2017 UK Championship

[DeanH]

I wonder why the UK doesn't do reserved seating. I was looking at tickets for the German Masters and it's 100% reserved seating for the whole tournament.

Really? Did not know that
I believe that back in the day I think all seats for all rounds where reserved, I think after the PTCs the open arena has been the norm for all round except for semi and final

[narl]

I wonder why the UK doesn't do reserved seating. I was looking at tickets for the German Masters and it's 100% reserved seating for the whole tournament.

Germans are well known for reserving seats, especially sunbeds when on holiday

[thevenue2]

Germans are well known for reserving seats, especially sunbeds when on holiday

That made me laugh! How true!

[Stony152]

Looks like Barry isn't too keen on getting annihilated by Ronnie on Thursday night.

[screw-back]

Hawkins had his pants taken down tonight!

[Woody001]

Hawkins had his pants taken down tonight!

What Happens in Barry's dressing room at intervals is his own business.

[Stony152]

Only 4 of the top 16 get through. Must be the record low. What does it mean?

1. Best of 11 is still too small a sample
2. Greater depth than ever in the game
3. Top players burned out with all of the travelling
4. Random fluke

I think all of the above may have contributed to what's happened.

[screw-back]

What Happens in Barry's dressing room at intervals is his own business.

And now he's blaming something other than himself:

“From 2-0 down I lost confidence in the table. I just want to forget it.”

[Woody001]

And now he's blaming something other than himself:

“From 2-0 down I lost confidence in the table. I just want to forget it.”

Aren't they saying that though about the outer tables...?

Is it the lights on the TV tables...? Kind of strange how it varies so much, but i guess both players have the same conditions. Guodong just won also, so all matches finished for tonight.

[gavpowell]

Only 4 of the top 16 get through. Must be the record low.

I think there may have been a year when even more of them went out(the year Ding lost to James Cahill maybe?) but I can't be sure.

[fredkite]

2017 UK Championship

Barry Hawkins seems to be in decline. His record since June is incredibly poor, highest ranked player he's beaten is Michael White.

[Woody001]

Barry Hawkins seems to be in decline. His record since June is incredibly poor, highest ranked player he's beaten is Michael White.

I believe he's had some off the table problems.

[Odrl]

A relatively weak last16 line-up, but interesting nonetheless. :smile:

I actually think the results have not been as surprising as some people suggest. Before the tournament started, I chose my five favourites in each section, and 15 of our players here were among them. That means Akani Songsermsawad was the only real surprise for me, and even he will most likely be out once we get to the quarter-finals.

It's good to see Li Hang having another good tournament. I honestly expected him to fade a little after getting to the semi-finals of the China Championship, as so many players do after a surprising result like that, but it now looks like he is here to stay for the foreseeable future. He does have the kind of game and temperament that is well suited to the slightly longer format, so I wouldn't be surprised if he got past Ryan Day as well. :smile:

Nice to see Lyu Haotian continuing his good form from the Northern Ireland Open as well. He seems unimpressive every time I check the frame results of his matches, as he doesn't seem to score as heavily as most players, but it looks like he has now found a way to win some of the matches he was previously losing. He plays Mark Joyce next, so this is a great chance for one of them to get a major result here. Joyce has actually played in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship before, back in 2010, so I would disagree with Mike Hallett that his win over Neil Robertson this week was the best of his career so far, but it sure came close. :smile:

What else do we have? Ricky Walden has made it this far as well, which is nice to see. I watched his match last night, and I have to say he played some very solid snooker indeed. He could be a tough opponent for Murphy in this kind of form. Graeme Dott played superbly against Trump as well, and he has a chance to reach his first major quarter-final in almost two years here. No clue how well Maguire is playing, since his previous matches here were not televised, but I'm sure it will be an interesting match between them this afternoon. :smile:

Martin Gould continues his good form as well, with a chance to reach the business end of three consecutive major tournaments if he wins tomorrow, which would be the kind of consistency we have never really seen from him before. Xiao Guodong hasn't been to a quarter-final outside of the short format in years, so I would expect Gould to beat him here, but it still might be a tricky match.

As for the big names still here, O'Sullivan has the kind of draw he usually get through without any problems, so it's tough to see him losing before the semi-finals. Higgins hasn't impressed me that much, so I think he will need to raise his game a lot to really challenge for the title. I have a pretty good feeling about Mark Allen though, could it be his week? :smile:

[cebs]

When it's non reserved seating , I don't think anyone can stop you sitting down on a spare seat.

If someone leaves for 5 min toilet break fair enough but a whole frame is different.

Plus at the masters for example, I have seen the tell people to sit in empty front row seats just as about to go live on TV, kind off defeating the point of booking as early as possible.

I got black Friday ticket for this week but not had chance to get down yet, hopefully tomorrow for Ronnie's evening match and the masters they assigned row s for the black Friday ones but hopefully get some empties a bit nearer at least.

The results this week have been a nightmare for betting....

[JimMalone]

The matches have already begun, still here are my picks for the Round of 16:

Li - Day 6-5
Joyce - Lyu 4-6
Murphy - Walden 6-2
King - Higgins 3-6
Dott - Maguire 4-6
Perry - Allen 3-6
O'Sullivan - Songsermsawad 6-1
Gould - Xiao 6-4