Bill Werbeniuk

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Bill Werbeniuk
Born	January 14, 1947
Died	January 20, 2003
Nationality	Canadian
Nickname(s)	Big Bill (Wobblydick)
Professional	1979–1990
Highest ranking	#8 (1983/84)
Highest break	147
Best ranking performance	Quarter final: World Championship (4 times)

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, and a play on his surname Wobblydick.

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. A bankruptcy order was made against him in 1991. Towards the end of his life, he played professional pool.