The Snooker Shoot Out gets underway on Wednesday as the unique event returns to Blackpool for the first time since 2015.
The one-frame chaos of the Shoot Out has been on something of a UK tour being played in Reading, Watford, Milton Keynes, Leicester and Swansea but is now back at the Tower Circus, where it was played from 2011-15.
The matches are all just a single frame, lasting a maximum of 10 minutes and played under a shot clock of 15 seconds, shortened to 10 seconds after five minutes.
Somewhat controversially, the tournament carries ranking points, making the £50,000 top prize potentially career changing.
Previous winners have included an established top player like Mark Allen in 2023 and a highly unlikely outsider like Michael Georgiou in 2018.
Tom Ford is the defending champion this week after his dramatic victory over Scottish youngster Liam Graham in the 2024 final.
Many of the sport’s biggest names choose not to play in the Shoot Out, but some do, including Shaun Murphy, Zhao Xintong, Allen and Luca Brecel.
How to watch the Snooker Shoot Out
The tournament will be shown live in the UK on TNT Sports and Discovery+.
Snooker Shoot Out Rules
Timing
Each match is a maximum of 10 minutes.
For the first five minutes of the match there is a 15 second shot clock. This is cut to 10 seconds after five minutes.
Failure to commence a stroke within the time results in a foul.
Fouls
All fouls result in the cue-ball in hand, so it can be placed anywhere on the table.
If at least one ball does not strike a cushion or enter a pocket after a stroke then it is a foul.
Other rules
Players lag to decide who breaks.
A tied frame is decided by a sudden death blue ball shootout.
Full Shoot Out rules available here.
Snooker Shoot Out prize money
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
Snooker Shoot Out draw and schedule
Wednesday December 10
First Round
1pm
Ethan Llewellyn vs Yao Pengcheng
Steve Wardropper vs Florian Nuble
Stuart Carrington vs Zhao Hanyang
Lan Yuhao vs Joel Connolly
Michael Holt vs Ashley Hugill
Chatchapong Nasa vs Stan Moody
Mark Davis vs Pang Junxu
Jiang Jun vs Robbie McGuigan
Mateusz Baranowski vs Ken Doherty
David Lilley vs Ali Carter
Martin O’Donnell vs Tom Ford
Ricky Walden vs Ryan Davies
Dylan Emery vs Mitchell Mann
Leone Crowley vs Amir Sarkhosh
Zhang Anda vs Julien Leclercq
Long Zehuang vs Luca Brecel
7pm
Joe O’Connor vs Duane Jones
Haydon Pinhey vs Allan Taylor
Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Dean Young
Iulian Boiko vs Hatem Yassen
Shaun Murphy vs Patrick Whelan
Xu Yichen vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ashley Carty vs Bulcsu Revesz
Elliot Slessor vs Louis Heathcote
David Gilbert vs Matthew Stevens
Mahmoud El Hareedy vs Gary Wilson
Jimmy Robertson vs Matthew Selt
Ben Woollaston vs Ben Mertens
Chris Wakelin vs Zhou Yuelong
Sanderson Lam vs Jonas Luz
Fergal Quinn vs Jordan Brown
Umut Dikme vs Ryan Day
Thursday December 11
1pm
Wu Yize vs Marco Fu
Cheung Ka Wai vs Liam Graham
Noppon Saengkham vs Xu Si
Chang Bingyu vs Liam Pullen
Lyu Haotian vs Fan Zhengyi
Michael Szubarczyk vs Jamie Jones
Wang Yuchen vs Kaylan Patel
Jak Jones vs Huang Jiahao
Ng On-yee vs Mark Allen
Ross Muir vs Zhao Xintong
Jackson Page vs Lei Peifan
Riley Powell vs Daniel Wells
Yuan Sijun vs Gong Chenzhi
Mohammed Shehab vs Reanne Evans
Artemijs Zizins vs Vladislav Gradinari
Ellise Scott vs Bai Yulu
7pm
Oliver Lines vs Mark Lloyd
Daniel Womersley vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Sam Craigie vs Si Jiahui
Stephen Maguire vs Farakh Ajaib
Hossein Vafaei vs Haris Tahir
Robert Milkins vs Liu Hongyu
Aaron Hill vs Liu Wenwei
Ian Burns vs Liam Highfield
Stuart Bingham vs Jack O’Brien
Oliver Brown vs Jimmy White
Antoni Kowalski vs Sahil Nayyar
Gao Yang vs Steven Hallworth
Zak Surety vs Kreishh Gurbaxani
Chris Totten vs Connor Benzey
Liam Davies vs Anthony McGill
He Guoqiang vs David Grace
Friday December 12
1pm
Round two
7pm
Round two
Saturday December 13
Finals day
