Snooker Season 2023/24

Genghis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121975193#Comment_121975193

😀 Love it

Genghis

Looks fairly ominous for Wilson, even at this early time. Gary took the first two frames, has then lost the next 3. Got a chance to take the 6th frame and lost position.

Almost any time Wilson gets in he makes a small mistake and becomes visibly annoyed with himself, he also got into discussion with ref about a decision (I think ref was wrong, will be a talking point later no doubt - but no point in player arguing). Overall seems quite unsettled. It feels like session 1 will end 6-2, and Wilson will need to steady the head to come back in the evening.

Ronnie very composed, has missed a couple but more or less playing at his natural pace and rhythm.

ArmaniJeanss

Reasonable call above at the time, but Wilson actually played well to get it back to 4-4. Obviously his time on the superior 9-ball circuit is standing him in good stead 😀

Would still kinda fear that Ronnie could go on another 4 frame run, but looking good so far.

Genghis

You'd have to say fair play to Wilson. He came back out after frame 6 and got the next 2 won to level at 4-4. Will be good stuff this evening.

drury..

Allen being hammered here

Arthur Daley

Yes, looks like an early night and Willo v O'Sullivan final

Willo trolling a bit this week with suggesting he might not be in ITV tournaments next year. Sparking a load of rumours of a breakaway, pirate tour with Saudi and Chinese money

drury..

Should be a cracker tomorrow if Williams can maintain today's standard

mrunsure

Dave Hendon on the Snooker Scene podcast said the decision to expand the Tour Championship to 12 players was made before last year's event in Hull so was not a knee jerk reaction to top names missing out last time. Part of the reason for having two tables was to reduce the chance of early session finishes.

Dave said not many people watched table 2 on ITVX when it was offered during the Players' Championship.

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121987581#Comment_121987581

Dave Hendon somewhat lacking in logic there. Just because the decision was made before last years event in Hull doesn't imply that it was nothing to do with big names missing out, as they would have been aware from say the UK Championship in December just how the field for Hull was taking shape. By mid-February (after the Grand Prix, German & Welsh) they'd have known that Ronnie, Trump, Williams, Higgins etc were unlikely to be there. At that stage marketing/promotion/postering etc would have had to change, and ITV likely had a few difficult calls with advertisers re rates etc.

Would agree that the risk of early finish for TV was definitely the bigger reason, but would have no doubt that strength of field concerns also played a part.

drury..

Whats the H2H like

I noticed Williams jokingly saying it wasn't great against ronnnie

mrunsure

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121987668#Comment_121987668

That is fair point, the likely field was known a while before the event, but if you listen to the podcast it sounds like there was a long term plan to grow the tournament in size which was probably planned a while before it became clear that many big names would miss out.

mrunsure

They just showed the head to head on TV. 33-9 to O'Sullivan.

ArmaniJeanss

34-13 for Ronnie with a couple of draws. Fairly bleak.

20-6 in ranking events.

Somewhat surprisingly it's 24 years since they've met in a ranking Final. They had 3 such finals in 2000, with Ronnie leading 2-1.

https://cuetracker.net/head-to-head/mark-williams/ronnie-osullivan (need to apply various filters to get the info)

drury..

A 147 won't surprise today

Quote me later

If it happens

drury..

They both had a lot of off years in between

Ronnie with his problems and Williams went off the boil for a long time

drury..

Theres 1 thing you can't take away from O'Sullivan

He came through all the personal issues , the parents , the drugs

Here he is today , best player in the world and continuing to master all aspects of his game

Snake Plisken

Mid session seems to have woken up Ronnie

drury..

O'Sullivan will probably do his usual and steamroll Williams now

Arthur Daley

I don't know, he might meet his Waterloo here against Willo. 3 more frames for Mark, the way he's playing.

drury..

Well know very soon anyway

Brian?

Ronnie isn’t at the races at all.

drury..

The comeback is off

drury..

O'Sullivan too many errors

Snake Plisken

Well done Mark Williams

ArmaniJeanss

Last 16 draw for Sheffield. Obviously some of these players will lose in the Last 32.

Bottom half looks stronger. Great chance for Mark Allen to reach his first final. Ali Carter will be quietly happy with his spot as well.

Top Half

Brecel (1) v Milkins (16). Murphy (8) v Carter (9).

Allen (4) v Higgins (13). Selby (5) v K Wilson (12).

Bottom Half

Trump (3) v Ford (14). Williams (6) v Zhang (11).

O'Sullivan (2) v Hawkins (15). Ding (7) v G Wilson (10).

AllForIt

Delighted Williams won this one and didn't in a million years see him running away with it in the final session as he did. I was worried he was pushing the boat out too much going for everything but he got most everting and it paid off.

Snake Plisken

Ronnie seemed really happy for him as well and William's Mrs went over and gave him a hug. Great to see These two still at the top of their game.

sligeach

Brilliant that Ronald lost. Don't let anybody as usual question the absolute state of the game. Unfortunately I didn't get to watch it between one thing and another.

drury..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121991079#Comment_121991079

The talents not coming through anywhere, same small pool of players winning everything

Tables are easier , standard looks higher than it is

Other than that it's still enjoyable to watch

The Nal

Doesn't help himself at times

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/snooker/2024/04/19/shaun-murphy-interview-world-championship-crucible-147/

drury..

Thr dig at O'Sullivan as usual

There must be a witness to his 9 darter

Brian?

let’s stop with the negativity and get excited lads. Only one more sleep!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/68775898.amp

Brian?

so excited I created a thread.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058347624/2024-world-championships

drury..

ON another negative note it will be interesting to see how the tables are playing

Imo it's getting off putting watching players banging in centuries like it was pool they were playing

gormdubhgorm

I would like to see a new WC winner and not one of the usual crew.

And I was looking at the draw there and was confused that Tom Ford and Ricky Walden were playing each other. Then I realised that Tom Ford is now ranked 14 in the world. When did that happen?

Ricky Walden seems to be around for ever - I checked pro since 2001. Ford around the same time. That could be a hard match to call?

Ding v Jack Lisowski and Carter v Maguire look like the two matches to watch form R1 for sure.

drury..

Carter could put in a good run if his draw is favorable , an unlikely winner though

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122039962#Comment_122039962

Ford has made a ranking final and a few QFs this season.

drury..

Brecel might do a joe Johnson this year I reckon

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122040012#Comment_122040012

It would take a brave man to back him IMO. He does not seem to like the focus/expectation from the way he talks in interviews etc.

But for what he did winning it last year was phenomenal. Some of the stuff he played real carefree and fearless. I seem to remember a poster on here last year said Brecel's win reminded him of Murphy when he won going for everything.

It will be interesting to see if more snooker players emerge from Belgium/the continent as a result of Brecel winning.

drury..

And still the wait goes on for china

ArmaniJeanss

Wrong fred, have moved to the World Championship one.

ArmaniJeanss

World Seniors starts today from the the Crucible.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_World_Seniors_Championship#Main_draw

Afternoon coverage on Channel 5 UK from noon to 5pm each day.

ArmaniJeanss

Ken through to the final tomorrow where he will face Brazilian Igor Figueiredo. A useful £20K for the winner, and it opens the door to things like the Champion of Champions tournament (don't think it is certain qualification but likely unless every other event is won by different players)

breffni bogballer

Hopefully Ken gets the win and a clean sweep of World titles at amateur,u21,WC, and senior

loyatemu

Unfortunately not to be for Ken. I'd never heard of Figueiredo before and was somewhat surprised to hear of Brazilian professional player. Apparently he'd never played on a full sized table until he was in his 30s!

El_Duderino 09

This is for next year's thread. Hendry has declined a 2year tour card. Said he has other commitments but acknowledged he wasn't really up to it.

Ken has accepted an invitational tour card as he didn't qualify based on performance.

https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/articles/cjeer2zrj85o

El_Duderino 09

This nob-head

Micheal White jailed and thrown off the snooker tour.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72546evnpxo.amp

gormdubhgorm

Great comeback by Murphy 6-2 down v Selby in Shanghai, blitz's him and wins 10-8.

gormdubhgorm

Ray Reardon R.I.P.

https://youtu.be/j2oO6MABhyM?si=PDVRTgmV50MUW-iu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcCzZOQ-pmw

sligeach

I read the news on BBC about Ray Reardon. Sad, but 91 isn't a bad break to end on. RIP.

Six-time world snooker champion Reardon dies aged 91

https://www.bbc.com/sport/snooker/articles/cjewjqnqwv4o