It was confirmed a couple of weeks ago that snooker’s revolution of Power Snooker will return to our screens in November.
Upon hearing rumours yesterday that invitations would be sent out to all of the Top 16 players in the official world rankings, I was apparently a little quick to express my doubt that most would accept.
As of today, all 16 players in that elite bracket are set to compete on the 19th and 20th of next month in the variant format.
This time last year, Power Snooker hit our screens for the first time with Ronnie O’Sullivan running out a convincing winner against Ding Junhui of China in the final.
The format offer match-ups of 30 minutes in length and the player who scores the most points in that time – rather than the number of frames won – emerges victorious.
There are also a few supplementary gimmicks thrown in to spice up the action.
Instead of the usual 15 reds, there are nine reds in a diamond position at the break-off with one Power Ball red.
When the Power Ball is potted, a two-minute Power Play is enacted that allows for double points.
There is also a Power Zone, traditionally known as the baulk area in traditional snooker, where double points are available when balls are potted from behind the baulk line.
Additionally, the event is just that – an event. Crowd participation is encouraged and there is more loud music, pin-up girls and distracting, glitz-and-glamour antics that snooker is generally not accustomed to.
I’ll be brutally honest – I can neither advocate nor oppose this concept just yet.
Last year in its first edition, it was relatively enjoyable and I wrote as much at the time of the tournament.
However, at the time snooker fans and pundits were still relatively starved for regular snooker – something that is evidently not the case anymore.
Looking back, the tomfoolery of the crowd was excruciatingly annoying and it is obvious that there will be no let-up in similar lark this time around.
There were particularly offensive comments labelled at Shaun Murphy throughout the evening and this is something that no form of snooker should be in favour of.
In saying that, there really is no harm in there being the odd “fun” tournament on the calendar.
There is already the Sky Shoot-Out, which was a huge success last January and has been contracted for a further three years in Blackpool.
As well as that, it is an opportunity for some of the big name players to make some relatively easy money for a couple of days work.
Last year O’Sullivan received £35,000 for lifting the title and the prize fund will surely be similarly ample on this occasion.
‘The Rocket’ and Stephen Maguire have been quite vocal on their disapproval of the Players Tour Championship series recently and I suppose it is not that unusual to see them enlisted for Power Snooker.
Power Snooker’s tagline last year was “Cue the Revolution”. Well, there should never be a revolution – or evolution – into this kind of format but if it is an annual event to offer the masses something a little alternative then there really is no harm in that.
If anything, it will just reinforce why traditional snooker is the Godfather of the sport.
