Early career (1995–2010) In 1996, Bingham won both the
English Amateur and the
World Amateur Championships. The following season, he reached the final of the
1997 World Amateur Championship but lost in a to
Marco Fu. Bingham played professionally on the
World Snooker Tour in 1999 and reached the quarter-final stage of the
Welsh Open, defeating the world champion
John Higgins along the way. Later in the season, he defeated defending champion
Stephen Hendry 10–7 in the first round of the
2000 World Championship, whilst ranked 97th in the world.
Jimmy White defeated him in the second round. In 2002, he qualified again for the
tournament by beating
Nigel Bond in the final qualifying round. Bingham played
Ken Doherty in the first round. He attempted a
maximum break but missed the final . The break would have been worth £167,000. He lost the match 8–10. In the
2004–05 season his best runs were two last 16 places in
ranking events, including losing a deciding frame to
Ding Junhui in the
China Open. Bingham had one of his most consistent seasons in
2005–06. He reached the quarter-finals of the
Grand Prix, beating then world champion
Shaun Murphy along the way. Bingham got to the same stage of the
UK Championship, losing in a deciding frame to
Joe Perry. Bingham also won the qualifying tournament for the
2006 Masters, where he made his first maximum break. He then beat
Steve Davis in the preliminary round, before losing to
Peter Ebdon 4–6 in the first round. Bingham finished the season by qualifying for the
2006 World Snooker Championship, where he lost to
Ryan Day. He finished in the top 32 of the world rankings for the first time in his career. At the
Masters' qualifying tournament for the
2007 event, Bingham won for a second successive season, defeating
Mark Selby 6–2 in the final. He lost 5–6 in the preliminary round to
Ali Carter. He lost in qualifying for the
2007 World Snooker Championship in the final round, 5–10 to
Fergal O'Brien. He reached the quarter-finals of the
2007 Shanghai Masters, but Selby defeated him 0–5. At the
UK Championship, Bingham reached the last 16, losing to Murphy 3–9, after victories over Fergal O'Brien and Davis. He qualified for the
2008 World Snooker Championship with a 10–3 win over
Adrian Gunnell in the final qualifying round. In the opening round of the event, he beat Davis 10–8 but lost in the second round 9–13 to Perry. Bingham lost in the first round in four of the eight events of the
2008–09 season. He was drawn against world number one
Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the
2009 World Championship, losing 5–10. Bingham reached the quarter-final stages of the
2010 UK Championship having defeated O'Sullivan 9–6 and Marco Fu 9–2 before losing 7–9 to
Mark Allen. Later that season, Bingham qualified for the
2011 World Snooker Championship and beat former champion Ebdon 10–8 in the first round. In the second round he led Ding 12–9 but lost 12–13; had he won, Bingham would have finished in the top 16 in the world rankings for the first time.
First ranking event victory (2011–14) At the
2011 Australian Goldfields Open, Bingham defeated Ding 5–3 in the opening round, completed a
whitewash over
Tom Ford, then secured victories over Allen and Murphy to reach the final. Trailing 5–8 to
Mark Williams, Bingham won four frames to win 9–8 and collect
$60,000 for the first prize. He drew
Judd Trump in the first round and led 3–2 before losing four frames in a row to exit the tournament 3–6. Bingham could not recapture the form he showed in Australia in the remaining seven ranking events, failing to get past the second round in any of them. A 4–10 loss to Stephen Hendry in the first round of the
World Championship ended the 2012 season. Despite the defeat, Bingham finished 16th in the world rankings. He won the first two non-ranking tournaments beginning with the Pink Ribbon Pro-Am charity tournament where he whitewashed
Peter Lines 4–0 in the final. Bingham followed this up by claiming the first
Asian Players Tour Championship with a 4–3 victory over
Stephen Lee. Bingham won deciding frames in each of his matches to reach the final of the
Wuxi Classic, overcoming Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty, world number one Mark Selby and
Mark Davis. before eventually losing 4–10. This ended Bingham's winning start to the season, which had seen him take 16 matches in a row. He was unable to defend his
Australian Goldfields Open title losing to
Matthew Selt in the first round 4–5. Bingham won the third event of the
Asian Players Tour Championship with a 4–3 victory over
Li Hang in the final. He also won the Premier League, defeating
Judd Trump 7–2 in the final. At the
UK Championship, he reached the quarter-finals but lost 4–6 to Carter. He reached the final
2013 Welsh Open, and led
Stephen Maguire 7–5 but eventually lost 8–9. At the
2013 World Snooker Championship, Bingham played world number 83
Sam Baird in the first round, winning 10–2, and Mark Davis in the second round, winning 13–10. Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated him 4–13 in the quarter-finals. He climbed 10 places in the rankings during the season, ending it ranked world number six. As the 2012 Premier League Snooker winner, Bingham was one of 16 players invited to compete in the
2013 Champion of Champions tournament. He defeated Walden 4–0 in the first round, Trump 6–2 in the quarter-finals, and Selby 6–4 in the semi-finals before losing 8–10 in the final to O'Sullivan. He defeated Jimmy White 6–2,
Anthony McGill 6–2,
David Morris 6–1, and O'Sullivan 6–4 to reach the semi-finals of the
2013 UK Championship. Robertson led Bingham 8–3 in the semi-final, before Bingham won five frames to force a deciding frame. Robertson took the frame to clinch a 9–8 victory. He reached the final of the
Shoot-Out but lost to
Dominic Dale. Bingham travelled to China and won the minor-ranking
Dongguan Open by seeing off
Liang Wenbo 4–1 in the final. Ken Doherty defeated Bingham in the
2014 World Snooker Championship 10–5.
World Snooker Champion (2014–18) Bingham defeated Li Hang, Dominic Dale,
Alan McManus and Ding at the
2014 Shanghai Masters to reach the final. From 5–3 ahead against Allen, Bingham took five unanswered frames to claim his second ranking title with a 10–3 win. In October, he won the
Haining Open by defeating
Oliver Lines 4–0 in the final. Bingham reached the semi-final of the UK Championship again in the
2014 event. Though he made a 137 break to establish a 4–1 lead over O'Sullivan he lost 6–5. Bingham won the non-ranking
Championship League by beating Mark Davis 3–2. O'Sullivan was again the winner when the pair met in the semi-finals of the inaugural
World Grand Prix, whitewashing Bingham 6–0. A further semi-final followed at the
PTC Grand Final, but he lost 4–1 to eventual champion Joe Perry. Bingham led Trump 16–14, and despite Trump winning the next two frames, Bingham won the match 17–16 to reach his first
Triple Crown final. Facing Murphy in the final, Bingham recovered from 3–0 and 8–4 down to win 18–15. He commented, "To beat Shaun in the final tops everything off. Twenty years as professional – blood, sweat and tears on the road." After the event, Bingham climbed to world number two, the highest ranking of his career. At the
2016 Masters, he beat Ding Junhui 6–4 and John Higgins 6–3 to face Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semi-finals and was defeated 6–3. He overcame a 3–0 deficit to eliminate Joe Perry in the semi-finals 6–5 at the
World Grand Prix and reached his first final of the year. In the final, Murphy won 10–9. Bingham lost 5–1 in the quarter-finals of the
China Open to Ricky Walden. Defending his title at the
2016 World Snooker Championship, he lost in the opening round 9–10 to Carter. Bingham made it to the final of the
Six-red World Championship against Ding. It was decided on the final , which Ding won. Bingham conceded just three frames as he progressed through to the semi-finals of the
2016 Shanghai Masters. He led Selby 5–3 but lost the next three frames 5–6. Bingham lost by the same scoreline in the semi-finals of the
English Open, this time to Liang Wenbo. A third ranking event semi-final of the season arrived at the
International Championship, but Selby defeated Bingham 9–3 after he had been 2–0 ahead. He reached the invitational
China Championship final and was 7–7 with John Higgins, who made three century breaks in a row to beat him 10–7. Bingham exited the
Masters in the first round, losing 6–1 to eventual finalist Joe Perry; he lost in the semi-finals of the
German Masters 6–4 to
Anthony Hamilton. In the second round of the
World Championship, he lost the first five frames against
Kyren Wilson, who beat him 13–10. Bingham said he would be working with
Terry Griffiths for the following season and would be playing with a new cue. However, on 24 October 2017, Bingham was found guilty of breaking
World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association rules concerning betting on matches involving himself and other players. He received a six-month ban for betting breaches and was ordered to pay £20,000 in costs. The ban expired at the end of January 2018.
Return from ban and Masters champion (2018–present) On returning from the ban, Bingham won the
2018 English Open with a 9–7 win over veteran Mark Davis in the final. He reached the semi-finals of the
UK Championship in December 2018, losing in a deciding frame to Mark Allen. At the
2019 Welsh Open, Bingham reached the final but lost 7–9 to
Neil Robertson. The following month, he won his second ranking title of the season, the
Gibraltar Open, beating defending champion Ryan Day 4–1 in the final. Bingham reached his first
Masters final at the
2020 event. He defeated Williams, Wilson and
David Gilbert to meet Carter in the final. Despite trailing after the first session, Bingham won the match 10–8 to win his second Triple Crown. In winning the event, he became the tournament's 24th and then-oldest winner, superseding
Ray Reardon, who was five months younger when he won the
1976 Masters. He earned £250,000 in prize money. Bingham's record as the oldest Masters winner lasted until O'Sullivan won the
2024 Masters aged 48 years and 40 days. In November 2020, Bingham made the seventh maximum break of his career in the first round of the
2020 UK Championship, beating
Zak Surety by 6–2. However, he lost to Dott in the last 32. He drew Ding Junhui in the first round, and beat him 10–9. In the second round, he defeated
Jamie Jones 13–6, and then Anthony McGill in the quarter-finals. He played Selby in the semi-final but lost 15–17, accusing Selby of possible
gamesmanship. At the
2022 World Championship, Bingham defeated
Lyu Haotian 10–5 and Kyren Wilson 13–9 to reach the quarter-final stage. In his quarter-final against Trump, Bingham led 85 before losing eight consecutive frames on the way to an 8–13 defeat. Bingham defeated Gilbert 10–4 in the first round at the
2023 World Championship. He then lost his second round match to Allen 4–13 which resulted in Bingham dropping out of the top sixteen in the world rankings. Bingham beat O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals of the
2024 World Championship 1310, before losing his semi-final against
Jak Jones 12–17. In the
2024 UK Championship, Bingham beat Mark Williams in the first round after coming from 2–5 down to win 6–5. In his last-16 match against
Zhang Anda, Bingham took a 5–1 lead but then lost five consecutive frames to lose 56. Bingham reached his first ranking event final for six years at the
2025 World Grand Prix, however he was whitewashed 0–10 in the final by
Neil Robertson. Bingham failed to qualify for the
2025 World Championship after a defeat to
Michael Holt during the qualifying rounds. In December 2025, Bingham reached the final of the
Snooker Shoot Out where he was defeated by
Alfie Burden. Ranked 17th in the world rankings, Bingham missed out on automatic qualification for the
2026 World Snooker Championship, and his attempt to progress through the qualifiers ended with a 7–10 defeat to Stevens. ==Legacy==