Peter Lines has had a long and successful career in snooker. He has been to the final of English Amateur Championship. In 1999, he reached the quarterfinals for the China Open. He began his professional career in 1991. He reached the quarter-finals at the Strachan Open and Asian Open in the 1990s. 1998 saw him qualify for the televised World Championship stage.
Lines' career is not remarkable, but his performance in the last few year of his career has been impressive. Lines reached the top 64 of Order of Merit and even made it to the quarterfinals of a ranking competition for the first-time in his career. His season's highlight was his run at German Masters. He made it to the semi-finals but came so close to winning.
He found himself suddenly under pressure after a promising start for his 2011/12 season. As the season progressed he felt more pressure and began losing matches in his final four ranking events. At the end, he was ranked only 57th on European Tour. He was able to qualify for the World Championship qualifiers and secured a spot on the European Tour for another year.
He then went on to win two other major tournaments. He was also a qualifier in the Players Tour Championships (PTC) series. However, his performance wasn't enough to keep him on the main tour.
He won the UK Championship in 2010, but was relegated to the PTC events again after the 2015/16 season. In the end, he continued to participate in amateur tournaments.
Lines' behavior at a Chinese match was not acceptable according to the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. A complaint was sent to the World Snooker Tour, who has launched a thorough investigation into his actions. There was a formal complaint filed by Xiao Guodong and the matter is expected to be referred directly to the World Snooker Tribunal.
The case was presented on December 16th and Lines was found guilty by the WPBSA. But, Lines was found guilty in two cases relating to player conduct.
His replacement of the white cue ball after a foul was called for in the first rule. In this situation, professional players are not uncommon to temporarily hang up their cues. Lines' opponent, Brendan Moore, clashed with him over this issue. They claimed Lines had made an erroneous statement, but Lines maintained that Moore was correct.
However, the World Snooker Tour claimed that Lines used "swear terms and intimidation" during their match. Lines threatened, likewise, to fight outside.