If you have watched snooker for any length of time, then you will be aware of Joe Perry. British snooker star, Perry spent several seasons at lower levels. But he has also had a couple of seasons in the top reaches of the game. In 2002, he reached the Top 16 for the first time. He has been out of the top 20 for three consecutive seasons.
Joe Perry has been called both "the Fen Potter," and "the Gentleman." He was born in the Cambridgeshire region and turned professional in 1992. He has been a full-time professional ever since. Ken, his brother was also a professional.
Perry has been a regular on the global stage, even though he has not won a major ranking event. He finished in the top 8 provisional rankings in 2011 and won a minor-ranking competition in 2015. He was a participant in a battle against Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Masters this year.
Perry has been in the finals at both the UK Championship as well as the European Open. He has also been to the quarterfinals of the World Championship. In 2004, he reached the semi-finals of the UK Championship, but he lost to David Gray. He beat Judd Trump in the semi-finals, but lost to Stephen Hendry at the final.
Having begun his snooker career at the age of twelve, he began to make his name as a top professional in the early 1990s. He reached finals in the European Open 2001. In spring 2001, he won in Wales the Open. He won the Welsh Open in late spring of that year. In 2014, he took part in Wuxi Classic.
In the same year, he defeated Matthew Stevens, Marco Fu, and Jamie Cope to reach the semi-finals in the World Championship. He received his second ranking award. Later in the year, he was involved in the Welsh Open and the Xuzhou Open. By the end of that season, he had dropped to a lowly 14th in the standings.
Despite losing to Stephen Hendry (Graeme Dott) and Stephen Hendry, he still managed to place in the top half world rankings. He has won three major tournaments on his path to the top: the Welsh Open Masters Masters, the Xuzhou Open Open, and the Welsh Open Masters Masters. And he has also run courses to teach people how to play the game.
He's tried to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan many times over his career. He won a 9-5 victory in the first round of 2008 UK Championship. He was just one frame from the Masters 2017 finals but lost to Ronnie O'Sullivan.
He beat Mark Selby in round one of the 2018 World Championship. He won the Xuzhou Open 2015 as well. He also has several courses and is a BBC guest commentator.