A Guide to the Rankings System in Snooker
The start of the 2010/11 season saw a major change to the way that the rankings in professional snooker are calculated, introducing a rolling-ranking system whereby the official ranking list is now updated after each event.
To confuse things however, whilst the rankings are updated after each event, the seedings for future events are not, instead being updated SIX times during the season, in addition to the post-World Championship shake-up at the end of the season, following which rankings will run in accordance with the new prize-money list.
The mid-season revisions during 2013/14 will take place on the following dates:
- Following the ET2 event on the 22nd July 2013.
- Following the 2013 Shanghai Masters event on the 23rd September 2013.
- Following the 2013 International Championship on the 4th November 2013.
- Following the 2013 UK Championship on the 9th December 2013.
- Following the 2014 German Masters on the 3rd February 2014
- Following the 2014 PTC Grand Final on the 24th March 2014.
In effect therefore, there are now at any one time, three separate lists of relevance for fans and players alike:
- The Current Seeding List – This list determines the seedings for the start of the season, eg for the Wuxi Classic and Australian Open in 2013/14.
- The Official Ranking List – This list is the official rankings, what you see is what you get. In reality however, until the seedings are revised, this does not determine anything more than who sits where in the arena and has no effect on who has to qualify for particular events and who does not.
- The Projected Seedings List – This for me is the interesting one, in effect the provisional rankings up until the next seeding revision. Unlike the official list, this list already removes any points that will not be used following the next cut-off point, so as to show the true picture. For example at the start of the season, this list shows how the rankings will be adjusted at the first mid-season cut-off point, having already removed the points from the start of the season two years previously.
As a result, rather than having one table to cover the season, I have will a table leading up to each individual revision, beginning with the the first in July.
To reinforce the ‘rolling rankings’ system, this means that as points for the current season are added to the player’s totals, points from two years previously will be replaced.
To demonstrate just who has the most to lose at each cut-off point I will also be presenting ‘points to defend’ tables, an example of which you can see here.
There is also a separate Order of Merit for the European Tour. The Top 24 in this list, in addition to the top eight of the Asian Tour Order of Merit will qualify for the 2014 PTC Grand Finals.
To access all of my rankings pages, please click here to return to the main rankings menu.