World ranking: 11
Last five seasons: 10-11-14-22-31
Date of birth: 29-06-71
Lives: Nottingham, Nottinghamshire
Turned professional: 1991
Ranking tournament victories: 0
Last season’s prize money: £91,200
Career prize money: £461,379
Highest tournament break: 145

Nottingham’s Anthony Hamilton, dubbed the ‘Robin Hood of Snooker’, has already proved he has more than one string to his bow but he has yet to strike gold.

He came mighty close to winning his first major title at the 1999 British Open in Plymouth, beating Marco Fu, Paul Hunter, Mark Williams, Stephen Hendry and Jimmy Michie before going down 9-7 to Fergal O’Brien in the final.

Hamilton, who has earned a reputation as a big break-builder, began the final with two centuries - 110 and 134 - but lost a number of close frames on the pink or black.

“Fergal potted all the pressure balls and deserved to win,” he admitted.

“But it was a great buzz and I’ve been waiting for that for eight years as a pro.”

Hamilton secured his place among the elite top 16 without reaching the quarter-finals of a ranking event.

All that changed during the 1998-99 season when he reached the last eight of the German Open and Regal Welsh, then went one better in the Thailand Masters in Bangkok, where he eventually lost 5-4 to John Parrott.

Hamilton, winner of the Australian Open and Australian Masters - both non-ranking events - in 1995, slipped one place to 11th last season.

But he did have the satisfaction of reaching the quarter-finals of the Embassy World Championship for the first time.

He defeated Hong Kong’s Fu 10-4 and 1997 world champion Ken Doherty 13-12 before finding John Higgins too strong in the last eight, going down 13-3.

“This is the toughest of all venues,” he said afterwards.

“You arrive in good heart, still in contention and knowing you’ve done the practice.

"But, after 45 minutes out there, John Higgins knew he had won. He’d gone 7-3 in front and he could sense I was nowhere in sight. I wasn’t competing.”