By Elliott West
Introduction
Germany has produced some good snooker players over the years and one that springs to mind is Patrick Einsle. Born in Füssen, Bavaria in 1987, Patrick began playing snooker at the age of 11 and made his first century break at the age of 14. A winner of the German Amateur Championship in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and a runner-up in 2015, Einsle spent a number of years on the main tour, 2006-2007, 2010-2011 and 2013-2014 and had a position of 80 in the world rankings.
Career
In his early years, Patrick took part in the 2005 World Games but didn’t get past the first round, losing to the eventual gold medalist, Northern Ireland’s Gerard Greene 1-3. He then went on to play at the 2006 Fürth German Open where he defeated Fergal O’Brien and Stephen Lee before losing to the overall winner, Barry Hawkins 2-3 in the quarter-finals.
2006/2007 Season
Turning professional in 2006, Einsle joined the tour as a result of Paul Hunter withdrawing from it. His next few years would be spent on and off it, spending his time in qualifying rounds and never getting to the main rounds of any tournaments. Falling to 94 in the rankings, Patrick returned to amateur status in 2007, a status that he would hold until 2010. During this period he would however win the 2009 German Amateur Championship, the first of three victories, beating Brazil’s Itaro Santos 4-2 in the final, a final where he only lost two frames.
2010/2011 Season
A wildcard brought him back to the main tour in 2010 and he did have some limited success during this season, reaching the third event of the Players Tour Championship, beating Jimmy Robertson and Peter Ebdon on the way. This would be followed by a defeat in the second qualifying round of the Shanghai Masters, losing to Joe Delaney. Now ranked 86, Einsle went on to get to the second round of the sixth PTC event, beating Nigel Bond before losing to Ali Carter 3-4. However, in the December of 2010, he would withdraw from the main tour for the rest of the season.
2013/2014 Season
As a result of winning one of the three final matches of the EBSA Qualifying Tour, he returned to the tour with a two-year ticket. However, it was to be a pretty uneventful period of play with the German only winning two of his fourteen matches played. Poor form caused him to drop to 118 in the rankings and he wouldn’t enter another event after the Gdynia Open, withdrawing from the tour in February 2014.
Since returning to amateur status, Patrick has only appeared in the Paul Hunter Classic, losing 4-3 in the second qualifying round to Mark Davis In 2014 and reaching the first round in 2015 after winning three qualifying matches, only to go on to lose to Matthew Stevens 4-2.
Afterthought
Patrick Einsle had the calibre to reach the highest climbs of snooker with a fine pedigree on the German amateur including a 146 break in an Under-21 championship and an equally good break of 112 as a professional. The main reason for his lack of form as a professional is thought to be a large amount of time he had to spend away from Germany and the homesickness that formed as a result. Now 34, Einsle will be remembered for being one of the players that laid the trail for German snooker potentials, the latest being Lukas Kleckers.
