| Tournament Name: | 2023 BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out |
| Venue: | Morningside Arena |
| Location: | Leicester |
| Country: | England |
| Organisation: | World Snooker Tour |
| Format: | Ranking event |
| Total Prize Fund: | £171,000 |
| Winners Share: | £50,000 |
| Highest Break: | (119) |
| Score: | 119–0 (one frame) |
| Previous: | 2022 |
| Next: | 2023 (Dec) |
The 2023 Snooker Shoot Out (officially the 2023 BetVictor Snooker Shoot Out) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 25 to 28 January 2023 at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, England.[1] Played under a variation of the standard rules of snooker, with every match contested over a single, the tournament was the ninth ranking event of the 2022–23 snooker season and the sixth of eight events in the 2023 European Series. Sponsored by BetVictor, the event was broadcast by Eurosport 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 defeated Mark Williams 710 in the 2022 final.[3] However, Vafaei lost 933 to Shaun 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 defeated Ng On-yee in the first round.[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 defeated Stuart Bingham in the first round.[7] [8]
In the final of the event, Chris Wakelin faced Belgian teenager Julien 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 four century 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 single, each of which lasted up to 10 minutes. The event featured a variable shot clock; shots played in the first five minutes were allowed 15 seconds while the final five had a 10-second timer. All awarded the opponent a . Unlike traditional snooker, if a ball did not hit a on every shot, it was a foul. Rather than a coin toss, a was used to choose which player . In the event of a draw, each player received a shot at the . This is known as a "blue ball shootout". The player who the ball with the from inside the 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]
All times in Greenwich 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 | 119–0 | Julien Leclercq | |
A total of four century breaks were made during the tournament.[12]