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
2014 World Snooker Championship on to win the final 18–14 and capture his first world title. In all, Selby won 13 of the last 17 frames, and his two highest breaks of the match - 127 and 87 - came consecutively to move from 15–14 to 17–14. The victory made Selby the tenth player to win all three Triple Crown events, and reinstated him as the world number one. This was O'Sullivan's first ever defeat in a World Championship final. O'Sullivan said "I want to congratulate Mark on a fantastic tournament. He's been the best player over 17 days, that was tough he had