By Elliott West
Introduction
Mike Hallett is a familiar face in snooker. With a professional career spanning from 1980-2005, Mike can be described as a steady player who first broke into the game by winning the national under-16 title in 1975. Hailing from Grimsby, Hallett performed well and within five years, he was able to turn professional, entering the rankings at number 29.
Life as a Professional
Hallett’s start as a professional was a struggle. Despite being able to take part in the World Championship the next season, Mike wasn’t able to produce the goods and exited in the first round after a disappointing 10-4 defeat to John Virgo. As a a result, Mike dropped two places in the rankings and had to wait until 1986 at his fifth attempt before he won a match at the Crucible. However after several wins, Mike managed to enter the top 16 and peaked at number 6 in 1990.
Hallett’s biggest career headache was the Masters tournament. Despite displaying plenty of potential, he never managed to win the event. In 1988 he reached the semi-final and was drawn against John Parrott and required four snookers to win the deciding frame. A quandary that he solved, winning the match, 6-5. However the final was not to go his way and he received a 9-0 drubbing from Steve Davis.
His most infamous Masters defeat came in the 1991 final when he was up against Stephen Hendry. Mike played well and raced to an 7-0 lead. A missed pink followed and denied him an 8-0 advantage. Hendry then came back at him and won two frames and made it 8-2. With Mike just requiring the pink and black in the next frame, Hallett missed the pot with the rest. This spelled disaster for Mike and Stephen surged back to win the final, 9-8.
Hallett’s only professional win came in 1989 when he won the Hong Kong Open, beating Dene O’Kane, 9-8. He did win two World Series of Snooker events but the rest of his wins came in non-ranking tournaments, 4 in total, including the Belgian and Scottish Masters in 1991. Despite several attempts to regain his tour place through the Q School, his efforts were fruitless.
Post Snooker
Mike went on to have spells as a snooker commentator for Sky and Eurosport but he mysteriously disappeared from Eurosport coverage. Several theories have been voiced regarding the reason for this departure but no official statement has ever been given.
