Snooker (and other cue sports)

So the 2025 World Snooker Championship is underway... and all is right with the world again!

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And the tournament has already started with a fantastic match - Mark Williams versus Wu Yize...

Mark Williams came back from 8-7 down to win, playing some absolutely inspired snooker - amazing to watch :bowdown:

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Touring Mars
People with chronic coughs who have tickets for the World Championship final at the Crucible but go anyway:

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Lol, I was thinking this exact same thing today...

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Watching a documentary just now about the classic Davis v Taylor final on BBC iPlayer, it's absolutely magic.

Martin Amis said "There's not a shot I can't miss, even if it's on the very brink of the pocket and it's a straight shot - I'm just as likely to go in with, or instead, of the other one" 😂
 
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Mark Allen goes 7-4 up instead of 6-5 up after Fan Zhengyi missed the clinching red of the 11th frame in their First Round match just now, after playing an abysmally bad shot.

Not only did he miss the red, but he left the table for Allen to clear the table. Allen didn't have an easy clearance by any stretch of the imagination, but he managed to steal the frame, and Fan will be left to rue one of the worst shots of the tournament.
 
I earmarked a couple hours this evening for Brecel vs Ding and apparently the former found his mojo of 2 years ago in the last-minute flight he took to get back to Sheffield... some absolutely jaw-dropping stuff on display so far!
 
Judd Trump gets a very rare standing ovation from the crowd tonight, as he completed his 100th century break of the season - and the gracious applause of his opponent, Shaun Murphy.

Trump's snooker has been, quite frankly, ridiculously good this evening - proving why he is World #1 by some distance.
 
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Just ordered my Trump 2025 hat...

I created this with ChatGTP, but it was not all that easy...

I originally asked it to include "Make Snooker Great Again" and "Trump 2025", but it refused. Amazingly, however, I asked it why it refused to make the image, and it explained that it had a policy of not creating political imagery that could be misused or misconstrued...

So, I explained that it was intended to be a humorous image, based on the fact that Judd Trump is the World #1 at snooker, and I changed the wording to "Make Snooker Great Again" and "Judd Trump", which it accepted!! I then figured that was a bit insulting, as snooker has always been great, and went with "Make Great Snooker Again" - before deciding that this implied that Trump wasn't already doing that, hence the final product, "Making Great Snooker Again"...
 
I don't think I've watched snooker since Gran Turismo 4 was a thing but the posts here have inspired me to boot up iPlayer and take a look. I'm glad they're still using Doug Wood Band's "Drag Racer" as the opening theme. Never thought I'd find myself feeling sorry for Shaun Murphy. Judd Trump appears to have the cue ball on a string.

Ken Doherty's and Dennis Taylor's gentle Irish brogues are very easy on the ears but I miss some of the commentators and presenters of yesteryear. I could always count on the likes of Clive Everton to deliver a scathing yet highly technical assessment of play.

My favourite post-match interview of former frontwoman Hazel Irvine's was when she talked to Maltese player Tony "The Tornado" Drago between sessions. He was known for his lightning-fast shots and when he concluded the interview he didn't even wait for the camera to be off him before jumping up and rushing back down to the practice table. A nonplussed Hazel adlibbed to camera "Seems like he does everything quickly" to be met by an immediate off camera response from Drago as he vanished into the distance.

"Not everything...!!"
 
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As the session continues I've gone back to pretending to hate Shaun's smug face again now that he's managed to temporarily wrest dominance of the session from Judd and I couldn't be happier. Now we've got a match on.

That "thin ball wizard" quip of Dennis's was brilliant commentary. I'm also very impressed with Seema Jaswal's insightful questions to JP and Stephen Hendry in the studio. The BBC have a great team now that Willie Thorne has retired.

After so long away it's really weird to see how the roles have swapped around in the ensuing decades and that Peter "Iron Man" Ebdon is a world class snooker coach now. If Trump reaches the finals at least some of the credit should go to him.
 
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Catching up with the previous weekend's highlights and although r/snooker hates Shaun Murphy a lot more than I do I didn't think his colour commentary was that bad. Paired with John Parrott I think he didn't talk too much and made some fairly insightful and articulate observations.

Redditors say he jabbers on a bit so maybe they turned his mike off for most of the session haha. But I think he could be an eventual replacement for the late Willie Thorne who I was also unfairly harsh on a couple of posts back. John Virgo is just a collection of catchphrases at the moment.

I'm watching Neil Robertson vs Chris Wakelin in round one now - don't tell me how it ends please. May catch up with today's highlights if I still have the stamina.
 
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Ronnie looking like the underdog this morning and I never thought I'd be using those words in the same sentence. He's so much more interesting to watch now he seems to be off his game slightly after some time away.

Zhao Xintong's cueing great. I'm looking forward to seeing either of these players go up against Judd Trump (or possibly Mark Williams) in the final.
 
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Zhao Xintong just finished his semi-final against Ronnie O'Sullivan with a session to spare. The Rocket was courteous throughout and after the match, tapping the table when his opponent made a good safety.

Xintong led the applause for his defeated opponent and went to his dressing room after he won. Lovely moment.

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(Is that Shaun Murphy in the background scoffing a choccy orange?)
 
What an incredible championship this year. I wouldn't want to be Zhao Xintong going up against Mark in this form. But I'll be overjoyed to be proved wrong. The Welshman will want to go out there and play the game his way. If things get tactical Xintong will face a huge test.
 
Ugh. I hate one-sided finals, and esp. when a favourite player is on the receiving end.

I hope Williams can make a come back, and so I'll tune in at 7pm tonight for the second session - but I have a bad feeling that tomorrow's 'finale' might be something of a damp squib.

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2nd frame of the night, and Xintong is playing some pretty wild shots (and not in a good way) - Williams looks far more composed.
 
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I think anyone who watched Mark Williams rein Judd Trump in the previous night was under no illusions that this would be as one sided as Zhao Xintong's match against Ronnie O'Sullivan, as per my previous post.
 
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UKMikey
I think anyone who watched Mark Williams rein Judd Trump in the previous night was under no illusions that this would be as one sided as Zhao Xintong's match against Ronnie O'Sullivan, as per my previous post.
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It's not far off it - although Williams has steadied the ship after losing the 1st session 7-1, he hasn't made any in-roads into the deficit.

Xintong can now win the tournament with an entire session to spare, though I doubt that (and I hope will not) happen.

Williams has just given too many frames that he could have won away, and Xintong (while by no means perfect), has made far fewer mistakes - his potting today is also at least at Williams' level, if not better.

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edit: Can't see any way back for Mark now - tonight's session could be a (very) short one, if there even is one. :(
 
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Williams needs to win 10-0 tonight :( :(

However, he's 4-0 up already, and has played arguably the best snooker possible.

I reckon, however, it's too late - but here's hoping. Either way, however, what an incredible spectacle.
 
Really enjoyed the tournament over the fortnight, I was fortunate to have the past week off work so was able to watch much of the action.

So deserved for Xintong as he was the best player by far, he beat two legends in O'Sullivan and Williams comfortably. Williams had a superb tournament too and it was pretty amazing considering he couldn't see properly!
 
It will be interesting to see how, or if, Xintong's win affects the surely imminent decision to the location of the World Championships in the future.

There's a lot of support for it staying at The Crucible, but it is a small venue and its difficult to raise money for the winners when there's only so many seats available to sell. There will no doubt be a lot of pressure to move it to some huge arena in China now which will let them raise the winner's pot to something closer to what you'd expect a World Champion to earn.

There was an interview i watched with Barry Hearn last week where he said he was trying to work with Sheffield council to find a way to keep it at the Crucible, but i get the feeling it was just lip service. The Crucible itself is a little land-locked to be meaningfully expanded, but i guess they could build up instead. A second circular tear of seating above the existing seating might be a viable option?

There's plenty of development work going on in Sheffield city centre right now which ironically is predominently Chinese money (Sheffield being a popular university city for Chinese students put it on the map in that regard) Maybe some of that development money could find it's way into a redevelopment of the Crucible?
 
One thing I don't get - there's only so big a snooker hall can/should be; The Crucible is relatively intimate, however even the furthest spectators can still get a decent view of the table.

Darts is a good example of how not to proceed; audience members are effectively watching the action on TV, and the crowd sizes nowadays are leading to virtually uncontrollable behaviour; do they expect a snooker crowd 10 times the size to be silent?

I can see snooker staying at the Crucible in some form or other; but the World Championship will very likely move - even though it's hard to see how it will be any better than the Crucible in terms of spectator experience.
 
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