2021 Masters 10/01/21 -17/01/21

Joe_ Public

zuutroy wrote: »

Yes, one of the three of them has made one of the finals every year since then. Unless Dave Hendon is wrong, which I doubt.

Dave is wrong, but just by a year. Since 93/94 which was ronnies breakthrough uk win. The last time none of the three won a major was 09/10. Before that it was 95/96, the second of hendrys clean sweeps. Guess thats why they're regarded as 3 of the top 5 all time greats.

tanko

zuutroy wrote: »

Yes, one of the three of them has made one of the finals every year since then. Unless Dave Hendon is wrong, which I doubt.

Ok, i thought you meant every single final and not one of the three every year.

tanko

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Dave is wrong, but just by a year. Since 93/94 which was ronnies breakthrough uk win. The last time none of the three won a major was 09/10. Before that it was 95/96, the second of hendrys clean sweeps. Guess thats why they're regarded as 3 of the top 5 all time greats.

But he's saying reached one of the triple crown finals, not winning one of them i think.

Joe_ Public

gormdubhgorm wrote: »

Apparently Higgins lost a lot of semi finals. If he wins he will have three the same number of wins as the Steve Davis who won the three times he got to a final. Same as Paul Hunter. Davis always regarded his own record at the Masters as poor though. I assume Higgins feels the same about his own record in it.

Higgins was runner up twice in the Masters in in 1995 and 2005. Walloped by Ronnie each time.

Its not a terrible record per se, but seems incongruous that since 2006 he's been in 6 world finals but zero masters finals. Some players just seem to perform better in certain tournaments/venues than others. Bingham had hardly ever won a match at the masters before turning up and winning it last year. Think davis is on record as saying he didnt care much for the old conference centre, whereas he adored goffs where he won multiple titles. Paul Hunter loved it, guess the type of flamboyant guy who'd respond to the big venue atmosphere. His win over ronnie still one of my favourite ever snooker matches.

Joe_ Public

tanko wrote: »

But he's saying reached one of the triple crown finals, not winning one of them i think.

Yeah, one of them reached a final every year since 93/94 is what dave Hendon said. Theres only two of those years in which one of them didnt actually win a title as well, thats all i was pointing out.

tanko

Maybe it's just that the longer matches in the world championships suit Higgins better.

Arthur Daley

I think that when Steve was at his peak it was recognised at the time that he was vunerable at the Masters. The conference centre crowd were probably shouting for the other fella despite it almost being his backyard, and the Romford mob could be drowned out by anybody but Davis punters.
Plus the Masters was looked down on a bit in the Snooker establishment because it wasn't ranking and it was invitational, with relatively short matches. I do believe there were 4 or 5 tournaments ahead of the Masters. The World, UK, Grand Prix and British Open/Mercantile Classic.

Mysterypunter

High quality all week, watching on Eurosport, Dominic Dale is excellent on commentary

zuutroy

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Dave is wrong, but just by a year. Since 93/94 which was ronnies breakthrough uk win. The last time none of the three won a major was 09/10. Before that it was 95/96, the second of hendrys clean sweeps. Guess thats why they're regarded as 3 of the top 5 all time greats.

Well he said last time they weren't in one was 92/93...which is the same as being in one from 93/94 on

Joe_ Public

zuutroy wrote: »

Well he said last time they weren't in one was 92/93...which is the same as being in one from 93/94 on

Yeah, reading comprehension malfunction on my behalf!

COME ON YAN!!!

DelBoy Trotter

John to win 10-8 is my prediction

deisedav

Mysterypunter wrote: »

High quality all week, watching on Eurosport, Dominic Dale is excellent on commentary

Yeah Dale is really good and easy to listen to .

tanko

Which Higgins will turn up, the one that played Ronnie or the one that played Gilbert?
Gilbert had plenty of chances but he wasn't good enough to take them.

DelBoy Trotter

Confident start to the match by Yan

Joe_ Public

Dream start certainly for a masters final rookie. Demeanour wise, yan does come across really solid.

A little bit of a smile there from the inscrutable Bingtao, as he pots the black to get on the last red... He's playing well, and looks relaxed.. All good for the Chinese

Higgins barely had a sniff yet - one half-chance last frame. Yan's safety play solid.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Higgins barely had a sniff yet - one half-chance last frame. Yan's safety play solid.

And then he goes and pots a red like that

tanko

Bing tao can't afford to be missing pots like that red if he's going to have any chance of winning.

"Gravity always wins"

tanko

It's like last night, the least worst player is winning the frames.

Joe_ Public

That was pure shredsville. Shocking misses from both. Could nearly forgive higgins for the missed blue given how he had to play it, but position off brown earlier was terrible. Could get scrappy this match.

waynescales1

Anyone know if it’s 8 or 9 frames for the first session?

Mervyn Skidmore

waynescales1 wrote: »

Anyone know if it’s 8 or 9 frames for the first session?

Pretty sure it's 8.

tanko

waynescales1 wrote: »

Anyone know if it’s 8 or 9 frames for the first session?

Only guessing but is it not usually 9.

eric hoone

Higgins 2 up, expect him to maintain the gap till the end?

tanko

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Pretty sure it's 8.

Looks like you're correct.
Bing tao needs to get going or it'll be as good as over before tonight.

Joe_ Public

If higgins is going to be handed 3 chances to win every frame, it wont be a late night. Was a cracking red there though for a fella with a 17% long pot success rate.

waynescales1

Mervyn Skidmore wrote: »

Pretty sure it's 8.

Grand, should get the job done by 4:30 so...