. There were 128 participants in the qualifying rounds, consisting of a mix of professional and invited amateur players. The main stage of the tournament featured 32 players: the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings and an additional 16 players from the qualifying rounds. Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, having won his sixth world title at the previous year's event, where he defeated Kyren Wilson 18–8 in the final. O'Sullivan lost in the second round to Anthony McGill 12–13. Mark Selby defeated Shaun Murphy 18–15 in the final to win his fourth world title and the 20th ranking title of his career. There were a record 108 century breaks made at the Crucible, with an additional 106 made in qualifying rounds. The tournament's highest break was 144 by Murphy in the second round. (Full article...)
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The 2015 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2015 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament which took place from 19 April to 5 May 2015 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 39th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and was the final ranking event of the 2014–15 snooker season. Sports betting company Betfred sponsored the event for the first time in three years, having previously done so from 2009 to 2012. The top sixteen players in the snooker world rankings were placed into the draw, and another sixteen players qualified for the event at a tournament taking place from 8 to 15 April 2015 at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.

Mark Selby was the defending champion, having defeated the defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2014 final. Selby lost 11–13 in the second round to event debutant Anthony McGill, and became the 16th first-time champion unable to defend his title at the venue. Shaun Murphy, the 2005 winner, met Stuart Bingham in the final. Bingham, who was given odds of 50–1 to win the tournament by bookmakers before the start of the tournament, defeated Murphy 18–15 in the final to win the first world title of his 20-year professional career. Aged 38, Bingham became the oldest player to win the title since Ray Reardon in 1978. (Full article...)
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The 2002 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2002 Embassy World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2002 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the final ranking event of the 2001–02 snooker season. This was the 26th consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, marking the 25th anniversary of the first staging of the event at this venue. The championship was sponsored by cigarette manufacturer Embassy.

Peter Ebdon won his only world title by defeating seven-time winner Stephen Hendry 18–17 in the final. Ebdon defeated Matthew Stevens 17–16 in the semi-finals, and Hendry defeated the defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan 17–13 to reach the final. This was Hendry's ninth and last appearance in a World Championship final. There were 65 century breaks during the tournament. The highest break of the tournament was by Stevens, who achieved 145 in his quarter-final match. Hendry made 16 centuries during the event, a record for any individual tournament, equalled by Mark Williams in 2022. A total prize fund of £1,615,770 was awarded at the event, the winner receiving £260,000 (Full article...)
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The 2019 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2019 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 20 April to 6 May 2019 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 43rd consecutive year the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible, and the 20th and final ranking event of the 2018–19 snooker season. Qualifying for the tournament took place from 10 to 17 April 2019 at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. Sports betting company Betfred sponsored the event.

The winner of the title was Judd Trump, who defeated John Higgins 18–9 in the final to claim his first World Championship. In doing so, Trump became the 11th player to win all three Triple Crown titles at least once. Defending champion Mark Williams lost 9–13 to David Gilbert in the second round of the tournament. For the first time in the history of the World Snooker Championship, an amateur player appeared at the main stage of the event—debutant James Cahill defeated world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, before being narrowly defeated by Stephen Maguire in a second round deciding frame. (Full article...)
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The 2021 Masters (officially the 2021 Betfred Masters) was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place between 10 and 17 January 2021 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. It was the 47th staging of the Masters tournament, which was first held in 1975, and the second of three Triple Crown events in the 2020–21 season, following the 2020 UK Championship and preceding the 2021 World Snooker Championship. The top sixteen players from the snooker world rankings were invited to compete in a knockout tournament. The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association organised the tournament, which was broadcast by the BBC and Eurosport in Europe. The event was sponsored by sports betting company Betfred. It was played behind closed doors because of COVID-19 restrictions in the United Kingdom. Two players, world number one Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski, withdrew from the event after testing positive for COVID-19.

The defending champion, Stuart Bingham, had defeated Ali Carter 10–8 in the previous year's final. Bingham lost 6–5 to Yan Bingtao in the semi-finals. Yan (one of three debutants at the event, alongside Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Gary Wilson) met John Higgins in the final. Yan completed a 10–8 victory to win his first Triple Crown tournament. As the winner of the event, Yan was awarded £250,000 from the total prize pool of £725,000. The highest break of the event was a 145 made by Higgins in his quarter-final win over Ronnie O'Sullivan which earned him £15,000. (Full article...)
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The 2017 World Snooker Championship (officially the 2017 Betfred World Snooker Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 15 April to 1 May 2017 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It was the 19th and final ranking event of the 2016–17 season which followed the China Open. It was the 41st consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship had been held at the Crucible.

The winner of the event was the defending champion and world number one Mark Selby, who defeated John Higgins 18–15 in the final. Selby won despite having fallen 4–10 behind in the second session of the match. Selby defeated Ding Junhui 17–15 in the semi-finals whilst Higgins defeated Barry Hawkins 17–8 to reach the final. This was Selby's third World Championship win; he had also won the tournament in the 2014 and 2016 tournaments. (Full article...)

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Massey setting up a trick shot

Michael Massey (born April 9, 1947), professionally known as Mike Massey, is an American professional pool player. From 1989 to 1991 he served as a contributing editor of The Snap Magazine. Massey was born in Loudon, Tennessee, and for several years lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he owned a pool hall. He has the nickname of "Tennessee Tarzan", but he now lives in Midway, Utah.

Massey was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Billiard Congress of America on April 7, 2005. For 2007 he was ranked as #8 in Pool & Billiard Magazine's poll of the "Fans' Top 20 Favorite Players". (Full article...)
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The layout of balls in sinuca brasileira

Sinuca brasileira (Portuguese for Brazilian snooker), often simply called sinuca, is a cue sport played on a snooker table, using only one red ball instead of snooker's fifteen, with the normal six colours of the standard set of snooker balls. Each ball carries the same basic point value as in snooker. As with other pocket billiards games, a white cue ball is used to pot the red and other coloured balls. The game is played almost exclusively in Brazil and is little known outside this region. (Full article...)
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The "Crucible curse" (also known as "The curse of the Crucible") is a quip in professional snooker, referring to the fact that no first-time winner of the World Snooker Championship has retained the title since the tournament moved to Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in 1977. Beginning with the 1979 champion Terry Griffiths, who lost in the second round of the 1980 event, 20 first-time world champions have failed to defend their titles, although Joe Johnson and Ken Doherty made it to the final the year after their maiden victories. Most recently, the 2024 champion Kyren Wilson lost in the first round of the 2025 World Snooker Championship. Zhao Xintong, first-time winner of the 2025 event, can attempt to break the Curse in the 2026.

Several world champions successfully defended their first title in the pre-Crucible era; the last to do so was John Pulman in 1964. (Full article...)
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Sigel at the 2003 US Open

Michael Sigel (born July 11, 1953) is an American professional pool player nicknamed "Captain Hook." He earned the nickname from his ability to hook his opponents with safety plays. Sigel was dominant during the 1980s in 9-Ball and Straight Pool and has a high run of 339 balls in Straight Pool. Mike Sigel is widely considered one of the greatest pool players of all time. In the year 2000, Sigel was voted "Greatest Living Player of the Century" by Billiards Digest Magazine. (Full article...)
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Sport Lisboa e Benfica (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɨˈpɔɾ liʒˈβoɐ i βɐ̃jˈfikɐ] ), commonly known as Benfica, is a semi-professional billiards team based in Lisbon, Portugal. Founded in 1938, Benfica compete in the Portuguese Billiards League, in carom billiards (three-cushion), pool (eight-ball and nine-ball), and snooker events. The team is almost exclusively composed of Portuguese players. They play at the Estádio da Luz in a 202 square meters room with 4 professional pool tables and a 50 people stand. (Full article...)
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Robin Bell Dodson (née Hansen; born May 30, 1956) is a former professional billiards player. (Full article...)
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Morris c. 2007

Rodney Morris (born November 25, 1970, in Anaheim, California) is a professional pool player, nicknamed "the Rocket". In 2016, he was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. Morris won the 1996 U.S. Open Nine-ball Championship, 2003 World Pool League, 2006 UPA Pro Tour Championship (nine-ball), and 2013 U.S. Open Ten-ball Championship, among many other individual titles. In doubles play, he and Shane Van Boening took the 2008 World Cup of Pool. He has also been a member of the winning Team USA in the Mosconi Cup events of 2003–2005, and was the Mosconi Cup MVP in 2004. (Full article...)
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Blue-filled: nations that have hosted a professional snooker tournament.
Red-filled: nations that have hosted a pro–am tournament but are yet to host a fully professional tournament.

This is a list of professional and alternative format snooker tournaments. Professional snooker tournaments can take the form of ranking tournaments—which are open to players on the main tour and award ranking points based on a player's performance—and non-ranking tournaments. A non-ranking tournament may take the form of an invitational event where player participation is conditional on criteria set by the organiser or sponsor or by personal invite. Most tournaments take the form of a 'singles' event, but there are several team formats that have appeared on the calendar over the years.

In recent seasons alternative forms of snooker have proliferated on the calendar. Any event that uses the official rules of snooker but is not completely consistent with them is defined as an "alternative form of snooker", such as six-red snooker (which is played with six reds as opposed to the standard fifteen as required by the official rules), and alterations to scoring and fouling. Some tournaments have occupied the middle ground between strict adherence to the official rules and adopting an alternative format by implementing tournament rules that fully complement the official rules of the game, such as adding a shot clock or call shot; in such instances, a tournament rule operates in a way that the official rules of the game are still fully observed. (Full article...)
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McLeod at the 2022 European Masters

Rory McLeod (born 26 March 1971) is an English-Jamaican former professional snooker player. He has reached the last 16 in ten ranking tournaments, and his most notable achievement came in 2015, when he won the minor ranking Ruhr Open, beating Tian Pengfei in the final. His highest ranking is 32, which he last reached in 2012.

Having suffered relegation from the main tour at the end of the 2018-2019 season, McLeod spent the 2019-20 season playing on the World Seniors Tour and Challenge Tour; he regained his professional status at the 2020 Q School. (Full article...)
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Trump at the 2015 World Championship

Judd Trump (born 20 August 1989) is an English professional snooker player who is a former world champion and the current world number one. He is currently in fourth place on the list of all-time ranking event winners, having won 30 ranking titles. He has also won five Triple Crown titles.

After a junior career that included winning the English Under-13 and Under-15 titles, and reaching the World Under-21 Championship semi-finals aged 14, Trump turned professional in 2005. He won his maiden ranking title at the 2011 China Open, was runner-up to John Higgins at the 2011 World Snooker Championship, and captured his first Triple Crown title at the 2011 UK Championship. By the end of the 2017–18 season, he had won eight ranking titles but was facing persistent criticism that he was underachieving in the sport, given his talent. In the 2018–19 season, he completed his career Triple Crown by winning both the Masters and World Championship, won two other ranking events, and became the first player to win over £1 million in prize money in a single season.

In the 2019–20 season, he won six ranking events, setting a new record for the most ranking titles in a single season. He added a further five ranking titles during the 2020–21 season. He reached his third World Championship final in 2022, where he was runner-up to Ronnie O'Sullivan, and was awarded an MBE in the same year. He won his second Masters title in 2023, making him the 11th player to win the tournament more than once. During the 2024–25 season, he won total prize money of £1,680,600, setting a new record for the most prize money in a single season. He has been voted the World Snooker Tour's Player of the Year four times—2019 to 2021 consecutively and again in 2025—and was inducted into the Snooker Hall of Fame in 2021. (Full article...)

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Did you know (auto-generated) - load new batch

... that Turkish carom billiards champion Güzin Müjde Karakaşlı grew up playing volleyball for about 12 years?
... that Gary Wilson threw his snooker cue to the floor in anger at the 2022 UK Championship?
... that the 1947 World Snooker Championship was the first world snooker championship where the winner wasn't Joe Davis?
... that John Spencer won a World Snooker Championship on his first attempt in 1969?
... that Mark Williams travelled for more than 13 hours to be a last-minute replacement at the 2022 Hong Kong Masters?
... that the Highfield Cocoa and Coffee House in Sheffield, England, sold tea, coffee and cocoa at a penny a pint and also provided billiards and reading rooms?
... that after winning the 2024 Masters, snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan is both the youngest and oldest winner of the tournament?
... that at the 1978 World Snooker Championship, Fred Davis reached the semi-finals at the age of 64?

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Davis in 2012

Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a commentator, DJ, electronic musician and author. He dominated professional snooker in the 1980s, when he reached eight World Snooker Championship finals in nine years, won six world titles and held the world number one ranking for seven consecutive seasons. He won 28 ranking titles during his career, placing him fifth on the all-time list, behind Ronnie O'Sullivan (41), Stephen Hendry (36), John Higgins (33) and Judd Trump (30). The first player to make an officially recognised maximum break in professional competition, at the 1982 Classic, he was also the first to earn £1 million in career prize money. He is the only snooker player to have won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, which he received in 1988.

Davis became widely known for his role in one of snooker's most famous matches, the 1985 World Championship final. Then the defending champion, he took an 8–0 lead over Dennis Taylor in the best-of-35-frame final, but Taylor recovered to tie the scores at 11–11, 15–15 and 17–17. The 68-minute deciding frame ended in a dramatic battle on the last black ball that attracted 18.5 million viewers in the UK, still the largest British television audience for any broadcast after midnight and any broadcast on BBC Two. Taylor potted the black to win the only world title of his career. Davis's terse responses in post-match interviews became the basis for a recurring caricature on the satirical British television show Spitting Image, which gave him the sardonic nickname "Interesting". (Full article...)
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The 2004 European Open was the 2004 edition of the European Open snooker tournament, held from 1 to 6 March 2004, at the Hilton Conference Centre, Portomaso, Malta. It was the final year the event was known as European Open, as the event was renamed to Malta Cup in next year. Stephen Maguire defeated Jimmy White by nine frames to three (9–3) in the final to claim his first ranking-event title, transforming him from "talented underachiever into a world-ranking event winner", according to The Times. In the semi-finals Maguire defeated Stephen Lee and White beat Tony Drago. The tournament was the fifth of eight WPBSA ranking events in the 2003/2004 season, following the Welsh Open and preceding the Irish Masters. (Full article...)
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Tom Reece playing an anchor stroke at English billiards, from his 1928 book "Cannons and Big Guns"

Tom Reece (12 August 1873 – 16 October 1953) was an English professional player of English billiards. He was six times runner-up in the professional billiards championship, now regarded as the world championship, losing three times to Melbourne Inman in finals from 1912 to 1914, and three times to Tom Newman in the 1921, 1924 and 1925 finals. He made the unofficial world's highest billiards break of 499,135 in 1907 using a cradle cannon technique shortly before it was banned from the sport. In 1927, his prowess with the pendulum stroke led to that also being banned from use in competition.

His highest officially-recognised break was 901, which he compiled in 1916. He authored two books, Dainty Billiards: How to play the close cannon game (1925), and his autobiography Cannons and Big Guns (1928). Reece died on 16 October 1953, a week after suffering a stroke. (Full article...)
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The 2019 China Championship (officially the 2019 Evergrande China Championship) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 23 to 29 September 2019. The event was held at the Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Centre in Guangzhou, China. Qualifying for the event took place from 15 to 18 August 2019 at the Barnsley Metrodome in Barnsley, England. The tournament was the fourth edition of the China Championship and the third ranking event of the 2019/2020 season.

Mark Selby was the defending champion, having defeated John Higgins in the previous year's final 10–9. Selby reached the semi-finals, before losing 6–3 to Shaun Murphy. Murphy reached his third consecutive final, having done so at the two prior events Shanghai Masters and the International Championship. Murphy played Mark Williams in the final, winning his 8th ranking title with a 10–9 in the final. The highest break of the event was a 145 made by Mark Allen in the first round win over Anthony Hamilton. (Full article...)
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The 2021 British Open (officially the 2021 Matchroom.live British Open) was a professional snooker event played from 16 to 22 August 2021 at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, England. It was the 2021 edition of the British Open event, and the first since the 2004 British Open. It was the second ranking event of the 2021–22 snooker season, following the 2021 Championship League and preceding the 2021 Northern Ireland Open. It was broadcast by ITV Sport in the UK, and sponsored by Matchroom Sport. The winner received £100,000 from a total prize pool of £470,000.

All rounds in the tournament were played after a random draw made under a single-elimination tournament format with no seeded players. The first four rounds, from the last 128 to the last 16, were played as best-of-five frame matches, the quarter-finals and semi-finals as best-of-seven-frame matches, and the final played as the best-of-eleven frames. John Higgins, the defending champion from 2004, lost 1–3 to Ricky Walden in the third round. Mark Williams defeated Gary Wilson 6–4 in the final to win the 24th ranking title of his career. The event featured 32 century breaks, including two maximum breaks. Higgins made his 12th maximum break in professional competition in the first frame of his first-round win over Alexander Ursenbacher, and Ali Carter made his third maximum break in the second frame of his fourth-round match against Elliot Slessor. (Full article...)
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The 2001 Malta Grand Prix (officially the 2001 Rothmans Malta Grand Prix) was a professional snooker tournament held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta, Malta, from 21 to 25 February 2001. It was the seventh and last Malta Grand Prix, and the fourth of the five World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association invitational competitions in the 2000–01 snooker season. It preceded the season's antepenultimate invitational event, the 2001 Masters. The event featured 12 players and was played as a round-robin format until the semi-finals.

Ken Doherty was the defending champion of the tournament having defeated Mark Williams nine frames to three (9–3) in the final of the 2000 event but was eliminated from the group stages after finishing second in his group. Stephen Hendry won the competition, beating Williams 7–1 in the final. It was the 69th tournament that Hendry had won and he earned £10,000 from a prize pool of £36,000. In the semi-finals, Hendry defeated fellow Scot John Higgins 6–4 and Williams also beat Fergal O'Brien 6–4. Hendry made a maximum break in the third frame of the final, the highest of the tournament and the 42nd maximum in professional play. (Full article...)
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James William Moore (September 14, 1910 – November 17, 1999), known as "Cowboy Jimmy Moore", was a world-class American pocket billiards (pool) player originally from Troup County, Georgia, and for most of his life a resident of Albuquerque, New Mexico, best known for his mastery in the game of straight pool (14.1 continuous).

An excellent athlete at various sports, Moore's achievements in pocket billiards include winning the Michigan State Championship four times and placing second at the World Straight Pool Championship on four occasions. Throughout Moore's career he competed against the best in the world such as Willie Mosconi, Irving Crane and Luther Lassiter, winning the National Pocket Billiards Championship in 1958, the National Pocket Billiards Championship in 1965 and the Legends of Pocket Billiards Tournament in 1984. (Full article...)
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The 2019 Dynamic Billard St. Johann im Pongau Open was a professional nine-ball pool tournament and the third Euro Tour event of 2019. The event was held from 13 to 16 June 2019, at the Alpina, Wellness & Sporthotel in Sankt Johann im Pongau, Austria. The event followed the Treviso Open, won by Poland's Konrad Juszczyszyn, and preceded the Veldhoven Open.

The St. Johann im Pongau Open final was contested between the top two ranked players, Eklent Kaçi and Joshua Filler. Kaçi won the event, defeating Filler 9–6. Alexander Kazakis was the defending champion, having defeated Denis Grabe in the 2018 Austria Open final (9–5). However, Kazakis lost twice in the double-elimination round and did not reach the knockout round. Jasmin Ouschan was the defending champion of the women's event, after defeating Marharyta Fefilava in the 2018 final (7–2). In a rematch of the previous year's event, Ouschan defended her championship by defeating Fefilava 7–1 in this year's final. (Full article...)
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The 2020 Shoot Out (officially the 2020 BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out) was a professional ranking snooker tournament held from 20 to 23 February 2020 at the Watford Colosseum in Watford, England. It was the 13th ranking event of the 2019–20 snooker season. It was played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker. The event was the third of four events sponsored by BetVictor, making up the 2020 European Series.

The defending champion was Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who defeated England's Michael Holt 74–0 in the 2019 final. In 2020, Un-Nooh was beaten by Peter Lines in the second round. For the second consecutive year, Holt reached the final, where he defeated Zhou Yuelong 64–1. There were four century breaks during the event, the highest being a 133 by Thor Chuan Leong. There was a prize fund of £171,000, £50,000 of which was awarded to the winner. (Full article...)
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George Balabushka (Russian: Григорий Антонович Балабушка Grigoriy Antonovich Balabushka; December 9, 1912 – December 5, 1975) was a Russian-born billiards cue maker, arguably one of the most prominent member of that profession. His full name or last name standing alone is often used to refer to a cue stick made by him. Arriving in the U.S. in 1924, he worked at various carpentry and toy and furniture making jobs. He was an avid pool player and purchased a pool room with a business partner in 1959 and thereafter started making cues as gifts for friends, which quickly blossomed into a business when others wanted to purchase them.

Balabushka turned out approximately 1,200 handcrafted cues during his 16-year cue-making career, spanning from 1959 to his death in 1975. His cues are highly valued collectors items, made more so after being prominently featured in Martin Scorsese's 1986 film The Color of Money. Balabushka cues are generally separated into three distinct classes and time periods related to what blanks Balabushka was using in cue construction: The Titlist blank era (1959–1966), the Burton Spain blank era (1966–1971), and the Gus Szamboti blank era (1971–1975). Original Balabushka cues with verified provenance may realize tens of thousands of dollars at auction. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various cue sports-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Joe Davis, founder of the World Snooker Championship, won 15 consecutive world titles from 1927 to 1946. (from Snooker)
Image 2The World Snooker Championship trophy (from Snooker)
Image 3alt=Green snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 4alt=Pink snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 5Historic print depicting Michael Phelan's Billiard Saloon located at the corner of 10th Street and Broadway in Manhattan, 1 January 1859 (from Carom billiards)
Image 6A Game of Billiards by Louis-Léopold Boilly, 1807 (from Carom billiards)
Image 7alt=Black snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 8A full-size snooker table set up for a game (from Snooker)
Image 9alt=Red snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 10Illustration A: Aerial view of a snooker table with the 22 balls in their starting positions. The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in the semicircle (known as the "D") at the start of the game. (from Snooker)
Image 11A shot using a rest, allowing the player to reach farther down the table (from Snooker)
Image 12Louis XIV playing billiards (1694) (from Carom billiards)
Image 13alt=Brown snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 14A complete set of snooker balls (from Snooker)
Image 15A player racking the balls (from Pool (cue sports))
Image 16Balkline table with standard markings (from Carom billiards)
Image 17A sliding scoreboard, some blocks of cue-tip chalk, white chalk-board chalk and two cues (from Snooker)
Image 18alt=Blue snooker ball (from Snooker)
Image 19A close-up view of a cue tip about to strike the cue ball, the aim being to pot the red ball into a corner pocket (from Snooker)
Image 20A pool table diagram (from Pool (cue sports))
Image 21A massé shot around a pin (from Carom billiards)
Image 22Cigarette card, c. 1911, showing George Sutton playing balkline (from Carom billiards)
Image 23Dutch pool player Niels Feijen at the 2008 European Pool Championship (from Pool (cue sports))
Image 24Jerome Keogh invented the game in 1910. (from Straight pool)
Image 25A set of standard carom billiard balls, comprising a red object ball, one plain white cue ball, and one dotted white cue ball (replaced in modern three-cushion billiards by a yellow ball) for the opponent (from Carom billiards)
Image 26Paul Gauguin's 1888 painting Night Café at Arles includes a depiction of French billiards (from Carom billiards)
Image 27The Family Remy by Januarius Zick, c. 1776, featuring billiards among other parlour activities (from Carom billiards)
Image 28alt=Yellow snooker ball (from Snooker)

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v t e Cue sports
Pool games	Eight-ball British eight-ball Nine-ball Straight pool Ten-ball Artistic pool and trick shots Bank pool Baseball Bottle pool Bowlliards Chicago Cowboy pool Cribbage Cutthroat Fifteen-ball Golf Honolulu Kelly pool Killer One-pocket Pyramid pool Rotation Seven-ball Speed pool Three-ball
Carom billiards	Three-cushion One-cushion Balkline Straight rail Five-pins Artistic billiards Four-ball Goriziana
Snooker	Snooker Six-red snooker Snooker plus American snooker Brazilian snooker Shoot Out
Other games	English billiards Russian pyramid Kaisa Danish pin billiards Bumper pool Bagatelle Boccette Bar billiards Novuss Ground billiards Slosh
Resources	Glossary Techniques Billiard table Billiard ball Billiard hall Cue stick Rack Comparison of cue sports
Major international tournaments	Artistic Billiards World Championship UMB World Three-cushion Championship World Snooker Championship champions Six-red World Championship World Women's Snooker Championship WPA World Nine-ball Championship Women's champions WPA World Ten-ball Championship World Straight Pool Championship WPA World Eight-ball Championship champions World Cup of Pool Mosconi Cup World Pool Masters Cue sports at the World Games
Other events	Euro Tour events European Pool Championships U.S. Open Straight Pool 8-Ball 9-Ball
Governing bodies	World Confederation of Billiards Sports Union Mondiale de Billard World Pool Association International Billiards and Snooker Federation World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Categories	Cue sports Players Organizations Competitions
Cue sports portal The rules of games in italics are standardized by international sanctioning bodies.

v t e World pool champions
Nine-ball (men's)	1990: Earl Strickland 1991: Earl Strickland 1992: Johnny Archer 1993: Chao Fong-pang 1994: Takeshi Okumura 1995: Oliver Ortmann 1996: Ralf Souquet 1997: Johnny Archer 1998: Kunihiko Takahashi 1999: Efren Reyes & Nick Varner 2000: Chao Fong-pang 2001: Mika Immonen 2002: Earl Strickland 2003: Thorsten Hohmann 2004: Alex Pagulayan 2005: Wu Jia-qing 2006: Ronato Alcano 2007: Daryl Peach 2010: Francisco Bustamante 2011: Yukio Akakariyama 2012: Darren Appleton 2013: Thorsten Hohmann 2014: Niels Feijen 2015: Ko Pin-yi 2016: Albin Ouschan 2017: Carlo Biado 2018: Joshua Filler 2019: Fedor Gorst 2021: Albin Ouschan 2022: Shane Van Boening 2023: Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 2024: Fedor Gorst 2025: Carlo Biado
Nine-ball (women's)	1990: Robin Bell 1991: Robin Bell 1992: Franziska Stark 1993: Loree Jon Jones 1994: Ewa Laurance 1995: Gerda Hofstätter 1996: Allison Fisher 1997: Allison Fisher 1998: Allison Fisher 1999: Liu Hsin-mei 2000: Julie Kelly 2001: Allison Fisher 2002: Liu Hsin-mei 2004: Kim Ga-young 2006: Kim Ga-young 2007: Pan Xiaoting 2008: Lin Yuan-chun 2009: Liu Shasha 2010: Fu Xiaofang 2011: Bi Zhu Qing 2012: Kelly Fisher 2013: Han Yu 2014: Liu Shasha 2015: Liu Shasha 2016: Han Yu 2017: Chen Siming 2018: Han Yu 2019: Kelly Fisher 2023: Chou Chieh-yu 2024: Rubilen Amit
Eight-ball (champions)	2004: Efren Reyes 2005: Wu Jia-qing 2007: Ronato Alcano 2008: Ralf Souquet 2010: Karl Boyes 2011: Dennis Orcollo 2012: Chang Jung-Lin 2022: Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 2023: Shane Van Boening 2024: Joshua Filler
Ten-ball	2008: Darren Appleton 2009: Mika Immonen 2011: Huidji See 2015: Ko Pin-yi 2019: Ko Ping-chung 2021: Eklent Kaçi 2022: Wojciech Szewczyk 2023: Eklent Kaçi 2024: Carlo Biado
Straight pool	2006: Thorsten Hohmann 2007: Oliver Ortmann 2008: Niels Feijen 2009: Stephan Cohen 2010: Oliver Ortmann 2011: Thorsten Hohmann 2012: John Schmidt 2013: Thorsten Hohmann 2014: Darren Appleton 2015: Thorsten Hohmann 2016: Mika Immonen 2017: Lee Vann Corteza 2018: Thorsten Hohmann 2019: Shane Van Boening
Cue sports portal

v t e World Snooker Championship
Early events	1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952
Match-play	1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957
Challenges	Apr 1964 Oct 1964 Mar 1965 Nov 1965 Dec 1965 Apr 1966 Mar 1968
Knock-outs	1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976
Crucible era	1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Related articles	List of winners List of players Triple Crown Crucible Theatre Crucible curse World Professional Match-play Championship Black ball final (1985)
Cue sports portal

v t e World snooker champions
Early events	1927: Joe Davis (ENG) 1928: Joe Davis (ENG) 1929: Joe Davis (ENG) 1930: Joe Davis (ENG) 1931: Joe Davis (ENG) 1932: Joe Davis (ENG) 1933: Joe Davis (ENG) 1934: Joe Davis (ENG) 1935: Joe Davis (ENG) 1936: Joe Davis (ENG) 1937: Joe Davis (ENG) 1938: Joe Davis (ENG) 1939: Joe Davis (ENG) 1940: Joe Davis (ENG) 1946: Joe Davis (ENG) 1947: Walter Donaldson (SCO) 1948: Fred Davis (ENG) 1949: Fred Davis (ENG) 1950: Walter Donaldson (SCO) 1951: Fred Davis (ENG) 1952: Horace Lindrum (AUS)
Match-play	1952: Fred Davis (ENG) 1953: Fred Davis (ENG) 1954: Fred Davis (ENG) 1955: Fred Davis (ENG) 1956: Fred Davis (ENG) 1957: John Pulman (ENG)
Challenges	1964 (Apr): John Pulman (ENG) 1964 (Oct): John Pulman (ENG) 1965 (Mar): John Pulman (ENG) 1965 (Sep–Dec): John Pulman (ENG) 1965 (Dec): John Pulman (ENG) 1966: John Pulman (ENG) 1968: John Pulman (ENG)
Knock-outs	1969: John Spencer (ENG) 1970: Ray Reardon (WAL) 1971: John Spencer (ENG) 1972: Alex Higgins (NIR) 1973: Ray Reardon (WAL) 1974: Ray Reardon (WAL) 1975: Ray Reardon (WAL) 1976: Ray Reardon (WAL)
Crucible era	1977: John Spencer (ENG) 1978: Ray Reardon (WAL) 1979: Terry Griffiths (WAL) 1980: Cliff Thorburn (CAN) 1981: Steve Davis (ENG) 1982: Alex Higgins (NIR) 1983: Steve Davis (ENG) 1984: Steve Davis (ENG) 1985: Dennis Taylor (NIR) 1986: Joe Johnson (ENG) 1987: Steve Davis (ENG) 1988: Steve Davis (ENG) 1989: Steve Davis (ENG) 1990: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1991: John Parrott (ENG) 1992: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1993: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1994: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1995: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1996: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 1997: Ken Doherty (IRL) 1998: John Higgins (SCO) 1999: Stephen Hendry (SCO) 2000: Mark Williams (WAL) 2001: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2002: Peter Ebdon (ENG) 2003: Mark Williams (WAL) 2004: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2005: Shaun Murphy (ENG) 2006: Graeme Dott (SCO) 2007: John Higgins (SCO) 2008: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2009: John Higgins (SCO) 2010: Neil Robertson (AUS) 2011: John Higgins (SCO) 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2013: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2014: Mark Selby (ENG) 2015: Stuart Bingham (ENG) 2016: Mark Selby (ENG) 2017: Mark Selby (ENG) 2018: Mark Williams (WAL) 2019: Judd Trump (ENG) 2020: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2021: Mark Selby (ENG) 2022: Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 2023: Luca Brecel (BEL) 2024: Kyren Wilson (ENG) 2025: Zhao Xintong (CHN)
Cue sports portal Category

v t e Snooker world rankings
World rankings	1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
Ranking points	2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24
Cue sports portal List of world number one snooker players