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. His success on the professional circuit began in 1991, when he turned professional. In the early 1990s, his quarter-finals reached at the Strachan Open as well as the Asian Open. 1998 was his first appearance in the televised World Championship stages.
While his career is mostly unremarkable, Lines' performance in the last few years of his career has been more than respectable. 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.
After a promising start to his 2011/12 season, he suddenly found himself under pressure. As the season progressed his pressure mounted and he lost matches in four of his ranking events. He was just 57th in the European Tour rankings at the close of the year. He was able to qualify for the World Championship qualifiers and secured a spot on the European Tour for another year.
He won two more major tournaments and defeated Joe Perry and Ian McCulloch. 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 the UK Championship, but he was again relegated to the PTC events after the 2015/16 season. As a result, he has continued to take part 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. The World Snooker Tour received a formal complaint from Xiao Guodong's group. It is likely that the matter will be referred the World Snooker Tribunal.
On December 16, Lines was brought before the WPBSA and sentenced to a 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. This is not unusual for professional players. Brendan Moore was Lines' opponent. They argued over this matter. They both claimed that Lines had made an error, but Lines alleged that he was correct.
However, the World Snooker Tour claimed that Lines used "swear terms and intimidation" during their match. Lines threatened, likewise, to fight outside.