Mark Selby successful, some pundits and fans began to view this nickname with irony. Former world champion and now BBC commentator Dennis Taylor has given him the nickname “Sat Nav Selby” due to his knowledge of angles and ability to lay and escape from snookers. Selby is also a pool player. He was the 2006 WEPF eight-ball pool world champion and was the 2015 Chinese Pool World Championship runner-up. Selby was born in Leicester, England. Malcolm Thorne, the brother of Leicester-born snooker player Willie Thorne, spotted Selby's snooker ability and provided Selby practice so he could practise every day after school. Selby's
Mark Selby to the final of the China Open and he took the final three frames against Mark Williams to claim his fourth ranking event title of the season 10–8. No one came close to Selby as he progressed through to the semi-finals of the World Championship, which included a 13–3 thrashing of Marco Fu in the quarter-finals with a session to spare. He next faced Ding Junhui who closed the gap to 16–15, after Selby had been 16–13 ahead. Selby won the 32nd frame to reach his third world final in four years. Selby had an incredible run of winning 12