Dave Harold (09/12/66)
World Ranking: 18
Dave Harold caused an upset when, ranked 50th in the world, he won the 1993 Asian Open in Thailand.
As the top seeds fell by the wayside, Harold steered his way through to beat Darren Morgan 9-3 in the final after eliminating Alain Robidoux, Dene O’Kane and Stephen Hendry in the earlier rounds.
Victories over Neal Foulds and Rod Lawler took him through to the quarter-finals of the 1996 Embassy World Championship but Nigel Bond, runner-up the previous year, prevented him from making further progress.
His hopes of retaining a top 16 place for this season disappeared when he was beaten 10-7 by Lee Walker in the first round at Sheffield a year ago so he will be hoping for better luck on his sixth successive appearance at the Crucible.
Andy Hicks (10/08/73)
World Ranking: 19
Andy Hicks marked his debut in the televised stage of the Embassy World Championship in 1995 by reaching the semi-finals. He beat Steve Davis, Willie Thorne and Peter Ebdon before his run was halted by Nigel Bond, who won 16-11.
Three more semi-final appearances followed during the 1995-96 season. He beat James Wattana and Ronnie O’Sullivan before losing 9-1 to Peter Ebdon in the UK Championship.
Ebdon also denied him a final appearance in the European Open, winning 6-3, while O’Sullivan won their last four meeting in the Masters 6-1.
The Tavistock left-hander, who has narrowly missed out on a top 16 place for the last two seasons, qualified for the Masters again this year by winning the Benson and Hedges Championship at Malvern.
Mark King (28/03/74)
World Ranking: 20
Mark King continued his climb up the rankings during the 1996-97 season, breaking into the top 32 for the first time and reaching his first major final in the Regal Welsh.
Having beaten defending champion Mark Williams 6-5 in the semi-finals, he eventually lost out 9-2 to Stephen Hendry in the final.
The left-hander from Romford has already reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship this season, losing 9-2 to Stephen Lee, and is set to break into the top 16 in the Embassy World Rankings next season.
Jimmy White(02/05/62)
World Ranking: 21
White has endured the heartache of finishing runner-up at the Crucible no fewer than six times, four times to Stephen Hendry and once each to Steve Davis and John Parrott.
But the ‘Whirlwind’ remains a firm favourite with the fans.
He dropped out of the top 16 for the first time in 16 years last season and was forced to qualify for this season’s tournament.
A good run at the Crucible could re-establish him among the game’s elite.
Joe Swail (29/08/69)
World ranking: 22
Swail was ranked as high as 12 back in the 1994-95 season and has reached the semi-finals of three ranking tournaments, most recently in the 1996 European Open, where he lost 6-5 to John Parrott.
His first appearance at the Crucible was in 1993, but he was beaten 10-4 by Jimmy White in the first round.
The following season he lost out in the second round to John Parrott.
However he has missed out on visits to the Crucible in the last two seasons.
Fergal O’Brien (08/03/72)
World ranking: 23
Two quarter-final appearances in the 1996-97 season enabled O’Brien to maintain his climb up the rankings.
He has maintained that progress this season with victory over Ken Doherty in the Regal Scottish and a top-16 place beckons.
Terry Murphy (06/03/72)
World ranking: 28
An appearance in the 1997 Regal Welsh quarter-final helped Murphy break into the top 32 for the first time at the end of the 1996-97 season.
He has yet to build on that performance this season.
Jason Ferguson (31/05/69)
World ranking: 37
After four consecutive seasons in the top-32 Ferguson lost his place following a disappointing 1996-97 campaign where he won just five matches.
But Ferguson has some fond memories from the Crucible.
In the first round in 1996 he led Stephen Hendry 5-2 and 6-3 before losing 10-8.
Jason Prince (17/06/70)
World ranking: 42
Prince is moving currently moving up the World Rankings.
He reached the final stages of last season’s ten ranking events, his best performance being in the Regal Welsh where he reached the last 16.
Matthew Stephens (11/09/77)
World ranking: 53
Stephens is slowly fulfilling the promise he showed early in his career.
He reached the semi-finals of both the Grand Prix and the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship this season being beaten by John Higgins and Stephen Hendry respectively.
Lee Walker (11/02/76)
World ranking: 79
Walker beat two former champions, Joe Johnson and Dennis Taylor on his way to the final stages of the last year’s World Championships and went on to beat Dave Harold and Alan McManus to reach the quarter-finals.
His heroics won him the Young Player of the Year award, and he could cause an upset again.
Peter Lines (11/12/69)
World ranking: 90
Lines used to supplement his income by being a part-time taxi driver.
A former British Isles Open champion he has beaten World No 4 Mark J Williams this season in the Regal Scottish.
Quinten Hann (04/06/77)
World ranking: 104
Hann is the first Australian to appear at the Crucible since Eddie Charlton in 1992 thanks to a 10-6 over Brian Morgan in the qualifying rounds.
He has already given John Higgins a fright this season in the Grand Prix
Alfie Burden (14/12/76)
World ranking: 122
Burden almost became a professional soccer player, but a broken leg saw him turn his attentions to snooker.
This season he has already reached the last 16 in the Grand Prix beating, most notably, Nigel Bond on the way.
David Gray (09/02/79)
World ranking: 152
At just 19 years and two months Gray is the youngest player in the Crucible line-up this season.
He has risen nearly 80 places in the World rankings this season but believes that he could have done better.
Simon Bedford (-)
World ranking: 215
The lowest ranked player in the tournament, Bedford is making his Crucible debut.
He has now won nine games in a row and played in four different venues to reach the final stages.