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World Snooker is pleased to announce PartyPoker.com as the title sponsor of the Snooker Shoot-Out, which takes place in Blackpool Tower Circus and will be televised live on Sky Sports.

Click here to view the round one draw – updated following the withdrawal of Joe Jogia, replaced by Rod Lawler

The event will be known as the PartyPoker.com Snooker Shoot-Out and will run from January 27 to 29 at the iconic Circus Arena, at The Blackpool Tower, in the north-west seaside town.

The PartyPoker.com Snooker Shoot-Out is a one-frame knockout tournament with frames lasting a maximum of ten minutes and a reducing shot-clock to ensure fast moving action. The world’s top 64 players, including Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Stephen Hendry, Ding Junhui and Masters Champion Neil Robertson will be battling for the £32,000 top prize.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are delighted that PartyPoker.com has come on board for what will be a fantastic three days of unabashed snooker fun!

“Last year’s event was a tremendous success and tickets have been flying out the door! It will be great for those watching on Sky and I can’t wait to see Blackpool Tower Circus packed to the rafters with frenzied fans!

“Let the Party begin!”

There are a few tickets still available. For details go to www.worldsnooker.com/tickets to book online or call 0871 620 7052 (calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras).

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World Snooker is delighted to announce 888真人(pronounced 888 zhenren) as the new title sponsor of the Welsh Open.

The world ranking event runs from February 13 to 19 at the Newport Centre and will be known as the 888真人Welsh Open.

Click here to view the draw for the 2012 Welsh Open

It will feature the world’s top 16 players, including Masters champion Neil Robertson, rising star Judd Trump, World Champion John Higgins, World No 1 Mark Selby, crowd favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan and local favourite Mark Williams. They will be joined by Welsh stars Ryan Day and Dominic Dale as well as 16 others who come through the qualifying rounds, which run from February 8 to 11.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: “We are thrilled to welcome 888真人, one of Asia’s leading online gaming firms, on board for this event. The fact that an Asian based company has sponsored the Welsh Open demonstrates snooker’s massive appeal across Asia and the World.   Millions of viewers will tune in to live coverage on CCTV5, Shanghai TV, Now TV Hong Kong, not to mention BBC Wales and Eurosport, delivering exceptional exposure for the 888真人  brand.

“I have no doubt that the 888真人Welsh Open will produce another great show of snooker and we look forward to enjoying it along with our new colleagues at 888真人.”

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A short post this evening to round-up a few matters arising from the last couple of days, starting with Masters champion Neil Robertson who has today rounded off a memorable period by taking victory in Group Three of the 2012 Championship League, defeating Mark Selby 3-2 in the group final. He now joins Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump in what is shaping up to be a tasty looking winners group already.

Elsewhere, interesting news from Snooker Scene Blog where it has been confirmed that next season there will be no fewer than five full ranking events to be held in China, with the upgraded Wuxi Classic and a further event in October joining the three staged this season.

Interestingly it is reported that the new October event will carry a top prize of £125,000, a figure topped only by the World Championship and Masters tournaments. Given the mooted move to a money-based ranking list at some point in the future, compared to the sums currently being offered by some of the other ranking tournaments on the calendar, the importance of the Chinese events is plain to see.

Finally, the WPBSA have also released a statement today concerning unusual betting patterns ahead of the match between Matt Selt and Joe Jogia at this weekend’s Shootout tournament. Click here to read the statement in full.

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Congratulations to Neil Robertson who has tonight defeated Shaun Murphy 10-6 to win his first Masters title and maintain his formidable record in professional finals. In doing so he becomes the 12th player to have lifted both the World Championship and Masters titles…

With the experts divided pre-match, the only thing that many would agree on is that the match would be close and early it appeared as though those forecasts would be correct as the opening four frames were shared, both recording century breaks after a typically edgy start in a major final.

Indeed of the two, Neil Robertson would probably have been the happier at the interval as Shaun Murphy looked the more steady early on, but as he has done all week it was the Australian who was proving the stronger in the scrappy frames and who would eventually emerge from the session with a two frame lead at 5-3.

Following a terrific reception from the crowd in the evening it was Shaun who again made the faster start, taking the opening frame thanks largely to an early break of 49.

From there however it was Neil who was to take the match by the throat, breaks of 101 and 76, the latter started with a terrific red to right-centre, enough to put him 8-4 up at the interval, before he moved from from victory with another 76 on their resumption.

With his back against the wall, Shaun responded in fantastic style, breaks of 52 and 86 enough to see him close the gap to 9-6 in little over 20 minutes and perhaps sew a couple of seeds of doubt in Neil’s mind.

Ultimately though it was not to be as Neil played a terrific 16th frame, an initial 70 break from a trademark long red enough to leave his opponent needing a snooker, before he got back in to clinch victory soon after.

Overall it was an excellent performance from Neil who demonstrated again that he is now very much the complete player. Shaun did not play badly today by any means, but Neil’s scoring, long-potting, safety and general match-play were all on another level today and he ran out a deserved winner.

Despite defeat it has also been a good week for Shaun who was as gracious as you would expect post-match, and if he can score as heavily as he has this week will continue to be a contender at tournaments this season. It was not quite enough today against an opponent as solid as Robertson, but he will be back.

All in all then, another positive tournament and another good venue on the snooker calendar as surely Alexandra Palace has now established itself as the Masters venue for the foreseeable future.

Still, no time to dwell on that, the action picks up immediately tomorrow with the resumption of the Championship League at Crondon Park, before the second Shootout begins on Friday evening!

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During the last few days Jimmy White has on Twitter teased an announcement to be made during today’s Masters final and that news has now been confirmed as a testimonial event to celebrate his illustrious career. Click below for all of the details…

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn and creator of the Snooker Legends Events Jason Francis are pleased to announce a day to celebrate the career of one of the world’s most popular snooker legends, Jimmy White.

A special Lunch and Dinner will take place in the Great Room at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Saturday 2nd June 2012.

Jimmy is one of snooker’s all-time greats having won ten world ranking titles in his glittering career. His flowing, attacking style as well as his sportsmanship and loveable personality have made him one of the most popular British sporting figures ever.

Join Jimmy and a host of celebrities and snooker legends for lunch and watch him play a challenge match against his great friend Ronnie O’Sullivan, with unique commentary from John Virgo, officiated by Michaela Tabb.

Later that evening enjoy dinner, designed by Gino D’Acampo, and then dance the night away as the legendary Ronnie Wood, from the Rolling Stones, joins a band of special music legends to play a tribute concert to the Whirlwind.

Event Tables for 10 guests for can be secured for either the lunchtime challenge match with Ronnie and Jimmy, or the evening with Ronnie Wood. Discounts are available if you stay all day and attend both! Every event table will get a commemorative cue signed from Jimmy.

Premier Tables for 8 guests will get you closer to the action and will be hosted by a former world snooker champion. You also get wine and beer thrown in and a cue and case signed by Jimmy, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ronnie Wood!

Guests will have the chance to bid for some of Jimmy’s personal memorabilia from his career including his playing cue and case.

To secure tables call the Whirlwind Testimonial Line on 01280 222 147.

Why not take advantage of the special “Whirlwind Testimonial” room rate at the Grosvenor that night?

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For the second successive year heading into the second Sunday at the Masters, we are guaranteed a new name on the trophy as Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy both made it through to the final for the very first time. In the case of Robertson however it was not without controversy…

In the first match of the day, Neil Robertson turned the tables on the man responsible for his defeats during the last two BBC events as Judd Trump failed to find his best snooker at the Alexandra Palace.

Indeed the tone was set early on as Neil took a tight opening frame, before doubling his advantage with a break of 100 in the next. The next two were shared as Robertson took a 3-1 interval lead, ahead of what would be a crucial fifth frame which would turn on a missed blue from Trump, which he would leave on to the left-centre for his opponent to clear.

From there Robertson added the next to lead 5-1, although as Judd won the next two to close to 5-3, it looked as though we might yet have a close finish in store. Today however was to be Neil’s day and he eventually wrapped up a 6-3 victory in the next, celebrating with a clenched fist and a shout of ‘come on!’ as was perhaps to be expected.

The story was not to end there however as Neil took the opportunity during his post-match interview with the BBC to criticise members of Judd’s entourage who he felt had been disrespectful to him during the course of the match, despite being pleasant to him in the player’s lounge earlier. Both players then had more to add during their post-match press conferences which you can read here at World Snooker.

Regardless of who is right or wrong, there appears to be a real rivalry building up there, one that has been evident since Neil suggested following his Crucible defeat to Judd that the youngster was not yet ready to lift the world title, something rebuffed by Trump at the time. For us fans of the sport, that can only be a good thing and it will be fascinating to see how their next meeting unfolds, something that on recent history at least we should not have to wait too long to see.

Before that for Robertson however comes a final tomorrow against Shaun Murphy after the 2005 world champion produced a fabulous display of scoring to overcome reigning world champion John Higgins this evening. While John appeared to be out of sorts, missing a number of blacks off the spot in particular, Shaun was in excellent form with breaks of 122, 101, 100, 86 and 69 more than enough to see him through a 6-4 winner.

Ever since that missed green from Martin Gould early in his opening match, Shaun has looked to be playing as well as I have seen him for some time, certainly as well as he has played in a major since he reached the final of the 2009 World Championship at the Crucible Theatre.

Which way will it go tomorrow? Will Neil maintain his flawless record in significant professional finals or will Murphy become the eighth player in history to complete snooker’s ‘triple crown’ of career World, UK and Masters titles?

Join us from 2pm tomorrow for live chat of what is sure to be a riveting final.

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Those of you watching the third frame of the match between John Higgins and Graeme Dott last night will have noticed the scoring incident, something that subsequently prompted much debate as to what exactly the correct call should have been. Click below for my take on the matter…

For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, you can watch the incident here (UK residents only), or alternatively here.

In short however, the debate centred around whether referee Jan Verhaas should have awarded either four or five points for a foul which saw John Higgins make contact with the brown with his cue whilst attempting to escape from a snooker, an attempt which would ultimately see him make contact with the blue and not a red.

Initially Jan called a foul of five penalty points, something which caused me to raise an eyebrow on the basis that I had expected the award to be for four due to the fact that the initial foul had come on the brown, a view apparently shared by BBC commentators John Parrott and John Virgo who were commentating on the match the time.

For whatever reason, only four points were added to the arena scoreboard and noticing this a few shots later as Graeme’s break hit 13, Jan asked him to stop so that an extra point could be added to his tally. During the time that it took to correct the scoreboard however, a voice can be heard telling Jan the the foul came on the brown, resulting in him changing his mind and asking for the scoreboard to be changed back to what it was before the interruption. Unfortunately when play did resume, Graeme then missed his next shot and would eventually go on to lose the frame.

Should it have been four or five? There has been much debate, but the answer appears to have come from fellow leading referee Eirian Williams who after initially suggesting that four points should have been awarded, on Twitter has today stated the following:

“I need to clarify last nights’ incident now that I have seen the footage this morning for the first time.I replied not having seen it but the phone call I received didn’t say that the CUE that fouled the brown. I therefore responded the way I did. However, the foul WAS 5 as it depends on the first impact of the CUE BALL. I am happy to clarify this. Therefore, Neal Foulds was absolutely correct – AS WAS JAN VERHAAS!”

Indeed Neal was immediately of the opinion that the award should have been five points and today told me:

“A very unfortunate situation. Jan got it right was persuaded otherwise. It was indeed a 5 point foul as he said intially. I am amazed that people thought it was anything but a 5 point foul. Its obvious really, the highest foul applies.”

And this can clearly be seen at Section 11, sub-section (g) of the Official Rules of the Games of Snooker and English Billiards, which states:

“If more than one foul is committed in the same stroke, the highest value penalty shall be incurred.”

It would appear clear then that the initial decision to award five points to Graeme due to the fact that John had made contact with the blue first, was the correct one.

Whether or not the incident had a significant bearing on the match it is difficult to say, although the way John subsequently played I think that Graeme would have been hard pushed to have turned the tables even had he been able to take that third frame. We will though of course never know.

Regardless of that however, these things happen and the incident does nothing to change the fact that Jan is one of the best referees in the world, if not the best and hopefully this will be remembered by all who watch the game. Being a referee is far from an easy task given the levels of concentration required and it is only because such incidents are so rare in the game that they warrant so much discussion when they do happen.

For me a bigger problem than how many points the foul should have been would appear to be the difficulty involved in rectifying the arena scoreboard when there is an error, regardless of the circumstances. You may be wondering why given that one point needed to be added to Graeme’s score, a point could not simply have been added to his tally.

As I understand it however (and I am open to correction on this), the only way to do so would be to show that he has potted a red, thereby removing a red from the remaining screen which in turn would affect the points remaining tally not only on the arena scoreboard, but on the livescoring on your PC. When you take into account in-play betting, the consequences of this could be wider-reaching than would first appear!

Presumably there is a good reason why this cannot be easily sorted, but it just means that in the rare event that the scoreboard is not correct, it can take some sorting out.