2021 Players Championship, Feb 22-28

Joe_ Public

After the brief hiatus across the severn bridge to Newport for a dramatic Welsh Open, its back to the familiar environs of Milton Keynes for the Players Championship, featuring the top 16 on the one year money list. Judd Trump defends the title he won against Yan Bingtao last year and kicks off tournament against No.16 seed Stuart Bingham at 7pm.

Full draw

Judd Trump v Stuart Bingham
Zhou Yuelong v Barry Hawkins
Jack Lisowski v Martin Gould
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Ding Junhui
Neil Robertson v Lu Ning
Kyren Wilson v Ryan Day
Jordan Brown v John Higgins
Mark Selby v Mark Williams

Big matches for the likes of Zhou, Hawkins and Lisowski who are scrapping for top 16 places for automatic world championship qualification. Remember, no ranking points for first round losers.

Arthur Daley

Amazing that Jordan Brown was top 16 on the 1 year list even if he lost the final last night. The fact that 50 grand gets you into this tells a lot about how tough it is to eek out a good living on the tour once you go past the top 16-32.

The top 16 get a definite boost by winning further ranking points here, once they win their first match. It's a boost not available to the rest of the tour. Don't disagree with it, it and it encourages players to keep an eye on their one year ranking, which probably stops a few pull outs in the likes of the Home Nations events.

Genghis

I see from the schedule, both Robbie and Jordan are both scheduled for their respective matches on Tuesday evening.

I wonder which match ITV will show? Safe bet is obviously Ronnie as WC / just being Ronnie, but the more interesting choice would be Brown vs Higgins to see how Jordan does following the Welsh Open win.

Ronnie / Ding always very predictable (strong start by Ding, decent lead, then collapse after the mid session).

https://www.sportinglife.com/snooker/news/players-championship-draw-and-schedule/189455

Joe_ Public

As a point: Judd Trump has already earned more this season than the bottom 50 tour players on the one year list combined. Expect that to increase another 10 or 15 by seasons end.

I suppose thats not unique to snooker, probably see a similar earnings disparity in tennis for example, the elite getting a huge share of the rewards only seems natural. But its kind of clever all the same, having these kind of qualifier tournaments ensures very few players can skip events, keeping sponsors happy, while also sustaining the dream for those lower ranked. I doubt many canrealistically dream of doing what Jordan Brown did, thats extremely rare, but any of them could win the shootout. 50k, a likely place in the players and the champion of champions is potentially career changing for a lot of pros. Hearn is a good businessman, i'll give him that. Dont agree with first round losers not getting paid in regular events though, i think thats wrong, they should get something, 500 quid even, for offering their services.

Joe_ Public

Genghis wrote: »

I see from the schedule, both Robbie and Jordan are both scheduled for their respective matches on Tuesday evening.

I wonder which match ITV will show? Safe bet is obviously Ronnie as WC / just being Ronnie, but the more interesting choice would be Brown vs Higgins to see how Jordan does following the Welsh Open win.

Ronnie / Ding always very predictable (strong start by Ding, decent lead, then collapse after the mid session).

https://www.sportinglife.com/snooker/news/players-championship-draw-and-schedule/189455

99% they will show ronnie. Will watch both anyway. Looking forward to the itv coverage, its generally exceptional with the range of camera angles and the likes of foulds and hendry shoring up the coverage. Think ken might have been on the last time too.

Arthur Daley

Yeah, I think they're doing a great job overall with Snooker these days. There are always areas to tinker with. And a few bob for travelling and turning up would seem the right thing to do, but I know Hearn wants to be blunt with the fellas in the first round, you've got to be winning to earn.

Arthur Daley

Ken must be confined to the UK these days and hardly back in Dublin. So I'd expect he'll be in MK again.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Yeah, I think they're doing a great job overall with Snooker these days. There are always areas to tinker with. And a few bob for travelling and turning up would seem the right thing to do, but I know Hearn wants to be blunt with the fellas in the first round, you've got to be winning to earn.

If you have a situation where a player is playing a first round match live on tv, i dont see why he should potentially get nothing for that while others, including tv, bookies, WS, profit off it. Maybe it's considered a privilege to be on the tour, but they are offering a service and at very least, should get something to cover expenses. Imo anyway.

Joe_ Public

Interesting to note, this weeks tournament is sponsored by used car dealer Cazoo. Echoes of Arthur Daley types aside (the tv chatacter, i mean!), it must be a while since we had a tournament not sponsored by either a bookie or hearns own matchroom firm. A significant step possibly given the trouble that would lie ahead if the campaign to ban bookie advertising and sponsorship ever gained major traction.

Arthur Daley

Well Barry Hearn has been described as a cross between Del Boy and Arthur Daley. We'll take it as a compliment.

But Football is massively exposed to Betting as well. Every second ad and plenty of shirt sponsors are betting related. Either that or it's just eat. So there'll be a lot of talk about it, but there is a lot of vested interests in keeping that going. I think for kids shirts you can't have a betting company as sponsor, but it's ok for adult sizes. So you'll get token changes like that.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Well Barry Hearn has been described as a cross between Del Boy and Arthur Daley. We'll take it as a compliment.

But Football is massively exposed to Betting as well. Every second ad and plenty of shirt sponsors are betting related. Either that or it's just eat. So there'll be a lot of talk about it, but there is a lot of vested interests in keeping that going. I think for kids shirts you can't have a betting company as sponsor, but it's ok for adult sizes. So you'll get token changes like that.

Correct, a lot of vested interests. But i only read a story recently in the telegraph, which usually has a good line into the johnson government, that they will be banning all shirt sponsorship this year so looks like they're taking that first step anyway. Whether they'd go far beyond that i dont know, but i wouldn't be complacent about it at the same time. I remember this debate in the 80s with tobacco, people saying the lobbies were too powerful for it to happen, but it did and decimated snooker and other sports. Just think its important they keep trying to extend the range of sponsors just in case. Needless to say, the Chinese dont have this issue at all.

ArmaniJeanss

I'd like to see some form of Plate competition for first round losers (excluding first-round losers already in the Top 16 on the 1 or 2 year list).
Best of 3 frames, minimal prize-money (only pay top 8 - £2K, £1K, £500, £250 would be just £5K total). No ranking points.
Not compulsory, if you want to go home after your first round loss then do so.
Might only be 30 or 40 players sign up for it so could be ran off quickly on the outside tables without disrupting the main event.

But would potentially give players some needed table time and the chance to get match practise and money matches against opponents of the same calibre.

Joe_ Public

Will be interesting to see how Judd reacts to unexpected defeat in Wales last week. Excluding league matches, hth with Bingham is 8-6 in judds favour which is close enough and Stuart playing ok so could be a good contest.

Wilson v Day. Apart from shootout, ryan hasnt done a huge amount, but he's in the field nonetheless. Kyren hasnt reached past qfs this season but has met judd and ronnie in 4 of them so at least some excuse. Just looks much more solid overall so think he'll be too good.

Arthur Daley

I'd think the only issue with that is for the Home Nations for example there are a massive number of matches condensed into Monday-Thursday. The first time there'd be a free slot is maybe Thursday or Friday unless you were having matches at very unsociable hours.

If you lost a first round match on Monday morning you are not going to hang about to Thursday or Friday to play for a few hundred quid.

ArmaniJeanss

Arthur Daley wrote: »

I'd think the only issue with that is for the Home Nations for example there are a massive number of matches condensed into Monday-Thursday. The first time there'd be a free slot is maybe Thursday or Friday unless you were having matches at very unsociable hours.

If you lost a first round match on Monday morning you are not going to hang about to Thursday or Friday to play for a few hundred quid.

That's a fair point actually, tables don't really come very free until late in the week so it'd be expensive to hang around for another loss or £250.

I suppose you could do it that the Monday first round losers play each other on Tuesday and whittle them down to 4 players.
Ditto all the Tuesday first round losers play each other down to 4 on Wednesday. Then they combine to play to a finish on Thursday.

But yeah, it would have to be unsocial hours or else a dedicated table which would affect the schedule of the main event, so probably not as feasible as I initially thought.

Joe_ Public

I'd say the only thing keeping a lot of these low ranked players going is the pro am circuit, not just for the few quid they can earn, but to supplement the decent table time they're not really getting enough of on tour. Am sure i heard brown mention it during one of his interviews last week.

Genghis

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Correct, a lot of vested interests. But i only read a story recently in the telegraph, which usually has a good line into the johnson government, that they will be banning all shirt sponsorship this year so looks like they're taking that first step anyway. Whether they'd go far beyond that i dont know, but i wouldn't be complacent about it at the same time. I remember this debate in the 80s with tobacco, people saying the lobbies were too powerful for it to happen, but it did and decimated snooker and other sports. Just think its important they keep trying to extend the range of sponsors just in case. Needless to say, the Chinese dont have this issue at all.

At 73 this year, the one-day-soon retirement of Hearn is maybe more imminent, and potentially more damaging. I wonder what the succession plans are, how much Matchroom relies on BH, or if it is sufficiently independent to continue to grow. Eddie Hearn seems mainly focussed on boxing.

Joe_ Public

Genghis wrote: »

At 73 this year, the one-day-soon retirement of Hearn is maybe more imminent, and potentially more damaging. I wonder what the succession plans are, how much Matchroom relies on BH, or if it is sufficiently independent to continue to grow. Eddie Hearn seems mainly focussed on boxing.

Good questions. Maybe Jason Ferguson could be the choice to switch over when the time comes. But i dunno, health permitting, i see baz being good for another few years yet. Doesn't seem the retiring type to me anyway.

Genghis

Different order of play on this site, different to my link earlier. Ronnie still Tuesday evening but Higgins Vs Brown now on Weds 24.

https://wst.tv/confirmed-cazoo-players-championship-draw/

Judd Trump (1) v Stuart Bingham (16): Monday February 22 at 7pm

Zhou Yuelong (8) v Barry Hawkins (9): Tuesday February 23 at 7pm

Jack Lisowski (5) v Martin Gould (12): Tuesday February 23 at 1pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan (4) v Ding Junhui (13): Tuesday February 23 at 7pm

Neil Robertson (3) v Lu Ning (14): Tuesday February 23 at 1pm

Kyren Wilson (6) v Ryan Day (11): Monday February 22 at 7pm

Jordan Brown (7) v John Higgins (10): Wednesday February 24 at 1pm

Mark Selby (2) v Mark Williams (15): Wednesday February 24 at 1pm

Trump 2-0 down, and still marginal fav against Bingham.. Just tuned in - I thought it was an 8.00 kickoff..

A scrappy third frame at the start, with Judd all over the shop missing plenty. Bingham should have poured the concrete on, but Judd in flow now.

Rothko

Yeah, Trump was awful in those first two frames but seems to have turned it around.

A couple of poor misses from Bingham trying to force relatively easy reds into both middle bags - one in this frame, and the other 2 frames back. Gifted Trump the frame here, with the reds spread lovely... Looking good for 3-2 Trump now, from 2-0 down, and another century on..

Bingham on for the max.... 12 reds + 12 blacks

paulie21

Ahhh. 147 was on for Bingham

Rothko

Shame for Bingham there. He did well to get that far considering the positions of some of the reds.

Misses the 15th black after a poor positional shot leaves him high on last red.. 2 previous shots were top drawer though - no cigar for Stuart.. Back in the match anyway..

^^

Low on last red I should have said - he had to leave a thin cut on black from up the table, as no easy route to black through baulk, because not enough angle to easily get up and down the table....

Could be trying for another max here. 5 reds in...

Arthur Daley

Pushing his luck too many times there. Still, 2 maxi attempts within an hour.

Rothko

Bingham close again to getting a maximum.

Joe_ Public

Actually looked as if he'd all the hard work done that time.

Couple of great pots there, but misses last red, which was far from easy... Them's the breaks :pac:

Joe_ Public

Hadnt clocked that bingham was in such bother with his world championship seeding until Dave hendon mentioned it there. Lot of pressure on him and handling it really well. Might need to win another match though, the way things are looking.

tanko

Really poor shot by Bingham there on the black, he'll be sweating now.

Joe_ Public

He didnt need to go for that red in the middle, understand why he did but never fancied him to get it. Could have put judd in trouble instead, that was the shot.

Trump the master of brinkmanship these last few comps... Has been down several times, only to win.. Have to fancy him here...

tanko

Bingham too tentative here, not much conviction in his shots.
Pressure telling i suppose.

Strange pace on the black there - I think comms reckoned he meant to miss that first red?

A nervy ballrun looks to have fallen over the line... Fair play to him,, Was in tatters there; worrying and pondering over rudimentary shots...

Joe_ Public

Kind of made hard work of that but you could see the pressure he was under, how badly he needed that win. Well deserved too, judd showed occasional flashes but no more than that.

Genghis

Watched the last 2 frames on +1. Very enjoyable, nervy but deserved win for Bingham, thought Trump would do it even when 3 snookers required.

robinwing

Genghis wrote: »

Watched the last 2 frames on +1. Very enjoyable, nervy but deserved win for Bingham, thought Trump would do it even when 3 snookers required.

The air seems to slowly deflating out of Trump's balloon the last couple of tournaments , Snooker is frequently won and lost inside your own head as much as on the table. Ryan Day was euphoric after the shoot out , hoping for a resurgence in his form and fortunes , got beaten 6-1 today by Kyren Wilson. The standard is so high the margins between winning and losing are becoming narrower all the time.

Joe_ Public

Watched a fair bit of the wilson-day match and thought it was pretty dismal fare. I like ryan, really nice fella, but he's done little all season apart from win the shootout and it showed tonight as Wilson played pretty ordinary and still coasted home. Don't mind shootout but never agreed with it being a ranking event.

robinwing

Will be very interesting to see how Jordan fares against Higgins. Fingers crossed for him

Arthur Daley

Thought Trump looked a bit weary last night. With so many tournaments back to back the top guys probably only get so much break away from the game. And nobody is getting away for a holiday. So it's bound to catch up on you after a while. Even Davis or Hendry would have had to drag themselves to a tournament from time to time. Thing with Judd is he's naturally diplomatic about it.

Joe_ Public

Presume Robertson v Lu Ning will be itv match this afternoon. Robbo not won a match since his uk final with judd, albeit only played two matches since then. Will be keen to show some form approaching business end of season.

Lisowski v Gould could be quick given the attacking mentalities of both. Lisowski under pressure to maintain his world top 16 qualifcation spot.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Thought Trump looked a bit weary last night. With so many tournaments back to back the top guys probably only get so much break away from the game. And nobody is getting away for a holiday. So it's bound to catch up on you after a while. Even Davis or Hendry would have had to drag themselves to a tournament from time to time. Thing with Judd is he's naturally diplomatic about it.

Yeah, always seemed unlikely he could keep going the way he was all through the season. I'd say a bit of a break then a few weeks of hardcore practice and he should be good for the worlds. Do like the way he fought to the end last night despite clearly not at his best. Same last week v Vafaei. Seen him play a lot worse this season and win matches!

Of course, forgot he still has tour championship to play and probably a bit of championship league too so still some action left there. Assume he'll skip gibraltar but you never know with judd.

Joe_ Public

Thats some barnet on robbo in fairness. Just let it go, why not.

Joe_ Public

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Thats some barnet on robbo in fairness. Just let it go, why not.

He looks like The Antiques Roadshow kid genius from the 1980s... If I knew how to insert an image, I would :pac:

Joe_ Public

He's even got a bit of stubble going to make it a styled look i think. Looks kinda mean, could probably get used to it.

Think this is going to be a long one. Lu is slow and robbo a bit rusty.