Kelly Fisher - Part 4 (From Snooker Star to Nine-Ball Queen)
In this fourth installment of our Legends of the Cue conversation with Hall of Famer Kelly Fisher, MBE, we follow Kelly’s remarkable leap of faith—leaving behind the world of English snooker to chase a new dream across the Atlantic. With just £400 between her and partner Val, she arrived in America in 2004 armed with little more than determination and a borrowed cue. Within days, she was learning the rules of nine-ball on the fly—and astonishing everyone by finishing runner-up in her very first event.
Kelly recounts those early, lean years with her trademark humor and grit: playing for rent money, learning to break, bank, and jump from scratch, and adapting to a fast-moving, often unpredictable pool circuit. With guidance from several early mentors, she rose quickly through the WPBA ranks—culminating in her breakthrough 2005 West Coast Classic victory.
Listeners will also hear about Kelly’s emotional journey off the table: her friendship and fierce rivalry with Allison Fisher, the bittersweet memory of winning while her mother battled illness, and the powerful “red feather” moment that reminded her she was never alone.
As the conversation turns to the evolution of nine-ball, Kelly and Allison share fascinating insight into how technology, table conditions, and break formats have reshaped the modern game—from wooden racks and Sardo contraptions to today’s precision magic racks and power breaks.
With warmth, wit, and hard-won wisdom, Kelly reflects on how a young snooker champion from Yorkshire became one of the most respected and resilient champions in women’s pool.
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Music by Lyrium.
About
"Legends of the Cue" is a pool history podcast featuring interviews with Pool Hall of Fame members, winners of major championships and other people of influence in and around pocket billiards. We also plan to highlight memorable pool brands, events and venues. Focusing on the positive aspects of the sport, we aim to create and provide an engaging and timeless repository of content that listeners can enjoy now and forever. Co-hosted by WPA and BCA Hall of Fame member Allison Fisher, Mosconi Cup player and captain Mark Wilson, our podcast focuses on telling the life stories of pool's greatest, in their voices. Join Allison, Mark and Mike Gonzalez for “Legends of the Cue.”
Pool Professional
Kelly Fisher’s story is the rare cue-sports journey that doesn’t just cross continents and disciplines, it redefines what “world-class” can mean when talent meets toughness, curiosity, and an unrelenting standard for excellence. Born in South Elmsall in West Yorkshire, she grew up in the kind of close-knit, working-class environment that quietly forges competitors: you learn to stand your ground, you learn to show up, and you learn that results matter. Kelly’s first tables weren’t glamorous arenas under TV lights, they were the everyday proving grounds of English pub culture, where the game is part sport, part social ritual, and part apprenticeship in nerve. That early setting helped shape the trademark qualities fans recognize today: poise under pressure, a steel-threaded mindset, and an ability to lock in when everything is on the line.
Very early on, it became clear she wasn’t simply “good for her age.” She was exceptional, driven, precise, and hungry for structure. That structure arrived in the form of coaching and disciplined training, most notably through long-time mentor Lionel Payne, who has spoken publicly about meeting Kelly when she was still a young teenager and watching her potential ignite into something historic. Their relationship is a key through-line in her career: the belief that talent is only the entry ticket, and the real separation happens in the routines no one sees, repetition, fundamentals, and the willingness to be coached even after you’ve won everything. Kelly herself has repeatedly credited the consistency of that coaching bond over…Read More