2017 Masters

Permabear

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learn_more

Delighted for Perry. Great comeback.

Copper_pipe

Now that was good!

bajer101

Brilliant! I wasn't looking forward to this match at all, but am so glad I watched it. Great match.

Snake Plisken

A cool 90K for making the final I think that was Joe's. final I think it might be fairly one sided final I hope not

Kristopherus

tanko wrote: »

What a pot, some balls. I can't imagine what Hawkins is thinking.

What a supreme last frame from Perry. He was dead and buried. Hope he's not steamrolled tomorrow by Ronnie.

tanko

Permabear wrote: »

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Hawkins will have nightmares about that shot on the green, why didn't he play for the red in the middle?

Joe_ Public

Glad he held it together in the end there, was sure he'd come a cropper there. Brown was awesome. Proper cohones there in fairness.

Lavinia

Delighted.

bajer101

Is this Joe's first major final?

Joe_ Public

tanko wrote: »

Hawkins will have nightmares about that shot on the green, why didn't he play for the red in the middle?

Like Hendry said, over-thought it. 99 times out of 100 in snooker, the obvious shot is always the one to play. Try to get too clever and game has a nasty habit of biting you in the ass!

tanko

bajer101 wrote: »

Is this Joe's first major final?

Yeah, I think so. It's going to be hard for him tomorrow against Ronnie.

Kristopherus

bajer101 wrote: »

Is this Joe's first major final?

Yep. After 26yrs trying.

Permabear

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bajer101

Permabear wrote: »

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Great info. On the psychological battle front I would definitely fancy Ronnie. Joe was throwing a lot of shapes in that semi when he missed shots. I just can't see Ronnie losing this one.

Lavinia

It will be interesting match no doubt am so looking forward to it
Ronnie has much better score so far though

Interesting Perry is 1 year older than Ronnie, they both turned pro in 1992 so look at the scores/achievements.. incomparable really..

But - Perry is good this year so hope to be a good battle

Joe_ Public

Today will also be the first time the Masters final will be contested by two 40 year olds plus since the inaugural 1975 match between John Spencer (40) and Ray Reardon (43). Whatever that says about where the sport is at right now!

HisJills

bajer101 wrote: »

That's more Virgo than Doherty. Ken is a decent enough commentator. He's been there at that level and knows the shots a lot better than Virgo. Virgo is a terrible commentator IMO. His constant "where's the cue ball going". would drive you mad.

Virgo drives me mad too, can't stand his rubbish, getting over excited at the wrong times and poor knowledge. Love when it's Taylor and Hendry. Hendry is the best to listen to IMO, always clear and concise, seems to not want to over complicate the game like others, but I guess that's the way it is when your as good as he was in his prime. Switched over to Eurosport last night as Virgo was so annoying and now that's saying sometihing as I don't rate their coverage at all! Think Ken is good when frames are at snookers required stage, usually picks out some great possible shots!
Hopefully that's Virgos stint done now for this years masters!

Joe_ Public

Talking about commentators, one mans poison is anothers nectar. I like Virgo, yes he overdoes the cueball line but nobodys perfect. Maybe my admiration is tempered by the fact that I know him to be an all-round top bloke who was the best friend Alex Higgins ever had and has gone out of the way to help other players who fell into hard times (put Kirk Stevens up for a few months in the 80s - if that's not the defiintion of sainthood I dont know what is).

Dennis Taylor? Who's he going to pick out of the audience to say hello to today then? I have nothing good to say about him, so I'll stop here.

HisJills

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Talking about commentators, one mans poison is anothers nectar. I like Virgo, yes he overdoes the cueball line but nobodys perfect. Maybe my admiration is tempered by the fact that I know him to be an all-round top bloke who was the best friend Alex Higgins ever had and has gone out of the way to help other players who fell into hard times (put Kirk Stevens up for a few months in the 80s - if that's not the defiintion of sainthood I dont know what is).

Dennis Taylor? Who's he going to pick out of the audience to say hello to today then? I have nothing good to say about him, so I'll stop here.

Fair enough Joe, hadn't known that about Virgo, it's not just the cue ball line that gets me though, have had a dislike for him since the old "Big Break" days, just annoys me, not sure why. Dennis can go on a bit about the audience alright but I really enjoy Hendry and they always seem to be paired together, not sure why!
Also, in the studio it's always a mix of Hendry/Davis/Parrott/Ken etc but never have Taylor or Virgo or Thorne in the studio for analysis. Any idea why this is?

Snake Plisken

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Talking about commentators, one mans poison is anothers nectar. I like Virgo, yes he overdoes the cueball line but nobodys perfect. Maybe my admiration is tempered by the fact that I know him to be an all-round top bloke who was the best friend Alex Higgins ever had and has gone out of the way to help other players who fell into hard times (put Kirk Stevens up for a few months in the 80s - if that's not the defiintion of sainthood I dont know what is).

Dennis Taylor? Who's he going to pick out of the audience to say hello to today then? I have nothing good to say about him, so I'll stop here.

Yeah Good old Dennis it was the Kaiser Cheif's keyboardist yesterday. Just delighted Selby's out so we don't have to have every second shot of Vicky and Dennis drooling over her!

Joe_ Public

HisJills wrote: »

Fair enough Joe, hadn't known that about Virgo, it's not just the cue ball line that gets me though, have had a dislike for him since the old "Big Break" days, just annoys me, not sure why. Dennis can go on a bit about the audience alright but I really enjoy Hendry and they always seem to be paired together, not sure why!
Also, in the studio it's always a mix of Hendry/Davis/Parrott/Ken etc but never have Taylor or Virgo or Thorne in the studio for analysis. Any idea why this is?

No worries. What I said about John doesn't make him a good or bad commentator. It all comes down to personal choice at the end of the day.

I dont know how the bbc arranges the pecking order. I think Taylor and Virgo are considered the senior commentators so will always be there for the main sessions. The others are analysts/co-commentators. Havent heard thorne at all this week, was he there? Think he's been effectively pensioned off, possibly to have got Hendry in. But dont think hendry is on a full time contract, not yet anyway.

Lavinia

I can listen to Ken and Hendry any time.
I also yesterday switched to Eurosport, as could not listen to any more of 'where is the ball going' stuff :d
but most of the time I switch the tone off completely as it distracts me lol
wish there would be an option though to hear the sound of the game and arena, but just to turn commentators off!

HisJills

Joe_ Public wrote: »

No worries. What I said about John doesn't make him a good or bad commentator. It all comes down to personal choice at the end of the day.

I dont know how the bbc arranges the pecking order. I think Taylor and Virgo are considered the senior commentators so will always be there for the main sessions. The others are analysts/co-commentators. Havent heard thorne at all this week, was he there? Think he's been effectively pensioned off, possibly to have got Hendry in. But dont think hendry is on a full time contract, not yet anyway.

No sign of WT at all this week but could be back for the worlds, no harm either way even if they've pensioned him off!

Any predictions for today?

Joe_ Public

Snake Plisken wrote: »

Yeah Good old Dennis it was the Kaiser Cheif's keyboardist yesterday. Just delighted Selby's out so we don't have to have every second shot of Vicky and Dennis drooling over her!

"I call him sat nav Selby."

My fav Dennis shout-out was to Roy Keane in the crucible. Roy had the ear piece in and you could see his face going redder and redder as Dennis plugged some charity auction they'd been at where Roy had flashed a few quid. "Shut up you stupid langer," you could almost hear Keane whispering under his breath.

HisJills

Joe_ Public wrote: »

"I call him sat nav Selby."

My fav Dennis shout-out was to Roy Keane in the crucible. Roy had the ear piece in and you could see his face going redder and redder as Dennis plugged some charity auction they'd been at where Roy had flashed a few quid. "Shut up you stupid langer," you could almost hear Keane whispering under his breath.

Haha, brilliant. Roy could cut him in two with just a stare! He's very bad with the nicknames alright!

HisJills

Think I'll go for a 10-4 victory for Ronnie. If he gets 2 frames ahead at all he won't be caught. Such a strong front runner

Joe_ Public

The more i think about it, the more i'm inclined to fancy Joe might acquit himself well. Might be just wishful thinking on my part, but I dont think there should be that much pressure on him. Certainly no expectation at least so that could relax him just to play his game and see how far it takes him. Had Ronnie on the ropes a bit in the worlds a few years ago, so not beyond the realm of possiblity we could have a repeat today.

Gwynplaine

So sick of the fawning over Ronnie.
It would be great if the commentary could be switched off. JV can't even speak properly, talks without opening his mouth. His poor knowledge and constant "wares the cue ball gowin" is annoying.
AFAIK Big Willie is sick. Hope he's back for the WC.

Permabear

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Permabear

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pconn062

3-1 at the break. Not a surprising result IMO so far. Apart from the last few games against Fu, Ronnie has played pretty terrible all week especially in the most important part of his game, the break building. Perry looks good, much better than last night and it's important to remember he knocked Bingham and Ding out 6-1. Big fan of watching Ronnie play but would love to see Perry win, there's something great about seeing a journeyman type finally getting a big result.

Snake Plisken

From Willie seems to be fine practicing for the Seniors tournament nice tweet to Joe for today

https://twitter.com/thewilliethorne/status/823123423308161024

tanko

Ronnie's cue action seems to be all over the place in this tournament. His head, shoulders and cue arm are moving a lot as he's playing his shots.
This can't be helping his game, I dont remember his cue action being like this before.

mikeoneilly

Cant see Perry holding his nerve if it's tight

tanko

mikeoneilly wrote: »

Cant see Perry holding his nerve if it's tight

True but Ronnie is giving him loads of chances.

Permabear

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tanko

Shocking miss by Perry on the black after Ronnie let him in again. Ronnie will be delighted with 4-4.

Permabear

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learn_more

What's your shot of the tournament ?

Perry's escape from behind the brown on the baulk cushion was one of the best escapes I've ever seen.
Loved Robertsons follow through to get on the black too.

Joe_ Public

tanko wrote: »

Ronnie's cue action seems to be all over the place in this tournament. His head, shoulders and cue arm are moving a lot as he's playing his shots.
This can't be helping his game, I dont remember his cue action being like this before.

You could be right, he gets a bit fidgety from time to time and think that could be introducing a few miinor glitches to his technique. One thing i've noticed over past while is he's struggling with one or two particular shots, especially if he has to cue down on a shot half-ball or more, he has a tendency to cut across the cue ball and miss a pot. It's been the same with John Higgins so this may be merely a consequence of age.

tanko

Some great shots there alrite. Ronnie's pot into the middle and screw back onto the cushion was some shot too.
I think I'd give my vote to Mark Allen for his black against Higgins. It was a brilliant pot under serious pressure.

Permabear

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It a weird way I feel like the comeback yesterday has been undersold. Can anyone think of a bigger comeback?

Joe_ Public

Deleted User wrote: »

It a weird way I feel like the comeback yesterday has been undersold. Can anyone think of a bigger comeback?

It was a decent comeback, but I could easily think of about 10 off the top of my head more dramatic than it. Once Hawkins blew Frame 8, wasn't all that much of a shock that he collapsed from that point.

mikeoneilly

Joe_ Public wrote: »

It was a decent comeback, but I could easily think of about 10 off the top of my head more dramatic than it. Once Hawkins blew Frame 8, wasn't all that much of a shock that he collapsed from that point.

Ya like Dennis Taylor 1985 for one

Stephen Hendry at the worlds V white
There's been loads more ,a good few at the UKs

Joe_ Public

mikeoneilly wrote: »

Ya like Dennis Taylor 1985 for one

Stephen Hendry at the worlds V white
There's been loads more ,a good few at the UKs

Higgins v Davis Uk final 1983
Doherty v Hunter at the worlds, early 2000s...won 7 in a row i think it was to win 16-15. Like you say there have been loads, a sport that lends itself to such drama.

Edit: not to forget probably the most (in)famous of them all, when Mike Hallet led hendry 9-1 in a ranking final (or something like that) and contrived to lose 9-10. To compound his misery, Mike returned home that night to learn his house had been burgled!

Permabear

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tanko

That should be the end of that. Don't think Perry has recovered from that missed black.

mikeoneilly

Perry not even trying