Dean Reynolds

Dean Reynolds (born 11 January 1963 in Grimsby) is an English former professional snooker player whose career spanned twenty years from 1981 to 2001.

From Grimsby, Reynolds is a left-handed player and started playing snooker at the age of five years-old with his father 'Butch' who was a league standard club player. By the age of 12 years-old, Reynolds was displaying aptitude for the game, and in 1979 he won the Grimsby Boys Championships and the Lincolnshire and South Humberside Junior Championships.

Prior to turning professional in 1981, Reynolds won the first-ever Junior Pot Black in 1981, beating another future professional, Dene O'Kane, with a two-frame aggregate score of 151–79. He also defeated defending champion Tommy Murphy in the national under-19 championships that year.

In his first professional event, he qualified for The Crucible stages of the 1982 World Snooker Championship, after beating Ray Edmonds in the final round of qualifying. At the Championship he was the youngest player to qualify, and was drawn against the oldest, and he triumphed, winning 10-7 against Fred Davis, before his run was ended by South African Silvino Francisco.

In his first full season he defeated Willie Thorne at the 1982 International Open before being whitewashed by Steve Davis in the next round. He defeated Edmonds again in the final round of qualifying for the 1983 Snooker World Championship, where he was defeated by Alex Higgins.

He reached the quarter finals of the 1984 Rothmans Grand Prix where he was again whitewashed by Davis, and the semi-finals of the 1987 Mercantile Credit Classic as he became a top-16 player for the first time. He defeated Neal Foulds in the final of the English professional championships in 1988.

He twice reached a ranking tournament final, but lost on both occasions, the first at the 1989 British Open against Tony Meo, and the second at the 1989 Grand Prix against Steve Davis.

Reynolds is one of the select band of players who have achieved a 16-red clearance in competition, having made a 143 break after potting a free ball at the 2006 European Team Championships in Carlow.

In April 2009, Reynolds suffered a stroke and had to relearn his snooker technique.