Redcafe Snooker

Selby beats Lisowski 9-6 to win the Scottish Open.

His second Home Nations title of the season and well deserved.

Lisowski played some great stuff in the earlier rounds but was just a little too inconsistent in the final.

Pretty much halfway through the season now and all of the top players seem in decent form, could be an interesting run up to the Crucible.
 
Ding knocked out by Perry and Carter knocks out Selby @ The Masters.
 
Absolute cracker Robertson v Maguire @ The Masters. Tonight Gilbert v Allen.Maguire rightly dug in some comeback.
 
Today's matches: Trump v Murphy and tonight Higgins v Hawkins. Think Dave Gilbert could be the one to beat although talk about a wide open tournament, it's anyone's guess.
 
The results from the last 2 days would have made a very tidy accumulator! But that's what makes the Masters so good, all the matches are between 2 top players right from the start.

The in-play on Maguire would have been pretty good returns too as he looked dead and buried.

Last night Allen was very disappointing, he just didn't get going.

In terms of today's matches I think Hawkins can count himself lucky to have even qualified. He keeps saving himself each year by picking up ranking points at the Crucible. That seems to be the only place he can play!

Trump and Higgins will start favourites.... which means put your money on a Murphy/Hawkins double!

Agree about Gilbert, he's a very good and solid player and of course he nearly made the Final at Sheffield last year. He's been knocking on the door for a while and slightly surprised it's taken until 2020 for him to get to the Masters.
 
The strange run continues.... I mean obviously Murphy is a former World Champion but still, against the player of 2019 (by far) that's a great result.

Surely..... Higgins will have too much for Hawkins?!?! *puts £20 on Hawkins
 
When was he angry?

I've seen he's come out and said that the World Championship could do a lot worse than move to the Alexandra Palace, seems they've got a good setup down there and it holds twice as many fans. Difficult to argue with...

I love the Crucible and I've been many, many times but they could sell out the Ally Pally for every session quite easily.
 
ChrisNelson said:
When was he angry?

I've seen he's come out and said that the World Championship could do a lot worse than move to the Alexandra Palace, seems they've got a good setup down there and it holds twice as many fans. Difficult to argue with...

I love the Crucible and I've been many, many times but they could sell out the Ally Pally for every session quite easily.
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Just caught an interview of him earlier before the QF; let's say he wasn't cheerful, as he has always seemed to me. I know he has had some tough times in his personal life but he could lighten up a bit.
 
Rarely in snooker do you get to say that a refereeing decision may have changed the outcome of the match, but that might possibly have been the case in last night's tie between Higgins and Carter.

The ref's decision to accept Carter's claim that he had hit the yellow was unexpected to say the least, particularly after she'd already called a foul: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/snooker/51144291

Big call with the score at 3-4. Surprised Carter thought he hit it, doesn't look that close on the replay.
 
I fell asleep last night so missed this but watching it back there's absolutely no way he's hit that and how he can be so sure from 7 feet away is beyond me.

I remember an incident a couple of years ago, I think it was Selby who overruled the referee by saying he hit something, but they then reviewed the footage and changed it back to a foul.

All of the big tournaments these days have a video ref but they are only there for the odd incident where the balls need replacing after a foul - why not give them something else to do? If that had been referred, the foul would have rightly stood.
 
Semi-final day and perhaps not the lineup most expected:

Murphy vs. Carter
Gilbert vs. Bingham

2 difficult ones to call but should be a good day of snooker.
 
ChrisNelson said:
Semi-final day and perhaps not the lineup most expected:

Murphy vs. Carter
Gilbert vs. Bingham

2 difficult ones to call but should be a good day of snooker.
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Another Murphy - Bingham final I expect with Murphy taking the title.
 
Really good final last night. All credit to Bingham, the signs looked ominous after going 7-5 behind, but from then on he really hit his stride and played some top stuff. Great to see him win another of the major events, too.
 
I like Bingham and yes it was good to see win another one of the big ones.

It was always going to be a big battle, both really tough competitors who don't give an inch, and they never know when they're beaten.

Bit of a whistlestop tour in to Europe now with the next 2 tournaments the European Masters and the German Masters.
 
Neil Robertson defeated Zhou Yuelong 9-0 in the final of the European Masters.

German Masters QF lineup:

Zhao Xintong vs. Shaun Murphy/ Scott Donaldson
Robbie Williams/ Elliot Slessor vs. Neil Robertson
Graeme Dott vs. Matthew Selt
Michael Georgiou vs. Judd Trump


It's also been confirmed today that the China Open has been cancelled due to the virus.
 
Proper final Robertson v Dott # World Grand Prix Dott was 9-5 down and now 9-8.
 
Welsh Open quarter-finals today:

Mark Selby v Ronnie O'Sullivan (12pm)
Neil Robertson v Kyren Wilson (2pm)
Yan Bingtao v John Higgins (7pm)
Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump (7pm)

Fair to say it's by far the strongest QF lineup since they relaunched the Home Nations a few years ago (although this particular one has existed since the 90s).

It's on Quest and Eurosport all weekend but the BBC have limited coverage of this one as well, online, red button etc...
 
Some of the shots Murphy has played have been dreadful.
 
Michael Holt won the Shootout, a first Ranking Title since becoming a pro in 1996.

This week it's the Players Championship, live all week on ITV4 in the UK.

Judd Trump v Michael Holt (today, 7pm)
John Higgins v Graeme Dott (today, 1pm)
Ding Junhui 5-6 Stephen Maguire
Mark Selby 6-0 Mark Williams
Neil Robertson v Joe Perry (today, 1pm)
Yan Bingtao v Kyren Wilson (today, 7pm)
Mark Allen v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (tomorrow, 1pm)
Shaun Murphy v David Gilbert (tomorrow, 1pm)
 
Oh no.... may he rest well.

Really sad new...
 
I grew up during the era when snooker had immense viewing figures, so sad to see a player from that era pass way before his time. Seemed like a genuinely nice fella. In an era now where we lack characters, he was certainly one, rip willie thorne.
 
Really enjoyed his commentary and always seemed like a nice bloke and popular guy through the decades.

I wasn't well up on his gambling, BBC says he lost a million through it.
 
World Championship First Round draw (starts Friday)

Judd Trump v Tom Ford
Yan Bingtao v Elliot Slessor
Stephen Maguire v Martin Gould
Kyren Wilson v Anthony Hamilton
John Higgins v Matthew Stevens
David Gilbert v Kurt Maflin
Jack Lisowski v Anthony McGill
Mark Allen v Jamie Clarke
Mark Williams v Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham v Ashley Carty
Ding Junhui v Mark King
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby v Jordan Brown
Shaun Murphy v Noppon Saengkham
Barry Hawkins v Alexander Ursenbacher
Neil Robertson v Liang Wenbo
 
It wouldn't be as big a surprise as normal to see some big names head home early.

Only a handful of players, even in the top 16, actually have their own tables so during lockdown they won't have been practicing much and will have been playing catch up, all while the qualifiers are taking place.

The qualifiers always finish so close to the actual tournament that those players come in with real momentum having already played several best of 19 matches.

The first few rounds this year were shortened so each has only played one best of 19.

As for Ronnie his first round match will be blink and you miss it, quickest 2 players on tour with regards average shot time and Thepchaiya so nearly knocked out Trump last year before he went on to win the whole thing.

Trump remains the best player on tour at the moment and comes in off the back of a record breaking season (6 ranking titles) but the break since his last competitive snooker might be a leveller.

Really difficult tournament to call this year!
 
Anthony Hamilton has withdrawn from the tournament - having qualified for the first time in 12 years - citing health concerns.

Barry Hearn is not a happy bunny and I can understand why, it has been known since well before the Qualifiers started that there would be crowds present at the Crucible. But they will be way more than 2M away from the players.

What makes it a bit of a joke is that he still gets his £20K for qualifying. This has happened at Wimbledon before and in my opinion there is no way you should get paid that much for not even turning up at the tournament - it should be for losing players in the first round, which he will not be if he doesn't play his match.

He's supposed to be Mr Nice Guy on the circuit and I have no problem if he doesn't want to go to Sheffield but he shouldn't have entered qualifying because now someone else doesn't get the chance to play there, not to mention there will be blank sessions (where I assume ticket holders won't get their money back because they will lift the screen and let them watch the other table).
 
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