The remaining contenders in the draw will bid for the Snooker Shoot Out title on Saturday in Swansea.
This is its second edition of the Shoot Out in 2023, with the tournament moving to a new December slot on the calendar.
The Swansea Arena in Wales has taken over hosting duties for the first time, and there is a £50,000 cheque up for grabs for the winner.
Incorporating variations from the traditional format of the game, fans either embrace or despise its concept.
However, while a lot of the stars opt to skip this week’s action, it grants opportunities to lower-ranked players to earn valuable prize money and ranking points.
History and format
The Snooker Shoot Out is always a controversial inclusion as a ranking event given its deviation from the normal rules of the game.
Each match lasts only one ten-minute frame, with a 15-second shot clock in operation for the first five minutes and a 10-second shot clock required for the remaining time.
Players lag to determine who breaks off, every shot must result in a ball hitting a cushion or being potted, and there is ball-in-hand for any foul committed.
A permanent fixture on the Main Tour schedule since 2011, no current top-16 player has ever emerged as the winner.
The likes of Ryan Day, Barry Hawkins, Anthony McGill, Michael White, and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have triumphed in the past, but they were ranked outside the world’s elite bracket at the time.
Originally an invitational, the Shoot Out was upgraded to ranking event status in 2017 – a decision that did not go down particularly well with the majority of traditionalist supporters.
However, it has led to breakthroughs in recent seasons for the likes of Hossein Vafaei and Chris Wakelin.
It is the fifth event in this season’s BetVictor European Series, where the player with the most-earned money after eight total tournaments will receive a bonus worth £150,000.
2023 Snooker Shoot Out draw and schedule
Victory for Chris Wakelin in January brought the Englishman an unexpected maiden ranking title, but his defence ended in the second round.
While the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Luca Brecel, and Mark Selby have opted out of participating this week, the Snooker Shoot Out draw still boasts plenty of marquee names.
Shaun Murphy produced a moment of magic on Thursday with his remarkable 147 break against the clock.
Mark Allen, Kyren Wilson, and Ali Carter are the only top 16 members to have lasted until the final day, however.
Nobody has won the tournament twice, but three players have reached the title-deciding showdown on two occasions.
Michael Holt, who isn’t in the field this year, was a runner-up in 2019 before going one better a year later by lifting the trophy.
Graeme Dott and Xiao Guodong are also two-time finalists, with the former through to round three of this edition.
The last competitor standing on Saturday night will need to win just seven frames, played across the same number of rounds.
In the Snooker Shoot Out, there is a random draw for each round.
2023 Snooker Shoot Out draw
Round of 128 (bo1)
Chris Wakelin 1-0 Pang Junxu
Joel Connolly 0-1 Jiang Jun
Lyu Haotian 0-1 Liam Davies
Joe Perry 0-1 Alfie Davies
Ali Carter 1-0 Ross Muir
Andrew Pagett 0-1 Barry Pinches
Shaun Liu 1-0 Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Ryan Thomerson 0-1 Elliot Slessor
Ricky Walden 0-1 Iulian Boiko
Alexander Ursenbacher 1-0 Ashley Hugill
Zhou Yuelong 1-0 Stuart Carrington
Graeme Dott 1-0 Sean O’Sullivan
Andy Hicks 1-0 Martin O’Donnell
Rod Lawler 0-1 Oliver Sykes
Lukas Kleckers 1-0 Stuart Bingham
Ken Doherty 0-1 Matthew Stevens
Mark Allen 1-0 Ben Woollaston
Michael White 1-0 Mohamed Ibrahim
Allan Taylor 1-0 Oliver Brown
Xing Zihao 0-1 Xu Si
Mark Davis 1-0 Baipat Siripaporn
Manasawin Phetmalaikul 0-1 Mostafa Dorgham
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Sydney Wilson
Rory Thor 0-1 David Gilbert
Dominic Dale 1-0 Fan Zhengyi
Duane Jones 1-0 Jenson Kendrick
Andy Lee 0-1 Joe O’Connor
Kyren Wilson 1-0 Daniel Wells
Louis Heathcote 1-0 Xiao Guodong
Liam Pullen 1-0 Yuan Sijun
Florian Nuessle 0-1 Ian Burns
Jimmy White 0-1 Zak Surety
Jamie O’Neill 1-0 Riley Powell
Adam Duffy 0-1 Jack Borwick
Leone Crowley 0-1 Jackson Page
Tian Pengfei 1-0 Alex Taubman
Stan Moody 1-0 Rory McLeod
Liam Highfield 0-1 Si Jiahui
Oliver Lines 1-0 Ma Hailong
Muhammad Asif 0-1 Zhang Anda
Ryan Day 1-0 Anton Kazakov
Jimmy Robertson 1-0 James Cahill
Andrew Higginson 0-1 Julien Leclercq
Dylan Emery 1-0 Wu Yize
Steven Hallworth 1-0 Jamie Jones
Sanderson Lam 1-0 Haydon Pinhey
Mark Joyce 1-0 Rebecca Kenna
Shaun Murphy 1-0 Bulcsu Revesz
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 1-0 Liu Hongyu
Himanshu Jain 0-1 Robbie Williams
He Guoqiang 0-1 Hammad Miah
Peng Yisong 1-0 Ben Mertens
David Lilley 1-0 Reanne Evans
John Astley 0-1 Victor Sarkis
Dean Young 1-0 David Grace
Jordan Brown 1-0 Gary Wilson
Ashley Carty 1-0 Jak Jones
Long Zehuang 1-0 Tom Ford
Anthony Hamilton 1-0 Mink Nutcharut
Ahmed Aly Elsayed 1-0 Noppon Saengkham
Alfie Burden 1-0 Aaron Hill
Andres Petrov 0-1 Jamie Clarke
Robert Milkins 1-0 Liam Graham
Matthew Selt 0-1 Mark Williams
Round of 64 (bo1)
Dominic Dale 1-0 Shaun Murphy
Dean Young 1-0 Shaun Liu
Elliot Slessor 1-0 Oliver Sykes
Ian Burns 0-1 Stan Moody
Si Jiahui 1-0 Jordan Brown
Ali Carter 1-0 Alfie Burden
Mark Joyce 0-1 Steven Hallworth
Lukas Kleckers 0-1 Zhou Yuelong
Alexander Ursenbacher 1-0 Victor Sarkis
Matthew Stevens 0-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Sanderson Lam 1-0 Andy Hicks
Liam Pullen 1-0 Jamie O’Neill
Louis Heathcote 0-1 Liam Davies
David Lilley 1-0 Jack Borwick
Oliver Brown 0-1 Mark Allen
Mostafa Dorgham 0-1 Kyren Wilson
Chris Wakelin 0-1 Joe O’Connor
Jiang Jun 0-1 Anthony Hamilton
Long Zehuang 1-0 Noppon Saengkham
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Julien Leclercq
Jackson Page 0-1 Graeme Dott
Mark Davis 1-0 Tian Pengfei
David Gilbert 0-1 Jimmy Robertson
Robbie Williams 0-1 Iulian Boiko
Peng Yisong 0-1 Michael White
Barry Pinches 0-1 Duane Jones
Alfie Davies 0-1 Dylan Emery
Zak Surety 1-0 Zhang Anda
Hammad Miah 1-0 Mark Williams
Xu Si 1-0 Jamie Clarke
Oliver Lines 1-0 Robert Milkins
Ryan Day 1-0 Ashley Carty
Round of 32 (bo1)
David Lilley 0-1 Kyren Wilson
Michael White 1-0 Joe O’Connor
Alexander Ursenbacher 0-1 Steven Hallworth
Sanderson Lam 0-1 Mark Allen
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Iulian Boiko 1-0 Anthony Hamilton
Ali Carter 1-0 Dean Young
Zhou Yuelong 0-1 Dominic Dale
Duane Jones 0-1 Long Zehuang
Elliot Slessor 1-0 Zak Surety
Liam Davies 1-0 Dylan Emery
Xu Si 0-1 Oliver Lines
Mark Davis 1-0 Liam Pullen
Graeme Dott 0-1 Jimmy Robertson
Ryan Day 0-1 Si Jiahui
Hammad Miah 1-0 Stan Moody
Round of 16 (bo1)
Dominic Dale 1-0 Iulian Boiko
Kyren Wilson 0-1 Si Jiahui
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Hammad Miah
Oliver Lines 0-1 Mark Allen
Liam Davies 0-1 Mark Davis
Long Zehuang 0-1 Steven Hallworth
Elliot Slessor 1-0 Jimmy Robertson
Michael White 0-1 Ali Carter
Quarter-Finals (bo1)
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Mark Davis
Si Jiahui 0-1 Mark Allen
Dominic Dale 0-1 Steven Hallworth
Ali Carter 1-0 Elliot Slessor
Semi-Finals (bo1)
Cao Yupeng 1-0 Ali Carter
Steven Hallworth 0-1 Mark Allen
Final (bo1)
Cao Yupeng 0-1 Mark Allen
How to watch the Snooker Shoot Out
Live coverage will be available in Britain, Ireland, and across Europe via Eurosport and discovery+.
Other options are available for viewers around the world, which you can view on the World Snooker Tour website by clicking here.
Featured photo credit: WST
