The Masters was first held in 1975 and is part of the Triple Crown events of the game of snooker alongside the World Snooker Championship and the UK Championship; it does not have official ranking status. The 2005 tournament, held between 13 and 20 February at the Wembley Conference Centre in London, was the sixth of nine World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) main tour events of the &lt;a href="Snooker%20season%202004/2005"&gt;2004/2005 season&lt;/a&gt;, following the Malta Cup and preceding the Irish Masters. The defending Masters champion was Paul Hunter, who defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan 10–9 in the 2004 final.