[3] The reigning champion is Shaun Murphy, who won his second masters title in 2025, defeating Kyren Wilson 10-7.

Since 1984, the standard invitees have been the top 16 players in the world rankings,[4] with the addition of two or three wild-card places in tournaments held between 1990 and 2010.

The tournament was held for the first time in 1975 at the West Centre Hotel in London, when ten leading players were invited.

John Spencer won the inaugural tournament by defeating Ray Reardon 9–8, winning the deciding frame on a re-spotted black.

[3] Stephen Hendry maintained an unbeaten record in the event, a run which included five successive championship victories, from his first appearance in 1989 until his defeat by Alan McManus in a final-frame decider in the 1994 final.

[11] The 1998 final went down to a re-spotted black in the deciding frame; Mark Williams defeated Stephen Hendry 10–9 after having trailed 6–9.

[15] After 2003, Benson & Hedges ended their sponsorship of the Masters tournament due to UK restrictions on tobacco advertising.

[17] The tournament was held at the Wembley Conference Centre for the last time in 2006, before the venue was demolished months later to make way for redevelopment.

[21] The sport's governing body, World Snooker, elected not to rename the trophy, making the following statement: "Our board unanimously agreed that the Paul Hunter Scholarship was the most fitting tribute.

Just as Hunter himself rose swiftly through the amateur ranks, the scholarship will give a gifted young player the chance to fulfil his talent through elite training.

On 20 April 2016, World Snooker announced the renaming of the trophy for the 2017 event, with chairman Barry Hearn stating that the organisation had "messed up" by not doing so sooner.

Paul Hunter won the first of these four finals to claim his third Masters title in four years;[3] recovering from 2–7 down, he made five century breaks on the way to a 10–9 victory.

He made a break of 60 in the deciding frame, before Higgins took the opportunity to make a clearance of 64, winning the title on the black.

[27][28] A week earlier, Ding had become the second player to compile a maximum break at the Masters, in his match against Anthony Hamilton in the wild-card round.

[31] In a slight change to the format, one extra discretionary wild-card place was awarded, bringing the total number of players up to 19.

[43] Ronnie O'Sullivan won his seventh Masters title in 2017, overtaking Stephen Hendry's previous record of six.

[45] The format has been largely unchanged since 1984 and the tournament generally involves the leading 16 players in the world rankings.

The players selected as wild-card were Jimmy White (5), Ding Junhui (3), Steve Davis (2), Marco Fu (2), James Wattana (2), Ken Doherty, Peter Ebdon, Andy Hicks, Alex Higgins, John Higgins, Paul Hunter, Stephen Maguire, Ian McCulloch, Ricky Walden and Gary Wilkinson.

Two seeded players who played in the wild-card round reached the semi-final, Jimmy White (in 2004) and Mark Williams (in 2010).