Redcafe Snooker

Certainly more common than they were 20 years ago. It's remarkable when you consider the skill and concentration needed to achieve it. There are always comparisons between 147's and 9-dart finishes but I believe the snooker achievement is by some distance more impressive.

First of all there is more work to do, 36 balls to pot in pockets that are not much bigger than the balls. Then there is the element that the table is in a different state every time, no 2 frames are the same. Compare that to darts where the board never changes and it's 180-180-141 (generally). Not belittling that feat at all because I'm lucky if I can hit a 99 darter, never mind a 9!

Anyway I digress, the 147 wasn't enough to stop Selby losing, Hawkins looks well set to go 2-1 up on Allen in the other semi-final but either way it's an all left-handers Group Final this evening.
 
ChrisNelson said:
Certainly more common than they were 20 years ago. It's remarkable when you consider the skill and concentration needed to achieve it. There are always comparisons between 147's and 9-dart finishes but I believe the snooker achievement is by some distance more impressive.

First of all there is more work to do, 36 balls to pot in pockets that are not much bigger than the balls. Then there is the element that the table is in a different state every time, no 2 frames are the same. Compare that to darts where the board never changes and it's 180-180-141 (generally). Not belittling that feat at all because I'm lucky if I can hit a 99 darter, never mind a 9!

Anyway I digress, the 147 wasn't enough to stop Selby losing, Hawkins looks well set to go 2-1 up on Allen in the other semi-final but either way it's an all left-handers Group Final this evening.
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There's been 52 televised 9 dart finishes since 1984, and 144 maximum breaks since 1982.

I'm with you, the later SEEMS like the bigger feat, but apparently, it isn't.

Edit: "Currently over 200 professional darts players have achieved nine-dart finishes, both televised and untelevised. Prior to 2006 there had been around 10."

Hmm, maybe not! Hard to know for sure now.
 
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Ronnie almost threw the win away. Happy he came through in the end. Good final though from both players.
 
Tommy said:
There's been 52 televised 9 dart finishes since 1984, and 144 maximum breaks since 1982.

I'm with you, the later SEEMS like the bigger feat, but apparently, it isn't.

Edit: "Currently over 200 professional darts players have achieved nine-dart finishes, both televised and untelevised. Prior to 2006 there had been around 10."

Hmm, maybe not! Hard to know for sure now.
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Game frequencey and lengths surely factor in there, right?
 
Cracking final last night between 2 top players and a great advert for snooker on free to air television.

Straight on to the Northern Ireland Open starting today, and Kyren Wilson is back in action this evening! Ronnie plays tomorrow.
 
Well, Allen, Maguire and Hawkins out already and looking like Higgins will be joining them with that fluke!
 
Terrible day for the seeds and Scottish players in particular. Higgins lost in the end as did McGill, Maguire and Dott.

Bingham 0-1 down against Peter Lines and Kyren Wilson, fresh from the CoC Final yesterday is 1-1 with Lee Walker.
 
Can't beat the Thursday of a Home Nations event, both the last 32 and last 16 rounds are played today.

A lot of the top players went out early but Ronnie still in and playing reasonably well, although he did hit the blue when breaking yesterday - on the way down - trying to cut across the pack to come back up. Very bizarre, find it on Youtube if you've not seen it!
Neil Robertson came back from 0-3 down to beat Kurt Maflin 4-3 and Judd Trump won, he now plays his good pal Jack Lisowski for the third tournament in a row.

Amazing to think that with the carnage in the early rounds, the semi-finals could still potentially be Robertson v Trump and O'Sullivan v Selby.

Ali Carter v Xiao Guodong
Joe Swail v Eden Sharav
Li Hang v Neil Robertson
Mark Davis v Peter Ebdon
Judd Trump v Jack Lisowski
Luca Brecel v Gary Wilson
Robin Hull v Ryan Day
Andrew Higginson v Billy Joe Castle
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Tom Ford
Michael Holt v Zhou Yuelong
Lu Ning v Hammad Miah
Matthew Stevens v David Gilbert
Chris Totten v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Robbie Williams v Sanderson Lam
Scott Donaldson v Martin O'Donnell
Hamza Akbar v Mark Selby
 
Quarter-Final day in Belfast:

Eden Sharav v Peter Ebdon (evening)
Judd Trump v Ryan Day (afternoon)
Ronnie O'Sullivan v David Gilbert (evening)
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Mark Selby (afternoon)

Interesting lineup, Thepchaiya is playing out of his skin this week, won 4-0 last night in 37 minutes and is potting everything in sight. Selby has also played well so far and his average shot time is very low and un-Selby like. That could be an interesting match.

To be honest I think all of the matches will be close, with the possible exception of Ronnie. Gilbert is a decent player but there's so much pressure playing against Ronnie in tournaments like this, evening session and guaranteed to be on the TV table.

I think the locals who have tickets would love to see a Trump v O'Sullivan final and that would be a great watch.
 
IPA masters 8-ball pool is on freesports for those who like other cue sports
 
What a semi final! Ronnie winning:drool:

That red he fluked in the final frame. The look on Selby's face:D
 
Fantastic final between the 2 best players in the tournament, although the semi-final between Selby and O'Sullivan ran it close.

UK Championship starts next Tuesday, the latest Triple Crown event and I've got my ticket sorted :) back to slightly longer format matches (best of 11 up to and including SF's, Final best of 19).

I hope Trump hasn't peaked too soon as there's another 5 months to Sheffield but having his brother on the road with him has really helped. He has said that even though it doesn't sound like a big thing, not having to re-spot the balls yourself on the practice table makes a huge difference as he can keep his rhythm. At the age of 29 and seeing how Ronnie is performing in to his 40s, he can still achieve a hell of a lot more in the game.
 
WR said:
Higgins case was different. Never actually fixed a match.
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Sounds like these lads got up to all other kinds of shenanigans too and weren’t cooperative with the case.

A better comparison is Stephen Lee who got 12 years which was incredibly satisfying. The porcine cnut.
 
Pexbo said:
Sounds like these lads got up to all other kinds of shenanigans too and weren’t cooperative with the case.

A better comparison is Stephen Lee who got 12 years which was incredibly satisfying. The porcine cnut.
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:lol: Yeah Lee is a prick. Things haven’t got much better for him either - only recently avoided jail time in Hong Kong


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/44409924
 
I've played around 9/10 hours of Snooker, 9-Ball and UK 8 Ball pool over the last couple of days after not playing regularly for a long while.

My lower back and hamstrings are absolutely crippled :( I'm getting old aren't I?
 
Higgins - McManus saftey battle :drool:
 
Mark Williams in some fine form yesterday! Not sure I believe that he has hardly practiced since his crucible win though, think he's just trying to keep the pressure off.
 
RedChip said:
Doherty playing like it is the 90s.
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It's great to see, but Ronnie is always capable of coming back after the break & knocking out 5 frames in little over an hour. That said, if Doherty can get a lil bit more cue ball control, potting like he is, it could be a wide scoreline...

Good game so far.
 
Trump is such a disappointment, should be making light work of Dale, he seems to be getting worse as he gets older.
 
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