Peter Lines has a long career in the world of snooker. He reached the final of the English Amateur Championship in 1999, and made it to the quarterfinals of China Open in 1999. He began his professional career in 1991. He reached the quarter-finals at the Strachan Open and Asian Open in the 1990s. 1998 was the first year he reached the televised stages at the World Championship.
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. The most impressive part of his season was a run at the German Masters, in which he reached the semi-finals and came close to victory.
After a promising start in his 2011/12 year, he found himself under immense pressure. The pressure mounted as the season progressed, and he started to lose matches in his last four ranking events. He was just 57th in the European Tour rankings at the close of the year. He was fortunate to be able to secure a place on tour for another year and qualify for the World Championship.
He was able to compete in two major tournaments, defeating Joe Perry and Ian McCulloch. He also won a qualifier to the Players Tour Championship (PTC), however, his performance was not good enough to keep the tour open for him.
In 2010, he won his first UK Championship. However, he was relegated back to the PTC events in the 2015/16 seasons. He continued to play in amateur tournaments as a result.
The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) has ruled that Lines' behaviour during a match in China was not appropriate. The World Snooker Tour received a complaint and has begun an investigation into Lines' 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 heard by the WPBSA on December 16th. Lines was fined for his offence. But, Lines was found guilty in two cases relating to player conduct.
The first rule required him to replace the white ball following a foul and miss. In this situation, professional players are not uncommon to temporarily hang up their cues. Brendan Moore, Lines’ opponent, was angry at him about this issue. Both Lines and Brendan Moore claimed Lines was wrong, but Lines said he was right.
The World Snooker Tour stated that Lines used intimidation and swear words during the match. Lines threatened to fight outside of the arena.