The 1986 Pot Black was the eighteenth edition of the professional invitational snooker tournament, and the last of its original run. It took place in December 1985, but was broadcast in 1986. The tournament was held at Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham, and featured sixteen professional players in a knock-out system. All matches until the semi-final were one-frame shoot-outs, the semi-final was won by aggregate score over two frames, and the final was decided by the best of three frames.
Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 22:10 on Thursday 16 January 1986, later than in previous series. David Icke presented, with Ted Lowe as commentator and John Williams as referee.
The only Pot Black debut in this series was that of Patsy Fagan. All the competitors in this series were 1985 World Championship last-16 players. Jimmy White won the event, beating Kirk Stevens 2–0 with a break of 106 in the last frame.
Main draw
Match dates of transmission
Player 1Player 2Broadcast Date Patsy Fagan Doug Mountjoy16 January 1986 Bill Werbeniuk Steve Davis23 January 1986 Jimmy White Terry Griffiths 30 January 1986 Kirk Stevens Tony Meo6 February 1986 Tony Knowles Eddie Charlton 13 February 1986 Ray Reardon Alex Higgins 20 February 1986 Cliff Thorburn David Taylor 27 February 1986 Dennis Taylor John Parrott 6 March 1986 Jimmy White Patsy Fagan 13 March 1986 Kirk Stevens Bill Werbeniuk 27 March 1986 Cliff Thorburn Tony Knowles 29 March 1986 Dennis Taylor Ray Reardon 3 April 1986 Jimmy White Cliff Thorburn 5 April 1986 Kirk Stevens Dennis Taylor10 April 1986 Jimmy White Kirk Stevens17 April 1986
Final Final: Best of 3 frames. Referee: John Williams.Pebble Mill Studios, Birmingham, England, December 1985 (Broadcast 17 April 1986). Jimmy White 2–0 Kirk Stevens 60–46, 106–21 (106) 106 Highest break 45 1 Century breaks 0 1 50+ breaks 1
References