1979 Pot Black

The 1979 Pot Black was a professional invitational snooker tournament, which was held in the Pebble Mill Studios in Birmingham. 8 players were competing in 2 four player groups. All matches were one-frame shoot-outs except the final which was played in the best of 3 frames on a one-hour programme.

1979 Pot Black

Tournament information
Dates	Recorded late Dec 1978 (broadcast 29 December 1978 – 6 April 1979 (1978-12-29 – 1979-04-06))
Venue	Pebble Mill Studios
City	Birmingham
Country	England
Format	Non-ranking event
Winner's share	£1000
Highest break	Doug Mountjoy (82)
Final
Champion	Ray Reardon
Runner-up	Doug Mountjoy
Score	2–1
← 1978 1980 →

Broadcasts were on BBC2 and started at 21:00 on Friday 29 December 1978^[1] Alan Weeks presented the programme with Ted Lowe as commentator and Sydney Lee as referee.

This tournament had the TV debut of Steve Davis who played veteran namesake Fred Davis on the programme transmitted 19 January^[2] and won the frame 83-23 but failed to reach the semi-finals. The first Pot Black champion Ray Reardon regained the title 10 years after his first beating reigning champion Doug Mountjoy 2–1.^[3][4]

Main draw

Group 1

Player 1	Score	Player 2	Broadcast Date
Ray Reardon	1–0	John Spencer	29 December 1978
Eddie Charlton	0–1	Graham Miles	12 January 1979
Ray Reardon	1–0	Eddie Charlton	26 January 1979
John Spencer	0–1	Graham Miles	9 February 1979
Ray Reardon	0–1	Graham Miles	23 February 1979
John Spencer	0–1	Eddie Charlton	9 March 1979

Group 2

Player 1	Score	Player 2	Broadcast Date
Doug Mountjoy	0–1	Perrie Mans	5 January 1979
Fred Davis	0–1	Steve Davis	19 January 1979
Perrie Mans	1–0	Fred Davis	2 February 1979
Doug Mountjoy	1–0	Steve Davis	16 February 1979
Perrie Mans	1–0	Steve Davis	2 March 1979
Doug Mountjoy	1–0	Fred Davis	16 March 1979

Knockout stage

	Semi-finals (23 and 30 March 1979)					Final (6 April 1979)
	Graham Miles		0
	Doug Mountjoy		1
						Ray Reardon		2
						Doug Mountjoy		1
	Ray Reardon		1
	Perrie Mans		0