Snooker Shoot-Out Preview

This weekend it's time for the players to let their hair down as the Snooker Shoot-out rolls into town. This year the event has moved from the Blackpool Tower to the Hexagon Theatre in Reading, which has plenty of history with the game of snooker but of course the Snooker Shoot-out is not snooker as we know it.

There is another change this year as ITV4 take over the broadcasting rights from Sky Sports so the usual team of Clive Everton and Neal Foulds will join presenter Jill Douglas to front the coverage and I am sure that they will get more guys like Alan McManus in the commentary box if and when they are knocked out of the competition.

It's always tough each year to remember the rules as they are so different so here's a reminder of some of the key ones:

- Each match will be played over one frame, which will last no longer than 10 minutes.
- Any fouls result in a "ball in hand" where the opposing player can place the ball anywhere on the table for his next shot.
- It will also be deemed a foul if a shot is played where either a ball does not enter a pocket or touch a cushion. (This stops players rolling up for snookers behind baulk colours and other negative safety play)
- A shot clock of 15 seconds will be employed for the first five minutes of the frame, and this will then shorten to give players 10 seconds a shot for the second half of the frame.
- If the scores are level after the 10 minutes are up, the result will then be decided by a sudden death 'blue ball shoot-out'.


I actually enjoy the Shoot-out which is contrary to the opinions of many. It's exciting and is a good opportunity for the people at home to see more of the players that are not usually on their screens. On top of this it is also a good opportunity for the players to let their hair down and have a bit of laugh like an exhibition event, which is always nice in the middle of a busy period of serious ranking events either side of this taking place.

Even the Snooker Smurf mascot and his owners will be making the journey (a little further than they would like) to watch this weekend so hopefully we'll see the recognisable stuffed toy on our screens once more.

This is how the draw shapes up then for the event:

Friday evening matches (6.30pm start) (*Speculative* picks in bold)

Michael White Vs Mark King
Mark Davis Vs Gary Wilson
Zhou Yuelong Vs Michael Georgiou (Georgiou replaces Aditya Mehta who has withdrawn)
Ken Doherty Vs Tom Ford
Ali Carter Vs Liam Highfield
Graeme Dott Vs Ben Woollaston
Cao Yupeng Vs Joe Perry
Mark Joyce Vs David Gilbert
David Grace Vs Jimmy Robertson
Mark Allen Vs Yu De Lu
David Morris Vs Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham Vs Ricky Walden
Mike Dunn Vs Luca Brecel
Michael Holt Vs Ryan Day
Sam Baird Vs Jack Lisowski
Dominic Dale Vs Shaun Murphy

Saturday Afternoon Matches (12.30pm start) (More attempted picks in bold)

John Higgins Vs Andrew Higginson
Peter Lines Vs Kurt Maflin
Robert Milkins Vs Marco Fu
Mark Williams Vs Rory McLeod
Tian Pengfei Vs Joe Swail
Jamie Jones Vs Martin Gould
Liang Wenbo Vs Anthony McGill
Robin Hull Vs Craig Steadman
Rod Lawler Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Kyren Wilson Vs Li Hang
Anthony Hamilton Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Stuart Carrington Vs Matthew Stevens
Barry Hawkins Vs Peter Ebdon
Xiao Guodong Vs Matt Selt
Oliver Lines Vs Ian Burns
Judd Trump Vs Gerard Greene


As far as the schedule goes thereafter the Last 32 will take place on Saturday evening from 6.30pm, before the Last 16 takes place on Sunday afternoon from 1.30pm, with the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final taking place on Sunday evening.

The draw for each of the following rounds will take place at random as part of the live coverage.

The Shoot-out is always something of a lottery with the one frame matches and a random draw but that will not stop me from trying to pick out some of the CONTENDERS:


There is certainly a category that winners of this event usually fit into. The five previous winners are Nigel Bond, Barry Hawkins, Martin Gould, Dominic Dale and Michael White. Those five have never been notoriously big winners, and while all of them have now won ranking events, Hawkins, Gould and White all won theirs after winning this fun invitational event. They were also outside of the top 16 when they won but certainly not too low down the rankings either, and are all quite attacking players. So using that formula and looking back at previous shoot-outs here are some of my 'ones to watch'.

Michael Holt and Ryan Day face off in round one this year and both of these two guys have good records in the shoot-out, are two of the best players left without ranking titles and are in and around the mid-twenties in the world rankings. Both are attacking players and heavy scorers and seem to thrive on the atmosphere at this event and if you're willing to wait, the winner out of these two has a great chance of taking the £32,000 top prize home with them.

Kurt Maflin is another big hitting attacking player who has what it takes to go all the way this weekend. He scores heavily and is more than capable of blitzing anyone over a single frame (but most of the players are). He has had a run at the event and it is good to have that experience of playing with the rules and shot clock which is why you would not fancy many of the debutants to play well this weekend. As a non-ranking winner who just needs that bit of confidence to go on and get the title that his talent warrants, maybe he can do what the likes of Hawkins and Michael White have and use this as a springboard to bigger things.

When you think of quick players who will have no trouble with the shot clock Robert Milkins is the name that sticks out. He was the runner-up to Bond in the very first shoot-out and is not afraid to attack, score heavily and get the job done in a flash. Once again he is a man that just needs that springboard to go on and achieve bigger things, and the shot clock in play will help him to stay in the fantastic rhythm he gets into.

No player has ever won the snooker shoot-out twice, but in my opinion there is one man that has come a lot closer than others and that is Barry Hawkins. As well as winning the shoot-out he has also reached a further semi-final and seems to thrive when these three days in the calendar come around.

Out of all of the debutants there is a certain man from Finland that I would love to see win this event. Robin Hull is a heavy scorer and certainly capable of beating anyone over any format. He should not have too much trouble with the shot clock as he's experienced enough to know how to deal with anything by now. There's a big difference between qualifying for the Crucible two years in a row (which Hull has done in the two years he has been back on tour) and winning the shoot-out but Robin certainly has what it takes.

Kyren Wilson deserves a special mention here too. We all know that he is a very attacking player, a heavy scorer and incredibly confident after collecting his first ranking title this season. He loves the shoot-out and as a semi-finalist last year you would not rule him out of going all the way if he plays as fluently as he did in his record breaking qualifier for the China Open. Wilson made four centuries (and a 68) whilst Anthony Hamilton had two of his own to set the record for the most centuries in a best-of-9 with six in total.

Finally, another player who fits the shoes made for a shoot-out winner is Tom Ford. Tom has a pretty decent record in the event and has always played with a very quick, attacking style and is no stranger to heavy scoring either. Odds of 100/1 being offered in some places could be a very unhealthy move come Sunday evening.


The list does not end there with guys like Jamie Jones, Shaun Murphy, Jimmy Robertson and plenty more having that all-out attacking style and quick heavy scoring that usually gets the job done in the shoot-out.

Straight after the event it is across to the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff for the Welsh Open with all 128 players involved playing at some point on Monday so there's no rest for the guys.