Snooker (British English pronunciation:  /ˈsnuːkər/) is a cue sport that is played on a green or other coloured baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. The (baize) cloth on a snooker table has a directional nap running from the balk end of the table towards the end with the (black ball) spot. This affects how a ball rolls depending on which direction it is hit or shot. A regular (full-size) table is 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m). It is played using a cue and 22 snooker balls: one white cue ball, 15 red balls worth one point each, and six balls of different colours: yellow (2 points), green (3), brown (4), blue (5), pink (6) and black (7). A player (or team) wins a frame (individual game) of snooker by scoring more points than the opponent(s), using the cue ball to pot the red and coloured balls. A player wins a match when a certain number of frames have been won.

Snooker, generally regarded as having been invented in India by British Army officers, is popular in many of the English-speaking and Commonwealth countries, with top professional players attaining multi-million pound career earnings from the game. The sport is now increasingly popular in China.

Ronald Antonio "Ronnie" O'Sullivan (born 5 December 1975) is an English professional snooker player known for his rapid playing style, and is nicknamed "The Rocket". He has been World Champion on four occasions (2001, 2004, 2008 and 2012) and, with career earnings of over £6 million is second after Stephen Hendry on snooker's all-time prize-money list. O'Sullivan has been the world's no. 1 player on five occasions, and has won a total of 24 ranking titles. He is second, again behind Hendry, on the list of players making the most competitive century breaks, with a total of 678. O'Sullivan has compiled 11 maximum breaks in professional competition, a record which he shares with Hendry. He also holds the record for the fastest maximum break, at 5 minutes 20 seconds.

O'Sullivan is considered by many fans, critics and professionals, including fellow multiple-World Championship winners Hendry and Steve Davis, as the most naturally talented player in the history of the game. He has, however, been involved in a number of controversial incidents during his career.

Mark Anthony Selby (born 19 June 1983, Leicester, England) is an English professional snooker and pool player. Runner up in the World Snooker Championship 2007, he was the 2006 WEPF World Eight-ball Champion. Selby has won the Masters on two occasions, the Welsh Open, the Shanghai Masters and is the current world number one. Known as a tough competitor, Selby is also an accomplished break-builder with over 200 centuries.

Selby showed potential as a teenager, but did not consistently shine until his twenties. He reached his first ranking final aged 19, the Regal Scottish in 2003, where he finished runner-up to David Gray, losing 9–7 in the final. Before that, he had also already reached the semi-finals of the 2002 China Open, despite leaving his hotel room at 2 a.m. instead of 2 p.m. for one match due to jetlag.

Selby reached the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2002, 2003 and 2004, losing each time. Early in the 2005/06 season he began to be managed by former snooker professional and fellow Leicester resident Mukesh Parmar and reached the final stages of the World Snooker Championship, at the Crucible Theatre, for the first time. Selby went out in the first round, losing to John Higgins but has qualified for the final stages every year since, including in 2006 despite a 147 from his final qualifying round opponent Robert Milkins.

Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. His media profile developed swiftly and he became known as the "Beckham of the Baize" because of his good looks and flamboyant style.

Hunter was a three-time Masters Champion, winning the title on the deciding frame on all three occasions. Hunter compiled 114 competitive century breaks in the course of his professional career, including a personal record break of 146 compiled at the 2004 Premier League. Hunter also won three ranking titles, the British Open and the Welsh Open (twice).

In March 2005 Hunter was diagnosed with neuroendocrine tumors, and died from the disease in 2006 just before his 28th birthday. He was survived by his wife, Lindsey, and their daughter.

Hunter was born in Leeds in 1978 and was educated at St Andrews Primary School and Cardinal Heenan High School. With some encouragement from friends and family, he spent many hours practising snooker. He often travelled to Bradford to practise alongside Joe Johnson. At the age of 12 Hunter was considered an "outstanding junior talent". He won many junior tournaments and at the age of 14 won the English Doubles Championship with Richard Brooke. With the help of former professional snooker players Jimmy Michie and Joe Johnson, Hunter made his debut among the professionals in July 1995 at the age of 16.

Gerard Greene (born 12 November 1973 in Kent, England) is a left-handed Northern Irish professional snooker player, who has represented Northern Ireland in international events (the Nations Cup in 2000 and 2001), as his parents are from Belfast. He lives in Rainham in Kent. He has enjoyed moderate success in his career; 2007–2008 is his third season ranked among the top 32 in the world, and his eighth in the top 48. He has reached one ranking semi-final (the 2007 Grand Prix) and four quarter-finals.

He has qualified for the World Championship three times without winning a match at the Crucible Theatre, although he has twice drawn the defending champion – (John Higgins in 1999 and Peter Ebdon in 2003). The other time he qualified was in 2005 where he lost 10–9 to Steve Davis .

He had an extraordinary match in the 1996 Grand Prix, going in-off on the final black to decide the frame three times (thus losing all 3 frames) in a 5–0 defeat to Davis, who called him "the unluckiest man in the snooker world".