Mike Hallett (born 6 July 1959) is an English former professional

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sports, cue sport played on a Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets, one at each corner and o ...

player and commentator.

Career

Hallett was born in Grimsby on 6 July 1959. Having won the national under-16 title in 1975, he turned professional in 1979. His world ranking peaked at number six in 1989–90, after his only ranking tournament victory at the

1989 Hong Kong Open The 1989 Hong Kong Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament, that was held from 7–13 August 1989 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong. Mike Hallett won the tournament by defeating Dene O'Kane Dene O'Kane ...

in which he beat

Dene O'Kane Dene O'Kane (born 24 February 1963) is a former professional snooker player from Auckland, New Zealand. Career O'Kane won the 1980 New Zealand Amateur Championship, and represented New Zealand at the 1982 IBSF World Snooker Championship, winn ...

9–8. In a semi-final match against

John Parrott John Stephen Parrott, (born 11 May 1964) is an English former professional snooker player and television personality. He was a familiar face on the professional snooker circuit during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, and remained within ...

in the 1988 Benson & Hedges Masters, he recovered from needing four snookers to win the decider 6–5. However, he lost 9–0 to

Steve Davis Steve Davis (born 22 August 1957) is an English retired professional snooker player who is currently a Sports commentator, commentator, musician, DJ, and author. He is best known for dominating professional snooker during the 1980s, when he rea ...

in the final, the only whitewash in the Masters final. Three years later, in 1991 he reached the Masters Final again at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

where, in the best-of-17-frame match, he surged to a 7–0 lead over

Stephen Hendry Stephen Gordon Hendry (born 13 January 1969) is a Scottish professional snooker player who dominated the sport during the 1990s, becoming one of the most successful players in its history. After turning professional in 1985 at age 16, Hendry ...

and missed a pink which would have put him 8–0 ahead. He then moved into an 8–2 lead and needed just the pink and black to clear for the match in the eleventh frame, but missed the shot with the rest. Hendry took that frame and managed to spring a comeback to win the match 9–8. Hallett would go on to win two invitational World Series of Snooker events later in the year, but did not win another professional title after 1991. Hallett did reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship twice, but never progressed further. His final season on the main tour was in 2004–05, after which he went on to play in the Pontin's International Open Series. During his career he won approximately £920,000. Hallett has been commentating on

Premier League Snooker The Premier League Snooker was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament. It was held from 1987 until 2012. The tournament was played in a round-robin format over a number of weeks, normally from mid-September to early-December, around the ot ...

for

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

, and all major snooker events on

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

. At the start of the 2011/12 season Hallett entered the

Players Tour Championship The Players Tour Championship was a series of snooker tournaments comprising some minor-ranking events played in Europe, and an Asian leg comprising some minor-ranking events in Asia. The series concluded with a Grand Final, where qualification ...

and after winning his first two matches against Duane Jones 4-3 and Elliot Slessor also 4–3, he played Ronnie O'Sullivan and managed to take two frames in losing 4–2. Hallett entered the Q School in 2011, 2014, 2017 and 2020, but on each occasion failed to progress far enough to qualify for the main tour. In August 2021 the World Snooker Tour tweeted that Hallett was recovering from a

stroke A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

Performance and rankings timeline

Career finals

Ranking finals: 2 (1 title)

Non-ranking finals: 15 (4 titles)

Pro-am finals: 4 (3 titles)

Team finals: 3 (2 titles)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallett, Mike 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Grimsby English snooker players