World Series of Snooker
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|
| Tournament information | |
|---|---|
| Venue | Pavilhão Arena |
| Location | Portimão |
| Country | Portugal |
| Established | 1987 |
| Organisation(s) | FSTC Sports Management |
| Format | Non-ranking event |
| Final year | 2009/2010 |
| Final champion(s) |
 Shaun Murphy
|
The Sportingbet.com World Series of Snooker was a series of invitational snooker tournaments set up as a complement to the WPBSA's tour Its first season was played in 2008/2009, consisting of four two-day tournaments in St. Helier, Berlin, Moscow and Warsaw and the three-day Grand Final in Portimão.
It featured ten leading players — each tournament featured four of these taking on four wild cards. Points were awarded for reaching at least the semi-finals. The winner of each tournament received five points, the runner-up three and losing semi-finalists one each. These points determined seeding positions for the Grand Final.
There was a previous incarnation of the event organised by Matchroom Sport, that ran in the 1987/88 season, and from 1990/91 until 1992/93.
The tour was set up by FSTC Sports Management, who managed leading snooker players John Higgins and Graeme Dott, as well as Eurosport (who screened the events alongside the coverage of the WPBSA tour), Higgins, and leading referee Michaela Tabb. Higgins felt that the game's attendances were too low, and that potential new venues outside the game's traditional United Kingdom and recently developed Far East markets were not being utilised, and wanted to give something back to the sport. After conducting exploratory tours and playing a trial event 2007 in Warsaw (the Warsaw Snooker Tour), the first season was arranged. There were also plans for future seasons to feature as many as ten events, running during the game's traditional off-season from May to August.
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