snooker world championship final

Luca Brecel just beat Mark King 10-8 and has now qualified for the final. He will be the youngest player ever at 17 and one and a half months old (Hendry was 17 and three months) - and the first Belgian ever too, obv.

Heard of Brecel before Trump.

Can't wait to see him.

so yeah, here's some infographics to explain snooker to Belgians: http://www.standaard.be/extra/snooker

Is Hendry suddenly back to his best?

Don't want.

John Higgins must have made a fortune this week eh?

Not even as joke please - you'd send Steve Davis on suicide watch.

Beyond seeds crashing the erm, 'culture clash' has been of interest.

I liked Hearn's quote about Mark Allen's "cheating Chinese" tweets:

"Now is a very good time to be a snooker player, it's not a good time to be an idiot."

Terry Griffiths has been a bit mental in his commentary - he said something yesterday about a player (either Higgins or Cao, can't remember) losing confidence after a run of needlessly lost frames that went something like "you lose faith in yourself... you question your value... you feel utterly worthless inside... and that's being kind..."

He also said a player should "open the doors in his mind to positive thoughts".

I wish John Virgo would stop going WHERE'S THE CUE BALL GOING all the time when it's clearly not going to go in.

Anyone watching this Trump/Carter final frame nailbiter stuff? I think I'm gonna just look at something else now, this isn't healthy

Actually thought Trump was going to, er, trump Carter there with all those snookers. Carter v lucky not to give a free ball away.

I know people love an underdog but it kind of annoys me when guys who can't win the tournament beat guys who can - especially when it's someone like Trump who goes for all sorts of shots.

Carter seems a good guy though, bit of a geezer in' 'e

I don't think we'll ever see him do a fist pump like that again until he's 120% certain it's really really REALLY in the bag.

Man. This sport. First that Carter/Trump stuff, now THIS from Ronnio:

Foul and a miss, Mark Williams four.

I wish John Virgo would stop going WHERE'S THE CUE BALL GOING all the time when it's clearly not going to go in.

― StanM, Monday, 30 April 2012 16:01 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ronnie just went in-off to the echoes of that very phrase.

A couple of years ago I visited an old aunt and, noting his portrait on her mantelpiece, asked her why she was such a big fan of John Virgo.

It turned out to be Padre Pio
http://www.padrepio.org.uk/images/@image_padre_pio_photo01.jpg

What's his maximum break like?

dunno but he was known to take advantage of the stigmata when faced with an awkward bridge

Hendry just lost 13-2 to Maguire and according to the Eurosport guys he told the press conference he's retiring.

snooker players can be so over-dramatic

Good way to go I suppose - knock in a 147 and beat the World Champion before giving a fellow Scot a bye into the semis.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17917326 <- just a short bit at the mo, with "more to follow"

"I am officially retired now from tournament snooker," he said. "I made the decision about three months ago."

Hearn: it was the wrong decision. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17923450

Have they always had this subtle wave effect thingy in the yellow score boxes on BBC TV? I suddenly noticed and now it's, well, almost distracting I suppose.

I noticed it last year and it annoyed me (and made me wonder how long they'd had it).

I wish I hadn't noticed it. Can't unsee. Grrrrrrrrrrrr

inspired

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_snooker_player_nicknames

Eurosport guys killin' it at the moment - about a missed red that was replayed a couple of times on screen: "I can't believe he missed it three times"

Didn't the Beeb show all of the one table matches live, completely? I don't remember having to swotch to eurosport for live coverage previously.

swItch, too

BBC live for much of the day or available on the red button - dunno if you get that in your part of Blighty. Final should be shown live in full.

No red button, only bbc 1, 2, entertainment and HD here in belgium.

Ronnie killing it this afternoon - breaks of 61, 62, 110, 98 and 90 in five successive frames.

Every time he's in the zone like this, it's almost unbelievable he's only the world number 12 at the moment and he's not in the final of every tournament he competes in.

Fuck work for missing this - but yeah, little like it in all sport when he's like this. Not too surprised he is no12. The WC is IT as far as snooker is concerned (now more than ever). Shame its against Stevens, who I'd love it if he won.

Unless Maguire gets through and is at his absolute attacking best I can't see anyone beating him -- bar himself, that is.

Fantastic entertainment, these two semi finals. Maybe no sustained brilliance from anyone, but great to watch.

Ronnie was awesome again last night -- its the most controlled and relaxed I've seen from him since he won in '08. Matthews came out, made a century break in the first frame and Ronnie blew him off anyway.

Reckon four world titles would suit him - quite a way below the somewhat (and this is not a diss) mechanical perfectionism of a Davis or Hendry, not less than Higgins (who he came through with at roughly the same time). More successful than a maverick should be - and, from what I can see, he's worked hard to try and combat the bouts of depression and the expectations placed on him for controlling the cue ball in a way only he can.

Fear Ali will play slow bullshit - and his potting is better than Edbon's, who is now advising him - to try and get Ronnie off his game. Hope it doesn't work.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/17972505

Not this again :-/ (although, Come Dancing? Is he just having a laugh?)

Carter's conservative containing shit against Maguire was painful to watch. Turning into Peter Ebdon is not a price worth paying.

Next to O'Sullivan, everyone looks slow - Carter's still a way off Ebdon's slowest period (that was over 3 minutes for every shot)

It's not his speed, it's his consistent refusal of mildly risky pots. He had a red to the middle there that every other top player would have rolled in but chose to play safe. He and Ebdon would point out that he won the frame and therefore made the correct decision, I would point out that they're a pair of boring cunts.

:-)

Ali is trying his best to slow and bog the match down but Ronnie coming up with the answers so far - that 90+ break to go 4-3 was **unbelievable**.

He then followed up with a 141.

Expecting something special tonight.

Onimo OTM though. This passive/parasitic gameplan of Carter's is pretty shitty - ok, he looks like he's clinging on, but not because of chances he has created himself.

Would anyone WANT to win like that? Where's the pride in winning only because your opponent let you in a couple of times? Meh.

Ronnie 10 - 7 at the end of a scrappy session, it could have been quite worse for Ali.

Mind winning ugly? Ronnie is so good but you also know that ppl have gotten into his head so you need to come up with ways to throw his timing off. Its about being World champion only, nothing else.

OK, that's true, but I want to see either a close match or a total walkover, not this let's-try-and-frustrate-the-other-one-into-mistakes kinda stuff.

As it is, whatever plan Carter has is not being executed to any degree.

12-7.