of 1 November 1926. The competition was open to any professional English billiards player. The preliminary rounds were to be held at Thurston's Hall in London, and the venue for the semi-finals and final was to be Camkin's Hall on John Bright Street in Birmingham, with the players having to arrange dates and venues for the other matches. The winner of the tournament would retain the title until either they resigned it, they were defeated in a BACC-sanctioned championship match, or they refused to defend it against a BACC-approved challenger; with a proviso that the champion would not be required to defend the title more than once a year. Match referees would require BACC approval, and the games were to be played with composition balls and under the official BACC rules of snooker. Stanley Thorn wrote that the decision to promote a professional championship had been made "in view of the increasing popularity of the game of snooker," and added that "the winner will be declared on the number of games won, but the conditions state that play shall be continued until the full number of games has been completed." The entry fee was five guineas per player, with a five-guineas sidestake. Gate receipts for each match, after expenses, were to be equally shared out between the players concerned. It was planned that the half of the total entry fees would be awarded between the winner and runner-up, with the winner receiving sixty percent. However, Davis, the eventual champion, won the £6 and 10 shillings from gate receipts, and the BACC used the player's part of the fees towards purchasing the trophy. Snooker historian Clive Everton wrote that when the official professional snooker tournament was introduced, "billiards was still very much the premier game, with snooker a sideshow which few were convinced would ever come to much as a public entertainment," and that the early championships received "minimal publicity." The same trophy awarded to Davis is still presented to the world champion each year. There were ten players who entered the championship. The Observer'''s correspondent opined that "the policy of playing a serious [snooker] match in conjunction with the billiards has proved an additional public attraction," and that only three of the leading billiards players, Willie Smith, Tom Reece, and Arthur Peall, had declined to participate in the championship. An article in Athletic News said that the field of entrants