The Snookerbacker Blog

It is with huge regret and disappointment that I have today taken the decision to cancel the Snookerbacker Classic heat in Dublin later this month.

The Classic doesn’t seem to have captured the imagination of the Irish potters in sufficient numbers as to make it an event which I’d be happy to stage as part of the wider tournament.

I have just spoken on the phone to David Caulfield of the excellent Snooker HQ website which represents the online voice of Irish snooker and chatted with him about my decision and the reasons behind it so you will be able to read more about that if you are interested on his website in a day or two.

It’s a great shame that I won’t be visiting the Crossguns again and meeting the lads that wanted to enter and in particular I would like to thank Fin Ruane, Johnny ‘The Sniper’ Williams and David for all the help they have given me trying to get the event off the ground this season. Unfortunately, unless they wish to enter one of the final two events over here nobody from Ireland will be following in the footsteps of John Sutton, who was last season’s runner-up and grateful Q-School recipient, as well as Johnny who made the overall semi-finals and has come on in leaps and bounds since then.

An announcement will follow shortly concerning the chance to enter a replacement event at another venue.

The unseen Table 2 in Munich this weekend

It was a typically strange old PTC day yesterday in Munich with two of the big three in the betting crashing out in the first round, Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire both falling at the first hurdle.

Robbo’s defeat to Kurt Maflin in particular captured the imagination on Twitter, with the curled-up Aussie rushing to a 3-0 lead and 40 up in the fourth it seemed only a matter of time until he completed the win, but Maffers then produced his very own brand of nifty snooker to complete an unlikely comeback and take the match in the decider, surely a huge confidence boost for the Norwegian Cockney moving into the rest of the tournament, it also leaves him possibly just one win away from the Grand Finals in 29th on the updated Order of Merit.

Maguire lost to the man who has assumed the mantle of the scruffiest player in snooker. Anthony Hamilton once again turned up looking like he’d had a rough night in the cells of Pottingham but he rolled up his sleeve and sent Mags packing 4-2. Another ‘shock’ was Ricky Walden’s defeat to Thanawat, Ricky looked very poor indeed in that one. Ben Woollaston sent Matthew Stevens home in a match the Welshman will be keen to forget, much like his whole PTC campaign this season, but at least he gets the weekend off before Crondon Park on Monday. There were also wins for Liam Highfield, Martin Gould, Tian Pengfei, Liang Wenbo, Big Dave Harold and Ian Burns, making this very much an underdogs event moving into the weekend.

The picture of the very stylish Table 2 set-up in Munich is used courtesy of the lovely Kathi who is snooker mad and there for all 3 days of this final PTC event. You can follow her on Twitter here.

It’s wide open this now and I’m looking forward to watching SB Classic Finalist Kyren Wilson taking on Selby early doors, he’s a cracking player is Kyren and I really hope he can pull off an unlikely win, the omens at least are good with shocks aplenty so far.

It appears that British Eurosport have coverage all day again, a fine effort for the armchair fan.

Match Prices are updated throughout the day at Apollobet and you can see those by clicking here. 

Here is today’s line up.

9am
Jack Lisowski v Alan McManus
Dark Mavis v Liu Chuang

11am
Mark Selby v Kyren Wilson
Mark King v Michael Wasley

1pm
Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon v Liang Wenbo
Ian Burns v Graeme Dott

3pm
Tian Pengfei v Mavis/Chuang
Ben Wolloaston v Anthony Hamilton

6pm
Dave Harold v Martin Gould
Kurt Maflin v Liam Highfield

8pm
Selby/Wilson v King/Wasley
McManus/Lisowski v Rod Lawler