PartyCasino.com to Sponsor PTC Grand Finals

World Snooker are delighted to announce PartyCasino.com, the world's largest online casino, as the title sponsor of next week's PTC Grand Finals at the Helix Theatre, Dublin.

The new tournament runs from March 16 to 20 at The Helix in Dublin and will be known as the PartyCasino.com Players Tour Championship Grand Finals.

It's the culmination of a series of events, with 12 short tournaments staged around Europe earlier in the season. An Order of Merit ranked players according to how much money they won, with the top 24 going through to Ireland. Over 200 players, including professional and amateurs from around the world, competed in the series.

Shaun Murphy topped the list and will be joined in Dublin by fellow former World Champion Mark Williams as well as top stars including Mark Selby, Stephen Maguire and Marco Fu.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: "It's a great pleasure to bring PartyCasino.com on board for this exciting new event. PartyCasino.com also sponsor Premier League Snooker so they have a close association with the sport and they are clearly delighted with the exposure they receive through snooker.

"It's fantastic to be going to Ireland for a world ranking event for the first time in six years. The fans there have been starved of top draw snooker for too long and I hope they will be out in force to see the stars in action.

"I know all of the players competing can't wait to get over there, show what they can do and experience the atmosphere. The PTC series has given them the chance to play in events every week so they are all match sharp. Alongside PartyCasino.com we're looking forward to an outstanding five days of snooker."

The event will be broadcast on Eurosport, Beijing TV, Shanghai TV, Guangdong TV and Now TV in Hong Kong.

Tickets are on sale for the tournament, for details call 003531 7007000 (01 7007000) or visit www.worldsnooker.com/ptcfinal

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I myself am personally highly looking forward to this event. After following the results of the 12 PTC events over the last year it will be brilliant to see the top 24 players on the order of merit competing against each other for the title and the 3,000 ranking points on offer. I hope the media and the players treat the event as a proper "ranking event title" as they have had to work so hard to get here in the first place and play so many matches.

The format of play is here.