Peter Lines has been a long-standing player in snooker. He has reached the final of both the English Amateur Championship as well as the quarter-finals in the China Open. Since 1991, he has been a professional. In the early 1990s, his quarter-finals reached at the Strachan Open as well as the Asian Open. He qualified for the televised stages in 1998 of the World Championship.
Lines' career is largely unremarkable but his last few years have been quite impressive. He made it to at least the quarter-finals of ranking events for the first times 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.
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. At the end, he was ranked only 57th on European Tour. He was fortunate to be able to secure a place on tour for another year and qualify for the World Championship.
He then went on to win two other major tournaments. He also won a qualifier for the Players Tour Championship (PTC) series, but his performance was not enough to keep him in the main tour.
In 2010, he won his first UK Championship. However, he was relegated back to the PTC events in the 2015/16 seasons. He continues to participate in amateur tournaments.
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. The World Snooker Tribunal will likely be referred to the formal complaint made by Xiao Guodong's staff.
The case was heard December 16th, and Lines was sentenced by the WPBSA to a $500 fine. There was however an interesting aspect to Lines' fine. He was found guilty of violating two rules related to player conduct.
After a foul or miss, the first rule was his replacement of white ball. In such situations, professional players will often temporarily suspend play. Lines' opponent, Brendan Moore, clashed with him over this issue. Both Lines and Brendan Moore claimed Lines was wrong, but Lines said he was right.
The World Snooker Tour, on the other hand, stated that Lines used "swear words" and intimidation during the match. Moreover, Lines threatened to fight outside the arena.