Sky's
Snooker Shoot Out returns today for the 3rd time, with some interesting
new rules. Blackpool's Circus Arena will continue to host the event, a shame as
this has proven to be quite an impressive venue, which I feel is being wasted
on this gimmick event.
Barry
Hawkins will return to defend his crown along with 63 other players, this year
however there is a few rule tweaks in order to eliminate time wasting and
improve the spectacle.
For
the first 5 minutes of the ten minute frame, players will have 15 seconds a
shot. After five minutes, players will only have 10 seconds a shot, which
frankly sounds ridiculous. I assume the clock controller will be fair with
allowing them to get to the table, even so any pot with a degree of difficulty
is going to be missed a higher percentage of times than normal.
In
previous years this event has been won by two "outsiders" in Hawkins
and Nigel Bond. The event is set up to be exciting, fast and a chance to see so
many great players in one day. However with it being such a lottery a lot of
the top players tend to exit in the early rounds. The prize fund is high for 3
days work at £32,000 and can be a huge earner for some of the lower ranked
players while the higher ranked players see it more as a bit of fun.
This
event is a infinitely better than the terrible "Power Snooker", as
this doesn’t change the rules of the Snooker. At the end of the day, this is
still the old fashioned game just with a few bits of tacky tinsel and baubles
added.
This
event is a chance to find out more about the players, see the
"characters" that are supposedly missing from the game. To have a bit
of fun away from the major tournaments where it's all business.
To
pick a winner is pure pot luck as unlike any other tournament, anyone can win.
So with that in mind I'm going to put my money on Graeme Dott. After a great
Masters, the quick playing Pocket Dynamo will be tough to beat.
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