The snooker ranking season continues in February with 48 top players heading to Berlin to compete in the 2012 German Masters with a prize pool of €280,000.
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Mark Williams is the reigning champion and will begin the defence of his crown against either 1997 world champion Ken Doherty or Patrick Einsle in the German capital.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will face former Welsh Open finalist Andrew Higginson in round one. The Rocket will be out to bounce back from second round exits in his last two televised events.
He is in desperate need of a good run in a ranking event in order to remain in snooker's elite top 16, but will face a tricky opener against Chesire ace Higginson, who picked up a PTC title this season.
Newly crowned Masters champion Neil Robertson plays Marcus Campbell; Robertson followed up his Ally Pally success by winning through his Championship League group, however withdrew from the Shootout last weekend due to illness.
The Australian left-hander is expected to be well enough to compete in the fourth ranking event of the season this week and is likely to be a title contender. Mark Selby will be looking to go one step further than last year; the Jester finishing runner-up to Mark Williams in a close final. He is the joint tournament favourite and should progress through the first round against either Liu Song or Soner Sari.
Young stars Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Mark Allen also await their first opponents from the wildcard round.
World Champion John Higgins takes on Mark Davis in the pick of the first round ties, while Stephen Maguire versus Ryan Day looks to be another closely contested affair.
The Wildcard round matches and selected first round games will be played on day one, with all Last 32 matches completed on Thursday afternoon.
The knockout stages continue on Friday and Saturday, with the event culminating in the final played over two sessions on Sunday.
The tournament runs from February 1-5 at the Tempodrom in Berlin, with all matches up to and including the Quarter-Finals being played over the best of nine frames, the Semi-Finals best of 11 and final best of 17.
PartyPoker.net German Masters 2012 draw bracket and schedule
Wednesday February 1
10am
- WC1 Ken Doherty v Patrick Einsle
- WC2 Adrian Gunnell v Peter Bullen
- WC3 Yu Delu v Chris Norbury
- WC4 Mike Dunn v Craig Steadman
- WC5 Liu Song v Soner Sari
2pm
- 12 Shaun Murphy v Barry Hawkins
- 15 Stephen Maguire v Ryan Day
- WC7 Paul Davison v Krzysztof Wrobel
- WC8 Tom Ford v Philip Arnold
8pm
- 1 Mark Williams v Winner of match WC1
- 16 John Higgins v Mark Davis
- 2 Stuart Bingham v Peter Ebdon
- 3 Stephen Lee v Winner of match WC2
- 11 Martin Gould v Ricky Walden
Thursday February 2
10am
- 4 Ding Junhui v Winner of match WC3
- 13 Judd Trump v Winner of match WC7
- 10 Graeme Dott v James Wattana
- 8 Neil Robertson v Marcus Campbell
- 14 Mark Allen v Winner of match WC8
3pm
- 6 Ronnie O'Sullivan v Andrew Higginson
- 9 Mark Selby v Winner of match WC5
- 5 Ali Carter v Joe Perry
- 7 Matthew Stevens v Winner of match WC4
8pm
- 24 Winner of match 15 v Winner of match 16
- 22 Winner of match 11 v Winner of match 12
- 18 Winner of match 3 v Winner of match 4
- 23 Winner of match 13 v Winner of match 14
Friday February 32pm
- 19 Winner of match 5 v Winner of match 6
- 17 Winner of match 1 v Winner of match 2
- 21 Winner of match 9 v Winner of match 10
- 20 Winner of match 7 v Winner of match 8
8.30pm
- QF1 Winner of match 17 v Winner of match 18
- QF2 Winner of match 19 v Winner of match 20
- QF3 Winner of match 21 v Winner of match 22
- QF4 Winner of match 23 v Winner of match 24
Saturday February 4- 2pm: SF1 Winner of match QF1 v Winner of match QF2
- 8.30pm: SF2 Winner of match QF3 v Winner of match QF4
Sunday February 52pm and 8.30pm: Final
Prize Fund
Winner: €50,000
Runner-up: €30,000
Semi-final: €15,000
Quarter-final: €9,000
Last 16: €6,000
Last 32: €3,750
Last 48: €1,500
Stage 2 highest break: €2,000
Total: €280,000
