2012 Premier League Snooker
# 2012 Premier League Snooker

The 2012 PartyPoker.com Premier League was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that was played from 16 August to 25 November 2012. This was the last edition of the tournament, as in 2013 it was replaced by the Champion of Champions.

Ronnie O'Sullivan was the defending champion, but he decided not to compete this year.

Stuart Bingham won his eighth professional title by defeating Judd Trump 7–2 in the final.

## Prize fund

The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:

* Winner: £50,000
* Runner-up: £25,000
* Semi-final: £12,500
* Frame-win: £1,000 (only in league phase)
* Century break: £1,000 (only in league phase)
* Highest break: £5,000
* Maximum break: £25,000
* Total: £210,000

## Players

| Rankings | Player | Qualified via |
| - | - | - |
| 01 | Mark Selby | Shanghai Masters champion |
| 02 | Judd Trump | UK champion |
| 05 | John Higgins | Wildcard |
| 06 | Shaun Murphy | Brazil Masters champion |
| 07 | Neil Robertson | Masters champion |
| 08 | Stephen Lee | PTC Finals champion |
| 11 | Ding Junhui | Championship League champion |
| 12 | Mark Allen | World Open champion |
| 16 | Stuart Bingham | Australian Goldfields Open champion |
| 20 | Peter Ebdon | China Open champion |

## League phase

### Dates and venues

| Week | Date | Venue |
| - | - | - |
| 01 | 16 August | Embassy Theatre, Skegness, England |
| 02 | 6 September | Biddulph Leisure Centre, Stoke-on-Trent, England |
| 03 | 13 September | The Sands, Carlisle, England |
| 04 | 27 September | Spiceball Leisure Centre, Banbury, England |
| 05 | 4 October | Southampton Guildhall, Southampton, England |
| 06 | 11 October | Malvern Theatres, Great Malvern, England |
| 07 | 18 October | Penzance Leisure Centre, Cornwall, England |
| 08 | 25 October | Guildford Spectrum, Guildford, England |
| 09 | 8 November | The Dome, Doncaster, England |
| 10 | 15 November | Spennymoor Leisure Centre, Durham, England |

### Group one

| Ranking | Name | BIN | ROB | DIN | MUR | SEL | Frames W–L | Match W–D–L | Pld–Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Stuart Bingham | x | 6 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 19–5 | 3–1–0 | 4–7 |
| 2 | Neil Robertson | 0 | x | 4 | 4 | 5 | 13–11 | 3–0–1 | 4–6 |
| 3 | Ding Junhui | 2 | 2 | x | 4 | 4 | 12–12 | 2–0–2 | 4–4 |
| 4 | Shaun Murphy | 3 | 2 | 2 | x | 5 | 12–12 | 1–1–2 | 4–3 |
| 5 | Mark Selby | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | x | 4–20 | 0–0–4 | 4–0 |

The top two qualified for the play-offs. If points were level then most frames won determined their positions. If two players had an identical record then the result in their match determined their positions. If their match was a 3–3 draw then the player who got to three first was higher. (Breaks above 50 shown between (parentheses); century breaks are indicated with bold.)

* Ding Junhui 4–2 Shaun Murphy → 22–(81), 55–54, (82)–0, 9–76 (63), 79–11, (64) 72–14
* Mark Selby 1–5 Neil Robertson → 11–72 (63), 12–64, 16–(72), (61) 87–37, 17–72 (62), 9–71
* Shaun Murphy 3–3 Stuart Bingham → 16–83 (53), (54) 55–(68), 0–105 (59), (88)–51, (58) 97–0, 77–53
* Neil Robertson 4–2 Shaun Murphy → 44–60, 73–58 (53), 0–(111), (70) 82–0, (113) 118–1, (58) 68–29
* Stuart Bingham 4–2 Ding Junhui → (75)–24, 79–8, 0–102 (54), 16–(73), (75)–20, (50) 80–37
* Mark Selby 2–4 Ding Junhui → 27–(96), 27–63, 25–72, 4–94 (79), 73–39, (52) 90–39
* Stuart Bingham 6–0 Mark Selby → (52) 65–56, (59) 67–0, (54) 69–0, (128)–1, (122)–1, (50) 57–13
* Stuart Bingham 6–0 Neil Robertson → (135) 139–0, 77–33, 75–66 (66), (127)–0, 61–20, (92)–0
* Mark Selby 1–5 Shaun Murphy → 6–(86), 81–1, 0–97, 22–72 (55), 0–(116), 0–(81)
* Neil Robertson 4–2 Ding Junhui → (71)–72 (53), 5–102 (95), 62–(59), (70) 83–26, 77–22, (51) 67–(57)

### Group two

| Ranking | Name | TRU | HIG | EBD | ALL | LEE | Frames W–L | Match W–D–L | Pld–Pts |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Judd Trump | x | 2 | 4 | 5 | x | 11–7 | 2–0–1 | 3–4 |
| 2 | John Higgins | 4 | x | 2 | 4 | x | 10–8 | 2–0–1 | 3–4 |
| 3 | Peter Ebdon | 2 | 4 | x | 2 | x | 8–10 | 1–0–2 | 3–2 |
| 4 | Mark Allen | 1 | 2 | 4 | x | x | 7–11 | 1–0–2 | 3–2 |
| 5 | Stephen Lee | x | x | x | x | x | x–x | x–x–x | x–x |

The top two qualified for the play-offs. If points were level then most frames won determined their positions. If two players had an identical record then the result in their match determined their positions. If their match was a 3–3 draw then the player who got to three first was higher. (Breaks above 50 shown between (parentheses); century breaks are indicated with bold.)

* Judd Trump 5–1 Stephen Lee → 57–47, (95) 96–0, 63–61, (121)–0, (113)–0, 0–(68)
* Stephen Lee 1–5 Peter Ebdon → 16–73, 56–60, (87) 90–2, 1–(80), 45–(83), 21–(103)
* John Higgins 4–2 Mark Allen → 0–71 (67), 69–34, 67–63, 58–70, (59) 95–39, (52) 76–30
* Mark Allen 4–2 Peter Ebdon → 34–72, (84) 92–1, (76) 81–30, (50) 75–1, 19–(108), (69)–17
* Judd Trump 4–2 Peter Ebdon → 53–60, 62–55, 7–71, (131)–0, (90)–1, 79–4
* John Higgins 4–2 Stephen Lee → 13–67, 59–38, 1–76, (72)–0, (57) 80–1, 66–62
* Mark Allen v Stephen Lee
* Judd Trump 2–4 John Higgins → 79–0, 4–119 (114), 43–70 (52), 24–80, 39–84 (63), (78) 83–27
* Judd Trump 5–1 Mark Allen → 102–0, 40–74 (60), (76)–0, 81–0, (76)–54, 77–48
* John Higgins 2–4 Peter Ebdon → 29–66, (125) 130–1, (133)–0, 1–87 (75), 11–68 (61), 47–(81)

## Play-offs

24–25 November, Grimsby Auditorium, Grimsby, England

| Semi-finals Best of 9 frames | Semi-finals Best of 9 frames | Semi-finals Best of 9 frames | Final Best of 13 frames | Final Best of 13 frames | Final Best of 13 frames |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| A1 | Stuart Bingham* | 5 | | | |
| B2 | John Higgins | 4 | | | |
| B2 | John Higgins | 4 | A1 | Stuart Bingham*** | 7 |
| | | | B1 | Judd Trump | 2 |
| B1 | Judd Trump** | 5 | B1 | Judd Trump | 2 |
| A2 | Neil Robertson | 4 | | | |

* 71–13, 74–44, 22–94 (58), 0–81 (81), (117) 132–0, 52–65, (50)–(76), (74) 74–8, (57) 71–34 ** 65–77 (55), 14–68, 54–15, 0–87, 60–58, 81–0, 56–29, 45–78 (58), 71–16 ***7–(83), (82)–0, (100)–8, 76–33, (55, 53) 116–9, (61) 74–5, 0–(101), (71) 115–9, 58–54

## Qualifiers

The qualification for this tournament, the Championship League was played in eight groups from 9 January to 22 March 2012.

## Century breaks

* 135, 128, 127, 122, 117, 100 – Stuart Bingham
* 133, 124, 114 – John Higgins
* 131, 121, 113, 101 – Judd Trump
* 116, 111 – Shaun Murphy
* 113 – Neil Robertson
* 108, 103 – Peter Ebdon
