Games - Bill Werbeniuk

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Bill Werbeniuk (January 14, 1947 - January 20, 2003) was a Canadian professional snooker player. Instantly recognised for his girth, he was known as Big Bill.

Werbeniuk was noted for the copious amounts of alcohol he consumed before and during matches. He said that he generally drank around six pints of lager before a match and then one pint for each frame. He said he did this to counteract essential tremor. Later in his career he also took propranolol, a beta blocker; some sources claim he took it for the tremor, while others say he took it to cope with the effects of his enormous alcohol consumption on his heart.

A memorable incident occurred during a televised World Championship Match against Dennis Taylor at the Crucible. Werbeniuk attempted to stretch across the table, but due to his size was having some difficulty. Eventually, the inevitable happened and he broke wind loudly. With the audience, referee and Taylor trying to hold in their laughter, Werbeniuk got off the table, turned to the audience and said: "Who did that?"

Werbeniuk was ranked as high as eighth in the world in 1983 and reached the quarter finals of the world championship four times before propranolol was banned in snooker competition. He played his last professional match in 1990.

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