Thailand's Poomjaeng won four matches just to get to the Crucible then shocked Stephen Maguire in the first round. He was no match for fellow debutant White, but the eccentric 34-year-old from Saraburi earned the affection of the crowd with his antics around the table, and his displays will be among the memorable moments of the Championship.
Credit must go to Neath's 21-year-old White for focussing on the job at hand and playing some excellent snooker, emphasising his reputation as an emerging star. He faces Robert Milkins or Ricky Walden next with the chance to become the first debutant to reach the semi-finals since Andy Hicks in 1995.
World number 41 White built a 7-1 lead last night and soon extended that today by winning the first two frames with a top break of 71. Poomjaeng pulled one back and had chances in the 12th, but White cleared from brown to black to make it 10-2 at the interval. An 83 stretched his lead before Poomjaeng won a scrappy 14th frame to raise his hopes of taking the contest to a third session. But White was not in merciful mood and fired in breaks of 73 and 102 to seal the result and give himself a morning off tomorrow.
"I'm thrilled," said White, who won the World Amateur title at the age of 14 in 2006. "I had to keep in the zone and keep concentrating and I thought I dealt with that pretty well throughout the game. Last night, he was joking around a lot but I held it together pretty well.
"At 10-2 I thought I could win with a session to spare. I was delighted in the end to get a couple of breaks and finish him off. I think it's definitely an advantage to have an extra day off, I can relax now and go and practise for a couple of days and just enjoy the result."
As for his quarter-final tie, White added: "Both Rob and Ricky are great players and they have both had decent seasons so it'll be a tough game whoever I play. The semis are a long way off so I'm just concentrating on the quarter-final. I dreamed of playing on the one table setup as a kid because it's a big arena when it goes down to one table."
Poomjaeng said: "I enjoyed it as it was my first time at the Crucible. Michael White played well but I lost too easily. I'm so proud that everyone liked me and I loved them!"
The Thai lost the fourth frame under the three-miss rule last night and said: "I couldn't believe what I'd done when I missed the red three times. The third shot I played it half-ball but I played it with a little bit of side and I missed again and lost the frame. Getting angry about it was not good for me so I just had to concentrate and move on.
"I'll go home later this weekend to Thailand because I miss my family and my daughter a lot.
"I am looking for a new house but I don't think this money will be enough. If I had got to the final it would have been but not now!"
Meanwhile, world number three Judd Trump built a 6-2 overnight lead over Marco Fu (Adam Grice writes).
Trump had an unsettled start to the match as he lost the first frame, but the 2011 UK Championship winner got going with a 60 clearance in the second. The 23-year-old took the third with a break of 109 before Fu made it 2-2.
Trump, who is one of the favourites to win the tournament, played superbly after the interval, showing signs of the form which took him to the final two years ago. Breaks of 127, 61 and 112 gave him three frames within 30 minutes for 5-2. And he added the last of the session with a 42 clearance, finishing with some stunning exhibition shots.
Play will resume on Saturday morning at 10am with the final session at 7pm.
