World Championship Qualifiers

Joe_ Public

Breaking off today and the two Cork lads both up on opening day. Aaron Hill up against Chinese Chen Feilong at 1.30 which is on eurosport player followed by Ross Bulman taking on Rod Lawler at 7.30.

Wish them both well. Tough ask for Bulman against an experienced pro, but if Hill plays to form I'd fancy him to proceed.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Breaking off today and the two Cork lads both up on opening day. Aaron Hill up against Chinese Chen Feilong at 1.30 which is on eurosport player followed by Ross Bulman taking on Rod Lawler at 7.30.

Wish them both well. Tough ask for Bulman against an experienced pro, but if Hill plays to form I'd fancy him to proceed.

The real killer is if Ross Bulman beats Rod he plays fellow Irishman Fergal o Brien in the second round of qualifiers.

Best of luck to the Irish!
If Rod wins then it's Rod the Plod against FOB. That match could take a while. They might want to make it best of 3 if they want it finished in the day

zuutroy

I just can't get my head around the fact that the World Championship is next week. It's like Christmas being in April!

Joe_ Public

How about this week? The world championships are already under way :-)

Frustrating opening frame for hill. Chen makes decent pot but fluked to land plum on black with whole table on.

Joe_ Public

Really impressive ton from Aaron but badly needed, 1-3 at interval. Hopefully settle him down and get back into it.

zuutroy

Joe_ Public wrote: »

How about this week? The world championships are already under way :-)

Frustrating opening frame for hill. Chen makes decent pot but fluked to land plum on black with whole table on.

Well, I meant the Crucible bit

Edit: Reanne giving Andy Hicks a game of it. Think he made the semis once upon a time.

Joe_ Public

zuutroy wrote: »

Well, I meant the Crucible bit

Edit: Reanne giving Andy Hicks a game of it. Think he made the semis once upon a time.

Ah i knew yeah, just kidding.

Was keeping one eye on the hicks match, looks absolutely brutal stuff. Evans might have a sneak there i think.

Joe_ Public

Another really smart frame, 2-3. Game on now.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Another really smart frame, 2-3. Game on now.

It's slipping away now. Hill needed to win that scrappy frame 6

Joe_ Public

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

It's slipping away now. Hill needed to win that scrappy frame 6

That was a hammer blow. Chen looked to be struggling and then comes out with three great pots to clear! Aaron looks the better player but needs to learn the craft to winning frames at this level. A learning curve.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

That was a hammer blow. Chen looked to be struggling and then comes out with three great pots to clear! Aaron looks the better player but needs to learn the craft to winning frames at this level. A learning curve.

No shame in it. He's young and has time to learn. Best of luck to him in the future.

bradolf pittler

Saw the last 2 frames in Hills match, From what i saw silly mistakes cost him like not finding the back cushion(not even the baulk line) twice.You can get away with that v amateurs but not against pro's.
He can obviously pot and break build judging by his century break.Hope he learns from this next season.
Bullman 4-3 down at the mo in what looks like a proper war.

Joe_ Public

Thought his head dropped a little when he went 2-4 down, it's understandable, he doesnt have experience playing seasoned pros who put you behind cover all the time. That will come with time hopefully.

I thought Bulman was the one who might struggle but he's hanging in there against one of the most seasoned of them all. Bit of gas left in this match yet I'd say.

Joe_ Public

Good stuff. Bulman taking this to a decider. Pity no live pics.

Not to be alas, but good effort nonetheless. All down to the vets now.

El_Duderino 09

Surprised to see James Cahill in the first stage of qualifying. I thought he'd be higher up the rankings after his impressive debut season. But then I heard he fell off the tour and got back on again. Anyone have any info on that?

Joe_ Public

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Surprised to see James Cahill in the first stage of qualifying. I thought he'd be higher up the rankings after his impressive debut season. But then I heard he fell off the tour and got back on again. Anyone have any info on that?

No real mystery. His ranking reflects his results over past season. Apart from beating Ronnie last year he's done very little and he got no points for that as he was an amateur at the time. Remember thinking he was a bit unlucky with draws, seemed to be running into trump and ronnie early in tournaments a lot of the time.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

No real mystery. His ranking reflects his results over past season. Apart from beating Ronnie last year he's done very little and he got no points for that as he was an amateur at the time. Remember thinking he was a bit unlucky with draws, seemed to be running into trump and ronnie early in tournaments a lot of the time.

Ah I didn't know he didn't get points for beating Ronnie. Even a few thousand points can get you up from the bottom of the rankings.

I was in Blackpool for work last year when he was playing. I hoped there would be a bit of buzz about it but nobody I spoke to knew who he was. Bit disappointing.

ebbsy

Good to see Eurosport covering this.

Joe_ Public

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

Ah I didn't know he didn't get points for beating Ronnie. Even a few thousand points can get you up from the bottom of the rankings.

I was in Blackpool for work last year when he was playing. I hoped there would be a bit of buzz about it but nobody I spoke to knew who he was. Bit disappointing.

First year on tour is tough because you're starting from zero and you're then facing the second year of your card desperately needing points and running out of time. Then you keep drawing top 16 players first or second round and start thinking the world is against you! Vicious circle at times.

El_Duderino 09

Fergal O'brien in action today against Rod Lalor at 2:30.

Joe_ Public

1.30 matches i think. Not on the live match list. No surprise there!

Joe_ Public

If Fergal loses, he'll be off the tour for first time in his career so lot of pressure. Expect him to come through.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

1.30 matches i think. Not on the live match list. No surprise there!

You're right. It is 1:30. For some reason it says 2:30 on the snooker.org website. Must be Central European Time.
http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=862

Even if the start times are wrong, it's a handy place to follow the scores in all the matches.

And here is where I've been following the live matches once they start.
http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/LiveScoring/Tournament/14141/betfred-world-championship-2020-qualifiers

El_Duderino 09

Fergal is 3-1 down to Rod Lawler. Hope he can pull it around.

Jimmy White is also 3-1 down to Michael Georgiou.

White has slipped to 123 in the rankings. I think he's just comfortable to have around at this stage. No harm in allowing older players to move on. He's earned £3000 this year (plus £5000 for winning the first round qualifier the other day). It's OK to say goodbye

El_Duderino 09

Fergal pulled it back to 3-2 and then missed a chance to win the frame to make it 3-3. Frame is still in play.

White also back to 3-3

Pighead

Jimmy game is awful but compelling at the same time. Think the highest break is just over 50. Both missing plenty of balls. Jimmy fought back well after going 3-1 down though. Thought at 3-3 it had final frame decider written all over it but Georgiou seems to be getting worse with each passing frame so Jimmy could win with a couple to spare yet.

Who's the guy co-commentating? First name is Peter. Is it Peter Lines? He's pretty decent.

Joe_ Public

Georgieu needs to win to keep his tour card. Adding to the pressure big time I'd say.

Pighead

Wow! Georgiou shut me up big time there. 121 break to level it up. Not sure where that came from but what a time to get it. Hard to call this one.

El_Duderino 09

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Georgieu needs to win to keep his tour card. Adding to the pressure big time I'd say.

He's ranked no 63 in the world. How will he lose his tour card if he's in the middle of the rankings?

Joe_ Public

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

He's ranked no 63 in the world. How will he lose his tour card if he's in the middle of the rankings?

Only top 64 retain card so he'll be gone if he loses here. Looks a wreck out there.

Fergal wrapping things up nicely, easy in the end!

Edit: just to explain it better, only top 64 guaranteed but that doesnt include those on 2 year cards. Colour coded ranking table explains it well:

http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?template=35

zuutroy

Jimmy seems very focused on the job in his interviews. Not completely outlandish that he could beat Milkins and (probably) Jimmy Robertson.

Joe_ Public

Stranger things have happened but I'd be amazed if jimmy won another match, utterly stupified if he managed to win 2. Before yesterday he'd won a single match all season, milkins can stink the place out any given day so maybe possibly....but Robertson, assuming he gets through, would be way too solid, decent player. I think jimmy should carry on as long as he wishes, clearly still loves it, but getting to the crucible is an impossible pipe dream. Famous last words notwithstanding!

zuutroy

Yea over 19 frames it's a bit of a pipe dream I suppose.

Joe_ Public

I'll still be rooting for him anyway, as ever.

bradolf pittler

It's a great testament to Jimmy's talent that he's sill able to compete at this level after all this time.
He must be the longest serving pro in this sport and most others too,Who would have thought that he would last longer then Davis,Parrott even Hendry and the rest of the 80s and 90s players?Hard to believe its been nearly 40 years since the famous Semi-Final v Higgins.
Unbelievable career.

Inviere

bradolf pittler wrote: »

It's a great testament to Jimmy's talent that he's sill able to compete at this level after all this time.
He must be the longest serving pro in this sport and most others too,Who would have thought that he would last longer then Davis,Parrott even Hendry and the rest of the 80s and 90s players?Hard to believe its been nearly 40 years since the famous Semi-Final v Higgins.
Unbelievable career.

Certainly a legend of the game....but I think I'd have chosen the Hendry approach re retirement. There's something a bit sad about looking at a once sensational player, who now struggles to win a match here or there. Again hats off to Jimmy, he'll always be the peoples champion (and was so very nearly a multiple world champion if it wasn't for running into a Prime Hendry).

bradolf pittler

Inviere wrote: »

Certainly a legend of the game....but I think I'd have chosen the Hendry approach re retirement. There's something a bit sad about looking at a once sensational player, who now struggles to win a match here or there. Again hats off to Jimmy, he'll always be the peoples champion (and was so very nearly a multiple world champion if it wasn't for running into a Prime Hendry).

His best chance of winning at the Crucible was when he lost to Higgins in 82.He would have steamrolled over Reardon in the final.
God knows how many he could have won if he had gotten that monkey off his back so early

El_Duderino 09

Inviere wrote: »

Certainly a legend of the game....but I think I'd have chosen the Hendry approach re retirement. There's something a bit sad about looking at a once sensational player, who now struggles to win a match here or there. Again hats off to Jimmy, he'll always be the peoples champion (and was so very nearly a multiple world champion if it wasn't for running into a Prime Hendry).

Yeah It's his career and his choice so fair play. I'd normally say they could transition into commentary and analysis but he's not very good at analysis. The Quest analysis with Jimmy and Ronnie sounds like a dream team, but it's actually terrible. The BBC commentary and analysis is very good by comparison. I suspect Jimmy would be good at commenting on live matches. I think he could see shots and explain it well.

El_Duderino 09

Ben Mertens, the 15 year old amateur from Belgium, beat James Cahill comfortably (6-2). He's the youngest player to win a qualifier. I'm pretty sure I saw him a couple of years ago at the snooker shoot-out. He plays am Baird in the second round in the early KO.

Ken plays Fraser Patrick in the evening round today

Joe_ Public

I've no problem with jimmy playing on long as he wants but i didnt agree with him being given the 2 year tour card and i wouldn't want to see any more gifts being handed out. If he goes to tour school and comes through it then fair play to him. He'll have earned his place on tour like all the others.

zuutroy

El_Duderino 09 wrote: »

The BBC commentary and analysis is very good by comparison.

Don't know about that. Hazel dialling up the hype to 11 while Davis and Parrott say the same things they've been saying for 20 years. ITV is the best when Hendry, Foulds, and McManus are in the studio.

gormdubhgorm

zuutroy wrote: »

Don't know about that. Hazel dialling up the hype to 11 while Davis and Parrott say the same things they've been saying for 20 years. ITV is the best when Hendry, Foulds, and McManus are in the studio.

Yeah I agree, those three are a good mix. Foulds the good cop. Hendry can subtlety critise a player. And McManus great for the technical snooker stuff.

Joe_ Public

Each to their own, its all subjective. But for analysis i much prefer Foulds, McManus etc whom i can never suspect of following any particular agenda. And i think Ronnie is hugely knowledgeable and incisive about the sport when he wants to be, occasionally he and Jimmy can give insights into stuff behind the scenes on tour that you dont get on bbc. Sometimes i get impression bbc lads dont watch much snooker outside of the events they cover.

gormdubhgorm

Ken out of the top 64 if he loses today and will have to head to Q school. No pressure!

ebbsy

Ken should win this.

Patrick looks nervous

gormdubhgorm

ebbsy wrote: »

Ken should win this.

Patrick looks nervous

Yeah he looks so edgy it seems to have settled Ken down.

zuutroy

It's a while since I've seen someone play as bad as Patrick.

Joe_ Public

This is becoming unexpectedly hard work. Ken knows he should be back in his hotel by now, getting a bit frustrated.

zuutroy

Had to go out for a while. This isn't the same match I left!

Joe_ Public

Fine break that, he's the better player last while. Made a great long yellow when a red was hanging over middle pocket frame 6 i think it was, seemed to grow in confidence after that. Ken really wants to do it this frame.

Joe_ Public

Did it well in the end. Wondering about not going for the black on a break there but was the right choice. Thats experience.