Snooker tournament
The Snooker Shoot Out is a professional snooker tournament played under a variation of the standard rules. Each match consists of one frame, played over a maximum of 10 minutes, with a shot clock in effect. First staged in 1990 as the Shoot-Out, the event was revived in 2011 and renamed the Snooker Shoot Out. Held from 2011 to 2016 as a non-ranking event with 64 competitors, it became a ranking event in 2017 for an expanded field of 128 players.[1]
The event is notable for its wildcard entrants, including young amateur players. Liam Davies first competed in 2019 when he was 12 years old, making him the youngest player to feature in a professional ranking event.[2] At the 2023 edition, 14-year-old Vladislav Gradinari became the youngest player to win a televised match at a ranking event, beating Ng On Yee in the first round, continuing his run by beating Pan American Snooker Champion Victor Sarkis, reaching last 32 before losing to Tom Ford[3] and Reanne Evans became the first female player to achieve the same feat.[4] The current champion is Mark Allen, who defeated Cao Yupeng in December 2023 to become the first top 16 player to win the Shoot Out.[5] Stuart Bingham, Mark Selby, and Mark Williams have also all reached finals.[6]
Unlike other major snooker tournaments, the audience does not remain silent during play, and the event has become known for its boisterous atmosphere.[7]
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.[8] It was sponsored by CaesarsCasino.com.[9]
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 Tour event live since 2004.[10] From 2011 to 2015 the event took place at the Circus Arena in Blackpool.[11][12][13] The event was sponsored by PartyPoker.com in 2012,[14] by Betfair in 2013,[15] by 888casino in 2014,[16] and by Betway in 2015.[17] The tournament was held at the Hexagon in Reading for 2016.[18] From 2016 to 2018, the tournament was broadcast by ITV and was sponsored by Coral.[19][20][21] In 2017, the tournament became a ranking event for the first time, open to all 128 professional players.[22] At the end of the season, the players voted to keep it as a ranking event.[23] From 2017 the tournament was staged at the Colosseum in Watford.[24][25] 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.[26]
In January 2023, Reanne Evans became the first female winner of a Snooker Shoot Out match as well as the first woman to win a televised match at a ranking event.[27] In December 2023, Shaun Murphy made the first ever Shoot Out maximum break in his first-round match against Bulcsú Révész.[28]
Mark Allen (NIR)
