2023 British Open

[Cue crafty]

next question - who is going to stay up to watch Lawler/Dale?

💤 💤 😴 😴

fred-flintstone-sleeping.gif

[trains]

You do wonder what the attraction is at times
I remember locating the venue at my first Q School and walking past these two women going the other way , one said something like oh look theres a snooker tournament going on there and the other said no its boring.
That problem would be quite well buffered by more Moody's and Pullen's on tour but its exercabated by too few of them.
Didn't watch Lawler's match on Bet365 but I wouldn't mind if I wasn't tired and had the time.

[snuker duper]

official Order of play out now (courtesy of DHendon )

Thanks m8 👍

[vmax]

Felt sorry for Robertson there, horrible watching that happen to another snooker player. Ridiculous his first attempt being called a miss!! That was probably impossible to hit that red.

another example of a ref using the rule to protect himself regardless of the affect on a player.

What shouldn't be called a miss if when a reasonable pot is left, that's surely what the rule was brought in for, deliberately taking a certain route to leave it safe if missed. IMO that's where the ref was at fault, calling a miss when the yellow was on for a relatively easy pot.

As for the Murphy Lisowski match, fantastic last red and black in the decider from Jack to win it, but Murphy looking a little aggrieved that some balls stayed out when he though they were in. First day one of the commentators mentioned that Star has re-designed their tables which meant a different profile for the pockets. Has the criticism of the pockets in the worlds this year meant a re-think in the ease in which balls drop and the plethora of tons and maxes in the modern game ?
It looks to me like the pocket openings are the same but the fall of the slate has changed because balls are still drifting into the pockets off near and far jaws but not dropping like they used to, especially at this years worlds. Maybe the fall has moved back a tad or if there was a bevel on the edge of the slate fall it is now cut square and flat..

Like Hendry said last night, " the middle of the pocket is in the same place "

[akofb]

Robbie Williams beating Higgins 4-1 has got to go down as a shock result?! I can only see text results so not been able to watch any but did Williams play well or did Higgins not show up?

[DeanH]

Robbie Williams beating Higgins 4-1 has got to go down as a shock result?! I can only see text results so not been able to watch any but did Williams play well or did Higgins not show up?

Robbie played really well and kept John off the table for the last two frames.
John was there just not had the run of the balls.

[Cue crafty]

I fancy Gary Wilson to win tonight. Bo7 think he’s hungry for this.

well he certainly had his chances tonight. Gonna hurt to lose again to Mark in their head to head. Only gets harder to overcome.

[Cue crafty]

As for the Murphy Lisowski match, fantastic last red and black in the decider from Jack to win it, but Murphy looking a little aggrieved that some balls stayed out when he though they were in. First day one of the commentators mentioned that Star has re-designed their tables which meant a different profile for the pockets. Has the criticism of the pockets in the worlds this year meant a re-think in the ease in which balls drop and the plethora of tons and maxes in the modern game ?
It looks to me like the pocket openings are the same but the fall of the slate has changed because balls are still drifting into the pockets off near and far jaws but not dropping like they used to, especially at this years worlds. Maybe the fall has moved back a tad or if there was a bevel on the edge of the slate fall it is now cut square and flat..

Like Hendry said last night, " the middle of the pocket is in the same place "

It certainly seems the conditions/pockets are causing issue for some players, the middles are playing like Russian billiards tables! But at the same time there is amazing snooker being played by those in form and cueing well. I guess at the end of the day you can't argue with Hendrys statement!

[DeanH]

Order of Play today 2023-09-28

13:00(UK)
Robbie Williams vs Scott Donaldson
David Gilbert vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Xiao Guodong vs Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins vs Kyren Wilson

14:00(UK) roll-on
Si Jiahui vs Mark Selby
Tom Ford vs Jimmy Robertson
Fan Zhengyi vs Rod Lawler
Jack Lisowski vs Matthew Selt

19:00(UK)
Graeme Dott vs Hossein Vafaei
Ding Junhui vs Mark Williams
Ali Carter vs Xiao Guodong/Sanderson Lam
Tom Ford/Jimmy Robertson vs Robbie Williams/Scott Donaldson

20:00(UK) roll-on
Barry Hawkins/Kyren Wilson vs He Guoqiang
Ma Hailong vs Fan Zhengyi/Rod Lawler
David Gilbert/Ishpreet Singh Chadha vs Si Jiahui/Mark Selby
Jack Lisowski/Matthew Selt vs Fergal O'Brien


And now the official OoP

[vmax]

[/B]

It certainly seems the conditions/pockets are causing issue for some players, the middles are playing like Russian billiards tables! But at the same time there is amazing snooker being played by those in form and cueing well. I guess at the end of the day you can't argue with Hendrys statement!

Humid conditions still cause balls to be missed thick, some players don't understand this and are mystified why they miss such easy balls and I can understand them making micro adjustments and then missing thin when they get good contacts. Kyren wearing a glove shows humid conditions are making his cue sticky and I don't understand why more players don't do this, smooth cueing every time, no brainer.

[Cue crafty]

Well these pockets are definitely making interesting viewing, that pink Selby just missed shows the huge difference it makes especially at crucial moments!!

[DeanH]

and here are the quarter-final matches

2023-09-29
13:00(UK)
Mark Williams vs Fan Zhengyi
He Guoqiang vs Hossein Vafaei


19:00(UK)
Mark Selby vs Jack Lisowski
Tom Ford vs Xiao Guodong

[Cue crafty]

and here are the quarter-final matches

2023-09-29
13:00(UK)
Mark Williams vs Fan Zhengyi
He Guoqiang vs Hossein Vafaei


19:00(UK)
Mark Selby vs Jack Lisowski
Tom Ford vs Xiao Guodong

No obvious winners here to me, especially given what's gone before here this week! Big big exam paper for Jack today, I can't root for him anymore, basically he's just gotta do it. Good luck to him though.

[ken147]

I would love to see Jack Lisowski break his duck. Exciting player to watch when he's on his A game.

[vmax]

Big big exam paper for Jack today, I can't root for him anymore, basically he's just gotta do it. Good luck to him though.

With the pockets not being so over generous he needs to find a safety game to go with his potting and break building. He won't find the middle of the pocket so often and neither will any of his opponents so if this is the new profile of the pockets for this season we can expect some snooker that is more akin to how it was before this obsession with tons and maxes to bring in new viewers. I'm quite looking forward to this season now, should be a more honest test of all the players all round abilities and not just a pot fest on bucket pocket tables.