Fixtures & Venues announced for Premier League Snooker 2011

As you know the snooker 2011/2012 season is going to begin after a week, World Snooker announced this year fixtures and venues for 2011 PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker. The format of Premier League has also been reviewed.

Players:
The number of players take part will increase from 7 to 10. Each of them will compete on 4 nights only. Each week will be a mini tournament, only playing 3 matches (Semi-Final & Final) and all are in best of 5. The players will not play against all 9 opponents but only play maximum 8 (by random draw). Here is the full list of players:

• Ronnie O'Sullivan - Defending Premier League Champion
• John Higgins - World Championship/UK Championship/Welsh Open Winner
• Mark Williams - German Masters Winner
• Ding Junhui - Masters Winner
• Judd Trump - China Open Winner
• Ali Carter - Shanghai Masters Winner
• Shaun Murphy - PTC Grand Final Winner
• Neil Robertson - World Open Winner
• Matthew Stevens - Championship League Winner
• Jimmy White - World Seniors Winner

Jimmy White will appear in this year PL since his last appearance in 2007; ... 

Judd Trump comes back to PL again after 2-years waiting; Ali Carter will make his debut this year.

Frames:
The matches are first to 3 with no dead frames played. The 4 players with highest points after round robin can enter the semi-final in play-offs to compete for the title. The semi-final is best of 9 while the final is best of 13.


Rules:
The miss rule In the normal frames, if a player make his third consecutive miss will result in the 'ball in hand' for his opponent (place the cueball anywhere on the table). 

If a match reaches the decider, it follow the rules of 'Snooker Shootout' - a maximum of ten minutes, a 20 second shot-clock for the first 5 minutes and then 15 seconds for the remaining 5. Shot clock will be reduced to 20 seconds in the first four frames. If players play a foul/miss shot in the deciding frame (including each shot fails to hit the cushion), his opponent will receive 'Ball in hand'. 

Points/Prize Money:
Players will be rewarded with each frame they win, they can get a maximum of 6 points per night but minimum is 0. However, every century and each frame-won will not be rewarded with  £1,000. It is replaced by £1,000 for highest break of the night & £25,000 for a maxiumum break.


The total prize fund for 2011 PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker is £210,000.
Winner can get a share of £60,000, runner up will get £30,000. Semi-finalists can also earn £20,000. Moreover, the 5th to 10th finished players can also get various prizes.


Dates and Venues info:
All events run from 7.30 pm to 11pm on Thursday nights.
The first week will start early in August, on 18 Aug in Embassy Theatre, Skegness.

Week 1 - August 18, 2011 - Embassy Theatre, Skegness
Semi-finals: John Higgins 3-0 Jimmy White, Neil Robertson 0-3 Matthew Stevens.
Final: Higgins 0-3 Stevens.
Box office - 08456 740 505. Website - www.embassytheatre.co.uk

Week 2 - September 1 - Guildford Spectrum
Semi-finals: Jimmy White 0-3 Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan 2-3 Shaun Murphy.
Final: Williams 3-1 Murphy.

Box office - 01483 443333. Website - www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk

Week 3 - September 22 - Ravenscraig Sports Facility, Motherwell
Semi-finals: John Higgins 1-3 Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui 3-2 Shaun Murphy.
Final: Robertson 3-1 Ding.

Box office - 01698 274600. Website - www.nlleisure.co.uk

Week 4 - September 29 - The Dome, Doncaster
Semi-finals: Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-0 Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui 0-3 Ali Carter.
Final: O'Sullivan 3-1 Carter.

Box office - 01302 370 777. Website - www.the-dome.co.uk

Week 5 - October 6 - Hutton Moor Leisure Centre, Weston-Super-Mare
Semi-finals: Mark Williams 1-3 Judd Trump, John Higgins 2-3 Matthew Stevens.
Final: Trump 3-0 Stevens.

Box office - 01934 425900. Website - www.leisurecentre.com

Week 6 - October 13 - Biddulph Leisure Centre, 
Semi-finals: Mark Williams 2-3 Ali Carter, Jimmy White 2-3 Ding Junhui.
Final: Carter 1-3 Ding.

Box office - 01782 515005. Website - www.leisurecentre.com

Week 7 - October 20 - Riverside, Exeter
Semi-finals: Ali Carter 1-3 Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy 1-3 Neil Robertson.
Final: Trump 1-3 Robertson.

Box office - 01392 221771. Website - www.leisurecentre.com

Week 8 - November 3 - Guildhall, Southampton
Semi-finals: Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-2 Judd Trump, Neil Robertson 2-3 Ding Junhui.
Final: O'Sullivan 1-3 Ding.

Box office - 023 8063 2601. Website - www.livenation.co.uk/southampton

Week 9 - November 10 - Spiceball Leisure Centre, Banbury
Semi-finals: John Higgins 3-1 Ali Carter, Mark Williams 3-0 Matthew Stevens.
Final: Higgins 3-1 Williams.

Box office - 01295 257522. Website - www.leisurecentre.com

Week 10 - November 17 - Grimsby Auditorium
Semi-finals: Judd Trump 0-3 Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan 3-0 Jimmy White.
Final: Murphy 1-3 O'Sullivan.

Box office - 0844 871 3016. Website - www.grimsbyauditorium.org.uk

Play-off: Semi-finals - Nov 26 - Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Norfolk 

(Best of 9)
2nd v 3rd - Judd Trump 3-5 Ding Junhui
and 1st v 4th - Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Mark Williams

Box office - 0845 456 6537. Website - www.pottersholidays.com

Play-off: Final - Nov 27 - Potters Leisure Resort, Hopton on Sea, Norfolk

(Best of 13)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 7-1 Ding Junhui
Ronnie O'Sullivan won his tenth Premier League Snooker title 

Box office - 0845 456 6537. Website - www.pottersholidays.com

Tickets:

Tickets information is not available at the moment ;-(. Will update when it is up! :-) UPDATED!!! :)

TV coverage:

Full coverage of matches will be shown live on Thursday nights in Great Britian & Ireland on Sky Sports. Highlights of the tournament on CCTV (China), DSF (Germany), Fox Sports (Australia), I Cable Sport (Hong Kong), IKO Kabelteve (Slovakia, Czech Republic, Romania and Serbia) and more.

To know more other details, please visit http://www.premierleaguesnooker.com/. Stay tune on the Thursday nights!