Vincent "Vinnie" Calabrese (born 7 October 1987) is an Australian former professional snooker player from Campbelltown, New South Wales. He was based in Cambridge together with his compatriot Neil Robertson, although he has since moved back to Australia.
Calabrese started playing snooker aged 7 and soon came to success, winning a number of local tournaments. At the age of just 16 he had already claimed the Australian Snooker Championship. Since 2006 he has been spending a lot of time in England, playing in the PIOS tournaments and practising with Neil Robertson. His initial attempts to gain the main tour place via PIOS and later Q School were unsuccessful, however in 2013 he captured the Oceania Championship in Papua New Guinea with a 6âÂÂ5 victory against Matthew Bolton to earn a two-year card for the 2013âÂÂ14 and 2014âÂÂ15 seasons.
Thanks to the newly introduced flat draws, Calabrese was able to qualify for the venue stages of his debut tournament, the Wuxi Classic, as he defeated Anthony McGill 5âÂÂ3. He lost 5âÂÂ1 to John Higgins in the last 64 at the venue in China. At the UK Championship he led world number 22 Dominic Dale 5âÂÂ2, but was pegged back to 5âÂÂ5 with Calabrese saying afterwards that he couldn't hold himself together. However, in the deciding frame he made a composed 70 break to win 6âÂÂ5 before losing 6âÂÂ3 against Gary Wilson in the second round. Calabrese was knocked out of the first round of seven of the eight European Tour events, but at the Bluebell Wood Open he defeated world number two Mark Selby 4âÂÂ2, Dechawat Poomjaeng 4âÂÂ2 and David Morris 4âÂÂ1 and then led Jimmy Robertson 3âÂÂ0 in the last 16, but was beaten 4âÂÂ3. He finished his debut season on the tour ranked world number 105.
Calabrese won just two matches during the 2014âÂÂ15 season. In February 2015, Calabrese gave up his World Snooker Tour card after the Welsh Open, in which he lost 4âÂÂ1 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round, to return to being an amateur player so he could compete in the Oceania Championship. In March 2015, Calabrese won the Oceania Championship by defeating Matthew Bolton 6âÂÂ3 in the final and earned a two-year tour card for the 2015âÂÂ16 and 2016âÂÂ17 seasons.
Calabrese won just two of 13 games during the 2015/2016 season. Despite having a tour card which also covered the 2016/2017 season, he resigned from the tour in February 2016.