27.6.10

WILLIAMS WINS FIRST PTC TITLE

Mark Williams tonight defeated Stephen Maguire 4-0 to win the first Players Tour Championship title of the season, for which he earns £10,000 and 2,000 ranking points.

He tops the new order of merit in the 12-event series. The top 24 at the end of it take part in the televised grand finals for which the winner pockets £60,000.

It’s interesting that, though the tournament was played in a non-televised environment at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, where there were no crowds, two members of the top eight still reached the final, confirming why they are among the best on the world – regardless of the set up.

I’m pleased for Mark because as well as being a great player – one of the best ever – he always has the right attitude. This is one of the reasons he has won so many tournaments outside the UK: not for him moaning about having to get on a plane or, in this case, play in reduced circumstances to what he’s used to.

He merely rolls up his sleeves and gets on with it and once again he has got his reward.

Amid sweltering temperatures and away from all the hoopla surrounding the World Cup, the first tournament of the Barry Hearn era was contested by 73 professionals and 75 amateurs.

There is a large amount of goodwill on the part of the players towards these new tournaments but this was severely tested by a farcical schedule that saw play on the opening day finish not much before 3am.

It was always asking a lot to have all the best of sevens done and dusted in just 90 minutes apiece. The reality was that some matches were starting several hours after the allotted time, meaning players had to hang around and do their best to stay awake before being called to play.

Of course, matches can be over in that time and much quicker. The final only lasted 43 minutes.

This is one of the problems with snooker when it comes to scheduling. The quickest ever frame lasted three minutes, the longest 93. All the rest have been somewhere in between.

Nevertheless, it is unfair on the players to expect them to give of their best in the early hours – and then again at 10am the following day – and unfair too on the WPBSA officials running the event and of course the referees.

In early rounds, where the standard is not as high, every likelihood is that matches will generally be slower.

One of three things needs to happen for the next PTC tournament in July:

1) Reduce the length of matches in the earlier rounds to best of fives
2) Play some of the first round matches on the qualifying day
3) Play it at a venue that has more than eight tables

Without a change such as the above, the exact same thing will surely happen again.

Teething problems in new innovations such as this can be expected but are less forgivable when no action is taken to prevent them in the future.

Action is certainly needed to sort out the live scoring facility on worldsnooker.com which was once again unreliable.

It’s 41 years since we sent men to the moon but it’s apparently beyond the means of modern technology to keep a live scoreboard ticking over for longer than a couple of hours. It stopped dead today at 11.35am and did not work again.

Again, no blame should be attached to the on site officials. It’s the system that needs to be upgraded.

As there is, as yet, no web streaming this should be a priority. The turnaround in snooker’s fortunes depends as much on the fans of the sport as anyone else. You alienate them at your peril: I get more emails lamenting the live scoring problems than on any other subject.

Some spectators turned up and were disappointed to be told there were no seats available for the public. This hadn’t been made clear in advance of the tournament.

It’s worth pointing out again that when you try anything new there are going to be problems. Let us hope that they are properly addressed because the PTC remains a good idea and the fact that so many players embraced the first one proves it is a popular addition to the circuit.

It does, of course, carry ranking points but no list has been issued because a decision is still to be taken on starter points. We still don’t have a ranking points schedule for the major events.

While these things undoubtedly take due consideration so that the right decision is ultimately made, it has been nearly a month since the EGM that decided the future path of the game, the season has now started and players need to know where they stand.

Hearn’s revolution, of which the PTC is an important and welcome part, may well transform the sport but even he can’t do it alone.

His own boundless energy and enthusiasm needs to be matched by the rest of the organisation he now controls.

We’ll see by the second PTC event, starting on July 9, whether that is happening.

67 comments:

Anonymous said...

You've been far too soft on them. Ask yourself this: if it wasn't for globalsnookercentre, how would anyone be able to follow this event and many others?

The dedication the people who run that show is in complete contrast to World Snooker, who have abdicated all responsibility. There were no reports on their rubbish, self-satisfied website apart from Maflin's 147 on Friday. They are promoting the event but don't report it!

It sums up the cosy 9-5, Monday to Friday attitude that exists in Bristol. Anyone involved in the snooker world will know exactly what I mean. I also exempt the tour officials from thsi because they work hard over long hours and are at the sharp end where they get blamed for all the bad decisions made back at HQ.

If what we know about Hearn is true he won't tolerate this much longer.

The live scoring is a complete joke but has been not for a few tournaments but literally YEARS.

During the World Championship there were days when the website simply wouldn't load at all. Why has nothing been done about this?

Like most governing bodies World Snooker are completely out of touch with what fans of sport once and don't care either.

Personally I believe Hearn can change that. I hope he can because if he doesn't the sport is still going nowhere.

Steve

Anonymous said...

I agree Dave. No doubt the idea is good, but the format was just too crammed. It needs an extra day or two... and the sooner the Live scoring is sorted, the better.
WELL DONE MARK (I almost forgot there was a winner!)

Pooler said...

Excellent blog.

I would favour option 2 above. It doesn't take a lot of additional round one matches to avoid a repeat of the 3 am finish on day 2. Shortening the number of frames any further increases the random element and should be avoided.

They need to sort out the live streaming as quickly as possible. World snooker website is a joke. Barry Hearn should go with global snooker instead who deserve immense praise for their live updates and match reports.

CHRISK5 said...

The fact that Mark Williams has won 17 of his 23 ranking finals shows what a great player he is under pressure - when at the sharp end of events - he is always dangerous & hard to beat.

Onto the problems - we wait with baited breath until....

(1) World Snooker sort out their live scoring system

(2) An updated ranking list & starter points for new pros.

(3) Tariffs confirmed for all the other events

(4) Goaline technology in Football !

Actually - there is more chance of the top 3 issues getting sorted quicker than the latter !

Dave - Yes,good ideas about reducing to best of 5 frames in the earlier rounds & having more matches on the Thursday.

With so many entrants - the PTC's really should be four day events instead.

Anonymous said...

Dave, will that be counted as a ranking event win for Mark???

Dave H said...

Not by me it won't

It goes into the category 'minor ranking event'

Anonymous said...

by nobody with sense however i think the winner of the PTC Final in march should be recognised as a Ranking winner.

Anonymous said...

Basicly what we have here with the PTC is a 40+ Day Season Long Ranking Event.

Basicly Mark Williams has won a Leg of the Tour de france but he has not won the Race.

Anonymous said...

Snooker © The Fine Art Method
A secret is wasted if not shared
Hi Dave
Thanks for the posts lad! You have been very kind. Congratulations to Mark Williams, the lad is a fair wee player in and out of the big ring.

All this talk of pressure and the TV lights doesn’t have any effect on a born “Street Fighter”. I wasn’t there Dave but the tournament was won with the professional games most economical cue action without flurry. Maguire’s game in turn is far too measured.

A word Dave to Janie Watkins at 1:15 pm! How did you know lass that the “Fine Art” method was in action in Sheffield?
Was there a sign advertising the snooker games only copyright method? Or did the player Janie do a football “Victory Roll” after each or any successful shot?

I am really curious to know Janie as I didn’t know the “Fine Art” student was performing or I would have said my usual “Hail Mary” Mr Hey You

CHRISK5 said...

Correction - Mark Williams has won 17 of 24 ranking finals - it's still a very good conversion rate!

An equivalent of 'minor ranking event' in the past is the 1992/1993
Benson & Hedges Championship -
Chris Small beat Alan McManus 9-1 -
It carried only 1,000 pts tariff & a depleted line-up - so slightly similar to the PTC Format.

Basically a players career titles tally will include 3 sets of criteria -

(1) Ranking Titles
(2) Minor Ranking Titles (PTC)
(3) Non-Ranking Titles including
Invitationals & Pro-Ams.

Iv'e also created my own updated ranking list on Windows processor -I believe Ronnie is back upto provisional number 2 with 48,835 pts & event winner Mark Williams now provisional number 7 on 39,699 pts.

Pity the new tour professionals
are still in limbo though !

Anonymous said...

no Ronnie is nowhere near Provisional no 2 Neil Robertson is at no 2 stil 8,220 points ahead of Ronnie who is at around no 6.

see pro snooker blog for details http://prosnookerblog.com/rankings/201011-provisional-rankings/

Points earned for the shanghai masters,Grand Prix and Northern ireland trophy of 2008 are being deducted.http://prosnookerblog.com/rankings/points-to-defend-revision-one/

Matt said...

Thanks to anonymous for the plug. Have now updated that list to show where I think the rankings currently stand, though obviously I can't really place the lower players due to the uncertainty with starter points.

To explain O'Sullivan's drop, he loses his points from his NI 2008 title, Shanghai final and GP QF, while Robertson for instance had a horrible start to that season and loses little.

Back on the subject of the post, entirely agree, snooker needs to embrace fans, not shut them out and it surely would not be hard to set up a camera on at least one table.

There is not too much time before the second event but with another month to the third at the start of August, I would hope that they have time to make some improvements...

CHRISK5 said...

Anon 11.12 PM - Thanks.

So,the previous 21 month period will always be the starter pts allocations that get added to upto the next revision.

Damn - more work to do !

CHRISK5 said...

I've just printed 7 pages worth of the updated rankings from Pro Snooker Blog & still have some cartridge ink so I am happy !

It's so simple!

Global Snooker is tops for updating match results.

Pro Snooker Blog has finally solved the rankings conundrum.

Ofcourse,Snooker Scene Blog (SSB)
is number 1 for insight & opinion from the green baize!

And World Snooker is ........ ?

Janie (I woz there!) Watkins said...

Matt - Those figures aren't right I'm afraid. My brain is too knackered tonight to work out why and where they're wrong

but we sat in EIS and did the points on the NEW ranking list and I cann assure you than Ronnie jumped above Robbo to no 2 maguire and Williams both moved up a place and Cope jumped over Wenbo into top 16.

probably the best gain was Jogia who moved into top 64 and if he stays there a first cut point will save himself a round in qualifying in later events.

we'll have the rankings up on Global in the morning. My colleague does them on the site cos it's way beyond my techy capabilities to actually get the file onto the site!

On all the points raised above... the ultimate decision lies with the players as to how the weent should be run. They were all asked and virtually without exception came down in favour of sticking with the 3 day event, they didn't want an extra day, but next event will go to 2 hours sessions and a 9am start time probably. The players said they'd rather have a couple of late nights than have to have an extra day of hanging around and hotel expenses etc.
And a word of thanks from me to Gary, Mike, Frank and the refs. cos they went well over and above the call of duty working unbelievably long hours and retained a sense of humour throughout.

Some stunning performances and matches up and down the order. Just look at the frame scores and breaks on global for some of the brilliant snooker dished up - Ford and Maguire 4 tons in the match and no break under 50 in any frame, for instance.
Great max by Kurt for no reward, a missed max by Peter Ebdon but he said even if he'd got the really hard cutback red that the rest of the balls were still awkward.
Good first outings for McGill, Kyren Wilson, Liam Highfield. All atrracted compliments from the older pros. Igor is a star in the making. The players are terrified of his potting skills.
For me it is too compressed. There just isn't time to do any match justice or turn out any meaningful reports, particularly with rounds overlapping and the relentless flow of matches all the time.
Overall, despite the exhaustion, these PTCs are a great innovation and I enjoyed it, the players love it, particularly when they're going home with a cheque in their pocket and points on the board.
But I will start eh campaign here and now to move some of these events and some of the major rankng qualifiers down to the new south West Academy at gloucester. It's been purpose built for players, facilities, fans, tv and everything else you can think of.
Also with everything i Sheffield a whole block of plaers are always disadvantaged by the long journeys, extra hotel nights etc. If it's split north and south it spreads the load more evenly for everyone throughout the season.
And lastly a thank you, on behalf of the frustrated fans, to players who didn't use their guest allocations, for making sure they went and found the fans and got them signed in to see some of the snooker.

Dave H said...

Sterling effort, Janie - MBEs have been handed out for less.

I agree the players should be canvassed as to how they want these events to work but common sense also has to come into play.

KILDARE CUEMAN said...

Spent the last hour working out the provisionals needlessly myself.

Well done pro snooker. Was disappointed to see Global Snooker discontinue their daily update on the rankings, but it doesn't matter now.

World snooker would want to be making a move pretty quick on finalising the details re starting points etc.

You don't want to be making the rules up after the game has begun, as invariably some players will be disadvantaged and can lead to a situation where disharmony may occur.

Teething troubles aside, it looks as if the first ptc event was a success.

Congrats to Williams, who has now won two out of the last three rankers, a fairly major and a minor.

When you think back to his last outing in the city of steel, only a bristling Rocket, in top gear, edged away from him in the final session.

He might easily have went all the way there as well, but he tends to attract O'Sullivans A game any time they meet.

Hopefully the streaming issue will be solved for the next event.

CHRISK5 said...

Matt from Pro Snooker says the
21 month list is the starter allocation.

Janie of Global Snooker insists the
2 year list is the starter instead.

Is it no coincidence that the biggest sporting brands like Football & Formula 1 have more simplistic points tables ?! LMAO

Anonymous said...

Janie

how can Ronnie move ahead of Robbo in the rankings when points for Northern Ireland Trophy,Shanghai masters and Grand Prix are being taken off he might be ahead on points won after the PTC but regading the next cut off point Ronnie O'Sullivan is lagging behind when points get taken off.

Anonymous said...

Matt from Pro Snooker says the
21 month list is the starter allocation.
====================================

the rankings for the start of the season is as it stands but for provisionals what matt says has to be starter point otherwise Ronnie will be going along nicely and then bang 12,000+ points will be deducted.

Deduct them at the start then it makes better sense.

KILDARE CUEMAN said...

I worked out the rankings as well amd Ronnie definitely went down.

Anyone who done well in the first 3 tourns of 2008 drops and anyone who done badly went up.

Anonymous said...

i think many people are confused with how it works but that is the correct way even janie got it wrong but she is tiered after Late nights in sheffield haha

CHRISK5 said...

What is absolutely certain as certain can be.

The end of season May 2011 ranking list (yes,the most important one of them all) - would have accumulated 26 counting events.

Overall,it will become a better reflection of form & ability.

I agree with the provisonal seedings concept.

But - The continued confusion over starter points allocations is really tedious.

I can do complex mathematical equations (without a calculator) -

Once & for all when Dave or World Snooker confirms it - I can easily work out the updates for myself.

Betty Logan said...

Mark Williams is a class act, a player who has time for the fans even when the cameras get turned off. I suspect his year in snooker purgatory a year or two back has stood him in good stead for the PTC conditions. It's nice to see his China win isn't a one-off though and I think he stands a great chance of winning one of the big three this season. A little bit of history there - the winner of the first ever PTC event!

Sounds like there are scheduling problems; I think they will have to add more tables because extending the event to four days could cause a clash with the Premier League, and presumably Hearn will want Ronnie and Robbo in the German PTCs.

Matt said...

I'll be interested to see what your list looks like Janie as going based on the post that Dave made on here a while ago I'm not sure what I've missed.

Fair play if I have got it wrong though, obviously a lot of guessing going on given the lack of anything official on the WSA site.

Matt said...

Just checking over some figures actually and I have spotted a few errors, oops. Will have to check it over tonight when I get back from work.

Ramona Dragomir said...

I`m very glad that Mark won.
The suspense and the constant refresh to global-snooker.com`s web page were moments I shall never forget :)))

jamie brannon said...

Did play stop for England v Germany?

Dave H said...

Yes, frequently among our back four

Anonymous said...

Matt from pro snooker is calculating the rankings correctly.
Janie and global say hes doing it wrong but they're wrong.
Chrisk (the only person who cant understand the ranking system despite having it explained several times) can do complex mathematical equations apparently.....hahahahahahahaha

Anonymous said...

I see snookerbacker is crowing about tipping williams at 7-1 for the ptc event.

What he dosent say is that williams is one of 6 plus 4 subs that he tipped for the same event so if you had a tenner on each selection you would have come out showing a loss of £20. well done sb

Anonymous said...

If World Snooker cant get their live scoring to work properly then it owes us streaming. It shouldnt have to be up to others.

Anonymous said...

starter points should of been decided before the new season started. The only fair way to do it is by giving all lower players the same as those of the player ranked number 64 as the top 64 are the only ones with a full allocation of points on list for last seasons rankings. points for 08/09 should be removed as the season progresses taking off the relevant tournaments in 3 stages relating to the cut off point so the first real ranking list featuring players below 64 will appear after the world open. The current ranking list is in play until then and for provisional rankings the first three tournaments of 08/09 should be removed now and the tournament points should be added as they appear.

Anonymous said...

Look why don't you just stop reading it? You obviously have anger issues.

For the record, Williams was the only player I tipped to win the event. I said at the time (if you read it properly) that it was a punt, I said nothing about level stakes but this obviously escaped you too. I made a bit on it but not a lot as only a fool would bet heavily on this type of event. Just check the profit and loss section if you want the facts.

I assume that you are the same person that is accusing me of slagging this blog off on another thread. Again untrue, if you read it properly I am merely commenting on the tone of some of the posters on here who really need to grow up.

But to be honest I'm done with this now, the vast majority of commenters on my blog are positive, I feel sorry for Dave for having to put up with some of the people on here.

Apologies to those who contribute in a positive way to what should be a grown up discussion.

Anonymous said...

i disagree with the criticism of snookerbacker. i am making money from his selections by laying them all on betfair. pity there wasent a market on the ptc cos id have made a fortune layin some of his great tips like rory mcloud, jimmy white, mark king and mark davis. keep the bismarks comin sb. HAHA LMAO

Anonymous said...

this is how ive calculated the update top 32 provisionals ahead of the first cut off point.

1 John Higgins 46470
2 Neil Robertson 44930
3 Ali Carter 38720
4 Ronnie O'Sullivan 36610
5 Shaun Murphy 36380
6 Ding Junhui 36100
7 Stephen Maguire 35520
8 Mark Williams 34580
9 Mark Allen 31430
10 Stephen Hendry 30010
11 Greame Dott 28975
12 Mark Selby 28530
13 Mark King 26170
14 Marco Fu 25340
15 Peter Ebdon 24130
16 Ryan Day 24010
-------------------------------------
17 Liang Wenbo 23015
18 Jamie Cope 22838
19 Mathew Stevens 21450
20 Joe Perry 21210
21 Stephen Lee 21170
22 Barry Hawkins 20355
23 Mark Davis 19980
24 Gerard Greene 19505
25 Steve Davis 19005
26 Stuart Bingham 19025
27 Ken Doherty 18660
28 Michael Holt 18535
29 Ricky Walden 18515
30 Robart Milkins 18060
31 Nigel Bond 17198
32 Andrew Higginson 17175

Anonymous said...

The point is whoever is right or wrong it shouldn't be up to snooker fans to work out the rankings

We're more likely to have a poem about the provisional standings on worldsnooker.com before we actually get the list

Anonymous said...

Snookerbocker - I know one player who wants to give you a slap so to claim that all the players love your unremitting hilarity is incorrect

Anonymous said...

wow. seems to be only one person with anger issues snookerbacker.
you have slagged off players over obesity, baldness, height, speech impediments, looks, and intimated that ronnie took a pull against cope. u seem to think this is ok, and that players dont mind, yet when anyone criticizes you, the toys get thrown out of the pram. as for your profit and loss, your fairly selective about your records. ive gone over them and your way down. i agree fully with 1.14.

cluskey1

KILDARE CUEMAN said...

They've calculated the rankings wrong on global snooker.

They have neglected to delete the points from the first 3 tournaments of 2008.

If we were still using the old system this would be the same as using two entire seasons points plus the first tournament of the new season instead of removing the first season.

The players will not be accredited with the points for the first 3 tournaments of 2008-09 when the rankings are updated.

Why then are GS including them?

Wakey wakey Janie and Co. I know you've had a hard weekend but you're the only site making this mistake and as you're considered by most fans as the REAL world snooker site, we can do without this confusion

Anonymous said...

It's because the rankings will not be updated properly until after the World Open i.e. things will stand as they are for now and then the 2008 n.i, shanghai and grand prix events will be removed (or so i am led to believe)

Anonymous said...

"It's because the rankings will not be updated properly until after the World Open i.e. things will stand as they are for now and then the 2008 n.i, shanghai and grand prix events will be removed (or so i am led to believe)"
_____________________________________

well that is very wrong players will then think ive done enough to be seeded for the UK then bang they take away 9,000 to 12,000 points and they drop down like a lead balloon.

Matt You carry on doing it the way you are that is the correct way.

Anonymous said...

Globalsnooker is definitely WRONG

Dave H said...

I'm not sure there is any right or wrong as the WPBSA haven't yet said how they are going to issue the list - i.e whether they will deduct the points now or only at the first revision

Matt said...

When I left at 8am this morning I thought that I must have messed it up somehow but if I've understood the rolling nature of the rankings correctly I'm still not sure how.

That said I'm not going to even begin criticising Global, it's a better site than mine will ever be and I know that there is so much effort put into it.

Matt said...

I was going on this from you Dave:

"It's a two-year rolling list so players only keep the points they earned for the previous two years worth of tournaments at any given time, i.e. after this year's World Open the points earned in the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy, Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix are taken off."

Have I misunderstood your ie as just being an example rather than fact that those three points will come off? I assumed that you had heard something concrete on it.

Janie Watkins said...

I love Matt's rankings and now my addled brain has sussed them out!

To present rankings in different views is helpful, but for now on Global we'll continue to add points until the first cut off point and then we'll adjust them.

At the moment the reality is that the points are still being added to the list, we can't take them off until the cut off point

well we could but then they become provisional provisional rankings.

On the PTC OoM it's worth noting that the top 64 from event 1 will be seeded for event 2 - so it's likely than an amateur who did well in event one could be seeded player against a pro who didn't enter event 1!

Anonymous said...

Dave

its simple really.

when you roll the rankings every tournament like Tennis that works however in snooker when you add points from 6 PTC,Shanghai and World Open and take away the points of 3 2008 tournament it has to be at the beginning of that window so a player knows where they stand.

like Janie done it a player could be provisional 11th at the End of EPTC2 BUT get points deducted after the EPTC2 and drop out of the top 16 in to qualifying.

Dave H said...

I understand all of that. Doesn't mean the WPBSA list will deduct the points immediately, however.

We'll find out when they issue it.

Matt said...

To be honest it doesn't really matter does it? Whether they take them off immediately or in October, the points and subsequent seedings following the first October revision are still going to be the same aren't they?

KILDARE CUEMAN said...

The WPBSA wont deduct the points until the cut off. They wont add on the new points either.

They will continue to use the official rankings until the cut off.

At that point the 3 tournaments from 08-09 will be dropped and the points for all this season will be added on.

They will then become the official rankings until the next cut off, when the next batch of tournaments will be added on and the corresponding events from 08-09 will be deducted.

We're only calculating the provisional rankings which will not be used until after the world open.

Matt said...

And provisional, provisional rankings, I like it!

Just for me the way I see it, having Harold up in 31st is misleading for example because when the rankings are updated and the seedings for the UK/Masters decided, he's in all likelihood going to be well down, whether or not the points are taken off immediately or all at once.

It's really just presentational like you say.

Anonymous said...

why dont you ask snookerbacker to work out the rankings. he seems like a clever sort.(snigger)

Anonymous said...

but Harold would like to know what he has to do. if he follows Global Rankings or World Snooker Rankings he is clueless.

Following your Rankings he has a clear picture of his plight.

Janie Watkins said...

the player shouldn't have to look at unofficials rankings like Global or Matt or anyone else.

It should all be on WSA site in stark clarity so all the players, fans, anoraks and everyone else is very clear as to where someone stands, today, will stand next week and could stand the month after etc

Actually I'd tend to favour Matt's system and call it projected rankings

Betty Logan said...

Matt's system is the most logical. The rankings are updated officially at four points through the system meaning we will still have provisional rankings.

The provisional rankings will be all the points gained after the 2008 Shanghai and Northern Ireland Trophy and possibly the Grand Prix.

CHRISK5 said...

World Snooker were ultra quick when correcting Dave on the number of season revisons (3 not 2)

Yet,when it comes to something as fundamental as starter points that then get added to.......It seems that World Snooker,WPBSA are on the same vacation as
Sepp Blatter !!

All of this was totally avoidable.

To add to this,I think the ranking theories of BOTH Pro Snooker AND Global Snooker are valid interpretations.

But - one of them will have to change their list..... eventually.

Anonymous said...

Right enough it's a shame him having to go on all those trips abroad as a top spotrsman and not moan about it, what a credit to the guy.

Dave H said...

When viewed in comparison to those who take the opposite view, yes it is a credit to him

Anonymous said...

Dave i laughed out loud when i read that you think mark williams always has the right attitude.Is this the same guy who was so disinterested in snooker for several years,and only recently upped his game when in danger of going out of the top 16.Yes dave your right,what a great attitude to have,a great example to all young aspiring players.

pooler said...

Janie - re your post yesterday evening about the top 64 in event 1 being seeded in event 2. That could make for some really interesting draws in round 1 given the number of top 16 players who didn't enter! That really increases the pressure on the top players to show up.

Anonymous said...

there is another way to look at how they will be taking points off.

After the 1st 5 PTC/EPTC they take off the Points For the Northern Ireland Trophy then after the Shangai Masters they take off the points for the 2008 shanghai masters and finally before cut off point after the World Open they might take off the Grand Prix points of 2008.

so possibly World Snooker wont issue a provisional Rankings until just before the Shanghai Masters that contain 5 PTC Results and deduction of the Northern Ireland Trophy points.

Dave H said...

I'd say falling out of the top 16 - largely through off table problems - and then working hard to get back in and start winning tournaments again is a good example to anyone

Anonymous said...

The point at 9.04 makes no sense: Williams did drop out of the top 16

jamie brannon said...

Nice joke Dave, although I wasn't laughing Sunday, a ball retention needs to improve to compete with the best teams.

I know it's weird, but I was genuinely interested as to whether they had a break as I know Ronnie likes his footy.

Janie Watkins said...

Another point about the cut points is that the 3 players who had to miss Bahrain event now get "payback" because they have no points to drop from that event.

WSA have put the rankings on their site and have not deducted the points yet.

Anonymous said...

I'd like 9.04 to make those points to Williams face and let's see what happens!!
Alpha