Snookerbacker

These two have met on the biggest stage of them all. Watched by Footie Shirt Man.

A decent day at the EPTC over in Gloucester on the Live Streaming has produced a final involving two players that used to be regulars at the business end of things, but not so much these days.

Stephen Lee plays Stephen Maguire and it is your last chance to watch live streamed snooker for free for a bit.

It can be watched in full here.

Once again we’re going to see a new winner of a PTC event, both have played some good stuff today. Lee in particular, whose famous Rolls Royce cue action has been going into overdrive.

Check out Skybet and Sportingbet as they may be playing in-running.

THE FINAL (Best of 7)

Stephen Lee 4-2 Stephen Maguire

Everybody Loved a Bit of Bully

After the ermm, glitz and glamour of all things Power related yesterday, we can now return to the altogether more sedate but much more exciting Finals Day on Live Streaming at the EPTC in Gloucester.

I don’t want to get stuck into a big rant about Power Snooker as it was never meant to appeal to people like me. Despite this I gave it a chance and this is what I thought of it.

Positives: The host, Matt Smith I thought did an excellent job, holding it together in the afternoon when a less experienced or savvy presenter might have made it look like ‘Bullseye Live!’, in fact, I knew it reminded me of something…

Secondly, the performance of blog icon Captain Carter. The consistent references to his mustard attire made the event worth watching for me, totally self-indulgent of course and the 57p and half eaten Mars Bar I paid him to keep wearing it in the evening paid off. Several hundred hits came our way yesterday with search terms such as ‘Ali Carter Mustard’ and ‘Captain Mustard Ali Carter Shirt’ as well as the regular weekly search terms ‘Pig in Mud’ and ‘Sexy Snooker’. When Ali got knocked out I stopped watching it, he was far and away the best character there.

But I think that’s about it for the positives. The negatives? Well, for me, the rest of it. The game itself is not geared towards close matches which I thought was the whole idea of it. The first thing they need to do if this is to continue is to think about the break-off, or rack-off or whatever they call it. Perhaps introducing a penalty for missing if after the break the player chooses to continue. They also need to lose the bonus century points and possibly either shorten it to 20 minutes or play ‘First to xxx’.

But by far the biggest turn off was the crowd. On the whole, unimaginative, obnoxious, pissed-up shaved chimps. Either that, or genuine snooker fans scared to open their mouths for fear of ridicule by the drunken louts. They couldn’t muster up a decent catchphrase between them, ‘Brown, Pot the Brown’ and ‘Powerrr Zone’ being the best they could come up with. Genius. As one eloquent commenter put it yesterday, the yobs should stay locked up in the zoo.

If this is the revolution then, in the words of a great Scouser ‘don’t you know that you can count me out’. For those too young to know, I’m not talking about John Parrott, I’m talking about these blokes.

Selby: Knackered.

But now back to the main event and only one solitary mustard jumper is in sight on Finals Day in Ken Doherty with my weekly lottery ticket on Anthony McGill losing a decider last night and Stuart Bingham surprisingly for me, failing to qualify too.

Mark Selby will start as favourite but I hope he’s had some sleep as he looked exhausted yesterday. Hopefully Vicky gave him some TLC when he got back and he’ll be fresh as a daisy today as himself and fellow power boy Shaun Murphy try to be the first player to win two of these. Hopefully someone will get some prices up before the matches start, as it should be a good day.

Update: Sportingbet have prices up for matches and outright.

The last 16 matches are listed below and I’ll be updating the Prediction Contest throughout the day. The live stream can be accessed here.

THE FINAL:

Stephen Lee v Stephen Maguire

Semi Finals

Stephen Lee 4-1 Joe Jogia

Stephen Maguire 4-2 Liam Highfield

Prediction Contest after Quarter Finals:

1st Liggandestolen 183 frames (cannot be caught as he still has Maguire and Lee running, Congratulations!)

2nd Ger147: 175 3rd Big Clive: 171 4th The Roberdy: 170 5th Deco800: 169.

Quarter Finals

Mark Davis 2-4 Stephen Lee

Joe Jogia 4-2 Liu Chaung

Liam Highfield 4-3 Graeme Dott

Stephen Maguire 4-2 Anthony Hamilton

Prediction Contest after Last 16: 1. Liggandestolen 171, =2 Big Clive and The Roberdy 167, 3rd Ger147 164, 4th deco800 161.

Last 16

Andrew Norman 3-4 Stephen Lee
Peter Ebdon 1-4 Mark Davis
Joe Jogia 4-2 Ken Doherty
Shaun Murphy 1-4 Liu Chuang
Liam Highfield 4-2 Gerard Greene
Ben Woolaston 3-4 Graeme Dott
Jack Lisowski 2-4 Stephen Maguire
Anthony Hamilton 4-2 Mark Selby

Prediction Contest Latest (after Day 2 and Power Snooker):

1. The Roberdy 163 frames

2. Big Clive 156 frames

3. Liggandestolen 154 frames

4. Deco800 149 frames

5. Ger147 148 frames

....it's online

Good Morning ladies and gentlemen. Today is dilemma day as the EPTC and it’s live streaming technology enters day two and faces the mighty marketing juggernaut that is Power Snooker.

Because I already largely ignore the Premier League even though I know a few people like it, I can’t just shy away from this without at least giving it a chance. I have therefore set up a Power Chat Zone here for anyone and everyone to post their thoughts as the events of the day and night unfold on ITV4.

But this is a Snooker blog, not a Power Snooker blog so the main page will remain devoted to Paul Mount’s mini revolution over in Gloucester.

Overall, the first day of streaming went well yesterday but I’m not sure what happened to table two’s coverage. Who are the commentators by the way? Whoever they are they don’t seem to have yet mastered the art of ‘sometimes less is more’ as when they are there they seem intent on commenting on anything and everything.

But hats are well and truly off to Mr Mount.

As for the snooker, a day to forget in punting terms. Robbo bombing out in Round 2 after a great display earlier in the day, the Captain also took a nosedive and Ronnie, well, was reliably unreliable as ever and just didn’t bother turning up again.

The only two Power boys that will be returning on Sunday are Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy after Jimmy and Ding also went out.

Now I know this blog is a mere minnow compared to some but I would direct anyone involved in the sport to the comments made by odds compiler Thorpy in yesterday’s post comments section. The performances and no-shows by some of the top boys in these events is now looking like having a detrimental effect on future betting markets.

I wouldn’t be surprised if, despite the best efforts of this blog to increase interest in these events, we are seeing the last tournament priced up at the beginning, meaning the end of the ill-fated weekly Team SB.

At a time that we want the sport to grow, I for one am a bit disappointed by that. But you can’t blame the bookies on this occasion.

Back to the snooker and in case anyone missed it. Blog regular Steve K posted up photo and video links last night from his day over in Gloucester. The videos can be watched here and his photos can be viewed here.

Round 3:

Matthew Stevens 2-4 Ken Doherty
Ryan Day 2-4 Liu Chuang
Liam Highfield 4-3 Anthony McGill
Gerard Greene 4-1 Michael Wasley
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Matthew Couch
Tom Ford 0-4 Graeme Dott
Stephen Maguire 4-2 Joe Perry
Stuart Bingham 2-4 Anthony Hamilton

Round 2:

Anthony McGill 4-1 Michael Holt

Ken Doherty 4-3 Daniel Wells

Ryan Day 4-0 Barry Hawkins (like buses….)

Anthony Hamilton 4-1 Hari Krishna (or something like that)

Liu Chaung 4-2 Andrew Higginson

Michael Wasley 4-2 Issara Kachaiwong

Tom Ford 4-2 Martin Gould

Matt Couch 4-2 Tony Drago

Round 1:

Paul Davison 4-0 Adam Wicheard

Anthony McGill 4-1 Hans Blaenkaert

Daniel Wells 4-0 Dermot McGlinchey

Liam Highfield 4-0 Chris Norbury

Ken Doherty 4-1 Bjorn Haneveer

Matthew Stevens 4-1 Martin O’Donnell

Fergal O’Brien 4-2 Kuldesh Johal

Issara Kaichaiwong 4-2 Alan McManus

Anthony Wasley 4-0 Pascal Ricard

Ben Woolaston 4-1 Zhang Anda

Jamie Burnett 4-1 Peter Lines

Rory McLeod 4-1 Ben Harrison

Martin Gould 4-0 Lewis John Calcutt

Andrew Pagett 4-1 Lasse Munstermann

Marco Fu 4-1 Rob Milkins

Tom Ford 4-3 Andrew Milliard

Ryan Day 4-2 Dominic Dale (Day stops his losing run)

Stephen Maguire 4-2 Tony Knowles

Barry Hawkins 4-1 Justin Ashley

Stuart Bingham 4-0 Jack Culligan

Allan Taylor 4-1 Andy Lee

Joe Perry 4-3 Stephen Hendry

Nigel Bond 4-3 Rod Lawler

Ebdon's Retirement Plan.

I can’t say I’ve ever tasted a ‘Peter’s Pie’ but surely every snooker fan will be trawling the internet to buy a boxload for the weekend as we immerse ourselves in what promises to be a snooker treat fit for a king.

It is the piemaker’s over at Peter’s whose sponsorship has secured the FREE live streaming for the duration of the event for all us armchair fans.

To enjoy the snooker, not to mention the pies click here.

As the matches are being played in a strange order I’ll just update them as they are being completed at regular intervals, I’m sure a few of the merry band of regulars will also get there first in the comments section.

Let’s hope for a ‘glitch free’ start to the tournament, I believe the match involving young Brecel went OK last night but I had my mum round for tea (not a pie) so didn’t catch it.

There is only one revolution this weekend my friends, it’s happening at the link to Gloucester. It’s been a long time coming but live streaming is here and long may it continue.

Round Three:

Andrew Norman 4-2 David Grace

Stephen Lee 4-2 Liu Song

Peter Ebdon 4-0 Stuart Carrington

Mark Davis 4-2 Jamie Jones

Joe Jogia 4-0 Andy Hicks

Shaun Murphy 4-0 Judd Trump

Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Joyce

Mark Selby 4-2 Matt Selt

Round Two:

David Grace 4-2 Liang Wenbo

Stuart Carrington 4-3 Mark King

Liu Song 4-2 Neil Robertson (The Skipper out with a whimper despite an impressive display earlier)

Andy Hicks 4-0 James McBain

Mark (Dark Horse Mavis) Davis 4-1 Ricky Walden

Peter Ebdon 4-3 Jimmy Robertson

Jamie Jones 4-1 Ali Carter

Jack Lisowski 4-1 Dave Gilbert

Shaun Murphy 4-1 Igor Figueiredo

Joe Jogia 4-3 Xiao Guodong

Judd Trump 4-1 Thanawat T (Mr T)

Andrew Norman 4-3 Mark Allen

Stephen Lee 4-3 Jimmy White

Mark Joyce 4-1 Ian McCulloch

Matt Selt 4-3 Steve Davis

Mark Selby 4-1 Noppon Saengkham

Round One:

Stephen Lee 4-2 James Brown

Neil Robertson 4-1 Davy Morris

Jimmy Robertson 4-1 Jak Jones

Mark Allen W/O Mike Dunn

Stuart Carrington W/O Adrian Gunnell

Mark King 4-0 Patrick Wallace

Liang Wenbo W/O Danny Douane

Michael Holt W/O Mark Williams

David Grace 4-1 Barry Pinches

Ali Carter 4-0 Reanne Evans

Liu Song 4-3 Sam Baird

Peter Ebdon 4-0 Joe Delaney

Ricky Walden 4-0 Jamie Walker

James McBain 4-1 Chris Norbury

Andy Hicks 4-2 Michael White

Xiao Guodong 4-0 James Wattana

Mark Davis 4-0 Patrick Einsle

Jamie Jones 4-2 Ian Glover

Joe Jogia 4-1 Marc Harman

Dave Gilbert 4-0 Jamie Cope

Jack Lisowski 4-1 Simon Bedford

Shaun Murphy 4-0 Gary Thomson

Igor Figueredo 4-1 Robbie Williams

Thanawat Tirapaipongboon 4-3 Marcus Campbell

Steve Davis 4-0 Alfie Burden

Mark Joyce 4-2 Chen Ze

Judd Trump 4-1 Les Dodd

Matthew Selt 4-0 Kurt Maflin

Noppon Saengkham 4-0 or W/O Ronnie O’Sullivan (take you pick)

Andrew Norman 4-3 Ding Junhui

Jimmy White 4-1 Duane Jones

Mark Selby 4-2 Kyren Wilson

The Main Arena at the SWSA

There are now a few more details of the live streaming available tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday from two tables over in Gloucester.

The matches that we can watch in the first round tomorrow are:

Friday 29 October:

9.00am: Neil Robertson v David Morris
10.30am: Allister Carter v Reanne Evans
1.00pm: Steve Davis v Alfie Burden
3.00pm: Ronnie O’Sullivan v Noppon Saengkham

The order of player for table 2 on Friday 29 October:

9.00am: Mark King v Patrick Wallace
10.30am: Mark Davis v Patrick Einsle
1.00pm: Shaun Murphy v Gary Thomson
3.00pm: Jimmy White v Duane Jones

More details can be found by visiting the SWSA website here.

Bigmouth Strikes Again: Shaun will soon have his own show.

Yes viewers he’s at it again. Never one to shy away from publicity our mate Shaun has been giving his thoughts on another topic to the tabloids this morning. With The Sun on speed-dial our Shaun will soon no doubt be hosting his own show on ITV.

This morning’s topic? John Higgins. This cutting-edge, in-depth and edgy article sees our Smurf reveal exclusively that he thinks John will struggle for a bit when he comes back.

With his customary astuteness he says: “I believe that during his ban he didn’t even practise until very recently – that’s almost five months without picking up a cue. I know when I’ve had a month or six weeks off, I’d go back into the club and it was like being a beginner again.”

“It would take me a few weeks to rebuild my game. John is a three-time world champion but will suffer for not having played.”

Shaun also proves a master of aftertiming in revealing that he knew that Tiger Woods would play like a crock of shite after his recent time off from the golf course. He even claims to have ‘had a bet’ with a mate of his to this effect. He must have some pretty stupid and gullible friends, I just hope he didn’t take too much money off the poor unsuspecting idiot.

But it turns out that our Shaun is just there to promote The Sun Backed Power Snooker and give the snouts at the paper a chance to offer a fiver off tickets to it’s, I use the term loosely, readers. Hang on, I thought it was sold out?

The full article can be read here, but to be honest I think I’ve covered the best bit and there are no funny pictures in it so probably best not to bother.

I also read that there is a rail replacement bus service to the O2 on Saturday as the Jubilee Line is shut. So maybe it will be more a case of ‘Bus Queue the Revolution?’

You need peace, quiet and good eyesight to study the EPTC drawsheet.

The European Pro-Tour Championship Event 4 kicks off at the weekend and to the delight of snooker fans, or as we are increasingly becoming known ‘purists’, it will have some matches we’ll be able to watch, yes, watch! From the venue thanks to the live streaming facility over at Paul Mount’s gaff in Gloucester.

Today’s earlier post sparked some debate amongst the regulars, rather like when someone says something controversial in the snug of an old man’s pub, like ‘how about we install a jukebox?’ much to the grunts and general derision of the faithful patrons.

But it’s fair to say that most of the followers of this particular blog will be keeping a closer eye on events over in Gloucester than all the glitz, glamour and razzmatazz of ‘that London’.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of Power Snooker it has got the players, though not necessarily the sport of snooker a lot of coverage in the press. I’m not one to urinate on anyone’s mange tout just for the sake of it and I see it for what it is, a gimmick and definitely not ‘the future’ or ‘the revo-bloody-lution’.

I do get a bit disturbed when some accuse those of us who voice an opinion of the product prior to it’s introduction as being ‘stuck in the past’ or ‘afraid of change’. All snooker fans want what’s best for the sport, but just because we don’t think this is, accusations are hurled in every direction from young trendies that are trying to make a fast buck. The phrase ‘standing on the shoulders of a giant’ springs to mind.

Incidentally, Dave Hendon has revealed on his blog that the viewing figures for the recent World Open were down by 10% on the Grand Prix last season, perhaps fast and furious isn’t what people want after all. Either that or the 10% have died of old age in the intervening year. Whatever it is, maybe Shaun Murphy should have a rethink about his recent comments on the World Championship and instead listen to the altogether more reasonable opinions given by Mark Selby on his blog here (don’t worry Captain, it isn’t a patch on yours).

But I’ll watch the Power Snooker, I’ll take the piss out of it, listen to what Ali has to say about the whole experience on his Log and then look forward to the start of the real season in earnest when later in November the qualifying for the first big event of the season, the UK Championships gets under way.

Oh yes, the preview I almost forgot why I was here. I was going to hang fire with it as there is still apparently a doubt over the participation of Mark Williams. I heard from two independent sources yesterday that he wasn’t playing but this is directly contradicted by a story on World Snooker today.

I’d prepared the preview thinking he wasn’t playing, if he is he’s got a decent draw and I would not put anyone off backing him, in fact as I write Sportingbet have priced him up at 16/1, all in. Fair enough as that’s the risk you take I suppose. Latest: I’m 99.9% certain he isn’t playing in this.

True Colours: Only one this weekend and it's Mustard.

But anyway with that caveat, I’ll stick with my original team.

So who is going to be skipper this week of the Mighty Mustard Malitia? Well this week I’m reaching for the top of the ranking list and taking a chance with blog hero from the World Championship, the Champ himself Neil Robertson (14/1 Sportingbet/Skybet). Yes, I know he’s playing in the two events but his draw to Sunday is very winnable and the fact that he’s in a section with Jimmy means that they will probably get that bit finished early to allow them to get themselves off for London. That segment of the draw is Robbo’s to lose and I believe he’ll be trying his best. I’ll take that chance with him.

But if ever there was a weekend when we might find a few big priced bit players this is arguably it and I realise that many readers will be currently choking on their prawn sandwiches at my selection for captain, have I lost the plot?

Maybe, so I’ll try and select a strong supporting cast should Skipper Robbo find it all too much. Last week we managed to get 5 of the 6 selections into finals day but only Andrew Higginson kicked on to the each way spot.

First of all this week I’m going plump for a player who again has rock solid claims to make finals day in Jamie Cope (33/1 Sportingbet/Skybet), I’ll reselect Stuart Bingham (40/1 Sportingbet/Skybet) in his section and hope he faces either a tired Ronnie or Selby or a more beatable opponent in his first match on Sunday should he make it through.

I’ll then go to one of the old timers and hope that Ken Doherty (50/1 Sportingbet/Skybet) can keep up his strong form from last week.

Blog favourite Rory McLeod (100/1 Skybet) is the next crew member and makes his debut in mustard. He has a winnable route to finals day and should Williams not take part or fail to get through, that 80/1 could look big as we go into Sunday for Rory. He hasn’t fired on any cylinders yet in these but there are signs he’s coming back to some consistent form (just keep him away from the cameras until the each way odds are landed please Paul…).

Finally I’m going to give another chance to Xiao Guodong (125/1 Sportingbet/Skybet). He was the only member of the crew last week that let us down in the qualifying day but he again has a winnable section, though a tough opener against James Wattana which could go either way.

So that’s Team SB for this week. Remember the Prediction Contest for the free £50 bet from Betfred can still be entered here.

Clever Clogs: But not all new ideas are good ones.

The guv’nor Clive Everton has been giving his thoughts this morning on how Power Snooker fits in to the long term future of our more traditional sport.

Clive, who is commentating on the extravaganza at the weekend (probably their shrewdest move by the way) reiterates that ‘Power Plays’ and ‘Power Zones’ are not meant as a rival to our beloved baize but more as a supplement to increase interest in snooker as a whole.

He sets out the rules again and asks the question, will the audience really understand them so quickly?

Personally, I think some will and some won’t, given that the promotion of the event has been pitched at such a level that an earthworm stuck 18 miles underground is getting slightly aroused by the thought of Ronnie being led in by two scantily-clad dolly birds this is an obvious consequence.

For me though the most interesting part of the article is Clive’s thoughts on the traditional game as a whole, his realism that we should never expect the heady heights of the eighties but that things are going places under Bazza’s leadership.

It also just makes you wonder what took the players so long to get rid of the last bunch of useless twits. The full article can be read here.

Who will be the breast player? It took me ages to think of that. I don't know how I do it, seriously, it's a gift.

Here we go again everyone, a bumper weekend of snooker awaits us so to go with it let’s have a Bumper Prediction Contest shall we? Maybe even a Power Boost Prediction Contest? Can you see where I’m going with this?

As you know from the story below I am having a crisis of conscience between what I should be watching and what I want to watch if only for the cringeworthiness of the whole thing. For this weekend sees live streaming from Gloucester for EPTC4 and Power Snooker for eight live hours on the TV.

So how, I asked myself can I justify also watching the power boys when there is proper snooker on? The answer, include both of them in this week’s competition!!! Genius.

So how I propose to work things this week is to have a ‘Power Group’ as well as three standard groups and a ‘Joker Group’. The Power Group will collect frames from the EPTC event in the standard way but will also collect points depending on where they finish in London.

I’m not including young Luca Brecel as he has to play an extra qualifying match in the EPTC event on Thursday and I’d have to close the deadline for entries earlier.

To help you select your team, the draw for the EPTC4 can be viewed with a magnifying glass here.

The format this week is such that all the Power Snooker participants are playing on Friday to qualify for Sunday’s finals day. This makes the updates a bit of a nightmare as they are scattered all over the drawsheet but never mind.

All totals will be added to overall Order of Merit scores, the latest standings of which can be viewed here.

The Rules:

1. You must choose a total of ten players for your scoring team.

2. Your team must consist of two players from each of the groups below.

3. The players you choose will score one point for each frame they win. The two players you choose from ‘The Joker Group’ will earn double points for every frame won.

4. The two players you choose from ‘The Power Group’ will earn one point for every frame won at the EPTC event. In addition they will be awarded points based on their performance in Power Snooker:

Winner = 50 points, Runner Up = 40 points, 3rd Place = 30 points, 4th Place = 20 points.

5. The winner will receive a £50 free bet from Betfred

6. Entries must be in before the start of play in the EPTC on Friday.

7. To have a valid entry you must enter an email address in the space provided, this won’t be visible to anyone but me and I won’t use it for anything other than contacting you if you win. Please don’t try and enter loads of times, I’ll be able to suss this fairly easily.

8. Oh yes, you must be over the legal gambling age to enter, or be prepared to lie about it to get an online account.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

The Groups:

You should always want the good guy to win I suppose..

I’m having a bit of a dilemma which I feel I must share with blog readers. Any advice would be most welcome.

As we all know by now, we’re ‘cueing the bloody revolution’ this weekend at Power Snooker, which is not only on ITV4 but for viewers further afield is now also going to be screened on Eurosport.

But we also have the first live streamed EPTC event from Paul Mount’s gaff in Gloucester, something that all snooker fans have been wanting to happen since the events started months ago.

To me this is like that old struggle between the tempting mistress and the devoted wife, the big tasty pie against the light salad, the bottle of wine against the glass of spring water, this my friends is humankind’s oldest dilemma, the struggle between what I should be doing and what I’m tempted to have a look at even though I know I shouldn’t.

In my opinion the marketing and promotion of the ‘Sun Backed’ Power Snooker event has been rubbish. To say it has been dumbed down is paying it a compliment, it’s getting to the stage now where highly paid middle-aged male executives are sitting in smoky offices all day coming up with puns like ‘Who’s the ‘breast‘ player’ and putting a picture of some gormless model with a cue, a suspect bridge hand and her eye not on the object ball to accompany this work of creative genius. Desperate ain’t in it.

So why do I think I should watch it? Does that make me a bad person?

I know that I should be glued to the events over in Gloucester as this will provide us all with a chance to at last assess how some of the players are cueing and it also makes it a live betting event. I know that any genuine snooker fan would know what to do and throw the remote control for the TV in the bin in case they succumb to temptation.

I’ll be doing the Prediction Contest on the EPTC, I’ll be covering it in full on here, Paul Mount is a great guy who gives loads of money to charity whereas the Power Snooker lot would mug their own granny for her pension scraps. But can I just sneak a peak at the Power boys? Purely for research and to see how the Captain gets on?

OK OK, I’ve had an interest bet on Jimmy, I’m going to watch it aren’t I? I feel dirty. I can feel a two-screen weekend coming on….