Ricky Walden is a snooker professional, born in Chester, England but living in Flintshire, Wales.

He is currently ranked 18th in the world. He won the 2008 Shanghai Masters, his first ranking final, having previously reached one further ranking quarter-final. He has spent four seasons in the top 48 of the rankings. His first appearance at the final stages of the World Championship came in 2009

He was one of the Young Players of Distinction in a scheme run in 2000, designed to help young players develop their playing and media skills, alongside Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter. In 2001 he won the World Under-21 Championship.

He started the 2004/2005 season ranked at #78 in the world, but climbed 30 places that year. He beat John Higgins twice that season, at the Grand Prix and UK Championship, and reached the Quarter-Final of the China Open.

In 2005/2006 his best run was to the last 16 in the China Open, which he achieved by beating Stephen Maguire. In 2006/2007 he had 2 last-32 appearance including the UK Championship, where he lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan 8–9. He lost to eventual finalist Mark Selby in qualifying for the World Championship.

Robert Milkins (born 6 March 1976) is an English professional snooker player from Gloucester. Milkins' highest ever world ranking is 21, and he spent 4 seasons in the top 32, before dropping to #47 for the 2007/2008 season.

He turned professional in 1995, but dropped off the Main Tour when it was reduced in size after the 1996/1997 season, but returned a year later via the UK Tour. After four seasons of solid progress with occasional last-16 runs, he reached the last 16 of the World Snooker Championship in 2002, and the first round in each of the next three years.

He made history in qualifying for the 2006 World Snooker Championship by making a 147 break in his match against Mark Selby. He became only the sixth player to achieve a maximum in the tournament, and the first to do so in qualifying (as a result, he earned £5,000; in the main tournament it would be worth £147,000). He ultimately lost to Selby 4–10, becoming only the second player to lose a World Championship match despite a 147, the other being Ronnie O'Sullivan against Marco Fu in 2003. Milkins also made a maximum break against Xiao Guodong in the fourth qualifying round of the 2012 tournament, and this time he won the match 10–4. He has also been on the wrong end of a 147 in the tournament – Mark Williams completed a 10–1 victory in the first round of the 2005 tournament with a final-frame maximum.

Barry Hawkins (born 23 April 1979, Kent, England) is an English professional snooker player. He has reached three ranking semi-finals, and spent five seasons inside the top 32 of the rankings. He has also played in the World Championship the last six years running.

Before taking up snooker professionally he was an office clerk. He reached the Top 32 in the rankings in 2004/2005, having reached the semi-finals of 2005's Welsh Open, as well as the last sixteen of three other tournaments.

In 2005/2006, he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open again, and also beat the high-ranked Ding Junhui to qualify for the World Championship for the first time. This cemented Hawkins' place in the Top 16 of the rankings for the 2006/2007 season.

At the World Championship in Sheffield, however, Hawkins faced former Champion Ken Doherty in the first round, and in the intimidating Crucible Theatre lost 10–1. He told the BBC that "I just couldn't perform and I don't know why... I'm gutted after such a good season to have performed like that."

James Warren "Jimmy" White MBE (born 2 May 1962) is an English professional snooker player. Nicknamed "The Whirlwind" and popularly referred to as the "People's Champion", White is a multiple World Championship finalist renowned for losing each of the six finals he contested.

White's extensive list of achievements, however, also include victory in the World Amateur Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters. He is also a former World Doubles champion with Alex Higgins, won the World Cup twice and Nations Cup once with England and was the 2010 World Seniors Champion. In 1992, he became the first left-handed player, and second overall, to record a maximum break at the World Championship.

White was born in Tooting, London, England, and studied at Ernest Bevin College. He never achieved academic success, as he was often truant from school from the age of eight or nine, spending more and more time at Ted Zanicelli's snooker hall. It was around this time that he met Tony Meo with whom he would compete in money matches in many venues. His natural aptitude for snooker led to a successful amateur career. After winning the English Amateur Championship in 1979, a year later he became the youngest-ever winner of the World Amateur Snooker Championship, aged 18.

Marco Fu Ka-chun (Chinese: 傅家俊; pinyin: Fù Jiājùn; Yale: Fu6 Ka1 Chun3; born 8 January 1978 in Hong Kong), commonly known as Marco Fu, is a professional snooker player from Hong Kong. He is best known for winning the 2007 Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final, and for being runner-up in the 2008 UK Championship and the 2011 Masters. He also reached the semi-finals of the 2006 World Championship. He currently resides in Happy Valley.

Fu started playing snooker at the age of nine, but did not start playing regularly until he was 15. Fu was born in Hong Kong and emigrated to Vancouver, Canada with his parents at the age of 12. After his high school graduation at age 18, Hong Kong Billiard Sports Control Council Co. Ltd President Joseph Lo invited him to return to Hong Kong to begin his career as a professional snooker player. Before turning professional, Fu won the World Amateur and World Under-21 Championships, both in 1997.

In 1998, the year he turned professional, Fu reached the final of the Grand Prix, beating Ronnie O'Sullivan (5–2) and then Peter Ebdon (5–3) in the process. An in-form Stephen Lee proved too strong for Fu in the final, defeating him 9–2, but Fu nevertheless rose dramatically through the rankings, reaching number 15 in the world for the 2000/01 season. When he first turned professional, he was ranked 377th in the world. During the rest of the 1998/99 season, Fu qualifed for four more ranking tournaments, including the World Championship, winning four qualifying matches before losing to James Wattana 8–10 in the first round of the main draw.