Matchroom.live Championship League

[fkhan]

If the match is drawn at 2-2, it seems that the player with the highest break in that group goes through. Correct me if otherwise.

[Neil Taperell]

That is correct .

[motorhead]

Well is this the first time it’s been televised?

Yes, typically you'd watch this on bookies' streaming service.

[motorhead]

I haven't followed the league in years, but last time I did i'm pretty sure it was also best of 4 in the group stages.

'In the first two years all matches in the group stages were the best of four, meaning that the matches could ended in a draw as all the four frames were played, and the semi-finals and final was best of five. From 2010 all matches are best of five.'

[GeordieDS]

It’s just not the same without an audience. If the WC goes ahead in the same way it’ll be a sad day for snooker.

Makes zero difference to me

[Billy]

Makes zero difference to me

A few have said this now but I think they’re forgetting how important an audience is to the players.

[Billy]

Yes, typically you'd watch this on bookies' streaming service.

Ah. Cheers.

[vmax]

Well is this the first time it’s been televised? Because if it’s always been televised then I’ve never seen it before.

i still maintain it doesn’t really work. The players are playing like it’s a quick knockabout down their local club. Going through the motions because it’s their job to.

I have always watched it on youtube, matches aren't live but if you don't know the result then it doesn't matter. It's usually played over the entire season, hence it's a league, and there have been quite few max's in this competition in the past, the players now are obviously seriously out of practise like the rest of us are so it might look like they're going through the motions but they're all trying.

[fkhan]

I wonder why the group matches are even (4). 3 or maybe 5 would avoid the situation of a tie.

[Mark187187]

I wonder why the group matches are even (4). 3 or maybe 5 would avoid the situation of a tie.

I haven't done the maths, but I'd imagine having drawn games lessens the chance of the groups being decided before the final group round and having to watch pointless games

[John Flaf]

Not to go personal, I will omit the player's name as my question is general. I have watched for the first time xxxxx playing, in two different matches, and I was surprised in a negative sense: relative to what we are used to see on TV, poor shot selection, very poor positional play, missing easy frame-winning chances... maybe it was the pressure of going live on TV, or the effect of lockdown non-training, or the usual bad day. But my question remains: how "far" is the low-tier world tour player from the excellent club player nowadays? I am asking because I saw an enormous difference between xxxxx and, say, the world top 16 players.... perhaps less than the difference between xxxxx and the top 16 of a good local league? Let's say xxxxx is any player ranked 80-128. What do you think?

(Just to reaffirm, the question is not arrogant: I am a very bad player, far away from top 16 of any local league, and I can only dream of playing like xxxxx. I am just curious about the distribution of skills in snooker, and your perception of it)

I think you have to put recent events into perspective, Don't forget the lower ranked and or new players on the tour are starting from nothing and are desperately trying to make ends meet, They all have expenses ect , But the big difference is that they would probably only have the local club to practice in unlike the top tier who have won a bit of money and can afford private tables.

So I would doubt very much that these 'Lower' ranked players have had a chance to be on a table in the last eight weeks, FWIW I thought Judd played very mediocre snooker in his first 3 frames but he loosened up and was getting back to old ways.

It is largely a game of quite a few tiers both in ranking and earnings I would imagine.

[Mark187187]

Lower ranked players or teams are trash in all sports compared to the top 10. In tennis the elite is even smaller, maybe half a dozen players. If anything, I think we get more upsets in snooker compared to some other sports. I think the downside of having so many televised tournaments nowadays, is that there's plenty of bad snooker on TV compared to when I started watching and we rarely saw anyone outside the top 32. With regards club players, I think you're wrong. Stick even a good club player on TV and the majority would fall apart and get steamrollered by every player in the top 64. There's plenty of very good players who try and fail to get on the tour.

[the_unrepentant]

OK, I'll say it first....what the hell has happened with Kyrens hair?!

[DeanH]

could not get any Grecian 2000?

[DeanH]

looks like he has gone for matching his waistcoat and tie