19-720: The Scottish Masters , often known by its sponsored names, the Lang's Scottish Masters or the Regal Scottish Masters , was a non- ranking professional snooker tournament held every year from 1981 until 2002, with the exception of 1988. The tournament was invitational and held in various locations in Scotland , including the Hospitality Inn and the Thistle Hotel (both in Glasgow ) and
38-516: A "tiered" format players come into events in different rounds based on their ranking, and in some cases the top players in the sport are seeded through to the venue stage and do not have to play a qualification match. In particular, the top 16 ranked players automatically qualify for the final stages of the World Championship and the Masters , so as well as interest in who will be number one , there
57-941: A players ranking. 1982%E2%80%9383 snooker season The 1982–83 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 7 July 1982 and 27 May 1983. The following table outlines the results for ranking events and the invitational events. In May 1982, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association accepted the applications of six players to become professional: Pascal Burke , Bob Harris , Graham Cripsey , Ian Williamson , Les Dodd and Mick Fisher . There were 13 rejected applications, including those of Barry West , Tony Kearney, Paul Watchorn , and Steve Longworth . In October, John Campbell , Mike Darrington , Warren King , Wayne Sanderson, and Watchorn were admitted as professionals. Joe O'Boye , Dave Gilbert and Longworth were among several applicants who were refused. The top 16 of
76-491: A prize money list for the 2014–15 season . The rankings determine the seedings for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour , organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), and who gets an invite to prestigious invitational events. Tournaments open to the membership are often played in two stages—a qualification stage and the "venue stage"—usually at different locations. In tournaments with
95-423: A two-year "rolling" format where points from tournaments in the current season replace the points from corresponding tournaments of two seasons ago. The seedings for tournaments change from tournament to tournament: the defending champion is allocated the top seed followed by the reigning world champion and the remaining seeds are taken from a "seeding list". When the official rankings were only calculated once
114-413: A year the seedings for tournaments—with the exception of the top two seeds—followed the official rankings. Players and pundits closely tracked the ranking points earned during a season; the "provisional rankings" (which had no official status in the game) were the rankings based on the ranking points accumulated in the previous season, combined with those accumulated thus far in the current season, and as
133-475: Is based on their performances in designated ranking tournaments over the preceding two years. Until the 2009–10 season , rankings were updated once annually, following the World Snooker Championship . Since the 2010–11 season , rankings have been updated after every ranking tournament. The world rankings were formerly based on point tariffs set by the governing body, but this system transitioned to
152-463: Is typically a lot of interest in which players are likely to maintain or acquire "top 16 status". Players are awarded ranking points according to the round they reach in ranking tournaments —specially designated tournaments that carry ranking status. Every professional member of the WPBSA is assigned a ranking, whether they are active on the circuit or not. Prior to the introduction of the world rankings,
171-415: The 1991–92 season , the ranking point allocations (devised by the WPBSA chairman on the back of a cigarette pack) were altered by several factors to accommodate the influx of new players. The tie-break system was dropped but the system remained basically the same with players awarded incrementally more points for each successive round; should a seeded player lose their first match they would receive only half
190-521: The Motherwell Civic Centre . Following the ban on tobacco advertising , the tournament was unable to find a new sponsor and it was abandoned. It was won three times apiece by Steve Davis , Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan . A qualifying event was held for the first time in 1995 to select a replacement player for James Wattana who withdrew before the tournament. The event became a fixture from 1997 onwards, with Matthew Stevens becoming
209-638: The World Championship for the 1976–77 season using the same criteria. By the 1982–83 season many more tournaments were being contested, and it seemed reasonable to take those results into consideration too. The Professional Players Tournament and International Open were awarded ranking status, working on the same system; the Classic carried ranking points from the 1983–84 season , the UK Championship and British Open from 1984–85 . The revised system
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#1732855485238228-417: The last 16. The world rankings, introduced in the following year, used the same allocation. Subsequent tournaments that were assigned ranking status worked on the same system but with the World Championship from 1983 onwards carrying double points. The ranking point allocation was later revised slightly with winners of all bar the World Championship now receiving six points, runners-up five, down to one point for
247-413: The last 32; the World Championship more or less stayed as it was with ten points for the winner, incrementally reduced by two points for each preceding round, but now awarded one point for the last 32 in line with the other tournaments. In addition to ranking points, merit and frame points were also awarded which were used as a tie-break when players were on equal ranking points. When the game went open for
266-473: The only qualifier to win the main tournament in 1999. Snooker world rankings The snooker world rankings are the official system of ranking professional snooker players to determine automatic qualification and seeding for tournaments on the World Snooker Tour . First introduced in the 1976–77 season , world rankings are maintained by the sport's governing body, the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association . Each player's world ranking
285-518: The points allocated to the non-seeded losers in that round. The World Championship continued to award more points than the other events but under the "open era" system the allocations often varied between other events too, with the UK Championship traditionally having the second-highest tariff. The ranking point schedule was replaced by a prize money list for the 2014–15 season , with prize money earnings in events carrying ranking status contributing to
304-483: The previous year's winner and runner-up were allocated the top seedings in the World Championship, held annually. As more tournaments were added to the calendar and more players joined the circuit in the 1970s, it became increasingly necessary to seed the tournaments, precipitating the "Order of Merit" for the 1975–76 season . The system was very basic, with seedings based on the results of the last three World Championships, and rankings were formally introduced in 1976 after
323-418: The season progressed they converged on the official rankings for the following season. The provisional rankings gave an indication of a player's form, and as the season approached its dénouement, the provisional rankings would become a source of tension as the battle for the number one spot, top 16 places, and tour qualification intensified. The introduction of the rolling rankings in 2010 facilitated updates to
342-461: The seeding list throughout the season. Various "cut-off" points are selected at convenient stages during the season where the rankings are "frozen" and used as seedings for the next few tournaments, until the next revision. The original "Order of Merit", created for the 1975–76 season and based on just World Championship results, awarded the winner five points, the runner-up four, semi-finalists three, and so on down to one point for players who lost in
361-467: Was now based on only the two previous seasons, and updated annually after the World Championship. While the ranking point allocations have undergone modifications down the years the basic system remained the same up until the 2009–10 season . For the 2010–11 season , the system was revised to incorporate ranking updates after every tournament—instead of once a season—in an effort to make the rankings more reflective of current form. The current system utilises
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