UK Championship 2018. BBC/Eurosport 27th Nov - 9th Dec

Inviere · 02-12-2018 3:07pm

3 to 1 Doherty, gone to mid session. Ken will be absolutely delighted, and rightly so.

Joe_ Public · 02-12-2018 3:20pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

You're just short, their 26th head-to-head today. Ken comfortably outplaying the Rocket so far.

Oh dear, not sure what I was thinking of! Just checked snooker dot org and only one previous match was listed! Sure how could that be right!!

He is rolling back the years here, ronnie not looking so sharp.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 02-12-2018 3:55pm

Ultimate Seduction wrote: »

Does anyone know the details to 'tune in' the red button on other channels on sky box?

Give these instructions a try.

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

Inviere · 02-12-2018 4:17pm

The Rocket has begun lift off procedure, Ken needs a great old run now or that’ll be it

Arthur Daley · 02-12-2018 5:01pm

Come on Ken. 5-5 final frame decider

Inviere · 02-12-2018 5:09pm

Looks like it’s curtains for Ken now unfortunately

Arthur Daley · 02-12-2018 5:12pm

If Ken can show up like this in the Euro competitions through to April he should be ok for top 64 surely.

Joe_ Public · 02-12-2018 5:13pm

Ah well...brave effort nonetheless. Surely got to draw heart from that for battles ahead. If I’m honest had that down as a 1-6 and a potential whitewash so happy to see a performance like that. Ronnie won’t go all the way playing like that all the same!

Joe_ Public · 02-12-2018 5:30pm

No rest for wicked as far as Ken is concerned, faces Zhang Anda a week on Tuesday in Scottish Open. Keep winning R1 matches and he should be ok, but would be nice to see a run somewhere for old times sake.

AllForIt · 02-12-2018 11:39pm

Fantastic break by Trump to take the final frame decider after missing the final black in the previous frame.

Trump 6 Dale 5

Frank O. Pinion · 03-12-2018 12:58am

First week of the tournament is over, and we're down to the last 32.

Top half

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Zhou Yuelong
Marco Fu (ranked #16) v Jack Lisowski (ranked #17), a battle to stay/get in the Top 16 for The Masters
Tian Pengfei v Martin O'Donnell
Xiao Guodong v Ding Junhui
Judd Trump v Mark King
Joe O'Connor v Joe Perry
Lu Ning v Luca Brecel
Tom Ford v Alan McManus

Bottom half

Sunny Akani v Jak Jones
Stuart Bingham v David Gilbert
Yan Bingtao v Kyren Wilson
Gary Wilson v Barry Hawkins
Mark Allen v Hossein Vafaei
Neil Robertson v Graeme Dott
Ali Carter v Stephen Maguire
Noppon Saengkham v Mark Williams

Still 12 of the Top 16 remaining. Top half obvious choices are Ronnie and Trump, and they could very well meet in the semis. Bottom half is a little more unpredictable, I'd love for Mark Williams or Kyren Wilson to come through, or dark horse, Sunny Akani. Ronnie's match starts tomorrow at 1pm, Williams at 7pm.

The Nal · 03-12-2018 4:18pm

Very interesting interview with Ronnie, Hazel, Davis and Ken there after Ronnies match. No joke Davis must have made 50 different confused expressions while Ronnie was talking about breakaway tours, looking after top players etc.

OK its basically an argument now. "Steve Steve you're being silly, you're being silly now".

Great TV. Better entertainment than the match!

Joe_ Public · 03-12-2018 4:26pm

The Nal wrote: »

Very interesting interview with Ronnie, Hazel, David and Ken there after Ronnies match. No joke David must have made 50 different confused expressions while Ronnie was talking about breakaway tours, looking after top players etc.

Davis just sat there stupified for most of it, like he didn’t know where to begin. Then suggests maybe ronnie should retire lol.
Not sure about Ronnie’s breakaway tour but I do agree with a lot of his claims. Davis is just a hearn mouthpiece really, and I don’t think that’s being unfair.

The Nal · 03-12-2018 5:28pm

Frank O. Pinion · 03-12-2018 6:04pm

Ronnie was making some decent points about there not being much benefit for actually being a Top 16 ranked player, as opposed to years ago, and Steve or Ken couldn't articulate much of an argument against his points.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 03-12-2018 8:41pm

Davis sat there shaking his head and grimacing, but didn't have much to say in response to O'Sullivan's points about players needing to practice and prepare for matches, which they can't do while flying all around the world.

Snooker was different in Davis's heyday. There weren't many tournaments outside the UK, so players didn't have to travel much. Once a player got into the top 16, he had a free pass to at least the last 32 of any tournament. But now we have Davis trying to tell players that they should just shut up and do what Hearn says -- when I tend to agree that it's doing nobody any favors.

zuutroy · 03-12-2018 9:13pm

For all the sh1t Ronnie talks after matches, he made his points really well today. Often after the Eurosport matches he'll talk absolute rambling nonsense about his interest levels and god knows what else but he made a good argument today. Lost a bit of respect for Davis sitting there making faces and asking him why he doesn't retire.

Joe_ Public · 03-12-2018 9:15pm

Kens contribution was decent, asked the pertinent questions and let ronnie speak. Davis seemed so over anxious to play, as he put it, “devils advocate” that he never really managed to tease out the relevant points and then basically lost it with the rather glib retirement quip. Overall, good entertainment and the kind of discussion badly needed on the circuit.

Inviere · 03-12-2018 9:23pm

On a normal day, I've very very little interest in listening to Ronnie, and I've a lot of time for Steve...but my God Steve came across badly there, and Ronnie spoke a lot of sense. It's like Steve wasn't listening at all

Ronnie was actually hugely patient, in the face of ****ty comments from Steve. I actually feel like I heard Ronnie O'Sullivan speaking as himself for the first time in years...normally he talks crap or plays games with interviewers, or is riddled with anxiety/discomfort...but he was a class act there.

Arthur Daley · 03-12-2018 9:33pm

But Ronnie didn't mke total sense here either. I take it he would be happy to play in 15 tournaments out of 20. The main tournaments and he can then drop 5. But he says he can't do it because he might drop out of the top 16 or 32 by doing this and he is 'better than that'.

But surely Selby and maybe Trump or Ding have skipped a few tournaments every year (certainly Selby skipped the North before). If you perform in the biggest 15 tournaments you are not likely to drop out of the top 16, let alone 32.

Typical Ronnie, has to drum up a bit of controversy. I agree with Steve really. Obviously Steve is going to see it from Hearn's point of view. But when you tease out his issues, it is a bit of a non issue to be honest.

Steve was such a machine in his heyday, he probably would have been happy with all this snooker. Actually I'd say most of the players from the 80s would just love the set up today. It has it's drawbacks, as we see with the UK, but on balance the game is doing as well as it can, and as fans we have a glut of snooker available once you tune in your satelite.

Frank O. Pinion · 04-12-2018 12:28am

Most of the players from the 80s probably would love all the tournaments available to play in nowadays...provided the Top 16 were still protected like back then. Steve Davis didn't have much to counter-argue that point, stupid faces don't count. He even had to admit when he was at the top of his game, he would not have been a fan of having to qualify for every ranking tournament. He, like others during the previous system, enjoyed the protection of the Top 16.

Joe_ Public · 04-12-2018 2:00am

Arthur Daley wrote: »

But Ronnie didn't mke total sense here either. I take it he would be happy to play in 15 tournaments out of 20. The main tournaments and he can then drop 5. But he says he can't do it because he might drop out of the top 16 or 32 by doing this and he is 'better than that'.

But surely Selby and maybe Trump or Ding have skipped a few tournaments every year (certainly Selby skipped the North before). If you perform in the biggest 15 tournaments you are not likely to drop out of the top 16, let alone 32.

I took it that the 15 figure would include the 3 non ranking events he plays, so it’s only likely he’ll play in the region of half the ranking tournaments available. I think his point was that this creates pressure on him to win or go deep in all those tournaments or his ranking will start to slide. If only your best 10 performances counted, on the other hand, he’d stand a better chance. As things stand, he doesn’t even qualify for lucrative players championship towards end of season. He’ll much more than likely put that right, but if he isn’t winning and making finals, there will be no future guarantees.

I don’t think anyone would argue that things have improved significantly since the dark days of the 00s, but nor does that mean everything is as wonderful and rosy in the garden as hearn and the lads on the bbc would have you believe. I’m not sure how much sympathy we should have for top 16 players who are struggling but I think ronnies point is that they are jaded, traveling back and forth, playing low key matches in sub standard venues and afraid to take proper breaks for fear of losing precious ranking points. The likes of selby might be able to afford s week off here and there, but it’s not so easy lower down the scale where a week off in July or August could subsequently probe the difference between making the field for the masters or just missing out.

AllForIt · 04-12-2018 11:40pm

RE the interview I think Davis was already sour on Ronnie before the interview even started given this breakaway suggestion so it's kinda understandable Davis wasn't his normal cool self, as what Ronnie is suggesting is a bit wild. Davis looked really agitated even at the beginning of the interview when they were talking about the match Ronnie just played no mind what came after that discussion. It was unique that Ronnie was so cool and Davis the opposite, a reversal of what usually transpires.

Ronnie made a very good point when he made an analogy to Federer i.e expecting the Fed to play in lower tournaments but then he backtracked on the idea of a breakaway tour understandably leaving Davis feeling a bit bemused.

What Ronnie seems to be doing is threatening something he really doesn't want in order enact change in the pro tour system. That is a rather odd tactic to be fair. However I agree with him or at least it's a good idea to make 10 tournaments count leaving the emerging players free to participate in any tournament they like gaining valuable experience along the way which could only help them in ranking events, if they are really that good.

I do think Ronnie was being completely disingenuous when he says he'd rather play in some breakaway tour and I think Davis saw right thorough that which explains all those grimaces and the outburst of suggesting he should consider retiring. If your not playing on the pro ranking tour then effectively you have retired.

It was rather nice to seen Ronnie not being so touchy when asked questions but at the same time what he was saying which he backtracked from was quite contentious, so I wouldn't be so quick to diss Davis in this interview. I do agree with Ronnie though that top players need a little bit more consideration which was taken away from them by Hearn.

Arthur Daley · 04-12-2018 11:44pm

But then the top players pick the same 10/11 tournaments to play in, and the remaining tournaments fall away due to lack of interest? Almost back to square one at the beginning of the decade, no?

Joe_ Public · 05-12-2018 12:38am

It’s notable that 10 of the top 16 have made last 16 of the tournament which I’m guessing is far higher than all the other events. You could nearly add Lisowski to that list who will be top 16 next week. Just shows the difference, I think, when you have a top tournament and get away from those awful best of 7s.

Re Ronnie interview, I can’t believe he actually expects to be taken seriously on that breakaway tour suggestion. It’s a non runner for so many reasons, whether it earns him any bargaining power in terms of concessions for top players is debatable, but it’s got to be long odds on it ever happening. Davis wasted too much time on it during the interview, it’s more or less a red herring really.

Frank O. Pinion · 05-12-2018 10:44am

Last 16:

Top half

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jack Lisowski - Wed, 1pm
Martin O'Donnell v Ding Junhui - Thur, 1pm
Judd Trump v Joe Perry - Thur, 1pm
Lu Ning v Tom Ford - Wed, 7pm

Bottom half

Sunny Akani v Stuart Bingham - Thur, 7pm
Kyren Wilson v Barry Hawkins - Thur, 7pm
Mark Allen v Neil Robertson - Wed, 7pm
Stephen Maguire v Mark Williams - Wed, 1pm

Hoping for Ronnie/Trump and Williams/Akani semi-finals. At #109, 24 year old Lu Ning, is the lowest ranked player still left in the tournament. With a win over Tom Ford, he would reach the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time in his career.

Joe_ Public · 05-12-2018 2:19pm

Good start for Lisowski, sets up intriguing encounter very nicely. Has yet to really do it against one of the elite players so to beat Ronnie would be some feather in his cap.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b · 05-12-2018 3:43pm

Ronnie cruising along now at 4-1 and at the table in the sixth. This doesn't look like Lisowski's day.

Joe_ Public · 05-12-2018 4:33pm

Poor from Lisowski really, almost as bad as his defeat to higgins at the crucible last season. Exciting talent but just can’t seem to raise it against the elite players. No safety or patience and head dropped too quickly when it was going against him.

Maguire at least putting up a good fight. Could be a good finish this game.

Mint Sauce · 05-12-2018 9:24pm

What just happened there? Looked like Robertson conceeded during Allens visit to the table. Thought the etiquette/gentlemanly thing to do was, wait till the visit was finished. Either way, Robertson looked like he just wanted to get to the interval, leaving Allen quite unhappy.

UK Championship 2018. BBC/Eurosport 27th Nov - 9th Dec

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