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Michael Holt

Holt was arguably snooker’s most consistent performer last season as he won his opening match in all eight ranking events.
He reached the last 16 of two of those. In the Royal London Watches Grand Prix, he saw off Jimmy White and Michael Judge to qualify for the venue then beat Mark Allen 5-1 before losing 5-2 to Ding Junhui.
In the Bahrain Snooker Championship, Holt knocked out David Morris to qualify then beat Jamie Cope 5-3, only to lose 5-4 to Robert Milkins after leading 4-0, a result which caused him some anguish. "I wish there was a video of that match so we could give it to people who were feeling down on themselves. After watching it they’d be outside doing cartwheels and saying ’at least I’m not Michael Holt’" he said.
Holt’s mood improved when he won two vital qualifying matches for the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship, beating Mark Davis and Dominic Dale. In the random Crucible draw, Holt’s name came out of the hat against eventual champion John Higgins. Despite a confident start which gave him a 4-2 lead, the Nottingham cueman succumbed to a 10-5 defeat.
"I believe I am good enough to win things but as time goes by it gets harder and harder to break through to that next level," said Holt, who did jump ten places up the official rankings to No 34. "It’s just that I’m trying too hard when I get to those matches which will enable me to break through, to show people what I can do. I don’t care what anybody says, I can play good snooker and I can win games, I’m not a bottler."
He has reached four ranking event quarter-finals – the last of those was the 2006 Welsh Open.
Holt’s chief passion away from snooker is music. His idol is Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown and he loves a variety of indie and rock bands including Oasis, Radiohead, The Smiths and Guns ’n’ Roses. His brother Matt plays bass guitar in a popular rock band called The Kull.
He enjoys travelling, he has worked on Greek islands "pulling people into discos" and spent several weeks touring the USA in 2006.
The charismatic Nottingham Forest fan is also a qualified fitness instructor and an accomplished cook.

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