Shaw started playing snooker in 1984, at a snooker club in
High Wycombe. In the late 1980s, Shaw combined her playing career with working at Rileys Snooker Club, on the Oxford Road,
Reading, Berkshire She reached the semi-finals of the
World Women's Snooker Championship in 1986, losing 3–4 to
Sue LeMaich. Shaw reached the quarterfinals of the world championship in both 1991 and 1994, before her best showing, in the 1995 tournament, which was held in
India. Her 1995 world championship run saw her defeat
Maryann McConnell,
Lynette Horsburgh and
Tessa Davidson on her way to the semi-final, where she beat
Allison Fisher, who had won the championship on each of the last three occasions that it had been run, by 5 to 3. In the final, Shaw lost the first three frames to
Karen Corr and end up losing 6–3. This proved to be her only world snooker championship final, although she did reach the semi-finals in both 1998 and 1999. In the 1997
EBSA European Snooker Championship, Shaw was runner up, losing 3–5 to
Kelly Fisher. She won the 2000 Grand Prix tournament, which included victories over reigning world champion
Kelly Fisher 3–2 in the quarter-final, and
Emma Bonney 4–1 in the final. At this time, her main source of income was working as a courier for DHL. Shaw was runner up in the 2000 Connie Gough Memorial, to losing 1–4 to
Kelly Fisher. More recently, Shaw has played
pool competitively, winning a number of tournaments. She once appeared on the television programme
Surprise Surprise, playing against
Tony Meo. ==Titles and achievements==