The 2012–13 snooker season was a series of snooker tournaments played between 16 May 2012 and 6 May 2013. The season featured two new ranking events: the Wuxi Classic and the International Championship. The tour had a record five ranking events in China, and three new PTC events in Asia. The tour also visited Bulgaria for the first time in its history,[1] and returned to Poland, Belgium and Australia. Before the start of the season World Snooker requested every player to sign a players contract, that would allow players to choose which events they want to enter – no player was forced to play in any event.[2] At the end of the season Mark Selby was named the World Snooker Player of the Year, the Snooker Writers' Player of the Year and the Fans' Player of the Year and Ian Burns the Rookie of the Year. Ronnie O'Sullivan received the "Performance of the Year" for winning his fifth World title after playing just one competitive match during the season. Jimmy Robertson's 57 break in just 130 seconds at the Snooker Shoot Out received the "Magic Moment of the Year" award. Terry Griffiths, Joe Johnson, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson were inducted into the Hall of Fame.[3]
The season had a total of £7.1 million of prize money.[4] The World Championship, the UK Championship, the International Championship and the Masters were the four biggest tournaments in terms of prize money with the total pot being over half a million pounds at each event.[5] A further £5,000 was on offer at the televised stages of each ranking event for any player who compiled a maximum break and this prize rolled over from one tournament to the next if not won. A £500 rolling prize was given to any player who completed the feat in the qualifying stages of ranking events. A separate £500 rolling prize was also available in all the PTC events, but this prize was excluded from the Asian PTCs. If at any tournament a 147 was made by more than one player, then the prize was equally shared.[6]
^Event also known as the 2013 Munich Open and the 2013 FFB Open
^"Ch" = Change since the beginning of the season 2012/2013. See [76] for the player rankings at the start of the season.
^The 2010/2011 points only included the ranking points that counted towards the next seedings update. See [78] for the points accumulated during the 2010/2011 season and see [76] for points accumulated during the 2011/2012 season. Players ranked outside of the top 64 at the beginning of the 2012/2013 season had any points accumulated from the previous seasons wiped, and started again on 0 points. Players on 0 points were ranked alphabetically.[79]
^See [80] for the points accumulated during the 2012/2013 season up to the first cut-off point; see [81] for the points accumulated between the first and second cut-off points; see [82] for the points accumulated between the second and third; see [83] for the points accumulated between the third and fourth cut-off points; see [84] for the points accumulated at the World Championship.
^See [85] for the rankings at the first seedings cut-off point; see [86] for the rankings at the second cut-off point; see [87] for the rankings at the third cut-off point; see [88] for the rankings at the fourth cut-off point; see [89] for the rankings at the end of the season.