Snooker Shoot-Out

The Snooker Shoot Out is a professional ranking snooker tournament played under a variation of the standard rules. The 2017 event was the first time the tournament was staged as a ranking event. Hossein Vafaei is the current champion.

History

Single frame snooker competition was a staple of early televised coverage of the sport, and largely responsible for bringing the game to the mainstream of British sport, primarily through the BBC's popular ''Pot Black'' programme. Extended televised coverage of longer professional tournaments, however, had caused the format to become jaded, with the last ''Pot Black'' tournament taking place in 2007.

A similar event known as Shoot-Out was first held in September 1990, when, except in the final, all matches were decided over a single frame. With the demise of ''Pot Black'', the event returned in 2011 with several innovations, and was renamed to Snooker Shoot Out. It was sponsored by CaesarsCasino.com.

It was a one-frame shoot-out with a random draw, where the winner is given £32,000. The top 64 players in the world rankings contested the tournament, which was shown on Sky Sports and ITV4. The 2011 event was the first time that Sky Sports had shown a World Snooker event live since 2004. From 2011 to 2015 the event took place at the Circus Arena in Blackpool. The event was sponsored by PartyPoker.com in 2012, by Betfair in 2013, by 888casino in 2014, and by Betway in 2015. The tournament was held at the Hexagon in Reading for 2016. From 2016 to 2018, the tournament was broadcast by ITV and was sponsored by Coral. In 2017, the tournament became a ranking event for the first time, open to all 128 professional players. At the end of the season, the players voted to keep it as a ranking event. From 2017 the tournament was staged at the Colosseum in Watford. In 2018, the event agreed a long-term deal with Eurosport and Quest to broadcast the event in the United Kingdom until 2026, beginning with the 2019 Snooker Shoot Out.

The event is notable for its wildcard entries, with female players Reanne Evans, Emma Parker, Nutcharut Wongharuthai and Rebecca Kenna entering the event over the years, while amateur players as young as 13 have been given the chance the take part.

Format

Rules by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association:
* Every frame lasts a maximum of 10 minutes.
* There is a shot clock. For the first 5 minutes of the match, players have 15 seconds per shot, but for the last 5 minutes this is reduced to 10 seconds. Prior to 2013, the shot clock was set at 20 seconds per shot for the first 5 minutes and 15 seconds for the last 5 minutes. Failure to strike the cue ball within the time allowed results in a minimum 5 points penalty or the value of the ball 'on', whichever is greater. Prior to 2018, it was always a 5 points penalty. In 2021, normal rules regarding foul points are used.
* Players must hit a (with any ball) or pot a ball with every shot. Prior to 2013 either the or the needed to hit a cushion. Failure to do so results in a minimum 5 points penalty or the value of the ball 'on', whichever is greater. Prior to 2018, it was always a 5 points penalty.
* All fouls result in .
* Players '' for who .
* In an event of a tie the shoot-out determines the winner. The blue ball is placed on its spot and the player can place the cue ball anywhere within the ' before attempting to pot the blue (winner of lag decides who goes first). The blue ball must be potted directly, i.e. without a .

Winners

Century breaks

Total: 24

*
* 142 Mark Allen (2021)
* 139 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2019)
* 135, 116, 100 Martin Gould (2012, 2015, 2019)
* 133 Luca Brecel (2019)
* 133 Thor Chuan Leong (2020)
* 132 Ricky Walden (2019)
* 129, 113 Ronnie O'Sullivan (2011)
* 127 David Gilbert (2016)
* 125 Mark Selby (2013)
* 123 Hossein Vafaei (2022)
* 121 Stephen Lee (2012)
* 120 Tony Knowles (1990)
* 120 Chang Bingyu (2020)
* 112 Mark King (2011)
* 109 Michael Georgiou (2018)
* 107 Jak Jones (2020)
* 106 Alfie Burden (2011)
* 103 Allan Taylor (2022)
* 102 Mark Davis (2018)
* 101 Ryan Day (2014)
* 101 Xiao Guodong (2020)

Records

* Michael Holt and Mark Williams have both played (37) and won (26) the most matches in the tournament's history
* Paul Davison has entered the tournament 7 times without winning a match
* Robin Hull has the best winning record in terms of percentages, winning 87.5% of his matches (7 out of 8 played)
* When it comes to the winners trying to defend their title, 4 of the winners have lost in the 1st round the year after winning the trophy; the best performance by a defending champion was by Barry Hawkins, who reached the quarter-final stage.
* Barry Pinches, Nigel Bond, Rod Lawler, and Ken Doherty all competed in the original event back in 1990, and also took part in the 2022 tournament.
* The highest break in Shoot Out history was 142 by Mark Allen in 2021.
* The lowest aggregate score is 13, recorded when Oliver Lines beat Stan Moody 11–2 in 2022. Hammim Hussain's 9-7 victory over Peter Lines the previous year is still the lowest winning score. The previous lowest for both records was in 2019, when Ryan Davies beat Sunny Akani 10–7.

Notes

References

{{snooker tournaments

Snooker variants
Recurring sporting events established in 1990
1990 establishments in England
Snooker competitions in England
Snooker ranking tournaments
Snooker non-ranking competitions
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