2019 Betfred World Snooker Championship

[jocky king]

10 minutes ago, davidge said:

World snooker champion Mark Williams has gone to hospital with chest pains following the opening session of his second-round World Championship game at the Crucible.

The 44-year-old Welshman went to hospital after his session against David Gilbert, who he is trailing 5-3 .

He tweeted: "A&E. Could be hear a while, couldn't stick the chest pains no more. 

"Lucky there wasn't any more frames to play."

After his session against England's Gilbert finished, Williams felt unwell and was advised by a doctor at the venue to go to hospital.

Wish him a speedy recovery .... one of the snooker great . 

[jocky king]

Gary Wilson going on to bigger things after beating Selby . Gary Wilson was able to match his safety with lots of patience , many players would crack . Selby safety had let him down as well as his potting . Hasn’t played well in the whole season . A worry times for him . 

[mikeyboy]

Mark Selby was world number one for such a long time , and had the beating of Ronnie , Judd , Ding etc.  

Must be hard to keep up such high standards and now players know he's off his game he's beatable , they go into matches against him with much more confidence . 

I prefer it when a group of players are aiming for number 1 , much more interesting than the dominating days of Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry , great players that they were .

Mikeyboy

[jocky king]

We are in for a treat .. Very rarely seen four schedules tomorrow are very close . 7-9 , 7-9 , 7-9 , 8-8 ... Could be a decider or two ,, 

[mikeyboy]

3 hours ago, jocky king said:

We are in for a treat .. Very rarely seen four schedules tomorrow are very close . 7-9 , 7-9 , 7-9 , 8-8 ... Could be a decider or two ,, 

Good match ups and tricky to pick the winners .

Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire  both seem near to blowing a fuse .   

Mikeyboy

[PR1977]

Great bottle by Wilson in the end, Hawkins misjudging that plant seemed to be the final turning point. Carter kept it together in the end and reeled off 6 frames, must be fancying his chances of the semis now playing a qualifier.

Other two matches on to conclusion now, both too close to call for me, gonna sit back and enjoy 

[jocky king]

Three players ( Wilson , Carter , Trump ) trailing by two frames went on to win their matches .... Trump and Ali  found their true form to win six frames of succession without losing a frame in the third session (both 13-9 )  .  Wilson just scraped himself over the line with a 13-11 win ..  Higgins won a tussle match to Bingham 13-11 

[jocky king]

[dontpanic]

Really enjoyong the snooker, wide open and lots of tight matches. Hawkins played some unreal stuff in the first session but impossible to keep that standard for the whole match.

[jocky king]

7 minutes ago, dontpanic said:

Really enjoyong the snooker, wide open and lots of tight matches. Hawkins played some unreal stuff in the first session but impossible to keep that standard for the whole match.

We don’t have any irish playing in the crucible in the last few years , . The popularity of snooker in Ireland went downhill in the 2000s . Really sad isn’t .  In Waterford years ago , we used to have three big Hall (ten tables each ) , not there anymore . Just a two tables snooker club  . The attractions of the snooker in Ireland has gone . No wonder why I want to move to Pattaya with the huge popularity of pool scene.  The beauty is if you play shit , you can always bring a bar girl to your room to get over it ... 555 .  

[dontpanic]

^^ Yes the game has declined a lot in Ireland not sure why as pool/snooker halls always seemed busy. I like playing pool but only play in Patts. That Doublekiss place on third road had some real nice tables.

[jocky king]

3 minutes ago, dontpanic said:

^^ Yes the game has declined a lot in Ireland not sure why as pool/snooker halls always seemed busy. I like playing pool but only play in Patts. That Doublekiss place on third road had some real nice tables.

Yeah very good pool hall with a very nice owner from Iran . He is a very pleasant guy , welcomes everybody with a hello and a little chat . You could feel good there . Those tables are good but have a bit of suspicion that there’s pockets are bit bigger than the standard table . I goes to the legend on the same road as the Double Kiss.. last January, they had reduced the hourly rate from 250 baht an hour to 150 baht an hour . Tables there are fantastic . If living in Pattaya , I could join the member fee to of 3,000 baht a month , play everyday of a month 12-7..( if play everyday for a month , 3000 bt = 15 bt an hour  great price . ) compares playing a shit pool tables in Ireland for €9 an hour . 

[misteregg]

Enjoying watching it in the bar every night.

[dontpanic]

I don't think I could play 12-7 but 2 hours every other day I could manage. That's about 100 baht per hour, still I'd rather do that than join a gym!

[jocky king]

1 hour ago, dontpanic said:

I don't think I could play 12-7 but 2 hours every other day I could manage. That's about 100 baht per hour, still I'd rather do that than join a gym!

I don’t play 12-7 everyday .. those time are for a 3,000 bt a month timescale.  Mostly if I was in Pattaya , I play at 1pm to 6 pm . 

[snowy34]

I'm enjoying the tournament but the standard of play is definetely down from previous years. A lot of 'easy shots being missed 

[dontpanic]

4 minutes ago, snowy34 said:

I'm enjoying the tournament but the standard of play is definetely down from previous years. A lot of 'easy shots being missed 

I actually like that as it adds to the excitement and maintains the special place that the Crucible has in snooker. A lot of the matches have been really close too and the players seem to be at a similar level which leads to tight matches which leads to mistakes. Although Gilbert seemed to miss a lot of handy pots in the daytime session. Stephen Hendry was just saying on the BBC that the cushions had to be reset during the game which almost never happens. Kyren Wilson also potted the cue ball on a break which at that level is crazy. But with the top 3 out any of the last 8 have to fancy that this is their year.

[jocky king]

Oh gawd , I love David Gilbert , a crucible debut , looked so cool with his play . Potted some unbelievable balls including the last frame on the long straight red , even Kyren clapped his hand with approval. David was very lucky to win the 15 th frame when he potted a impossible snookered last red . David  is leading 10-6 to Kyren . Gary Wilson , my other favourite, is leading  9-7 to Ali Carter white Higgins and Robertson are locked in a epic draw 4-4 , looked likely they will go all the way to the deciding frame ... Judd Trump had a easy day with a 7-1 lead over Stephen Maguire . Might finish tomorrow’s morning second session ... 

[Ziplee]

Really enjoyed watching this on youtube's live stream. Gotta pull for Gibert. Judd Trump looks very good. Not much Snooker in the U.S. But I always liked it. A lot of people on chat saying the winner of Higgins - Robertson might take it all. 

[jocky king]

6 hours ago, Ziplee said:

Really enjoyed watching this on youtube's live stream. Gotta pull for Gibert. Judd Trump looks very good. Not much Snooker in the U.S. But I always liked it. A lot of people on chat saying the winner of Higgins - Robertson might take it all. 

Agreed , both are very experienced all rounder , been there over the years with the rankings wins including higgins 4 times World championship and Robertson one .. Robertson will have to work hard tonight to overcome the two frame deflict . well done to Gary Wilson and David Gilbert for their first ever appearance in the crucible semi final , both are guaranteed £100,000 . Really impressed with both players , their potting was excellent. 

[jocky king]

John Higgins won a tough match with Robertson , a favourite since Ronnie was out . Judd Trump out of form today but still won fairly easy to Maguire .  

[mikeyboy]

8 hours ago, jocky king said:

John Higgins won a tough match with Robertson , a favourite since Ronnie was out . Judd Trump out of form today but still won fairly easy to Maguire .  

Probably not the semi final line ups most people would have expected , but each player deserves to be there .

Pedigree  would suggest a Higgins / Trump final  but i'm not so sure , Dave Gilbert and Gary Wilson have outstanding chances of making the final .

One table set up now , plenty of nerves and i take John Higgins to win.

Mikeyboy

[jocky king]

1 minute ago, mikeyboy said:

Probably not the semi final line ups most people would have expected , but each player deserves to be there .

Pedigree  would suggest a Higgins / Trump final  but i'm not so sure , Dave Gilbert and Gary Wilson have outstanding chances of making the final .

One table set up now , plenty of nerves and i take John Higgins to win.

Mikeyboy

Agreed , David and Gary had beaten top players along the way . Gary played and beat Wenbo and dale  in the qualifiers , and beat Selby and  Brecel at the crucible, that is not by luck ,  he was able to match Selby’s game ( safety & long frame ) . Trump will have to play well if he want to beat Gary likewise to John with David . Four of them deserved to be in the semi final . Gary & David will enjoy the experience at the one table set up , Gary world ranking was 30 , wonder where will he be after ?  Both semi final will be marvellous to watch . John Higgins the only man in the semi that had won the championship before . He lost two final last two years . Won four , lost  three , appeared 9 semi final , an ounces of experience will help him big time . 

[jocky king]

David Gilbert had a shaky start to Higgins , losing 0-2 then cam back to his normal self to 5-3 lead , nearly got a maximum break with a 15 reds and a 14 black but couldn’t pot the black with a difficult position .  He will enjoy eating and sleep easy tonight . I thought John Higgins will run away with a big lead after 2-0 when I saw Gilbert was making silly mistakes and nervous . I think the 2-2 had settled him . He will be confident tomorrow . Tonight a good match , Trump Vs Gary Wilson , did you know they only played once , Wilson was a winner of that match last year in China ( World Open ) 5-3 . 

[dontpanic]

Wilson looking good so far, hate that mid-session interval  quiz/comedy show on bbc red button. Some of the are laughing a bit too hard at everythong, John Parrott in particular.