Greatest Snooker Players of All Time

Steve Davis is the godfather of the modern snooker era. His six World Championship titles (1981–1989) and meticulous, mechanical approach transformed snooker from a social game to a sport requiring rigorous preparation. Davis pioneered the professional approach to practice, hiring Barry Hearn as his manager and setting the commercial template that the modern game follows.

He was the sport's dominant force for nearly a decade, and the standard of excellence he established — the safety play, the cue ball position, the tactical maturity — laid the foundation for every player who followed. While overshadowed in later years by Hendry and O'Sullivan, Davis remained on tour until 2016, his technical mastery largely intact even as his competitive edge faded.

Without Steve Davis, snooker would not exist as we know it today. He was the first player to become a genuine household name through the medium of television, and his rivalry with Dennis Taylor produced the most-watched sporting moment in British broadcast history.

Robertson sits in a curious position in snooker history: despite accumulating more than 900 career centuries — third in the all-time list — he has won just one World Championship (2010). But his trophy cabinet is otherwise extraordinary: 20+ ranking events, a Triple Crown (World Championship, Masters, UK Championship), and consistent appearances in finals across a 25-year career.

A left-hander who adopted an English-style cue action, Robertson moved from Australia to Britain as a teenager to pursue his career — a commitment that speaks to his passion for the sport. His potting accuracy and break-building fluency are among the finest the game has ever seen, and his ability to compile centuries at a remarkable rate has kept him among the world's elite for over two decades.

Robertson is widely regarded as the best non-British player in the history of the sport, and his influence in popularising snooker in Australia and the wider Asia-Pacific region has been significant.

Mark Selby is a four-time World Champion — one of only three players to win the title four or more times in the modern era. His game is built on an impenetrable defence: his safety play and tactical awareness are the finest of his generation, and his ability to win close matches by grinding opponents down has earned him the nickname "The Tortoise" (as a counterpoint to Judd Trump's "The Hare").

Selby won the World Championship in 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2021, and has been ranked world number one on multiple occasions. His tenacity, professionalism, and physical fitness have made him one of the most consistent performers over a sustained period. Few players have matched his ability to produce their best snooker in the latter stages of the World Championship.

His resilience is perhaps his defining trait. Coming from a difficult childhood — his father died when Selby was a teenager — he channelled his determination into a career that has placed him among the sport's immortals. His four World titles are a testament to an iron will that refuses to yield.

Judd Trump is the dominant player of the mid-to-late 2010s and 2020s, holding the world number one ranking for an extended period. His potting accuracy from distance, cushion cannon play, and spectacularly attacking approach have made him one of the sport's most exciting performers.

He won the World Championship in 2019 in dominant fashion, defeating John Higgins 18–9 in the final with some of the finest snooker ever witnessed at the Crucible. His ranking event haul — with over 25 titles — is exceptional for a player still in his early-to-mid 30s. Trump's ceiling remains unclear: many believe he has the talent to threaten O'Sullivan's and Hendry's seven-title record.

His period of dominance from 2019 to 2024 is among the finest sustained runs in modern snooker. During this spell he won ranking events at an unprecedented rate, and his shot-making — particularly his ability to pot long balls and play with extreme spin — has thrilled audiences worldwide. If he adds further World titles, Trump will move into the top three of any all-time list.

Three World Championship titles spanning two decades (2000, 2003, 2018) mark Williams as one of the greatest of his generation. His 2018 World title — at age 43 — showed an extraordinary ability to compete at the highest level regardless of age. Williams plays entirely on instinct, openly admitting he rarely practises and plans very little, yet his natural ability and left-handed cue action produce a style of play that opponents find impossible to read.

His win in 2018 against John Higgins — coming back from two frames behind in the final — remains one of the most dramatic in Crucible history. The victory was celebrated by the entire snooker world as a triumph of natural talent and sheer bloody-mindedness over the passage of time.

Williams, along with O'Sullivan and Higgins, forms part of snooker's celebrated "Class of 1992" — three players who turned professional in the same year and went on to win 14 World Championship titles between them. His potting, particularly his long-range accuracy, is among the finest the sport has ever produced.

Jimmy White is snooker's greatest nearly-man — six World Championship final appearances without a title — yet his impact on the sport is incalculable. "The Whirlwind" was the first player to make snooker genuinely popular with the British public: his fast, flamboyant style, his natural charisma, and his underdog status made him the most loved player of his era.

His 147 at the 1992 World Championship — potted in extraordinary circumstances — remains one of the most dramatic moments in the sport's history. Despite his failure at the Crucible, White won 10 ranking events and was a major draw throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

White's place on this list is not about statistics — it is about influence. He was the template for the attacking, crowd-pleasing player. Without White, there would be no Ronnie O'Sullivan — O'Sullivan himself has said as much. The Whirlwind proved that snooker could be entertainment, not merely a tactical exercise, and every exciting player who followed owes him a debt.

Alex Higgins was snooker's rebel genius — the player who dragged the game from the working men's club into the television age. His two World Championship titles (1972, 1982) bracket a decade of compelling, chaotic brilliance. His 1982 Crucible final win over Ray Reardon — which saw him beckon his wife and baby daughter onto the table to celebrate — is the most famous moment in snooker history.

The Hurricane's fast, instinctive, almost reckless style was the polar opposite of the patient, positional approach his contemporaries favoured, and crowds loved him for it. A deeply flawed, troubled figure off the table, Higgins was a transformative figure who made snooker the mass-audience sport it became in the 1980s.

His influence on every subsequent "people's champion" — from Jimmy White to Ronnie O'Sullivan — is immeasurable. Higgins proved that personality, flair, and drama could coexist with the highest levels of technical skill. Without him, snooker's golden era of the 1980s would simply not have happened.

Before Davis, before Hendry, before the O'Sullivan era, there was Ray Reardon — the dominant force of the 1970s. Six World Championship titles between 1970 and 1978 cemented Reardon as the sport's first true superstar in the post-gentlemanly era. A former coal miner from Tredegar in south Wales, Reardon turned professional relatively late but dominated the game for over a decade with a safety-first style built on extraordinary tactical awareness.

His dark hair, widow's peak, and imposing presence earned him the "Dracula" nickname, and he wore it with good humour. He was the blueprint for the modern professional champion — disciplined, methodical, and utterly ruthless in competition. His rivalry with John Spencer and later Alex Higgins defined the 1970s and helped establish snooker's television audience.

Reardon's influence extended beyond his playing days: he coached Ronnie O'Sullivan during a crucial period of the Rocket's career, helping O'Sullivan rediscover his form. His six World titles remain a total matched only by Davis in the modern era, and his contribution to the sport's development is immeasurable.

Ding Junhui is the most important player in snooker's global expansion. His 2005 China Open victory at age 18 — live on CCTV in China — introduced the sport to hundreds of millions of new fans and directly inspired the generation of Chinese players who now populate the world rankings.

Despite never winning the World Championship (he has reached the final once, in 2016), Ding has won over 14 ranking events and maintained a top-16 ranking for nearly 20 years. His silky-smooth technique, high-volume century-making, and elegant demeanour have made him a genuine icon of the sport worldwide.

Ding's contribution to snooker extends far beyond his own results. The Chinese snooker boom — including the emergence of players like Zhao Xintong, Si Jiahui, and Zhang Anda — can be traced directly to his breakthrough. He is the most commercially significant player in the sport's history after Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Terry Griffiths won the World Championship in his first attempt as a professional in 1979 — one of the most remarkable achievements in the sport's history. A meticulous, unhurried player known for his deep deliberation before each shot, Griffiths was not the most spectacular player of his era but was among the most consistent and tactically astute.

He was a key figure in the Welsh dynasty of the 1970s and 1980s, alongside Ray Reardon and Doug Mountjoy. His 1979 World Championship run saw him beat Alex Higgins in the semi-final and Dennis Taylor in the final, and his stunned post-match interview — "I'm in the final now, you know" — after his semi-final win became one of snooker's most quoted moments.

After retiring as a player, Griffiths became one of the sport's most respected coaches, working with Mark Williams, Stephen Hendry, and many other top professionals. His contribution to the sport as both player and mentor spans over four decades.

Kirk Stevens is remembered primarily for making the first nationally-televised 147 maximum break in snooker history — at the 1984 Masters, broadcast live on BBC Two. Wearing his trademark white suit, Stevens compiled the perfect break with a fluency and confidence that left commentators and audiences stunned. It remains one of the sport's defining moments.

His attacking, crowd-pleasing style and film-star looks made him a beloved figure of 1980s snooker. Despite personal difficulties that curtailed his career, Stevens won multiple ranking events and reached a World Championship semi-final at the Crucible. His potting ability was world-class, and on his day he could match anyone in the game.

Stevens represents the international appeal of snooker during its golden age. As a Canadian competing at the highest levels of a predominantly British sport, he showed that snooker's reach extended far beyond the United Kingdom and helped lay the groundwork for the sport's later global expansion.

Zhao Xintong became the first Chinese player to win the World Snooker Championship when he claimed the title in 2025, defeating Jak Jones in the final. His career is among the most dramatic in the sport: a period of total dominance in 2021–22 that saw him win the UK Championship, followed by a two-year ban for betting-related offences, before a remarkable return to the sport and subsequent World Championship triumph.

His natural ability — particularly his break-building speed and positional accuracy — marks him as a generational talent with the potential to win multiple World titles. When he is at the table, Zhao plays with a rhythm and fluency that is reminiscent of the young Ronnie O'Sullivan, and his arrival at the summit of the sport represents a watershed moment for Chinese snooker.

At just 28 years of age when he won the World Championship, Zhao has many years of peak performance ahead of him. His inclusion on this list is forward-looking: if he fulfils his potential, he could climb significantly higher in any future ranking of the sport's greatest players.