Michael Holt on frustration, enjoyment and anger of life on World Snooker Tour

The endlessly frustrating game of snooker continues to drive even the best players in the world to distraction, but after time away from the professional game, Michael Holt is enjoying life back on tour. The Hitman had a couple of years in the amateur ranks after dropping off the pro tour, but booked his place back among the elite last year thanks to a string of good performances away from the big league.

Having first turned pro in 1996, the spell away was an unwanted blow but came as an eye-opener that there is life beyond the main tour and Holt has tried to return with a more relaxed attitude as a result. ‘I am enjoying it. One of my main goals at the start was to enjoy it more,’ Holt told Metro. ‘I still have my moments, you still get frustrated because the game can break your heart. But I’m enjoying practicing and enjoying playing.

‘The step away has made me see it all differently. I’d been on tour for so long, the anxiety of what I was going to do after was always there. It was always looming. ‘Then I did drop off and the world kept spinning, everything was alright and I did the coaching and some punditry. Now I’m back in, I know that’s there and I feel better about everything.

‘Saying that, if I dropped off again I’d be fuming!’. The 46-year-old has a two-year tour card and doesn’t look likely to be in danger even in 2026 after a solid return to the tour, including a run to the UK Championship quarter-final. ‘I’m still not particularly happy with the season as a whole,’ he said. ‘I had a mini goal of getting in the 64 in one year, which could still happen but I’ve not won many games in many events apart from the one I got to the quarter-finals.

‘I feel like my game’s there. Honestly I feel like I’m playing the best I’ve ever played. I feel good, feel positive. I’m not just saying it, I genuinely feel it. I’m enjoying it. The frustration is that I feel I’m playing well enough to do well, if I had another run it wouldn’t surprise me.’.

After coming back to the tour with a new perspective on the game and, to an extent, life, how does the Hitman see his rivals dealing with life as professional snooker players?. ‘Everybody’s still driving themselves mad. Everybody’s angry a lot,’ he said. ‘I’ve had my moments but generally I’m looking at it slightly different than I used to.

‘Players are frustrated because they think they can do better. Some can, some think they can but they can’t. That’s the game. The level is so tough.’. Learning to deal with the frustrations of professional sport is a must for any player with any sort of ambition, with the chief frustration being that, however good you are, losing is inevitable.

‘Every player loses most events they play in,’ said Holt. ‘Even the greatest of all time, which is depressing, but that’s how it is. It can sound like a bit of a loser thing to say that you should take positives from any kind of run, but you have to.

‘I haven’t in the past. I’ve been terrible at taking positives from things. I can now, but I still think about the balls I’ve missed, even when I win. ‘The best players are the best at forgetting, but also you want to remember all the good stuff.’.

Holt is not back on tour just to make up the numbers, he wants to add another trophy to the one he lifted at the Shoot Out in 2020 and feels that has to be the goal for anyone scrapping it out with the best in the world. ‘Win. Win an event,’ he said unequivocally of his ambition. ‘To have that day in the sun, that’s what you play for.

‘It’s great travelling around, playing all these venues, it’s brilliant. But that day, winning the final, having a trophy, the memories, the cash is nice as well, but winning events has got to be the goal. ‘It’s what we play for and if it isn’t you probably shouldn’t be trying.’.

Holt goes to Yushan for the World Open as he continues his quest for that next trophy and he has already had a slice of luck before even travelling to China. The Hitman was suffering with illness to the point that he nearly pulled out of his qualifier in December, but he didn’t and when Neil Robertson got his dates wrong and missed the game completely, Holt was into the next round.

‘I nearly pulled out. If I was playing the day before I would have,’ he said. ‘I felt awful, I was bad. I was a lucky boy. You never know now, the stars can align.’. Holt plays Martin O’Donnell in the last 64 at the World Open on Sunday. Arrow MORE: Stephen Hendry tells snooker players to ‘bore off’ with ‘horrendous’ niceties.