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BARRY HEARN TO STAGE SHOOT-OUT TOURNAMENT

ABOVE: Barry Hearn is set to stage a big-money, single-frame shoot-out tournament

18th January 2010

By Hector Nunns

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BARRY Hearn is ready to test The Rocket’s bottle to the limit.

World No.1 Ronnie O’Sullivan will be a flag-bearer for snooker’s supremo in the sport’s new dawn.

And Hearn is now set to stage a big-money, single-frame shoot-out tournament. The Pokerstars.com Masters at Wembley Arena has seen glimpses of the razzmatazz darts impresario Hearn wants to bring in.

He said: “I love my one-frame shoot-out idea over two days. It’s wonderful and it will appall traditionalists. You get the top 64 players in one room. There are 2,000-3,000 people in the arena, and you have a party. Beer sales treble, anyone over 35 isn’t allowed in, free entry for girls if you like, whatever."

“They have 12 minutes to play the frame, a 20-second shot clock, ball in hand from fouls, and no time to f**t. And the loser is gutted, because the idea, like Prize-fighter boxing, is that you double your money."

“So the first-round losers in this get £500, and the winner gets £32,000. Anyone can win, the winner has their own exit and the loser has to be humiliated and pay the ultimate price. You remember The Undertaker from WWE, and his assistant Paul Bearer, one of the great names in sport? A hush descends, and you hear ‘Dong, Dong’. And The Grim Reaper comes out, covers you with his cloak and leads you down the walk of shame."

“It’s crass, and wonderful, and everyone will go home saying, ‘I couldn’t believe what I saw tonight, it was so funny’ and they’ll talk about it.” Irishman Ken Doherty, the 1997 world champion, loves the idea. He said: “It would be a lottery, and everything would be magnifi ed with just the one frame."

"You do get dramatic single, final frames now at the end of a long match. Then it is massive pressure on the players and the referee, with lots of money at stake in say the last frame of a 10-9. And this would basically be a whole tournament of those."

“It would be hard to have a favourite, but the best players like Ronnie would do well. Maybe Mark Selby would be the main danger. He wins a lot of final-frame matches. “It would be all about bottle and nerve, and he seems to have loads of bottle and no nerves."

“Anything could happen in one frame. It would be exciting and quick, but it’s a great idea and all players are ready for something new.”