1937/1938 Daily Mail Gold Cup

As in 1936, the 1937/1938 event was a round-robin snooker tournament and was played from 27 September 1937 to 29 January 1938. Most of the matches were played at Thurston's Hall in London. There were 7 competitors and a total of 21 matches. As in 1936, each match was of 71 frames and lasted six days. The 7 competitors were the same in the 1936 event with the addition of Alec Brown. Each player had a handicap which was given in each frame. The handicaps were: Joe Davis - 0, Horace Lindrum - 10, Sidney Smith - 17, Willie Smith - 21, Alec Brown - 24, Tom Newman - 27, Melbourne Inman - 45. The "sealed" aspect of the 1936 event was abandoned.^[1]

The cup was won for the second successive year by Joe Davis who won all his five of his six matches. Davis had been handicapped slightly harsher than in 1936 but only lost one match, and that by a single frame to Willie Smith. Giving Willie Smith a 21-point lead in each frame, Davis had taken a 35–34 lead but lost the last two frames.^[2] As in the previous event Melbourne Inman finished last, despite receiving the most generous handicap. The other five players were very close in the final table.^[3]

Table

The positions were determined firstly by the number of matches won (MW) and, in the event of a tie, the number of frames won (FW).