Snooker: Paul Davison rocks up for sharp shoot-out duty at Blackpool Tower Circus Arena

The Pickering potter has bagged a berth in the Betfair Snooker Shoot-Out at the Blackpool Tower Circus Arena, which runs between January 25 and 27 and carries a first prize of £32,000.

Davison, currently ranked at 73 in the world, will meet Ben Woollaston in the last 64 in one of the final matches to take place on the opening evening – following legend of the game Jimmy White into the arena.

The 41-year-old will be hoping for a long run in the tournament, which does not offer ranking points but is screened live on Sky Sports.

Snooker Shoot-Out matches are a maximum of ten minutes per frame and run on a shot clock.

Players have 20 seconds to take their shot during the first five minutes and 15 seconds for the remaining five.

Players can take the ball in hand when the opposing player fouls and the clock starts when the player takes the cueball. Players must either pot a ball on every shot or hit the cushion with either the cue ball or object ball.

A ‘lag’ shot up the table decides who breaks, with the winner making the decision. A blue ball shoot-out is staged in the event that a match ends in a tie. The winner of the lag shot decides who goes first.

Following the last 64 encounters, the tournament is then carried through to Sunday night’s final with a series of random draws. Barry Hawkins won last year’s event.

First up for Davison though, is the qualifiers for the China Open.

Staged at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield from January 9 to 12, Davison will need to come through four matches if he is to book a place on the plane for the final stages of the ranking event in Beijing at the end of March.

Joel Walker, ranked 90th in the world and in his first year on the main tour after coming through Q-School, provides the opening test for the Pickering cueman over the best of nine frames.

Success will bring subsequent match-ups against Adam Duffy, Anthony Hamilton and world number 27 Michael Holt.