Ali Carter

Date of Birth: 25 Jul 1979
Lives: Chelmsford, Essex
World Ranking: 6
Last Season in PLS: Debut
Best PLS Performance: N/A
Turned Pro: 1996
Ranking Tournament Victories: 2 - Welsh Open 2009, Roewe Shanghai Masters 2010
Highest Tournament Break: 147 - World Snooker Championship 2008

Ali Carter is making his PartyCasino.com Premier League debut this year.

Having been knocking on the door for two seasons, the Essex man gets the nod courtesy of his second career ranking tournament victory.

Carter made a fantastic start to the 2010/11 season by winning the first ranking event of the campaign. He previously had a poor record in tournaments in China, but corrected that in the best fashion by winning the Roewe Shanghai Masters.

He nearly went out at the quarter-final stage as Matthew Stevens was one ball away from beating him, but, after Stevens missed a tricky final black, Carter executed a brilliant long pot to win the match 5-4. He went on the beat Mark Selby 6-2 in the semis before battling to a 10-7 victory over surprise finalist Jamie Burnett. It was not a final of great quality, the standard undoubtedly affected by a slow cloth caused by the humid atmosphere, but for Carter, all that mattered was getting his name on the trophy.

"I just want to win as many titles as I can in my career," he said. "If you keep getting to the business end of tournaments then you will have chances to win them and that's what I've done. It wasn't the best match, but those are the ones where winning is what matters.

"The conditions were different to the way they are in the UK. Usually I play with a bit of side but the heavy cloth throws the ball off if you do that here, and I missed some silly balls trying to play with side. After that I played centre-ball as much as I could, then I strung a few breaks together. That was the key for me."

Later in the season, Carter got to the semi-finals of the Wyldecrest Welsh Open, losing 6-2 to John Higgins. He hoped for a strong finish at the Betfred.com World Championship, but he lost 13-11 to Graeme Dott in the second round at the Crucible.

"There were a lot of frames I should never have lost in a million years," said Carter. "I've had a few matches like that in my career so maybe it's something I need to look at."

In 2009, Carter shrugged off the unwanted unofficial title of 'best player never to win a ranking event'. At the Welsh Open he beat Jimmy White, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy and Anthony Hamilton to set up a final with Joe Swail, who was playing in his first ranking final after 18 years as a professional. The Ulsterman looked stronger in the early stages and led 5-2.

But Carter ended any doubts that he has the capacity to bring his best game to the big occasion as he reeled off seven consecutive frames to run out a 9-5 winner, firing in breaks of 54, 116, 109, 61, 91 and 67 in a devastating burst of scoring.

"I put myself under a lot of pressure in the first session because I wanted to play well," he said. "In the evening session I forgot about that and just focussed on the balls. It's a massive achievement and I hope there's more to come. It means everything to me, it's what I've been practising for since I was a kid. It's all about winning, to be able to go home and say no one has beaten you."

A year later he did everything he could to defend the title, reaching the final in Newport only to lose to John Higgins.

The 2008 World Championship saw Carter reach his first ranking final and make his first competitive 147 break. He beat Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry to get there, and made that memorable maximum against Ebdon, becoming only the sixth player to make a 147 at the Crucible. "On the last few balls I was just playing on instinct because I was shaking like a leaf," said Carter, who shared the 147 bonus with Ronnie O'Sullivan, picking up a cool £78,500.

However, former practice partner and Essex colleague O'Sullivan had the last laugh, as a physically and mentally drained Carter managed to win just eight frames in the best-of-35 final.

Carter turned professional in 1996 and was tipped for the top when he reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix three years later. He beat six players including Stephen Hendry and Marco Fu at Preston before his run was finally ended by John Higgins. The following month, Carter won the B&H Championship to earn a wild card to the Masters.

Carter was diagnosed with Crohn's disease in 2003 but now has the illness under control. "It's still there, but it's in remission and I have regular blood tests now. I've seen what happened to Paul (Hunter) and that could happen to any of us. If you have your health you're a rich man," he said.

The player nicknamed The Captain is training to be a commercial pilot and hopes to be ready to swap 147s for 747s when he retires from professional snooker. Carter also owns and runs Chelmsford Snooker Centre.