The Q Tour campaign is heating up with Event 5 taking place from Friday to Sunday at the Bulgarian Snooker Academy in Sofia.
The amateur circuit acts as a feeder to the World Snooker Tour, with four professional spots up for grabs by the end of the 2025/26 season.
There have already been four Q Tour events staged this term on the main European swing of the series.
Hammad Miah emerged with the title in the first tournament that was staged in Stockholm at the end of August – the Englishman beating Patrick Whelan 4-2 in the final.
Event 2 in Austria was subsequently won by Peter Lines, who edged Peter Devlin in a dramatic 4-3 tussle at the HSEBC in Vienna.
Last month, Simon Blackwell triumphed at Event 3 where he prevailed in another deciding-frame thriller against Mark Joyce.
Jamie Clarke then won Event 4, which marked the first to be hosted in the UK at the Northern Snooker Centre in Leeds, with the Welshman beating Craig Steadman 4-2.
On the back of those Q Tour successes, all four were invited to participate at the UK Championship where Judd Trump is the current outright favourite in the simba s.c Betway odds for the Triple Crown tournament.
Clarke managed to make it all the way to the final round of qualifying before being denied a spot in the main draw by Zhou Yuelong.
The 31 year-old, who lost his WST card at the end of last season, will this week turn his attention back to the Q Tour and his aspirations of reclaiming his pro status.
As there have been four different winners so far, it’s all quite cramped at the top of the rankings with veteran Lines in first position as things stand.
The top-ranked player at the end of the seven Q Tour events will automatically gain a two-year ticket to compete on the World Snooker Tour.
Zhao Xintong memorably topped the Q Tour rankings last season before proceeding to win the World Championship itself while still technically playing under amateur status.
While the Chinese competitor ran away with things at the top of the rankings courtesy of his string of four Q Tour victories, it looks like the battle for first this season will be much closer.
Eight players are within 10,000 ranking points of Lines, which is the amount that can be accrued for winning an event under a revised system introduced for this campaign.
After this week’s tournament in Bulgaria, there will be two more Q Tour events staged in the new year in Belgium and back in England.
Beyond that, the players who are ranked from second to 17th will be invited to a high-pressured playoff tournament alongside winners from the Global Q Tour series that will determine the destination of the other three tour cards that are on offer.
The full draw for Q Tour Event 5 is available at snooker.org.
2025/26 Q Tour Rankings
(following Event 4)
1. Peter Lines – 20,730
2. Hammad Miah – 19,800
3. Jamie Clarke – 18,540
4. Simon Blackwell – 14,800
5. Oliver Sykes – 13,440
6. Craig Steadman – 12,830
7. Patrick Whelan – 12,040
8. Stuart Carrington – 11,690
9. George Pragnell – 10,730
10. Mark Joyce – 10,360
11. Alfie Davies – 9,405
12. Peter Devlin – 9,400
13. Ryan Thomerson – 8,685
14. Barry Pinches – 8,230
15. Sean O’Sullivan – 8,160
16. Mykhailo Larkov – 7,755
17. Ashley Carty – 7,655
