The current incarnation of the World Snooker Tour was created in the early 1970s when the WPBSA took over the running of the professional game.

[4] This period in the professional game has come to be known as the "modern era"; it is generally accepted to date from 1969 (when the BBC commissioned Pot Black and the knock-out format that is used by the modern-day World Snooker Championship was introduced) to the present day.

[10] The main draw is most likely to be held at a prestigious venue where audiences can purchase a ticket and watch the players compete.

[13] Typically only the main draw is televised,[14][15] and therefore often carries considerably higher prize money than the qualifiers.

[16][17] The current three of the most long-standing and prestigious events are collectively known as the Triple Crown, which have defined the careers of many professional snooker players.

[18] Starting from the 2021-22 snooker season, the tour began to transition some of its events back to a seeded format using qualifying rounds.

While some of these changes have been criticised by lower ranked players due to qualifiers often being played without crowds and in cubicles, a reminder to some of the pre-Barry Hearn era, others have praised them, especially the format change for the UK Championship which reverted the tournament to the prestige that it had before the flat-128 draw was imposed upon it.

The amateur status of the event meant that players who had been relegated from the Main Tour and wished to compete on PIOS had to relinquish their professional membership.

[21] The Q School was established in an attempt to streamline the qualification process for the World Snooker Tour, and is more or less a replacement for PIOS.

Players pay a fixed entry fee to enter all the play-off events, and there is no prize money.

[7][22] Those who do not manage to qualify for the World Snooker Tour may still be entered into professional tournaments using a Q School top-up list, known as the Order of Merit.

ITCs are typically issued to prominent late-career players who have been relegated from the main tour; players who hold or have held ITCs include Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, James Wattana, Jimmy White, and Ken Doherty.

[29] The WPBSA operated the three-level circuit until the end of the 2002–03 season when it split with the amateur governing body English Association of Snooker and Billiards (EASB) and professional players were no longer eligible to enter.