2023BetVictorSnooker Shoot Out

Tournament information
Dates	25–28 January 2023 (2023-01-25 –2023-01-28)
Venue	Morningside Arena
City	Leicester
Country	England
Organisation	World Snooker Tour
Format	Ranking event
Total prize fund	£171,000
Winner's share	£50,000
Highest break	Chris Wakelin (ENG) (119)
Final
Champion	Chris Wakelin (ENG)
Runner-up	Julien Leclercq (BEL)
Score	119–0 (one frame)
←2022 2023 (Dec) →

The2023 Snooker Shoot Out (officially the2023 BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out) was a professionalsnooker tournament that took place from 25 to 28 January 2023 at theMorningside Arena inLeicester, England.^[1] Played under avariation of the standard rules of snooker, with every match contested over a singleframe, the tournament was the ninthranking event of the2022–23 snooker season and the sixth of eight events in the2023 European Series. Sponsored byBetVictor, the event was broadcast byEurosport in Europe and by multiple other broadcasters internationally.^[2] The winner received £50,000 from a total prize fund of £171,000.

Hossein Vafaei was the defending champion, having defeatedMark Williams 71‍–‍0 in the2022 final.^[3] However, Vafaei lost 9‍–‍33 toShaun Murphy in the first round.^[4] Aged 14 years and three months, Vladislav Gradinari became the youngest player to win a televised match at a ranking event when he defeatedNg On-yee in the first round.^[4][5][6]Reanne Evans became the first woman to win a match in a Snooker Shoot Out event, as well as the first woman to win a televised match at any ranking event, when she defeatedStuart Bingham in the first round.^[7][8]

In the final of the event,Chris Wakelin faced Belgian teenagerJulien Leclercq, who had turned professional at the beginning of the season. Both players contested their first ranking final. Wakelin won the event with a 119 break, the highest of the fourcentury breaks made in the tournament, to capture the first ranking title of his ten-year professional career.^[9][10]

The tournament was played using a variation of the traditional snooker rules. The draw was randomised before each round. All matches were played over a singleframe, each of which lasted up to 10 minutes. The event featured a variableshot clock; shots played in the first five minutes were allowed 15 seconds while the final five had a 10-second timer. Allfoul shots awarded the opponent aball in hand. Unlike traditional snooker, if a ball did not hit acushion on every shot, it was a foul. Rather than acoin toss, alag was used to choose which playerbreaks. In the event of a draw, each player received a shot at theblue ball. This is known as a "blue ball shootout". The player whopotted the ball with thecue ball from inside the"D" and the blue ball on its spot with the opponent missing won the match.

The total prize fund for the event is £171,000 with the winner receiving £50,000. The breakdown of prize money is shown below:^[11]

• Total: £171,000

All times inGreenwich Mean Time. Times for quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are approximate. Players in bold denote match winners.

Final: 1 frame. Referee:Kevin Dabrowski Morningside Arena,Leicester, England, 28 January 2023 – 22:30
Chris Wakelin  England	119–0	Julien Leclercq  Belgium

A total of four century breaks were made during the tournament.^[12]

• 119 –Chris Wakelin
• 117 –Ali Carter
• 116 –Michael Holt
• 106 –Xiao Guodong

• Snooker Shoot Out
• 2023 in snooker
• 2023 in English sport
• Sport in Leicester
• January 2023 sports events in the United Kingdom
• European Series

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from December 2022