Mark Allen will not be the winner of this year's Betfred.com World Championship but he has been the tournament's star.
His fast, bustling style has been a breath of fresh air and the Crucible crowd has warmed to him.
My word, he gave John Higgins a scare this afternoon.
He decided to have a go from the off and looked like he might pull back to just 15-13 in arrears before missing a red early in frame 28, from which Higgins made a classy 116 break.
It could have been 16-14 but Allen missed the blue from the last red.
Nevertheless, he has proved he is a big occasion player and I'm sure will feature in plenty of big occasions in years to come.
Isnt full marks that nit shampoo?
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Why does Mark Alan not have his head directly above his cue when playing his shots? It looks like his head is way over to one side. Or maybe thats coz he makes a funny face when playing.
ReplyDeleteIm new to this snooker craze, watch it with my dad. What happened to that guy called Rocket Sullivan? He looked good but didn't seem to care about the shots selections much.
Jenna xx
Seeing as nobody seems to answer questions quickly here, can someone point me to a good snooker chat forum or something like that. I have a lot of questions about this game and a lot of time since theres no school til tuesday. My dad is not home so i cant ask him.
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Try here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.thesnookerforum.com/board/index.php
Ta hun. Will sign up sometime. Its not full of pervy men is it? One of the guys here made me look up Jenna Jamesson, made fun of my name comparing me to some woman who gets paid to do it. :(
ReplyDeleteJenna (not Jamesson) x
Nah it's a friendly place, best you will find for snooker discussion on the internet really, certainly that I am aware of.
ReplyDeleteWould be helpful if someone who knows can answer my questions here to save me typing it again on the snooker forum. Ive already found out that this guy i was on abouts name is Ronnie O'Sullivan and he got beat by Alan so no need to answer that one. But answer the others pls.
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Thanks Matt, are you called Matt on that website as well, just so I know at least one person who seems friendly. Do any players go on it?
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Yes I'm Matt_2745 over there. Some players do yeah, Stuart Bingham the obvious one.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your questions, John Higgins and Alex Higgins are not related (John is Scottish, Alex is from Northern Ireland), and as for why Allen plays like that, it's just what is comfortable for him I guess.
This Bingham sounds familiar. Think he played Ronnie. Thanks for the answers Matt. Will sign up when I can be arsed entering in login details and thinking of passwords.
ReplyDeleteIve caught the bug and its not swine flu. Will get my dad to buy a mini table or something.
Jenna x
Hey you sorry dont catch ur drift.
ReplyDeleteJenna x
So who is this sites owner, I looked up for Dave Hs playing snooker and found a Dave Harold. Is this him? Its a good site Im impressed. Will read the old stories hes posted. Good that snooker players take the time for the fans of the sport they love.
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Fair play to Mark Allen for his snooker this week and for sending Ronnie back to his sad little life!
ReplyDeleteHow many times at the Crucible 2 table stage have we seen a player open a massive lead only for the other player to suddenly find his game and stage a mini-recovery only to be put out of their misery? Happened twice this year, before that Andy Hicks springs to mind: 3 centuries in a row in his world semi during his mini recovery!
Dave H - what was your take on firstly Jamie Cope and secondly the two Chinese players?
That was 1 table stage when I wrote it!
ReplyDeleteThis is not Dave Harold's site. Its David Hendon of this site. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/snooker/
ReplyDeleteOk sorry I understand now.
ReplyDeleteJenna x
Jenna is a wum
ReplyDeleteYes i am wuman
ReplyDeleteHicks was (like Allen) losing 13-3 and eventually lost 16-11.
ReplyDeleteOther "great unsuccessful comebacks" would include two finals: White in 1984 (4-12 to 16-18) and Selby in 2007 (4-12 to 13-14 to 13-18).
A couple spring to mind from earlier rounds: Higgins v Doherty in 2003 (0-10 to 7-10 to 8-13), and Taylor v Hallett in 1986 (1-8 to 6-8 to 6-10).
Should be a classic final.
ReplyDeletewhat about Ronnies comeback V Hendry to take the match to a decider - Hendry plops in a 147. :D
ReplyDeleteseems youve shut all the RON fans up lego
ReplyDeleteKeep playing with you're brick's lego.
ReplyDeleteAnon 6:11 pm there's nothing to say ROS fans are bored of this now it's boring.
ReplyDeletewas 9:30 PM meant to make ANY sense?
ReplyDeleteCan't you read 11:05pm it says Ron'o sull fans bored of the crap
ReplyDeleteJenna,
ReplyDeleteAs no one has answered your question about Mark Allen's "head over his cue" I'll attempt to answer it. I've been lucky enough to referee him quite a few times and I "know" him a little bit.
The main reason for him holding his cue under 1 eye is that you should always "cue up" with the cue under your dominant eye. Some players (Hendry for instance) have 2 eyes that are equally strong, but most people have 1 eye that is more dominant.
Should you have a (for instance) left eye that's dominant but still hold the cue right down the middle of your chin, you'll often misjudge the potting angle on balls since you're basically sighting the angle wrongly.
To compensate for this you should find out what your dominant eye is and cue up under that one.
Hope that answers your question.
Cheers,
Jurgen.
Cool thanks Jurgen! Lucky I clicked back on this post. That actually makes a lot of sense. I thought it was just me or the camera angle that made it look odd but good to hear there is a logical explanation for it.
ReplyDeleteI think thats one of the most interesting things Ive heard to do with snooker. Just looked up dominant eye on google and theres all sorts of info on it. I love stuff like that and optical illusion type things!
Will try to find out what my dominant eye is! There are some tests on the internet but I think Ill know for sure if or when I get my table!
Thanks! Must be really interesting to see a game from close up especially refereeing. I will try to go to see it live soon and see if I can pick up things like these that arent so obvious on tv.
Jenna xx