A new competition for amateur snooker commences on Tuesday in Reading called The 900.
A total of 96 amateur competitors have been invited to take part in the series, which will be broadcast live on television.
The tournament has been established by Jason Francis, the man behind other successful initiatives like Snooker Legends and the World Seniors Snooker Tour.
The format in operation for the 900 is not too dissimilar to the one used at the Snooker Shoot Out, a ranking event on the Main Tour.
The Format
Below is a brief summary of the format and rules:
- Each match is one frame lasting 900 seconds (15 minutes)
- There is a 20-second shot clock
- Players must hit a cushion or pot a ball with each shot
- The ball-in-hand rule is in operation for fouls
- A dozen players will compete in each weekly event
- The eight weekly winners face off in a final event to determine the champion
Each week will comprise 12 different entrants, with the action taking place on Monday*, Tuesday, and Wednesday nights at the Crucible Club in Reading.
Eight players will first participate on a Monday in a mini event, with the semi-finalists advancing to Wednesday’s final rounds.
An additional four cueists enter the fray for a second mini event on a Tuesday alongside the Monday’s four losers, with the semi-finalists again progressing to Wednesday night.
On a Wednesday, a weekly winner will be crowned, with these eight weekly winners eventually battling for the overall title in November.
There’s a total prize fund of £58,000.
Meanwhile, while the competition is a good opportunity for amateur snooker players to gain exposure and earn money, this list of online casinos that payout fast will offer you the chance to land some cash prizes of your own – with plenty of welcome bonuses to choose from.
The 900 Draw
The 900 draw comprises a mix of different players, from former world snooker champions to teenagers, women’s stars to disability champions, ex-ranking event champions to complete unknowns.
Some of the familiar names invited to take part include former Shoot Out champions Michael Holt and Michael Georgiou, who are among the overall favourites.
Dennis Taylor, Joe Johnson, Tony Drago, Rory McLeod, Andrew Higginson, Darren Morgan, Lee Walker, Pankaj Advani, and Maria Catalano are some of the others who snooker fans will immediately recognise.
draw subject to change
| Week 1 (Sept 19-21) | Week 2 (Sept 26-28) | Week 3 (Oct 3-5) | Week 4 (Oct 10-12) |
| Dennis Taylor | Tony Knowles | Joe Johnson | Darren Morgan |
| Billy Castle | Emma Parker | Gary Filtness | Ryan Davies |
| Michael Collumb | Stuart Watson | Raymond Fry | Vito Puopolo |
| Maria Catalano | Daniel Wells | Levi Meiller | Wayne Townsend |
| Andrew Norman | Callum Lloyd | Chucky Preston | Aidan Owens |
| Marcos Dayao | Rory McLeod | Andrew Higginson | Dharminder Lilly |
| Connor Benzey | John Hunter | Patrick Wallace | Mark Gray |
| Jamie Bodle | Aaron Canavan | Matt Ford | Declan Lavery |
| Stuart Reardon | Ashley Beal | Andy Lavin | Nick Neale |
| Zack Richardson | Jamie Wilson | Mark Ganderton | Alfie Lee |
| Jordan Shepherd | Steve Crowley | Liam Graham | Andrew Greaves |
| Ashley Carty | Sean Maddocks | Dean Sycamore | Haydon Pinhey |
| Week 5 (Oct 17-19) | Week 6 (Oct 24-26) | Week 7 (Oct 31-Nov 2) | Week 8 (Nov 7-9) |
| Patsy Fagan | Les Dodd | Michael Holt | Tony Drago |
| Joshua Thomond | Tam Mustafa | Aaron Busuttil | Pankaj Advani |
| Eden Sharav | Alex Borg | Martin O’Donnell | Karl Townsend |
| Jamie Curtis-Barrett | Gary Britton | Stephen Bateman | Luke Simmonds |
| Richard Emery | Callum Beresford | Stuart Parnell | Ben Hancorn |
| Nigel Bond | Ant Parsons | Ross Muir | Michael Georgiou |
| Philip Williams | Rhydian Richards | Paul Deaville | Robbie McGuigan |
| Daniel Ward | Martyn Desperques | Peter Devlin | Harvey Chandler |
| Peter Doherty | George Pragnall | Sanjay Meghani | Brendan O’Donoghue |
| Lee Martin | Jack Bradford | Garry Coulson | Luke Pinches |
| Fergal Quinn | David Church | Adam Shorto | Matthew Glasby |
| Sacha Tropper | Matt Wilson | Tony Corrigan | Matthew Simpson |
Where to Watch
There will be live coverage of The 900 on SportyStuffTV, which is available online at www.sportystuff.tv, on Sky, and on Freeview.
Broadcasts each week will be on Mondays*, Tuesdays, and Wednesday nights from 10pm until 1am.
*Week 1 will commence on Tuesday (3pm) as a mark of respect for the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth on Monday, September 19th.
Featured image credit: Snooker Legends
So Dennis Taylor’s ‘retirement’ from competitive snooker didn’t last long!
That thought crossed my mind too.
Where can I get results ?
A good question that I would like to know the answer to as well. There are some results on the @SnookerLegends Twitter page, but it’s all over the place.
How do you enter Thompson?
How do you enter this comp?
This season is booked up, but for future editions try contacting Jason Francis from Snooker Legends. He’s usually easily reachable on Twitter or Facebook.