Peter Lines has a long history in snooker. He was a finalist in the English Amateur Championship and reached the quarter-finals at the China Open in 1999. Since 1991, he has been a professional. He reached the quarter-finals at the Strachan Open and Asian Open in the 1990s. 1998 was his first appearance in the televised World Championship stages.
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 most impressive season was the run at German Masters. There he reached semi-finals and nearly won.
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 was able to compete in two major tournaments, defeating Joe Perry and Ian McCulloch. 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.
In 2010, he won his first UK Championship. However, he was relegated back to the PTC events in the 2015/16 seasons. In the end, he continued to participate in amateur tournaments.
Lines' behavior during a match in China has been ruled inappropriate by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. The World Snooker Tour was notified and launched an investigation into the matter. There was a formal complaint from Xiao Guodong's team, and it is expected that the matter will be referred to the World Snooker Tribunal.
The case was heard by the WPBSA on December 16th. Lines was fined for his offence. The fine had an interesting side: Lines was found guilty for violating two rules regarding player conduct.
The first rule involved his replacement of the white ball after a foul and miss award. In this situation, professional players are not uncommon to temporarily hang up their cues. Brendan Moore was Lines' opponent. They argued over this matter. 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 also threatened to fight outside the arena.