Snooker Shoot-Out

Snooker Shoot-Out

Tournament information
Venue	Hexagon Theatre
Location	Reading
Country	England
Established	1990
Organisation(s)	World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
Total prize fund	£130,000[1]
Current champion(s)	Robin Hull

The Snooker Shoot-Out is a cue sport tournament played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker, which was first held in 1990.^[2] Robin Hull is the reigning champion.

History

A similar event known as Shoot-Out was first held in September 1990, when, except the final, all matches were decided over a single frame. The event returned in 2011 with several innovations, and was renamed to Snooker Shoot-Out.^[2] It was sponsored by CaesarsCasino.com,^[3] and has been compared to cricket's Twenty20 matches.^[4]

It is a one-frame shoot-out with a random draw, where the winner is given £32,000. The top 64 players in the world rankings contest the tournament, which is shown on Sky and ITV 4. The 2011 event was the first time that Sky has shown a World Snooker event live since 2004.^[5][6] Since 2011 the event took place at the Circus Arena in Blackpool.^{[7][8][9][10]} The event was sponsored by PartyPoker.com in 2012,^[11] by Betfair in 2013,^[12] by 888casino.com in 2014,^[13] and by Betway in 2015.^[14] The tournament was held at the Hexagon in Reading for 2016 and was sponsored by Coral.

Format

Rules by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association:^[15]

• Every frame lasts 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.^[16] Failure to ensure that the cue ball hits the object ball within the time allowed results in a 5-point penalty. 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.^[15]
• Players must hit a cushion or pot a ball with every shot.^[16] Prior to 2013 either the cue ball or the object ball needed to hit a cushion.^[15]
• All fouls result in ball in hand.
• Players ‘lag’ for who breaks off.
• In an event of a tie the blue ball shoot-out determines the winner. The blue ball is placed on its spot and the player can place the cue ball anywhere within the <span title="See entry at: Glossary of cue sports terms § "D", the" style="color:inherit; " class="">D before attempting to pot the blue.

Winners

Year	Winner	Runner-Up	Final score	City	Season
Shoot-Out
1990[2]	Darren Morgan	Mike Hallett	2–1[n 1]	Stoke	1990/91
Snooker Shoot-Out[17]
2011[7]	Nigel Bond	Robert Milkins	58–24	Blackpool	2010/11
2012[8]	Barry Hawkins	Graeme Dott	61–23		2011/12
2013[9]	Martin Gould	Mark Allen	104–0		2012/13
2014[10]	Dominic Dale	Stuart Bingham	77–19		2013/14
2015[18]	Michael White	Xiao Guodong	54–48		2014/15
2016[19]	Robin Hull	Luca Brecel	50–36	Reading	2015/16

Notes

1. The final was best of three frames.

References

1. "Prize Money Breakdowns 2013/14". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 1 May 2013. Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
2. Turner, Chris. "One Frame Shoot-Out". cajt.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk. Chris Turner's Snooker Archive. Archived from the original on 13 March 2012. Retrieved 31 January 2011.
3. "Caesarscasino.com sponsors Snooker Shoot-out". crunchsports.com. Retrieved 23 January 2011.
4. "Hearn unveils 20 second snooker". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
5. "Sky to televise World Snooker Shoot-Out". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 18 May 2010.
6. "Sky To Televise World Seniors Championship". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
7. "Day Three In Blackpool". World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 1 February 2011. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
8. "PartyPoker.com Snooker Shoot-Out (2012)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
9. "Betfair Snooker Shoot-Out (2013)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
10. "888casino.com Snooker Shoot-Out (2014)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 9 April 2013.
11. "Partypoker.com Sponsor Shoot-Out". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 26 January 2011.
12. "Betfair Backing Shoot-Out". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Retrieved 5 December 2012.
13. "Shoot-Out To Be Sponsored By 888casino.com". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 21 October 2013. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
14. "Betway To Sponsor Shoot-Out And Seniors". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. 25 February 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
15. "Rules". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 9 June 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2011.
16. "Rules". worldsnooker.com. World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
17. "Hall of Fame". Snooker.org. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
18. "Betway Snooker Shoot-Out (2015)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
19. "Coral Snooker Shoot-Out (2016)". Snooker.org. Retrieved 15 February 2016.