Novice Series

Welcome to the Novice Series weekend

5th to 8th June 2025

Important announcement: The cost of hosting our event at the Norbreck is increasing significantly, as the Britannia group are insisting we pay room hire charges for the arena, regardless of the guest numbers staying at the hotel. We are calling this the Norbreck tax, as it is completely out of our control. This is a decision from the head office of the Britannia group, and is standard policy for any event that now uses the Norcalympia room – the going rate for this room is currently £5,000 per day.

We could move to an alternative venue, but there will still be similar room hire charges, and finding a suitable venue is very difficult. Our event works well at the Norbreck; the arena has proven to be the perfect venue for us, having hosted so many memorable tournaments over the years. The beer is good value and we get use of a quality sound and lighting system. The hotel staff know our event well, making it easier for us to work together and set up the arena, with all the table lights and seating etc. So rather than move to an alternative venue or call time on the tournament, we are asking players to pay a bit extra to keep the event at the Norbreck. 

This extra cost is approx. £20 per player and will be added to the team entry fee, so that all teams contribute towards the new cost. We previously got the room for free, as we brought enough guests to the hotel. But their Norcalympia room is now in high demand, and other event organisers are wanting to book it. 

Novice team entry fee will be increasing from £90 to £165 for 2025, but the prize fund is also increasing by £5,000 to £19,500 – all prizes, in all events, have been increased in value, sharing the fund right down the line.  With 3 players in a team, the extra cost is £25 per player, if you have 4 players per team, then its only £18.75 per player, and 5 player teams it is £15 per player. 

This 3 person team event has been purposely created for the less experienced or less skilful amateur pool player. We want players of similar novice ability to be competing against each other, giving more players a real chance to win a slice of the prize fund. This is part of our drive to encourage more aspiring, grass root players to come and experience our amazing weekend pool tournaments.

This event is popular and fills fast, so we have expanded it to 160 teams, which is our max capacity.  Please register early to avoid disappointment. If we are full, your team can be added to a waiting list, and places usually become available as some teams tend to drop out.

We have further tightened up on the team entry criteria and will not allow any current County A players to participate. There will also be restrictions on lady players of high ability entering, to try and make this a truly novice event. No international or professional players (past or present) and no amateur players of exceptionally high ability.

We have changed the rules slightly, to allow past winners of the main trophies to come back and defend their titles, but if they win a main trophy twice, then they can no longer enter a G8B or BAPTO novice event. We made this decision, as sometimes teams do well on the day and win, but shouldn’t then be excluded. If they continue to win, then they will be excluded, as they should be progressing to the next level. 

• Event has been renamed the, ‘Novice Series’, to avoid any confusion about the standard of player we want to participate.
• This is a novice event, for the less skilful or less experienced amateur pool player.
• We have a guaranteed prize fund of over £19,500 with a top prize of £600 for the Gold Trophy champions, £500 for the Singles Champion and £600 for the Doubles Champions.
• The prize fund structure of the Novice event pays more money further down the line but with smaller top prizes for the winners. We believe this is a fairer way of distributing the prize fund in a novice event, as more players will benefit from a share of the cash prizes.
• Over 190 individual prizes will be paid in total, giving many more players the chance to win something.
• In 2024, we paid 194 individual prizes, when including losing prelim rounds.
• Any player that has won £1,000 or more in prize money, as an individual or as part of a team, at any recognised pool event, will not be allowed to enter. They will be deemed a player of exceptionally high ability and should be entering the Pro-Am instead.
• Any professional player past or present from Ultimate Pool or IPA.
• Past winners of the Novice Series Gold Team Trophy, Doubles and Singles CAN now re-enter the Novice Series. We have changed the rules, so winners can come back and defend their titles as many times as they want. But, if you win the same main event twice, then you will not be allowed to enter any further Golden 8 Ball or BAPTO novice events.  Winners must progress to the Pro-Am event. For more information, read the full details of team entry criteria.
• Team entry criteria is at the time of registration. If a player’s status changes after the team has registered, that is not a problem, and the player can still enter the current event, but will not be allowed to enter the following year. 

What to expect

• Guaranteed over £19,500 cash & trophy prize fund
• Over 190 individual cash prizes to be won!
• Limited to 160 teams
• Open singles, open doubles and flyer events
• Min 37 frames of pool in team stage
• Min 3 players per team
• Dedicated live results, schedule and draw website – www.livepoolscores.com
• 42 Sam Atlantic pool tables
• Super Aramith Pro balls
• Hainsworth Precision cloth