Exclusive:Snooker star Jak Jones slams tiered draw formats: "I personally think it's a disgrace"

Former European junior and amateur champion Jak Jones is very well-placed to talk about the highs and lows of being a professional snooker player.

The Welshman’s top-flight career has been a rollercoaster journey; from losing all 16 of the matches he played in during the 2013/14 season and subsequent relegation, to reaching the 2024 World Snooker Championship and becoming a top 16 player.

Progress isn’t always linear, though. The following two terms after that very deep Crucible run, results didn’t really go Jones’ way, and with prize money coming off his tally, he started this current campaign as the world number 32.

However, 33-year-old Jones has enjoyed a dreamy start to the 2026/27 season, winning his maiden ranking title at the Championship League, before bettering that with his triumph over Mark Selby in the final to win the 2026 British Open.

Tiered draws used for snooker’s richest ranking events

Since Jones first turned professional in 2010, he has seen a huge, positive impact on the sport at the highest level. It was around that time when Barry Hearn and his administration reinvigorated the top-flight, creating a plethora of new events and massively increasing prize money opportunities.

Hearn’s manifesto was to get the players playing. He certainly delivered on that, and did it in his own way with ‘meritocracy’ being the order of the day.

After existing contracts were honoured, Hearn’s team went about restructuring many tournaments to a flat draw system, meaning everyone - regardless of ranking or standing - started out in the opening round and had to win the same amount of matches to win the title. This was a big shake-up to the status quo where the top 16 had a pass to the latter rounds.

But in recent years on the World Snooker Tour, we have gradually seen a return to the tiered draw system: the UK Championship, the four Home Nations Series events, and the German Masters. This season, the format for some Chinese ranking events have changed, with the top 16 entering the fray later on at the main venue, meaning they are excused behind-closed-doors qualifying in this country.

The resurrected China Open featured four qualifying rounds held at the Mattioli Arena in Leicester in June. The lowest ranked players in the big-money event had to navigate four consecutive rounds to qualify for the main venue, televised stages that took place in Taiyuan several weeks later, for which the top 16 all got automatic passes to and were guaranteed at least £10,000 in prize money. Selby won the event, collecting £250,000.

It’s the same qualifying system for the UK Championship and World Championship, and it was also the case for the two editions of the Saudi Arabia Masters that were held in 2024 and 2025, although in the case of Saudi, those opening four rounds were played at the same venue.

There have been critics and supporters of both the tiered and flat draw systems down the years - no format will please everyone - but it has been a particularly hot topic in recent weeks with three stints of qualifying having already taken place.

Critics of the flat draw point to the fact that rookies can bump into the top ranked players first round and it stunts their progress as they make their way on the top tier; in a tiered system, they first face a player around their own ranking. Those against the tiered draw say lower ranked players have to win multiple matches just to catch up with the top seeds in the same event.

When a player skips a round or rounds because of their ranking, they do have to come through their opening match in order for their prize money to count towards their ranking, so there is a bit of jeopardy for them in that respect. However, for some events, in order for a lower ranked player to earn the same ranking points as a top 16 player who has won one match, they need to win five.

“It is two different tours” Jones says current format is ‘shocking’

Speaking exclusively with Totally Snookered at The Centaur in Cheltenham during his journey to British Open glory, Jones made his feelings very clear that he is not a fan of the current schedule that features so many tiered tournaments.

“I'm probably not the right one to ask. I think it's shocking. Tiered system is like; I personally think it's a disgrace” Jones told us.

“How you have players starting in four rounds ahead of other players, starting tournaments in the last 32, it's like, it is two different tours. That's what it is. I'd be saying that if I was in the top 16.”

Some tournaments - which are open to all professional players from the start - still use a tiered draw format. The British Open - which Jones won - sees all 128 players come in from the first round, although the top 16 had their initial matches held over to the main venue.

The International Championship draw is also flat, with several star names having had to attend qualifiers in Leicester last week to book a ticket for the televised stages in Nanjing, China. Although, several round one games were held over, guaranteeing promoters in the Far East that certain names will definitely be there, and not slip up on a qualifying banana skin thousands of miles away.

Jones for flat draws with top 16 matches held over

Snooker’s biggest names don’t have to play in every tournament, so it is a fine balance for officials to entice them to play in certain events. The absence of such star power can affect TV ratings and ticket sales which could potentially lead to a reduction in prize money, or a tournament be scrapped altogether.

Jones, who is back up to 23rd in the world rankings and pushing for a return to snooker’s elite bracket, is definitely in the flat draw camp, but recognises the drawing power of certain star cueists.

“I think flat draw...is definitely the fairest, best way. Maybe just seed the top 16.”

“I know they say like the lower ranked players complain about the possibility of playing top players a lot. So, if you just seeded the top 16 and the rest random, hold the top 16 at the venue, that's what I personally would think would be the best thing to do.

“But then you've got the Players Series and stuff like that...So it's made a bit of a mess of the Players Series as well.

“I'm not a fan of it at all. I think it's, I think it's terrible.”