I didn’t buy tickets for this year’s Masters and I spent all tournament regretting it. An increased capacity and a revamped new set has created an atmosphere not seen in the game before. The first round matches felt like finals, and World Snooker successfully used Alexandra Palace to flag-bare the new World Snooker Tour rebrand. Barry Hearn has taken snooker under the knife and has given it a full facelift.

There’s a number of premium tournaments scattered around the country now. Big prize money is on offer and there’s no better way to spend an afternoon than watching the top players smack the back of the pockets. You’re guaranteed drama, quality and a great day out.

Stuart Bingham at this year’s Masters

I’ve been lucky enough to watch snooker in some great venues around the country – completing the spectator Triple Crown a few times too. However, there’s more to the snooker fan calendar than the big-three events, especially in the business end of the season. The Coral Series events are standout’s on the professional calendar and can certainly rival the big BBC tournaments in terms of excitement and drama. You’re guaranteed top quality matches and for me, it’s a great excuse to book a Friday off work.

It took me a long time to actually buy tickets and watch the sport first hand. I booked half-price tickets for Ally Pally back in 2013 (half price tickets are on every year for the first round) and instantly fell in love with it. I can vividly remember walking through the park on the walk up to venue, buying a pint and watching Steve Davis and Hazel discussing what’s in store for the afternoon. We got another beer, wandered around the arena concourse and saw a couple of lads attempt to pot some balls on a Star table under a WST coaches supervision. Pretty quickly, I realised this was the live sport for me.

Once in the actual arena, you’ll sit in your ever cramped seat and listen to the grainy punditry through a multi-channeled, fluorescent, £10 earpiece (if you choose to buy one). The tournament MC will do their best to get the crowd going, and will give you a clear cue to go ‘a bit’ mental. The dad-rock classic walk-on songs will flood the arena speakers and the players will gear up for the first frame. Remember though, when the match starts please do ‘settle down’.

Coral Tour Championship

Your phone is hopefully on silent, the players break off and battle it out on the ol’ green baize. You’ll hear the gasps of the crowd, the referee warnings and hopefully witness a few big breaks along the way. You’ll watch the players circle the table for potential openings, eyeing up potential plants and cannons. The opponent on the other-hand, can be seen slumped in their lumber-supported chair stewing on their most recent miss. It hooks you instantly and you just hope you can hold off the need for a toilet break until the interval.

It’s a great excuse for a day out with mates or family. Make a day of it, grab something to eat and have a few drinks. What could be better? Most of the big tournaments are surrounded by pubs, bars and restaurants to make the day out organisation easy. The Barbican (UK Championship) sits in the middle of a dozen or so traditional boozers – perfect for dissecting the afternoon play over your favourite tipple.

Tickets, generally, are well priced too. For the Coral Series, you’ll spend around £20 per head – round dependent. It’s roughly the same for most of the earlier rounds at the Masters and the UK Championships, but both of these Triple Crown events have half price deals on if you book well in advance.



UK Championships

Naturally, you can expect to pay a fair amount more if you want to watch the juicier end of the tournaments first hand, but that’s to be expected. The World Championship almost come with a ‘Crucible Premium’ these days, but is a completely new ball game for spectators (not literately, obviously). Sheffield transforms for the World Championship’s and it’s even worth the visit without a ticket.

There’s plenty of events left throughout the season, go and see the action for yourself.