Pro snooker players and their respective fans alike have come to accept the snooker shoot out as a bit of a laugh given its custom format of a single 10 minute frame with a shot clock….. This is hardly traditional style snooker, albeit quite fun and entertaining.
Is a top player really going to show up to play a 50/50 frame of snooker to possibly win just £32,000?
Well Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and John Higgins think not, and have decided to stay at home instead of travelling to Watford. It’s disappointing for snooker shoot out fans but still a good watch. The next two months are the busiest on the snooker calendar with the player’s championship, Welsh open, Gibraltar and the World Championship squeezed into a short few weeks.
The remaining top players are turning up for the fun, but I feel more importantly for the bigger prize of a spot in the champion of champions which the shoot out winner receives along with the cash prize.
The odds favour Mark Williams, Mark Allen both recent winners and Stuart Bingham all coming in at 20/1. Anthony McGuill will be hoping to win consecutively here also.
The shoot out is a nice format for lower ranking players who could pick up some crucial ranking money, and let’s face it, anybody can do well here.
