Bill Werbeniuk never won a professional snooker tournament and he only reached two finals - but he has gone down in history as a larger-than-life figure with a reputation for incredible alcohol consumption. A Canadian cueist born to a father of Ukrainian heritage who committed armed robberies and dealt drugs, Werbeniuk was once ranked as the eighth-best snooker player on the planet.

The Manitoban reached the quarter-finals of the on four occasions and beat just about every top player in his era at one time or another. One of the things that set Werbeniuk apart and made him such a memorable character was his remarkable drinking regime.

A number of his alcohol-related feats have gone down in folklore. Werbeniuk is said to have drunk six pints at a minimum before each match and another pint per frame during it, with some claims indicating that he sunk a remarkable 50 pints her day at his peak.

He got through 42 in a single match against Scottish snooker star Eddie Sinclair, with Werbeniuk believing that alcohol consumption was the best way to cure a tremor in his cueing arm. At one point, according to , the self-employed sportsman was allowed to register his spending on lager as a tax deductible expense.

Part of Werbeniuk's absurd ability to knock back pints can be explained by the fact he suffered from hypoglycemia - a condition which allows the body to burn off sugar and alcohol quickly.

While Werbeniuk was therefore able to keep some of the effects under wraps, his weight spiralled out of control, and he shot up to 20 stone. That had knock-on consequences as, at the World Team Cup challenge in 1980, he split his trousers live on the BBC.

Werbeniuk's career ended in 1990, when he was fined and suspended by the WPBSA for taking a banned beta-blocker which he was using to ease the strain on his heart.

Werbeniuk was rarely seen or heard from after that, despite once being a much-loved figure in his pomp. He moved back to Canada 12 years after arriving in the UK and lived with his mother.

Things soon took an unfortunate turn as, in 1991, a bankruptcy order was filed against Werbeniuk, who spent his latter years living on disability benefits. Nicknamed 'Big Bill', he died of heart failure in 2003, less than a week after his 56th birthday.