2018 Masters

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

taytobreath

its hard to believe that Neil Robertson dropped out of the top 16. Hope Ronnie wins.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

taytobreath

Yea I saw his win against the Chinese player, he was lucky. I was listening to his interview about why he dropped out of the top 16 and it was due to family reasons. He's a good guy to pay that tribute to his wife. This link will give a good insight on why he was out of the top 16.
https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/is-neil-roberston-back-to-his-best

He will be hard to beat in the worlds next easter

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Spudman_20000

Selby was unlucky with the kick but Williams played very well. Wasn't much in it.

At least now we won't have to put up with intolerable shots of Vicky in the crowd

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Spudman_20000

Noticed the 2 cues alright. What's that about?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Arthur Daley

I see JV is back on the BBC

Joe_ Public

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

No sound on my feed here, did the comms have anything to say on it? It could just be different tip sizes, smaller one for break building but just a guess.

_feedback_

Great opening day of the Masters! Love the way this tournament is straight in to the action rather than the usual first round feel you get with other tournaments.

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Dennis was on MC duty yesterday too and managed this magnificent blunder!

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/othersport/904645/WATCH-Snooker-legend-Dennis-Taylor-drops-blunder-at-Masters-Mark-Allen-Luca-Brecel#t=1s

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Noticed the 2 cues alright. What's that about?

Mark Allen spoke about it after the game on Eurosport. He said Brecel lost his cue recently and was trying out a new cue. The second cue was his older cue again, but it has a crack in it. He wasn't happy with the new cue after the first few shots and reverted to the old cracked one. Must be a horrible thing for a snooker player to lose their cue

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Joe_ Public

When even Steve Davis is talking about pockets playing too easy, you know there’s an issue.

Joe_ Public

Good match this. Hard to call a winner, gun to head I think Day will snatch it.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Joe_ Public

That 7th frame was horrible though, Day was simply less terrible than Ding. They really do produce extremes of snooker these two!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Joe_ Public

Ding looks shot but Day is the kind of player I just can’t see getting over the line without at least one wobble.

Joe_ Public

Fair play, I did him a disservice. Got the job done well in the end.

_feedback_

Well done Ryan Day. Coming back from 3-0 is good going in a relitavely short match with big pressure. You just never know what you're going to get with Ding..

Trump is similar to Ding. He could come out tonight and play to either extreme.

I've put little bets on all matches so far and won them all! My money is on Liang tonight. He's a great character (god, I sound like Dennis!) and if Trump isn't at his best, he can beat him. Hope he can handle the occasion though. We'll see!

Spudman_20000

What in the jaysus is Judd wearing?

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

_feedback_

Great match. Liang played some great snooker but that green was a silly shot to take on at a crucial time. He had the advantage at that stage, despite being 5-4 down. Handed it back to Trump who done well to clear up and win 6-4 under pressure!

Ronnie v Fu tomorrow afternoon. The presenter on Eurosport last night said to Mark Allen: "You've got Ronnie in the next round, how do you feel about that?" To which Allen replied "I thought Ronnie still had a game to play? You just made Marco up his game by 20%, Ronnie won't thank you for that!"

Would obviously favour Ronnie given his recent form, but Marco is more than capable of beating him. We've seen him produce some great snooker in recent years.

6-3 to Ronnie?!

_feedback_

Fantastic start from Ronnie. A Break of 120 puts him 1-0 up to Fu.

ziggyman17

a masterclass so far from Ronnie... Looks well up for it... In this form unstoppable...

taytobreath

genius at work

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

_feedback_

It's unreal.. I'm just flicking in and out as I'm in work. Every time I look at it, he has cleared up again!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Joe_ Public

Bloodless execution. Good stuff from Ron but not much pressure, Marco having a poor season.

Table conditions, frankly, seem a joke which can’t be overstated.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

The Nal

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Felt bad for Fu. Destroyed. But nobody is beating Ronnie in that form.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

taytobreath

1 hour 22 mins was the time it took him to defeat Marco

Pighead

Unreal from Ronnie Marco only scored five points in the last three frames and they came from a Ronnie foul! Unbelievably Ronnie is possibly playing the best snooker of his career at the rip old age of 42.

Joe_ Public

Still way ahead of the pack when he’s on song and motivated but no way could I agree he’s playing the best snooker of his career or even that close to it. Doesn’t have to in fairness.

zuutroy

Seven 50 breaks in a six frame match :eek:

Pighead

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Still way ahead of the pack when he’s on song and motivated but no way could I agree he’s playing the best snooker of his career or even that close to it. Doesn’t have to in fairness.

Disagree. His all round game is majestic at the moment. If he wins the Masters and the Worlds this could very well go down as the best season of his career. His mindset is so much stronger these days and because of that he's tougher to beat. Maybe he's not as flamboyant, fast or flashy as he was back in his 20's but his all round game and mentality are way ahead of what they were.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Wilson is 4-3 up on Hawkins. The pockets look to playing fairly easy from what I saw today. Lots of shots wobbling and going in.

Joe_ Public

Pighead wrote: »

Disagree. His all round game is majestic at the moment. If he wins the Masters and the Worlds this could very well go down as the best season of his career. His mindset is so much stronger these days and because of that he's tougher to beat. Maybe he's not as flamboyant, fast or flashy as he was back in his 20's but his all round game and mentality are way ahead of what they were.

I’d go with that to some extent. Mentally he looks strong but the key word there is if. If he does it at the worlds - which of course he has not over the past 3 years. That’s the ultimate test for me, I’d like to think he’s up to the crucible slog this time round - in fairness he did not play badly last year - but I still have my doubts.

For what it’s worth, I can’t accept Ronnie is a better player now than 20 years ago. I believe he - and to some extent Selby - are dominating a relatively weak era in the sport. At his best he had Higgins, Williams, Paul Hunter (Rip), Ebdon, McManus, Doherty, Stevens, among others, continually pushing and testing him. Last month he breezed the UK not meeting a top 16 player until the final. I don’t think Ronnie has much respect for most of the young pros coming up, what was it he calls them - numpties I think it was. Judd Trump is still top 3 or 4 I think and what a disappointment he’s been. Says a lot about the state at the top I believe.

Ron is great but I think the set up suits him, shorter format at the UK for example. Beyond Selby there’s just a lack of hardened, big match players to truly test him. Higgins is demonstrably in decline yet he’s still competitive, again that tells a story I think.

Just my 2 cents really, I love watching the guy as much as anyone, just think what he’s doing needs to be put in some perspective is all.

_feedback_

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Beyond Selby there’s just a lack of hardened, big match players to truly test him. Higgins is demonstrably in decline yet he’s still competitive, again that tells a story I think.

This is more or less exactly what Ronnie said himself in his post-match interview yesterday.

Love that he's in a big chair rather than standing :D

The Nal

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Just my 2 cents really

Agree with most of that, certainly about quality at the top, but its a very different sport now compared to 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago.

2009-10 - Six full ranking tournaments and a total prize fund for the season of £3.5million

2017/18 - 28 tournaments (18 ranking I think) and total prize money is now £12million.

The top 16 guys aren't as protected anymore. They used to enter a lot of comps a few rounds later, like the FA Cup. Now they mainly play at the start with the rest of the 132 players. Could argue that a lot of the top guys are being dragged down a level as a result.

Anyway, good day ahead today. Can't see past comfortable wins for Murphy and Higgins. Carter has been poor this season.

HisJills

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Hahaha nice one!

Joe_ Public

The Nal wrote: »

Agree with most of that, certainly about quality at the top, but its a very different sport now compared to 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago.

2009-10 - Six full ranking tournaments and a total prize fund for the season of £3.5million

2017/18 - 28 tournaments (18 ranking I think) and total prize money is now £12million.

The top 16 guys aren't as protected anymore. They used to enter a lot of comps a few rounds later, like the FA Cup. Now they mainly play at the start with the rest of the 132 players. Could argue that a lot of the top guys are being dragged down a level as a result.

Anyway, good day ahead today. Can't see past comfortable wins for Murphy and Higgins. Carter has been poor this season.

Yes fair points I think. It’s a vastly different game from the one I grew up watching. Not for the better in many ways I feel but I guess while players now rattle in tons nearly every second frame and the bbc fawn over the quality, few will complain only the old cranks like me

Carter shocking lately alright, head looks to be gone a little.