There are just two more places up for grabs in this year’s PartyPoker.com Premier League, with eight of the ten spots taken by snooker’s top stars.
Over the past three weeks, Mark Allen, Stephen Lee and Ding Junhui have guaranteed their places in the prestigious event by winning the Haikou World Open, Betfair Players Tour Championship Grand Finals and Championship League respectively.
Now there are just two more titles up for grabs this season – the Bank of Beijing China Open and Betfred.com World Championship. The winners of those events will join the PartyPoker.com Premier League line-up.
In the event that a player wins more than one of the qualifying events, the additional spot(s) will be filled by invited player(s).
The line-up as it stands is:
Defending Champion: Ronnie O'Sullivan
UK Champion: Judd Trump
Masters Champion: Neil Robertson
Shanghai Masters Champion: Mark Selby
Australian Goldfields Open Champion: Stuart Bingham
Championship League Winner: Ding Junhui
Haikou World Open Champion: Mark Allen
PTC Grand Final Champion: Stephen Lee
China Open Champion: 1st April
World Champion: 7th May
Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn said: “The qualifying criteria we now have in place for the Premier League adds an extra bit of spice to each event as players strive to ensure their place in one of snooker’s longest running and most prestigious tournaments. Congratulations go to Mark Allen, Stephen Lee and Ding Junhui for taking their place in the line-up.
“For those players not yet qualified for the Premier League, it’s an extra motivation to win either the China Open or World Championship.”
Now entering its 27th season, the PartyPoker.com Premier League Snooker returns on 16th August of this year with a brand new format.
There will be a total of ten players, placed into two groups of five. The five players in each group play each other once with the top two in each group going forward to the semi-finals.
Each of the ten league fixtures features two matches - one match from each group - and each league match is over six frames. Players score two points for a win and one for a draw.
If two players are tied on points, their league position will be determined by most frames won and if they are still tied, the result of the match between the two players will determine their position.
In the play-offs, the winner of Group A faces the runner-up of Group B in the semi-finals, and vice-versa over the best of nine frames with the final being best of 13.
As in previous years, there is a 25 second shot clock with each player having two 25-second extensions in each frame and all matches will be played using the current 'miss' rule.
The overall winner of the event will receive £50,000, with the runner-up to pocket £25,000 and the two losing semi-finalists £12,500. During the group phase, players will receive £1,000 for every frame won and £1,000 for every century breaks. There's also a £5,000 prize for the highest break made during the tournament and a £25,000 bonus for a 147.
Venues and ticket details will be announced shortly.
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Betfred.com World Championship Qualifiers
5-15 April, English Institute of Sport,
Book Now: 0114 256 5567 or visit https://www.arenaticketshop.co.uk
Betfred.com World Snooker Championship
21 April - 7 May, The Crucible Theatre, Sheffield.
Book Now: 0844 6565 147 or visit https://www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk
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