The 2006 World Snooker Championship (also referred to as the 2006 888.com World Snooker Championship for the purposes of sponsorship) was a professional ranking snooker tournament that was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England. It started on 15 April 2006 and was scheduled to finish on 1 May 2006, but continued into the early hours of 2 May, ending at 12:52 a.m. BST. The final broke the record for the latest finish time in a World Snooker Championship final – 29 minutes later than the 1985 final – although it was not the longest-ever final. Shaun Murphy was the defending champion, but he lost in the quarter-finals against eventual runner-up Peter Ebdon and became another World Champion who fell to the Crucible curse and could not defend his first World title. The final was contested between Ebdon and Graeme Dott, and the victor was Dott by 18 frames to 14, earning him his first professional title in his 12-year career, and a £200,000 cheque. The tournament was sponsored by online casino 888.com. Tournament summary Sponsorship Following new EU and UK legislation banning tobacco advertising, the 2006 World Snooker Championship could not be sponsored by Embassy as had been the case for the previous three decades. In January 2006 World Snooker – the sport's governing body – announced that the online casino 888.com would be the new sponsors of the event in the next five years. However, this decision led to conflict with some players who lost income from their own personal sponsors (seen on their waistcoats), who are rival firms of 888.com. Concerns were expressed among the sport's elite at the decrease in prize money and also in the number of ranking events (down to six for the 2005/06 season) since the loss of tobacco sponsorship. For the 2006 World Championship the winner's cheque was down 20% on what it was in 2005. Pre-final Barry Hawkins made his Crucible debut this year. This was the first time that just one player made his Crucible debut. Future world champions Mark Selby and Neil Robertson both earned their first match victories at the Crucible. Selby's win over John Higgins in the first round was especially noteworthy, as Higgins had won both the Grand Prix and the Masters that season and was considered one of the pre-tournament favourites. Robertson would defeat Paul Hunter (see below) and Stephen Lee before falling to