Snooker Season 2021/22

No luck for Michael unfortunately, goes down 2-4. Couple of bad misses in the last, nothing now but to hit the practice table hard and look forward to English open in 3 weeks.

Well done Fergal, 3 frames on the bounce to win 4-2 and book his ticket for Belfast where he'll face James Cahill.

Goes to show you, early last year Gould was on the verge of quitting, found a new lease of life during lockdown and results started to come his way and now in a place he could challenge to be top 16 again. Would love to see it as he's a top bloke and great potter when he's on song.

As for Ken, bit disappointed with the defeat to Joe O'Connor last week but, all in all, he seems to be working hard on his game and in ok shape. The rankings are a bit skewed as in both him and Fergal went back to 0 last season as they were both effectively on wild cards. That just means they're defending no points this season unlike players ahead of them, so the gap will inevitably narrow as the season progresses.

Hard to be precise, but last season the 64 ranked player finished on 68k so somewhere thereabouts would be the magic figure. In other words, Ken and Fergal would be looking to win 40k+ more in ranking events to be in line to keep the card. If they played 15 events, that's just short of an average 3k per tournament. Doesn't sound much, but you have to win a match to earn ranking points so getting on a bad run will set you back.

Think we have to remember Ken is 51 now, Fergal is hitting the half century soon, they've both given us great service and enjoyment over the years and owe us nothing. I think it's great to see them still both competing and wouldn't bet against either being in the right place come business end of the season!

Some of the pots Andy Hicks is missing here, you wouldn't see on a club table, but gets a big fluke to level it 2-2. Aaron needs to be winning this, getting enough chances.

No joy for Ken in a tight enough contest. Gould finished with a ton but other frames wère all pretty tight, Ken had his chances but not to be.

Turkish masters event was supposed to be this month as well, i think, but got shifted to early next year cos of travel issues and the fires. Not sure where it's position will be once things are restored to normal.

Dunno what happened afterwards, if ref witnessed it as Xiao appears to indicate then his account would be very relevant, but Lines was apparently fuming about an earlier incident when the ref failed to replace the white in the proper spot after a foul and he obviously felt his opponent was taking advantage in not correcting him. Xiao left him on to win the frame next shot regardless.

I see in draw for German Masters Aaron has got Anthony Hamilton which is tough enough but winner faces Judd, assuming he beats Tian Pengfei.

First 3 open events and Aaron's got Ronnie, Yan Bingtao and Judd either 1st or 2nd round. Luck just not going his way when he really needs it.