Six-red snooker
Six-red snooker (sometimes spelled six-reds, 6-red, and also known as super 6s), is a variant of snooker, but with only six red balls initially on the table as opposed to the standard fifteen.
Overview
In Six-red snooker, the traditional game of snooker is shortened, with fewer red-balls to pot. The game is played with all other rules unchanged, meaning that foul shots are more significant to the overall score. The maximum break in six-red snooker is 75, as compared to 147 for traditional snooker. The table is the same size as in the traditional 15-red game. The format was designed to feature shorter frames, due to fewer red balls.[1] Other formats are being considered as well.[1]
It was hoped that the format would revive the popularity of snooker as a spectator sport, in the same way Twenty20 has done to cricket.[2] Jimmy White said that six-red snooker could be one way of helping boost the game's popularity.[3] Ali Carter also said he would be interested in playing the format.[4]
The first international tournament in this format was contested in July 2008, with Ricky Walden defeating Stuart Bingham in the final. A six-red tournament was held during the 2009 World Snooker Championship as a sideshow, involving one-frame knockout matches. In the final veteran Tony Knowles defeated 13-year-old Ross Muir 52–18.[2] Tickets were initially free; however, future events would have been pay-to-enter.[5] The first world championship was held in Ireland between 15–18 December 2009. Mark Davis beat Mark Williams 6–3 in the final, becoming the first world champion of the six-red snooker format.[6]
Since this time, the six-red World Championship has been contested in the regular season calendar, and also in the Asian Indoor and Martial arts games.
References
- ^ a b "World Snooker chief rejects claims of the sport's demise". London: Sport Revue. 13 April 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ a b "Knowles is crowned Super 6 king". BBC Sport. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "'Super6s' can be future of snooker - White". BBC Sport. 12 April 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "Carter fells like a Contender". Sporting Life. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "Snooker starlet Ross Muir beaten by veteran Knowles in exhibition challenge". Daily Record. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.
- ^ "Davis makes his Mark in Killarney". Global Snooker. 18 December 2009. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2009.