Jump to content

Players Series

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Catb2006 (talk | contribs) at 22:13, 26 February 2023 (Champions). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Players Series
Tournament information
CountryUnited Kingdom
Established2019
Organisation(s)World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association
FormatRanking events
Current champion Neil Robertson (AUS)

The Players Series (officially the Duelbits Series) is a bonus competition for players who have earned the most money in a series of professional snooker tournaments.[1] The series involves three events: the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship. It was established in 2019.

Overview

In the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, the series was sponsored by Coral and was called the Coral Cup. In the 2020–21 and 2021–22 seasons, it was sponsored by Cazoo and named the Cazoo Series. In the 2022–23 season, it was sponsored by crypto casino Duelbits and named the Duelbits Series.[2] With the exception of the 2019–20 season, there has been no monetary bonus for earning the most money over the three events: the only winner of an additional monetary bonus was Stephen Maguire, who gained £100,000 for earning the most money in the series, most of the earnings having come from winning the 2020 Tour Championship, the highest earning event in the series.

Unlike traditional ranking events, qualification is based on results from the single season list, rather than by world rankings.[3] The number of competitors for each event shortens, with 32 players participating in the Grand Prix, 16 in the Players Championship, and 8 in the Tour Championship.[4] The series was sponsored and named after betting company Coral, until 2021, when car retailer Cazoo took over sponsorship.[5] The player who earns the most in prize money over the series is awarded with a prize fund of £100,000 and the "Coral Cup". This bonus was only introduced in the 2019/2020 season.[6]

For the 2021/22 season, players who lose in the first round of any of the Cazoo Series events receive ranking points equalling their prize money. This is a change from previous incarnations where losing in the first round gave prize money only and no ranking points. However, should a player qualify for one of the events in the series, but does not play their opening match, the player receives neither prize money nor ranking points.[7] World Snooker later confirmed that this change would apply to the 2022-23 snooker season.[8]

Winners

Season Cup winner Ref.
2018–19  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) [9][10][11]
2019–20  Stephen Maguire (SCO) [12][13][14]
2020–21  Neil Robertson (AUS) [15][16][17]
2021–22  Neil Robertson (AUS) [18][19][20]

Finals

Season Tournament Winner Runner-up Score City Refs
Coral Cup
2018–19 2019 World Grand Prix  Judd Trump (ENG)  Ali Carter (ENG) 10–6 Cheltenham [9]
2019 Players Championship  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 10–4 Preston [10]
2019 Tour Championship  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 13–11 Llandudno [11]
2019–20 2020 World Grand Prix (1)  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Graeme Dott (SCO) 10–8 Cheltenham [12]
2020 Players Championship  Judd Trump (ENG)  Yan Bingtao (CHN) 10–4 Southport [13]
2020 Tour Championship  Stephen Maguire (SCO)  Mark Allen (NIR) 10–6 Milton Keynes [14]
Cazoo Series
2020–21 2020 World Grand Prix (2)  Judd Trump (ENG)  Jack Lisowski (ENG) 10–7 Milton Keynes [15]
2021 Players Championship  John Higgins (SCO)  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 10–3 Milton Keynes [16]
2021 Tour Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG) 10–4 Newport [17]
2021–22 2021 World Grand Prix  Ronnie O'Sullivan (ENG)  Neil Robertson (AUS) 10–8 Coventry [18]
2022 Players Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  Barry Hawkins (ENG) 10–5 Wolverhampton [19]
2022 Tour Championship  Neil Robertson (AUS)  John Higgins (SCO) 10–9 Llandudno [20]
Duelbits Series
2022–23 2023 World Grand Prix  Mark Allen (NIR)  Judd Trump (ENG) 10–9 Cheltenham [21]
2023 Players Championship  Shaun Murphy (ENG)  Ali Carter (ENG) 10–4 Wolverhampton
2023 Tour Championship Hull

Statistics

Champions

Player Total World
Grand Prix
Players
Championship
Tour
Championship
Winning
span
Australia Neil Robertson 4 1 1 2 2020–2022
England Judd Trump 3 2 1 0 2019–2020
England Ronnie O'Sullivan 3 1 1 1 2019–2021
Scotland Stephen Maguire 1 0 0 1 2020
Scotland John Higgins 1 0 1 0 2021
England Shaun Murphy 1 0 1 0 2023
Northern Ireland Mark Allen 1 1 0 0 2023
Total events 14 5 5 4 2019–2023

References

  1. ^ "The Coral Series - Everything You Need to Know - WPBSA". WPBSA. 22 November 2018. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  2. ^ "Duelbits Joins Forces With WST". World Snooker. 16 January 2023. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Race to the World Grand Prix - SnookerHQ". SnookerHQ. 29 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Tour Championship Snooker 2019: Draw, schedule, betting odds, results, & TV coverage". sportinglife.com. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  5. ^ "Car Retailer Cazoo to Sponsor Snooker Series". 2 February 2021.
  6. ^ "Coral Players Championship - World Snooker". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 11 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  7. ^ "Cazoo Series - Ranking Points". World Snooker Tour. 14 September 2021. Archived from the original on 14 September 2021. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
  8. ^ "PRIZE MONEY WORLD RANKINGS SCHEDULE 2022/2023 SEASON" (PDF). World Snooker Tour. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2022.
  9. ^ a b "Trump Champion In Cheltenham – World Snooker". World Snooker. 10 February 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Ronnie O'Sullivan reaches 1,000 career centuries and wins Players Championship". BBC Sport. 10 March 2019. Archived from the original on 10 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Snooker – O'Sullivan on top of the world after Tour Championship win". Reuters. 25 March 2019. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  12. ^ a b 9 February 2020 (9 February 2020). "Dott Dashed By Five–Ton Robertson". World Snooker. Retrieved 15 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b "Trump beats Yan Bingtao to win Players Championship". BBC Sport. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Magnificent Maguire Ends Title Drought". World Snooker. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 28 June 2020. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  15. ^ a b "Trump Beats Lisowski To Win 20th Ranking Title". World Snooker. 20 December 2020. Archived from the original on 16 January 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Higgins thrashes O'Sullivan in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
  17. ^ a b "Relentless Robertson Storms To Tour Title". World Snooker Tour. 28 March 2021.
  18. ^ a b "Ronnie O'Sullivan Produces Stirring Evening Fightback To Beat Neil Robertson To Win Final". Eurosport. 19 December 2021. Archived from the original on 20 December 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Robertson Lands Maiden Players Crown". World Snooker Tour. 13 February 2022. Retrieved 14 February 2022.
  20. ^ a b "Thunder Strikes Down Rocket". World Snooker Tour. 1 April 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2022.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2023GrandPrix was invoked but never defined (see the help page).