2023 Snooker Shoot Out (2023–24 Season)

The 2023 Snooker Shoot Out (officially the 2023 BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 6 to 9 December 2023 at the Swansea Arena in Swansea, South Wales. Played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker, with every match contested over a single , the tournament was the ninth ranking event of the snooker season and the fifth of eight events in the 2024 European Series. Sponsored by BetVictor, the event was broadcast by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe.

Chris Wakelin was the defending champion, having defeated Julien Leclercq 1190 in the previous final, but he lost 4446 in the second round to Joe O'Connor. Shaun Liu, who had turned 13 in July 2023, defeated Ishpreet Singh Chadha 5752 and became the youngest winner of a televised match in a ranking event. In the first round match against Bulcsú Révész, Shaun Murphy made his eighth career maximum break, the first ever compiled at the Shoot Out.

In the final of the event, world number four Mark Allen defeated Cao Yupeng 654 to capture his tenth ranking title. He became the first player in the history of the event to win the title while ranked within the world's top 16. "It's just so hard," Allen said after the match, "the easiest of shots turns into the most difficult and you feel more pressure here in a 10minute frame than you would do in the final frame of a big ranking tournament final at 99 or something. It just does crazy things to your brain."

Tournament format

The tournament was played using a variation of the traditional snooker rules. The draw was randomised before each round. All matches were played over a single , each of which lasts up to 10 minutes. The event featured a variable shot clock; shots played in the first five minutes are allowed 15 seconds while the final five has a 10-second timer. All award the opponent a . Unlike traditional snooker, if a ball does not hit a on every shot, it is a foul. Rather than a coin toss, a is used to choose which player . In the event of a draw, each player receives a shot at the . This is known as a "blue ball shootout". The player who the ball with the from inside the and the blue ball on its spot with the opponent missing wins the match.

Broadcasters

The event was broadcast by Eurosport and Discovery+ in Europe (including the UK and Ireland); , Youku, and Huya in Mainland China; Now TV in Hong Kong; Astro SuperSport in Malaysia and Brunei; TrueVisions in Thailand; Sportcast in Taiwan; Premier Sports Network in the Philippines; Fastsports in Pakistan; and Matchroom.live in all other territories.

Prize fund

The total prize fund for the event is £171,000 with the winner receiving £50,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:

* Winner: £50,000
* Runner-up: £20,000
* Semi-final: £8,000
* Quarter-final: £4,000
* Last 16: £2,000
* Last 32: £1,000
* Last 64: £500
* Last 128: £250
* Highest break: £5,000

* Total: £171,000

Tournament draw

All times in Greenwich Mean Time. Times for quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are approximate. Players in bold denote match winners. The draw is listed in the order of play.

Round 1

6 December – 13:00

* 72–62
* 35–43
* 52–53
* 5–16
* 86–1
* 6–77
* 52–57
* 1–13
* 35–42
* 39–27
* 37–5
* 55–46
* 64–29
* 31–33
* 84–29
* 5–109

6 December – 19:00

* 52–15
* 92–0
* 33–35
* 31–42
* 94–8
* 31–32
* 73–32
* 26–39
* 64–1
* 82–0
* 11–75
* 47–38
* 45–43
* 58–1
* 61–0
* 43–62

7 December – 13:00

* 9–65
* 15–33
* 9–64
* 56–35
* 43–14
* 37–87
* 69–22
* 50–57
* 25–5
* 31–2
* 0–74
* 46–31
* 48–14
* 62–30
* 38–6
* 147–0

7 December – 19:00

* 41–26
* 51–60
* 9–47
* 63–10
* 99–28
* 3–34
* 59–31
* 30–29
* 39–2
* 52–24
* 54–5
* 47–50
* 59–5
* 19–31
* 51–33
* 4–68

Round 2

8 December – 13:00

* 46–44
* 41–28
* 42–16
* 0–90
* 72–9
* 16–6
* 12–51
* 0–78
* 68–11
* 0–78
* 58–5
* 120–1
* 42–57
* 54–25
* 1–69
* 14–71

8 December – 19:00

* 44–46
* 0–76
* 68–7
* 51–0
* 5–72
* 50–21
* 36–40
* 8–62
* 2–52
* 31–68
* 28–58
* 49–42
* 30–9
* 47–42
* 56–16
* 48–20

Round 3

9 December – 13:00

* 1–101
* 75–6
* 12–48
* 36–58
* 44–6
* 31–26
* 58–21
* 23–66
* 40–56
* 65–42
* 40–33
* 9–20
* 46–15
* 44–53
* 0–112
* 61–34

Round 4

9 December – 19:00

* 63–46
* 48–53
* 31–16
* 10–19
* 0–73
* 33–48
* 50–36
* 27–32

Quarter-finals

9 December – 21:00

* 39–13
* 18–52
* 19–52
* 41–24

Semi-finals

9 December – 22:00

* 41–18
* 8–60

Final

Century breaks

A total of 2 century breaks were made during the tournament.

* 147 Shaun Murphy
* 101 Kyren Wilson

Notes

References

External links

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2023 Dec
2023 in snooker
2023 in English sport
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December 2023 sports events in the United Kingdom