2019 Masters

Frank O. Pinion

Starts this Sunday, 13th January, finishes the following Sunday, 20th January. It's the 45th staging of the tournament. Winner's prize (non-ranking) is £200,000. Best-of-11s until the final, which is a best-of-19.

Round of 16:

Mark Allen (defending champion & #1 ranked player of the season) v Luca Brecel
Ding Junhui v Jack Lisowski (Masters debut)
John Higgins v Ryan Day
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Stuart Bingham
Mark Selby v Stephen Maguire
Judd Trump v Kyren Wilson (last year's runner-up)
Barry Hawkins v Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams v Neil Robertson

Inviere

Brilliant, love the Masters.

AllForIt

I feel The Masters is a more prestigious tournament now that the UK because ,well, the UK has been ruined.

Joe_ Public

Yes, masters definitely no.2 on the list I’d say. All the top players, great venue (though I still miss the old wembley), proper atmosphere. The uk is seriously diminished in my eyes for sure, but we’re coming into the best part of the season now so exciting few months ahead. Bring it on!

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

The Masters is undoubtedly the #2 tournament now. The atmosphere at the UK is just awful with the four tables and the cavernous arena. As Ronnie said a few years ago, "It's like asking Roger Federer to go and play on court 13 at Wimbledon in front of three men and a dog."

I fancy Ronnie for an eighth Masters title, but Allen will put up a good fight too.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

The Masters gets underway tomorrow, Sunday. Order of play:

1pm: Mark Allen vs Luca Brecel

7pm: John Higgins vs Ryan Day

Arthur Daley

Still not a ranking event though, so not sure it is really quite as coveted as the UK or one or two of the big Chinese events. May as well say the Champions of Champions is a big event. I mean it is, but an invitational event is never going to be quite the same as a full ranking tournament, for me anyway.

Joe_ Public

You could argue about the uk but none of the chinese events is in the same stratosphere as the masters and I doubt even any of the chinese players would try to claim so. The atmosphere at the China tournaments is terrible. The masters has history, tradition and prestige behind it and the fact it’s not a ranking title is of no consequence, merely adds to its mystique if anything.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

A full ranking tournament these days means watching some taxi driver ranked #120 in the world getting annihilated 5-0 by a top pro and heading home having lost a couple of thousand pounds in tournament fees and expenses that he doesn't have to spare. It's an immiserating experience for all involved, and it's why I'm glad to see tournaments like the Masters where we don't have to go through that charade.

AllForIt

Here's a fun warm up, a memorable frame.

Arthur Daley

China Open winner gets £225,000 so it has to be up there surely. Masters winner £200,000 and UK winner £175,000. Last 16 of the China Open gets £18,000, Last 16 of the Masters £12,500.

AllForIt

Arthur Daley wrote: »

China Open winner gets £225,000 so it has to be up there surely. Masters winner £200,000 and UK winner £175,000. Last 16 of the China Open gets £18,000, Last 16 of the Masters £12,500.

I don't get anything but I'd still prefer The Masters : )

Joe_ Public

All it proves for me is that the chinese have a lot of muscle when it comes to pumping money into tournaments. I don’t believe you can just simply buy all the history and prestige those other events have, including the masters. The heartland of the sport is in the uk and I think that’s just the way it is. Doesn’t mean it has to be that way forever of course, things could look very different 20-30 years down the road. Don’t think it’s position in the calendar helps the status of the China Open all that much.

Arthur Daley

Yeah, would never want to see the Worlds move from Sheffield for example. But even back in the mid 80s I used to think the B&H Masters was a slightly lesser tournament, but then the UK was a proper matchplay tournament then. Actually I think Snooker's old school used to look down on the Masters quite a bit, in a subtle enough way, but then they could afford to do that a bit more in the mid 80s. Especially when it was at Wembley and you'd have a right rowdy audience in there, far more than any other venue, boozing, smoking and shouting, especially when Alex or Jimmy was playing.

Joe_ Public

Yes I think that’s right. Took a while for it to find its feet I think, they meddled a bit with the format early on before settling on the top 16 straight knock out. Not quite sure when the status of “major” was conferred but I do remember every tournament feeling like a big one back then simply because there were so few of them. I know the consensus is that things are all so much better now but apart from this week and the worlds, I don’t feel much sense of anticipation about most of the tournaments anymore. They just seem to be on, all of the time.

Personally I loved the old wembley, sadly only made it the once but couldn’t get a ticket to see alex. The atmosphere the year he beat davis (85 I think) was something else, fair bit of riff raff it has to be said. Old Joe Davis would most definitely not have approved!

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Play underway now on BBC 2. Allen vs Brecel.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Brecel leads 3-1 at the interval. Allen not really at the races so far.

Joe_ Public

Surprised at that scoreline, Allen with it all to do though fancy he might still turn it around.

Inviere

Best I’ve seen Luca play in, well, ever really. Hope he gets the job done today

Joe_ Public

He’s not a player I rate very highly at all but he is turning it on a bit today alright to be fair to him.

Inviere

That’ll be 4-4 I’d say

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Deciding frame coming up shortly...

Inviere

Gracelynn Stale Vow wrote: »

Deciding frame coming up shortly...

Huge chunk of luck missing the canon on the pink, to develop and land on a red there by Allen. Can see him getting in now and finishing the match off quickly enough

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Brecel wins 6-5!

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Higgins vs Day on the red button now, with Hendry in the commentary box. Today is Hendry's 50th birthday.

Higgins leading 1-0 right now.

Joe_ Public

Not great if you’ve no red button! Stuck watching on a betting website.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Not great if you’ve no red button! Stuck watching on a betting website.

That's too bad.

Fairly scrappy match so far. Higgins leading 2-0 with Day looking nervy and playing poor positional shots.

Joe_ Public

Gracelynn Stale Vow wrote: »

That's too bad.

Fairly scrappy match so far. Higgins leading 2-0 with Day looking nervy and playing poor positional shots.

Used to love bbc coverage but would be happy enough now to see the whole lot given over to Eurosport. Red button is a total cop out imo and I’d still say that if I had access!

Day missed a trick there for 2-2, went for an insanely risky pot there I think.

Arthur Daley

Heard JV back again in the earlier match. I still like to see the BBC stick by the old players and keep the continuity. While also trying out new voices every year at Sheffield. Some of which don't really work out. E.g. Ebdon

Arthur Daley

Ryan Day ahould have put Higgins to bed in that last frame. Instead it's 4-4 and all a bit scrappy

Joe_ Public

This is a poor match really. One player is going to fall over the line. I backed higgins outright but he doesn’t look like a guy who could go deep in a tournament out there, let alone even win this match!

The Nal

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Used to love bbc coverage but would be happy enough now to see the whole lot given over to Eurosport. Red button is a total cop out imo and I’d still say that if I had access!

Day missed a trick there for 2-2, went for an insanely risky pot there I think.

Anyone with Sky can still get the red button. Im watching it on the red button now.

https://www.horsesportireland.ie/how-to-watch-bbc-red-button-in-ireland/

Yeah this is a slog. Higgins has been terrible and Day is dull to watch.

Dante7

A few punters on Twitter discovered a bet on Paddy Power for all matches in the first round. 500/1 for both players to have five 50+ breaks. Crazy odds. It landed this afternoon with Allen v Brecel, and landed once in each of the last four Masters. Looks like PP have removed the bet for the moment.

El_Duderino 09

Dante7 wrote: »

A few punters on Twitter discovered a bet on Paddy Power for all matches in the first round. 500/1 for both players to have five 50+ breaks. Crazy odds. It landed this afternoon with Allen v Brecel, and landed once in each of the last four Masters. Looks like PP have removed the bet for the moment.

That's mad. You often hear of a player getting whitewashed or not scoring over 50 in a first round match. But with the quality of players in the masters that's a big mistake at 500/1.

Dante7

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

That's mad. You often hear of a player getting whitewashed or not scoring over 50 in a first round match. But with the quality of players in the masters that's a big mistake at 500/1.

If it goes to 6-5, there is a fair chance that each would get five 50+. You could even have both players getting 50+ in the same frame. Someone calculated that the true odds should be about 20/1 for an average first round match in the Masters. PP must have had an intern on snooker duty over the weekend.

Joe_ Public

The Nal wrote: »

Anyone with Sky can still get the red button. Im watching it on the red button now.

https://www.horsesportireland.ie/how-to-watch-bbc-red-button-in-ireland/

Yeah this is a slog. Higgins has been terrible and Day is dull to watch.

Don’t have sky so no option here.

Ryan Day would be a helluva snooker player if he could handle pressure imo. Making hard work of beating a clearly off color John Higgins here. Could be wrong but have a feeling we are witnessing the last dregs of higgins’ pro career.

Arthur Daley

Yeah Higgins looks/sounds like he's packed it in after losing the Crucible final last May. Famous last words mind.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Yeah Higgins looks/sounds like he's packed it in after losing the Crucible final last May. Famous last words mind.

Absolutely. He was speaking about retirement end of last year and sounding fed up with the grind. They say you can pick and choose your events now but not sure it’s that simple. Doesn’t say much for Day I think that he’s making such hard work of this.

The Nal

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Absolutely. He was speaking about retirement end of last year and sounding fed up with the grind. They say you can pick and choose your events now but not sure it’s that simple. Doesn’t say much for Day I think that he’s making such hard work of this.

Ronnie used Higgins as an example when he was talking about too many competitions and burnout. Maybe its just that.

His long potting is a worrying sign though. 50% ish success in this match. First thing to go etc.

Arthur Daley

Fair clearance from Ryan Day to take it 6-5

El_Duderino 09

Really surprised at how well Day won that last frame. Given how bad the previous frame was I thought it would be a scrappy final frame

Joe_ Public

The Nal wrote: »

Ronnie used Higgins as an example when he was talking about too many competitions and burnout. Maybe its just that.

His long potting is a worrying sign though. 50% ish success in this match. First thing to go etc.

Maybe. I certainly wouldn’t write him off, people were doing that with MJW a couple of years back and look what happened?

50% long pot success isn’t terrible, is that what it was? Looks like he’s cutting across shots, the thin cuts into blind pockets too and that’s usually a very alarming sign.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Today's matches...

1pm: Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Stuart Bingham

7pm: Ding Junhui vs Jack Lisowski

El_Duderino 09

Pity Bingham o Sullivan is on during the day. I might be able to have in open in a browser in the background in work. I can at least listen to it through headphones that way.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

It seems to be the BBC's approach to put the higher profile match on BBC 1 or BBC 2 in the afternoon and then put the evening match on the red button so they don't take up a prime time spot with snooker.

The Nal

Gracelynn Stale Vow wrote: »

It seems to be the BBC's approach to put the higher profile match on BBC 1 or BBC 2 in the afternoon and then put the evening match on the red button so they don't take up a prime time spot with snooker.

Yeah they've been doing that for a long time now. They only really show the semi and final of big events in the evenings.

Arthur Daley

It was always the case. I don't recall any time in the past when bbc2 would show more than 30 mins to 1 hour live (maybe 7-8) from an evening session before the semi finals. For the worlds they still show an hour from 7-8 but not for the other two.

The red button option transformed coverage and the number of hours that are shown.

Then itv4 tournaments in recent years means that itv get to show live sessions in the evenings mid week. Something which itv would never dream of doing on the main channel before now.

The Nal

I still get shivers everytime Ronnie walks in.

Joe_ Public

John Parrott: “You’re not going to beat Ronnie unless you score.”

No sh!t sherlock!

Joe_ Public

Bingham has played well most of the season, could be a good match this.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

Joe_ Public wrote: »

John Parrott: “You’re not going to beat Ronnie unless you score.”

Getting 28 points in fouls at the start of a frame helps a bit as well...