Ken Doherty made a winning start to his bid to win the first ever Six Reds World Championship, in association with 888sport.com, in Killarney today.

Doherty defeated fellow Irishman 4-1 John McBride in the first of his five group matches at the INEC arena.

“I’m pleased with how I played but I’m more pleased that after six months of hard work the tournament is underway,” said Doherty, who is also one of the event organisers.

“It’s a great set up and all the players seem to be enjoying it. The snooker is fast and fluent, which makes it attractive to watch.

“You will get cagey frames but I won one in about six minutes and all John had done was break off.

“I think this will come over well on TV and I hope people come along to watch during the week because they’re in for a great spectacle.”

Snooker legend Alex Higgins suffered a setback when he was beaten 4-0 by Ireland’s Alex O’Donoghue in his opening group match.

Higgins, who drew a large crowd to the main match table, was unlucky in the first frame when O’Donoghue fluked the final black and the 60 year-old ‘Hurricane’ failed to get back into the contest.

Mark Williams, who won the 15 red world title at the Crucible in Sheffield in 2000 and 2003, cleared his opening hurdle with a 4-1 victory over Dane Mulpeter.

World no.12 Joe Perry whitewashed Irish teenager Oliver Browne 4-0 while Mark King, ranked 16^th, beat another Irishman, Alan Cleary, 4-0.

Six reds snooker is played using the same rules as the established game but with nine fewer reds. It has been described as snooker’s version of Twenty/20 cricket.

The tournament runs until Friday. Entry is free for the first two days with tickets costing €10 on the final two days.

The 130 players from as far afield as Brazil, India and the United Arab Emirates have been split into 23 groups for the round robin stage, played over the first two days, with the knockout phase getting underway on Thursday.

The last two days are being broadcast live on Eurosport and the winner will pocket a cheque for €10,000.