Huge jackpot bonus a frame away for two young stars at World Championship qualifiers

A total of 144 players will take part in the 2026 World Snooker Championship. The world’s top 16 all go straight through to the main draw at the Crucible, whilst the other 128 hopefuls must go to the qualifying rounds held at the English Institute of Sport where 16 golden tickets for the TV stages are on offer.

The eventual world champion on May 4th will collect a £500,000 first prize, but there are substantial amounts of prize money to be won throughout the competition.

Aside from the prizes distributed to how far a player gets in the tournament, there are bonuses up for grabs, too.

There is a £15,000 highest break prize that runs throughout the entire event - everyone is eligible for this, with both the qualifying and main draw rounds counting.

Should someone sink 15 reds with blacks and all the colours, there is also a prize for that. The World Snooker Tour and the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association have stumped up a £10,000 bonus for anyone that completes the feat of perfection at the qualifiers, whilst there is a £40,000 purse for anyone that can do it at the Crucible.

The prizes above will be shared equally if more than one person matches the respective achievement.

Pullen and Chang can collect £147,000 payday in Sheffield

It has been a record season for maximum 147 break-making on the World Snooker Tour with 23 having been scored going into the 2026 World Snooker Championship.

The previous benchmark for the most 147s in a single top-flight campaign was last season with 15, so that record has been completely obliterated in recent months.

Liam Pullen and Chang Bingyu - two of the most exciting and promising youngsters on the professional circuit - have both contributed to that unprecedented tally.

English 20-year-old Pullen crafted his maiden max on the top tier during the UK Championship qualifiers held in Wigan in November. The 15th 147 of the season, it matched the previous record.

Only two days later at the same venue, China’s Chang constructed a perfect frame in the penultimate qualifying round to set a new record. It was also the 23-year-old’s first maximum in pro action.

Pullen and Chang’s 147s are also of extra significance because they were racked up in one of snooker’s four biggest events.

For the past few seasons, the World Snooker Tour has put up a special prize of £147,000 for anyone that can make two maximum 147 breaks within a single term across the ‘four majors’: Saudi Arabia Masters, UK Championship, Masters, World Championship.

Each season, there is a pot of £441,000 allocated to this, meaning the prize can be won three times - even by the same player more than once.

This whopping bonus was unlocked for the first time at last year’s World Championship qualifiers when Welsh youngster Jackson Page created history in compiling two 147s within the same match against Allan Taylor.

Page collected the 147k bonus pot, £10,000 for a maximum at the qualifiers, and a two-thirds share of the tournament high break prize (£10,000 due to Mark Allen making a 147 in the last 16 at the Crucible).

Earlier this season, snooker’s greatest break-builder of all-time Ronnie O’Sullivan fashioned a brace of maximum 147 breaks during his semi-final match against Chris Wakelin at the Saudi Arabia Masters - his record-extending 16th and 17th 147s in professional competition. This earned him the £147,000 bonus.

That means two more £147,000 shares are available at this year’s World Championship, with Pullen and Chang in pole position having both already achieved one half of the deal. One more 147 and they’ll pocket the purse (provided no-one else has emptied the shares beforehand).

Pullen and Chang are aiming to make Crucible debuts. Should either of them create a 147 at the hallowed venue, they could potentially bank over £200,000 for one frame’s work with the £40k and £15k bonuses available, too.

But there is a third player who is ‘only’ one 147 away from the £147,000 prize, and the cueist who could be the most likely to do it - Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.

The Thai ace has notched up three maximum breaks this season already - more than anyone else - with the latest of those coming during his memorable burst en route to winning the World Open a few weeks ago.

Un-Nooh’s first 147 of the campaign arrived at the Saudi Arabia Masters, meaning if he does another in Sheffield over the next few weeks, he’ll receive the six-figure pot.