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Snooker Season 2023/24

Arthur Daley

I see Aaron Hill beat Jimmy to qualify for the European Masters.

And Ken won his match tonight too. So he is into round 2.

Aaron Hill is at 71 in the World, so he is within striking distance of the top 64 and should target this to keep his tour card at the end of the season. He may well make further progress beyond these aims this year.

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Spudman_20000

With the amount of money on offer for the 167, surely there's the chance of players working together to get it. Like "you break off and leave me an easy opener and I'll give you 100k if I make the 167. And vice versa."?

Genghis

I was somewhat on the fence with the golden ball thing, but actually having watched a bit yesterday I like it more. Innovation is good, after all.

The golden ball adds a new dimension, i.e. makes players more likely to "chance" a maximum, it adds a bit of tactics in i.e. opting to cannon the golden ball off maybe the baulk colours, etc - and then there is the bragging rights for winning a massive cheque. The players seem genuinely excited, which is good to see.

I think the concept has been well thought out to avoid it devaluing the heritage of the sport. It has a very low impact on the actual game by being removed if it can't come into play, so much so that any '167' can be deemed an official 147 first as well as a 167 if its potted. I don't think anyone would consider a 167 "the highest break ever", so it doesn't devalue the 200 maximums, any made in the future, or the uniqueness of a future 16-red freeball competitive maximum, etc. By this I mean that removing it when the possibility of a maximum disappears means we can't end up with random high breaks above 147.

I hope we see a few more attempts on the prize, I do hope someone wins it, but wonder on the odds of it happening in a tournament that has only 80 or so frames. I wonder will they keep it as a feature of this tournament, I understand it will be a fuller field ranking tournament next year and is part of a ten year deal, will it be part of that?

ArmaniJeanss

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853668#Comment_121853668

Nice thought - but is a potential extreme long-shot 100K enough for giving up a scoring chance which would affect your chances of winning the tournament first prize of £250K?

And, perhaps crucially, it would probably be a offence for which they'd have no choice but to ban you if it came out, so the risk/reward is probably against you.

Sandor Clegane

What an extraordinary match, don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121853922#Comment_121853922

Alllen out Selbyed - Selby.

gormdubhgorm

I just copped the other marketing trick the organisers of the Ryadh tournament did. All other prizes seem to be in sterling?

But the golden ball prize is listed as $500,000. Basically just to make it look even more lucrative than it is.

gormdubhgorm

Carter not happy. Waiting for 4 hours to start. Scorer made a mistake on the board and confused him.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854338#Comment_121854338

What's new

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121854338#Comment_121854338

He’s a gimp.

tomhammer..

Pockets too easy

ArmaniJeanss

1.15am in Riyadh, and the last game of the day is waiting to start. Theoretically could go on until 5am local.

Players are getting money for nothing so not a huge amount of sympathy, but still unusual.

Arthur Daley

Thing is they'd be bitching if asked to come on after 11pm on the rolling system at the Home Nations

Genghis

~~Decent chance for a 167 attempt here with Ronnie~~.

😁

gormdubhgorm

I was thinking could they hit a red into the golden ball early on to move it. Then one of them can go all out.

gormdubhgorm

Jayus Higgins didn’t pot a ball. Ronnie 4-0. 3 centuries could have had 4.

Genghis

Its a tournament that is right up Ronnie St.

Big money, single table, no numpty rounds to wade through, short format matches, 2-days from first match to final, not being held in some UK provincial leisure centre, exhibition in style, limited press presence.

I imagine that Ronnie and all the competitors are being treated royally in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia too. Breaks journey to Wuhan also.

No surprise he is the favourite.

Ronnie 11/8

Judd 9/4

Mark 7/2

Luca 6/1

Genghis

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121855232#Comment_121855232

🤔 Pretty emphatic.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121856231#Comment_121856231

O’Sullivan was in some form in his post match interview after the Higgins match.

Asked how he did:

“Owight ya know” (Lisowski beside him laughing his head off at that one)

O’Sullivan continues- “Before I was playing like filth. I finally found some form”

Then he goes on about how he loves Ryadh no pubs because he doesn’t drink and is not into partying.

And the really funny part was he said he was not tired (3am over there). Says he wanted to keep playing, wouldn’t mind doing an exhibition for the fans.

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121857323#Comment_121857323

And had a little pop at Selby

https://twitter.com/ILoveSnooker_/status/1765333044938862704

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121857806#Comment_121857806

Yeah I had forgotten that bit. It was a sneaky dig. Selby never comments back on that type of thing. I wonder does it annoy him?

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121857929#Comment_121857929

Probably not

It's usually the person making the comment

that's affected

gormdubhgorm

I caught up there with the semi finals. A channel called "snooker studio"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jx18seg8H4&t=17224s

Allen was in very hard luck v Brecel. He played well.

Trump was talked up by his mate Lisowski, but the turth is Trump had not beaten O'Sullivan for three years.

Trump seems to be a confidence player all the time, flashy shots poor positional play. The law of averages against a top player he is more likely to lose.

The other bit I noticed was the crowd are not used to snooker, they clap at the wrong times, don't clap at others. Movement in the crowd etc. There was one match where they went clapping when a player reached the score of 100 after two visits but had not scored the century.

Arthur Daley

So only only a few frames left in this now. Looks like it is Ronnie's big pay day. Safe to say the Golden Ball will be untroubled. It can rest on its little black cushion for another while, having done its job. It provoked a lot of interest, but they knew the chances of paying out on it were slim enough.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121858930#Comment_121858930

I still think if they were clever and practiced hitting a red into the "golden ball" at the right angle would lower the odds.

There has to be a way of doing it from the black end of the table. And hit the golden ball with the red to free it off the cushion while leaving the red reasonably safe.

Hopefully next years competition will have a longer length matches with more frames.

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121858966#Comment_121858966

Aiming for a 147, you don't want reds up that end. That would be even worse than the golden ball on the cushion.

Knocking it out with the white in a safety battle would be useful though.

Heighway61

Everybody laying it on thicker than peanut butter all week.

Sandor Clegane

Saudi a great place alright, where else can ya go from a snooker match to a public beheading.

gormdubhgorm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121858988#Comment_121858988

Fair point, but I was really surprised no player tried to free up the golden ball, closest I saw it move was a small bit off the cushion.

In O'Sullivan v Trump it was interesting that O'Sullivan asked the ref can he go for the golden ball when he was in the baulk. He didn't know it was only playable after the last black.

patrickc

well done Ronnie

now the Saudis are naming an academy after him, and the golden ball is worth €1mill next time.

Arthur Daley

1 million USD for the golden ball next time out