Michael Holt

Holt at the2016 Paul Hunter Classic
Born	(1978-08-07)7 August 1978 (age 47) Nottingham, England
Sport country	England
Nickname	The Hitman[1]
Professional	1996/1997, 1998–2022, 2024–present
Highestranking	20 (September 2013 – March 2014)[2][3]
Current ranking	64 (as of 9 November 2025)
Century breaks	250 (as of 26 November 2025)
Tournament wins
Ranking	1
Minor-ranking	2

Michael Holt (born 7 August 1978) is an English professionalsnooker player fromNottingham. A former world Top 20 player, he won oneranking event – the2020 Snooker Shoot Out – and two minor-ranking tournaments. He was runner-up at two ranking events – the2016 Riga Masters and the2019 Snooker Shoot Out. Holt also reached the semi-finals of the2013 Shanghai Masters as well as five other quarter-finals.

This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2025)

Holt lost in the final qualifying round of the World Snooker Championship in 2001 and 2002. Holt almost qualified for the 2004 event – he was 9–5 ahead in his final qualifying match againstAnthony Hamilton, before losing the next five frames to lose the match.

In the 2005World Snooker Championship, he beat his friendPaul Hunter in the first round. In the second round he facedSteve Davis, losing 10–13 after having led 8–2. For the 2005 tournament he usedeBay to auction the sponsorship space on his waistcoat to Cabaret, a Nottingham nightspot.

He qualified for the 2006 World Championship, and lost in the first round to eventual runner-upPeter Ebdon 10–8, earning Ebdon's applause as a result of his performance. He won the non-rankingGerman Open in 2006, and reached the final in 2005. His 5–3 victory overRonnie O'Sullivan in the 2007 Malta Cup was his first in five attempts against O'Sullivan. He then lost toMark King in the last 16 there. He lost to eventual championJohn Higgins in the first round in 2007.^[4] The rest of 2007 was unspectacular, barring victory in the minor Dutch Open, which featured seven of the top 32 of the time,^[5] including wins overNigel Bond andBarry Pinches. He missed out on the 2008 World Championship after losing toMichael Judge, causing him to drop out of the top 32 after four seasons there, after a season in which he failed to reach the last 16 of a ranking event.

Holt's results improved in2008–09. He reached the last 16 of the 2008Grand Prix, defeatingJimmy White andMichael Judge to qualify and scored a 5–1 defeat ofMark Allen at the venue, before losing 2–5 toDing Junhui. In the subsequentBahrain Championship Holt scored a 5–0 victory overDavid Morris in which his Irish opponent scored just 10 points, the lowest total in a best-of-nine world ranking match since 1992.^[6] He then beatJamie Cope to reach the last sixteen and commented that he was in the best form of his career.^[7] He then lost 4–5 toRobert Milkins in the last 16, having led 3–0. He defeatedMark Davis andDominic Dale to reach the 2009 World Championship, guaranteeing his return to the top 32. He summarised the change in his game by commenting "This year, people have had to beat me. I haven't given matches away."^[8]

Holt qualified for three of the six ranking tournaments in the2009–10 season, but lost in the first round in each.^[9]

The2010–11 season saw the introduction ofPlayers Tour Championship (PTC) events. At thePrague Classic, Holt won six matches to reach the first final of the career which included victories overStephen Maguire,Mark Selby andShaun Murphy. He facedJohn Higgins who he had failed to beat in 13 previous meetings, but produced a superb performance to win 4–2. Holt dedicated the title to his father who had suffered a stroke two months previously.^[10] The result ensured he would qualify for thePTC Finals as he finished 13th on theOrder of Merit and he saw offMarco Fu 4–1 andBarry Pinches 4–3 to match his best result in a full ranking event. In the quarter-finals he lost 4–2 againstMartin Gould.^[11] Despite his late season surge in form he ended it ranked world number 45, the lowest he had been in ten years.

Holt reached the second round of ranking events three times during the2011–12 season, but lost on each occasion.^[12] He saved his best performances for the minor-rankingPTC events for the second season in a row most notably at the10th event where he won the title by beatingDominic Dale 4–2 in the final. Holt said afterwards that the shorter matches suit him as there is not enough time for him to lose his head and stated that if he could maintain a consistent temperament he could achieve more success in the game.^[13] He was also a losing quarter-finalist in three other events to finish fourth on theOrder of Merit and qualify for theFinals again where he was beaten 4–1 byStephen Lee.^[12]

Holt qualified for four of the first six ranking events in the2012–13 season, but could not advance beyond the first round in any of them.^[14] At theGerman Masters he beatMark Williams 5–1 andKurt Maflin 5–3 to reach the quarter-finals where he lost 5–2 toAli Carter.^[14]

At the2013 Shanghai Masters, Holt reached the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his 17-year career.^[15] He began the event by outplayingJudd Trump in a 5–1 win with breaks of 115 and 97.^[16] His second round match againstMartin Gould went to the colours in the deciding frame with Gould missing the final blue, before Holt potted the blue and pink to triumph 5–4.^[17] He then swept past world number 100Kyren Wilson 5–1 to face home favouriteXiao Guodong in the semi-finals.^[18] Holt was beaten 6–3 by Xiao in a high-quality encounter.^[19] His form continued into the following week'sZhangjiagang Open by winning six games to reach his third minor-ranking final where he lost 4–1 toJu Reti.^[20] At theGerman Masters, Holt played Trump in the quarter-finals, with Trump exacting some revenge from his defeat earlier in the season by whitewashing Holt 5–0.^[21] Holt qualified for theWorld Championship, losing 10–4 toMark Allen in the first round, but his successful season saw him finish it as the world number 22, the highest he had been in eight years.

Holt began the2014–15 season by advancing to the final of theYixing Open, but he was beaten 4–2 byDing Junhui.^[22] He eliminatedRory McLeod andSam Baird at theWuxi Classic, before losing 5–1 toNeil Robertson in the last 16. A second last 16 ranking event appearance followed at theShanghai Masters after Holt overcameRicky Walden 5–2, but he was ousted by reigning world championMark Selby 5–2.^[23] Holt made a 138 break during his 6–1 victory overZak Surety in the opening round of theUK Championship, before losing 6–3 toDechawat Poomjaeng.^[24] He lost his first six ranking matches in 2015, but qualified for thePTC Grand Final by finishing sixth on theAsian Order of Merit.^[25] There, Holt defeatedJimmy Robertson 4–2 and held on againstStephen Maguire to win 4–3 having been 3–0 up.^[26] In his only quarter-final in a ranking event this season, Holt was knocked out 4–1 byJoe Perry.^[23]

The2015–16 season was a solid but unspectacular year for Holt as he qualified for every ranking event he entered, but was unable to make a single quarter-final appearance. However, he did have a number of significant wins during the campaign. He reached the semi-finals of the minor-rankingPaul Hunter Classic by beatingJudd Trump 4–1, but lost 4–2 toAli Carter.^[27] Holt playedRonnie O'Sullivan in the opening round of theWorld Grand Prix and he made breaks of 88 and 119 in going 3–0 up. O'Sullivan responded to make it 3–3, before a 76 from Holt saw him advance to the second round, where he was knocked out 4–2 byLiang Wenbo.^[28] In the first round of theWorld Championship he scored his first win at theCrucible for 11 years by beating2010 winnerNeil Robertson 10–6.^[29] In the second round Holt lost 13–8 toMark Williams, but hoped the defeat would be a turning point in his career and that next year he would arrive at the tournament as a ranking event winner.^[30]

Holt almost delivered on this statement straight away as he reached the final of theRiga Masters, the first ranking event of the2016–17 season. He got past reigning world championMark Selby 4–1 and then beatIan Burns andStuart Bingham both 4–3 andAnthony McGill 4–0.^[31] His semi-final withMark Williams was decided on the final brown in a deciding frame. In his first ranking event final, he took a slender 2–1 lead overNeil Robertson, but was defeated 2–5.^[32] Holt beatRonnie O'Sullivan for the second time in a row when he knocked him out 5–2 in the second round of theShanghai Masters.^[33] Another win over O'Sullivan came in the third round of theInternational Championship, before narrowly losing 5–6 toStuart Bingham in the quarter-finals.^[34][35] Holt lost in the second round of theUK Championship,German Masters andChina Open.^[31] He was one win away from qualifying for theWorld Championship when his tie withPeter Ebdon went to a final-frame decider. Holt went in-off on the final blue and Ebdon potted the final three balls to win 10–9.^[36]

In February 2020, Holt won theSnooker Shoot Out for his first ranking tournament win.^[37]

Holt stated during the2016 World Championship that he regrets leaving school early. He got married in June 2017 and now has a son, born in March 2018.^[38] Holt supports his localfootball clubNottingham Forest.^[39] Holt has said that he finds it difficult to re-focus after playing a poor shot, leading to dips in form that may last for two to three frames.^[40]

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2016	Riga Masters	Neil Robertson	2–5
Runner-up	2.	2019	Snooker Shoot Out	Thepchaiya Un-Nooh	0–1
Winner	1.	2020	Snooker Shoot Out	Zhou Yuelong	1–0

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2010	Prague Classic	John Higgins	4–3
Winner	2.	2011	Players Tour Championship – Event 10	Dominic Dale	4–2
Runner-up	1.	2013	Zhangjiagang Open	Ju Reti	1–4
Runner-up	2.	2014	Yixing Open	Ding Junhui	2–4

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	1997	UK Tour – Event 1	Paul McPhillips	5–6
Winner	1.	2000	Merseyside Professional Championship	Rod Lawler	5–3
Runner-up	2.	2010	Pro Challenge Series – Event 5	Barry Hawkins	5–6

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Runner-up	1.	2005	Fürth German Open	Mark King	2–4
Runner-up	2.	2005	Dutch Open	Bjorn Haneveer	1–6
Runner-up	3.	2006	Pontins Pro-Am - Event 3	Judd Trump	1–4[41]
Winner	1.	2006	Fürth German Open	Barry Hawkins	4–2
Winner	2.	2007	Dutch Open	Barry Pinches	6–4
Winner	3.	2010	Pink Ribbon	Jimmy White	6–5
Runner-up	4.	2010	Pontins Autumn Open	Rob James	4–5
Runner-up	5.	2011	Pink Ribbon	Mark Joyce	0–4

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Team/partner	Opponent(s) in the final	Score
Winner	1.	2009	World Mixed Doubles Championship	Reanne Evans	Joe Perry Leah Willett	3–2[42]
Winner	2.	2015	World Mixed Doubles Championship(2)	Reanne Evans	Hammad Miah Maria Catalano	4–1[43]
Winner	3.	2017	CVB Snooker Challenge	Great Britain	China	26–9

Outcome	No.	Year	Championship	Opponent in the final	Score
Winner	1.	1996	UK Under-19 Championship	Stephen Maguire	4–1[44]
Runner-up	1.	1997	EBSA European Under-19 Snooker Championships	Thomas Dowling	3–6
Winner	2.	2023	Q Tour – Event 2	Liam Davies	5–2
Winner	3.	2023	Q Tour – Event 5	Daniel Womersley	5–1
Winner	4.	2024	Q Tour – Event 6	Alfie Davies	5–4

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMichael Holt.

• Michael Holt atWPBSA
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• Michael Holt at theWorld Snooker Tour
• Michael Holt at Snooker.org

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