Snooker Sceney

Unlikely PULSE Questions

2010-04-22T20:03:00.003+01:00

Forget Nick Clegg, the talking point this last week has got to be BBC's Pulse website. During matches, commentators pose questions and people answer! However, the questions are pretty poor, so I came up with some ideas myself. Here they are:

1. Is the green ball green enough at this years tournament?

2. Martin Gould: Snog, Marry or Avoid?

3. Who would you most want to punch, Rob Walker or Willie Thorne?

4. BBC or Eurosport?

5. Will Steve Davis be playing over 100 years old?

6. Labour, Conservatives or Lib Dems?

7. Who has the best fist pump, Allen or Selby?

8. That person in the audience, Man or Woman?

9. Where is the white going?

10. Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott. Why are you watching this match?

EXCLUSIVE: Hearn Reveals Plans for World Domination

2010-03-18T17:32:00.002Z

Barry Hearn has revealed his plans for the World (of snooker) and plans that within 2 years every day will have a Tournament and there will be at least 3 tournaments held on the Moon each season.

He told the press (Me, Steve Davis, His Mum) that he has plans which will stun the Snooker world.

He says getting rid of journeyman is a tough problem, but says anyone over the age of 40 with no hair and wrinkles must win all their matches in the season to stay on the tour. However Jimmy White and Steve Davis will receive permanent wildcards.

He also claimed Sir Rodney Walker has been found after escaping to the Himalayas and will receive a suitable punishment for his poor management of the game.

Expanding the game is one of Hearn's main priorities and he says he's found plenty of suitable venues to hold tournaments. He said:

"I recently flew back by Private Jumbo Jet from South Georgia. There's definitely some potential there. I've also found large fan bases in Iraq, Guatemala and Neptune.

Asked about the problem of not having any characters on the tour anymore, Hearn responded saying he already has plans. "I've set up a cloning device for Ronnie. Next season I hope to have at least 2o Ronnie O'Sullivan's on the tour. I'm pretty sure Ronnie v Ronnie will draw in the crowds and that is what has to be achieved.

Fortunately, Hearn confirmed he will not be bringing back the Bahrain Championship.

White: I Can Still Win World Championships

2010-03-05T19:05:00.005Z

Jimmy White claims he can still win the World Championships, despite suffering a 10-3 thrashing at the hands of Ken Doherty.

White's defeat leaves him 59th on the tour, which means he will have to play an extra qualifying round against the Sheffield homeless next year. He told the press "I know that if I make 147's every frame, I can beat anybody. I was unlucky today, I just didn't win enough frames. I know if I win the frames, I can win the matches."

It was always going to be tough for Jimmy, who was forced to go back in time to play Ken after his match with Postman Mark Boyle, who is clearly used to things running days late, finished at 10:30pm the next day.

Ken didn't say much, but said he was pleased with his ten-tree win.

Jimmy wasn't the only OAP to lose at the EISS, John Parrot suffered a defeat to a 3-year-old Chineseman whose Mum wasn't even born the last time Parrot won the Worlds. The defeat has pushed Parrot further down the rankings into 1073rd and JP says he'll retire if he slips out of the Top 5,000,000.

The Best Quotes from the Masters

2010-01-20T20:22:00.002Z

"That should be exciting... that'll be like pulling teeth. I love Peter really - I just wish he'd hurry up a bit around the table!"
Ronnie can't wait to get his teeth into a meeting with Peter Ebdon.

"I've been playing like a plum for 17 years...I don't think I have the game to win the World or the UK Championship because the table looks 24-foot long sometimes."
Ronnie after losing to Mark Selby in the final.
"They have 12 minutes to play the frame, a 20-second shot clock, ball in hand from fouls and no time to fart."
Barry Hearn as he reveals his plans for a one-frame shoot-out.
Steve Davis: "They didn't look like plants to you?"
Ronnie O'Sullivan: "No, they looked like snooker balls."
After Ronnie beat Mark Williams, following the shot in the last frame where he went into the pack off the blue and two reds went in.

"They'll probably be in the final if they make it."
Ken Doherty talking about Higgins and Ronnie.
"I'd love to see a Parrott doing a penguin."
Dennis Taylor to John Parrott during the O'Sullivan-Robertson match after JP had stated that he was walking like a penguin through the snow earlier in the week.

The Masters 2010, My Review

2010-01-18T18:02:00.002Z

Well, what a tournament!

I predicted a 10-9 win for Selby and was proved right, and final was one of the greatest ever in my opinion. That wasn't the only brilliant match, Hendry-Murphy, O'Sullivan-Williams, King-Maguire (actually not that last one) were all a joy to watch and is this the start of a new exciting beginning of snooker? I hope so.

However, I did have some gripes with the tournament and it wasn't all perfect.

Firstly, the walk-on music. Seemed cool at first, but it seems all Snooker players have terrible tastes in music! Also, why was no one brave and choose Snooker Loopy as their song? It would have sounded like an epic masterpiece in that arena. Shame.

And Mark King's dancing? Well, even this guy's better than him.

As for Rob Walker, well, he's getting a bit old now. Same old lines, same old lean forward after every exclamation mark. Ditch him and replace him with the guy from X Factor.

"IT'S TIME, TO FACE, THE BAIZE!!!"

Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well make it copyrighted so Barry doesn't take my brilliant idea right off my hands and get the credit.

It's not that I dislike Rob, I just find him a bit repetitive and he kept saying the same thing before every match:

"The atmosphere here is Electric!"

No Rob, that's just your hair.

To be fair, the crowd were a bit barmy. They all went mental when Jimmy came on, like it was the last time they were going to see him before he died of old age.

Speaking of the audience, how many celebs were there?

Good to see Ronnie Wood there, got Snooker onto the front page of The Sun, don't really know why though. Good thing none of the players walked out to Basshunter, otherwise he might of gone a bit mad. (Big Brother viewers will understand).

Then there was Gino D'acampo, whose name sounds a bit like a Italian holiday camp. The boxer, Luca Brecel and the Javelin thrower.

The javelin thrower (whose name escapes me) almost got into a bit of trouble with racism in her interview. Hazel asking "Who are you supporting here?" Her reply "Rory McLeod because he's black." You could see her realising that was kind of racist, quickly thinking of the palest player she could think of. "And Peter Ebdon!" Yeah, nice try. I noticed.

It was nice to see BBC turn their focus to the lower ranks of the Snooker world, I always enjoy those, mainly because I can tell everyone around me who that world no. 67 is before the presenters. This time is was Amateur Wonderboy Luca Brecel. I thought he deserved a wildcard ahead of Jimmy White but it looks like he got one into the practice rooms. They showed him off with all his ambidextrous tricks and long shots, before interviewing his Dad. That's where the problem started, as in the background you could see Luca miss three consecutive pots. Pah, the biggest new talent since Ronnie? Whatever.

Unfortunately Brecel wasn't the "B" that dominated this tournament. It was all "Barry." Barry Hearn was everywhere, Sky News, BBC News, The Daily Mail.

Barry, Barry, Barry.

I was slightly startled by the headline on BBC this morning, "Hearn Looking to Conquer Europe." It seemed like he had built up an army of Snooker and Darts players and was ready to invade Germany and the rest of Europe. Luckily it was just his aim of more Ranking events in Europe. I'd still be on your guard though if I was part of the army of a European country. Could those guns beat Darts and snooker cues?

Barry might have to work on his promotion though, announcing the new German event was big news. So why did he announce it in The Guardian of all places? The paper that only 3 people read? And they're all in it for the free posters.

And finally I would like to end on the note of BBC ruining my shirt. I was just taking a sip of water when Ronnie suggested to Ken Doherty that he should wear a thong. The thought of it made me spit water everywhere. Not as much as when I took a sip while John Virgo said to his commentary partner during the UK's, "He'll just be trying to get as close as possible to that black Willie."

Nasty.

Snooker Sceney is on Facebook

2010-01-11T20:30:00.002Z

Those who are not aware, the blog isn't the only part of this marvelous world of Snooker Sceney, I also have heavily updated Twitter feed, which has over 75 followers and now Facebook.

It'll be updated with blog news, posts and more fun which don't quite make it on the blog.

Those loyal followers on Twitter need not worry, the Twitter will not change, but with Facebook more opportunities are opened.

So, go to the page, click "Become a Fan" and you will be permanently up to date.

Visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Snooker-Sceney/242261065731?v=info

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

2009-12-25T20:15:00.000Z

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL MY READERS!!!

The Secret Diary of Sir Rodney Walker

2009-12-23T08:33:00.005Z

Well Rodney has been removed. I did feel slightly sorry for him so I thought I could cheer him up by telling him my awesome "Rodney has to Walkerway" pun. I went into his house but couldn't find him, however I stumbled across a diary. I sat down and had a read...

JANUARY:

Disaster this month, my job is in serious trouble. I was told by a friend that Ronnie was planning an outburst to try and sack me, so I needed a plan. First of all I replaced his cue with a flimsy one and low and behold. It worked! Reports came in that Ronnie's cue has snapped. I thought I was safe and he would pull out. No such hope. He bought a new cue, and started progressing in the Masters. It was time for Plan B: Assassination. I didn't want to make it look obvious, so I released a blood-sucking moth to get him, unfortunately, just as it was going in for the kill, Jan Verhass killed the moth! Idiot, I'll get my revenge later in the year. Seems like someone put it on Youtube, but no one seems to have realised the true meaning of the moth. Yet.

I seemed resigned to failure, so I gave up. Ronnie asked me who the guy was who made Darts so great, I tricked him into saying Simon Cowell and surprisingly he did. Not that it matters, looks like I have 12 months to save my job. Oh dear.

FEBRUARY:

It gets worse and worse. The SPA has been formed, a rival band owned by the players. Still, I have a trick up my sleeve. I recommend Steve Davis to them all to be the head and what do you know, they accept! You see, I picked the oldest player so he's most likely to die of old age first and the SPA will be over and I'll be back in absolute charge!

MARCH:

This year doesn't seem so bad after all, another plan has worked! I deliberately made sure Ken Doherty played on the worst table at the qualifiers so he would be on BBC all the time, therefore making annoyed viewers turn to Eurosport and miss all the "Sack Rodney" stuff on Eurosport, genius huh? Well, he lost his last match just now. That means he'll have no distractions during his presenting duties.

APRIL:

I think I deserve a bit of credit for saving snooker you know. Peter Ebdon reached the final of the China Open and if anyone watched him they would get immediately bored and would never watch snooker again. So, I made sure rather than show the Final live, Eurosport showed the Luge and Superbikes. Perfect.

MAY:

6 Reds is the future! Us at World Snooker took a vote today and MY idea of six reds narrowly beat "Zero Gravity", "No Table" and "Dumping 50 Deadly Snakes on the Table after 5 Mins of Safety Play" to be the latest snooker innovation. I'm pretty sure it'll kick off. It's already proved it's popular after beating some stiff competition there.

JUNE:

Oh dear, now I'm in trouble. I was invited to a "State of Snooker" program on Radio 5 Live, but at the last minute was invited by Steve Davis to have dinner with him at Burger King. I thought it was a bit suspicious at first, I mean, who eats dinner at Burger King and secondly why did he invite me? I decided to cancel the Radio interview and went to Burger King to see what was going on. He never turned up, I'd been tricked! I drove as fast as I could down towards BBC headquarters to get to the interview, I turned on the Radio to hear what I was missing and there he was. Steve was talking to the Radio guy about how appalling it was that the Head of World Snooker went to a dinner instead of being brave and going to this interview. Steve had now made me look evil and everyone hates me. Clever old Steve.

JULY:

Aaaahhh. Holidays! So nice to be away from Snooker and have nothing to worry about.

AUGUST:

Phew, a close shave! After Ronnie's outburst at the Masters, Stephen Maguire thought as he was World No.2 he should do one as well. Well, I had another one of my tricks up my sleeve and got him and Jamie Burnett arrested! The match-fixing incident was a perfect excuse to get them away for a couple of days and by the time they were released, Stephen had forgotten about his plans. Go me!

SEPTEMBER:

Well Maguire managed to remember what he was going to do and with the Shanghai Masters coming up I knew I didn't have much time. When he was away practicing, I snuck into his shower and poured the shampoo and soap he has all over the floor. I turn on the news the next day and see that Stephen had been forced to pull out of the Shanghai Masters because of slipping in the shower and damaging his shoulder. Safe for another month.

OCTOBER:

Oooooh dear. The SPA have taken a vote and it shows that at the next AGM I will probably lose my job. And unfortunately, I seem to have run out of plans. I'm doomed.

NOVEMBER:

It gets worse, the AGM is in a couple of days and my latest plan is a fail. My attempt to get rid of everyone on the tour during the AGM didn't go to plan. I've sent Jimmy into some jungle somewhere and made John Higgins appear on Mastermind but it still seems to late. I also quickly made up some lark about a "World Tour" but it only shows I've run out of ideas. I guess it's time to just hope.

DECEMBER:

Well so long snooker. My last awful idea was bribery and I managed to bribe 24 people, but it was not enough. Got a text from Hearn asking if this "World Tour" thing was true, I told him of course it wasn't but he should act like it was. Oh well, my time is up, I better go and destroy another sport. Handball maybe?

In the end I got my revenge on Jan Verhass like I promised, making up some loophole in the "miss" rule. It worked in the UK semi-final and he looked like a chump. Nice to go out with a bang.

THE END

I put the book down, glad all my questions had been answered. I left Rodney's house, my puns were no match for his plans. In a way I felt sorry for him.

Is 6-Reds The Future of Snooker?

2009-12-20T18:03:00.001Z

Rodney has to Walkerway

2009-12-02T15:57:00.002Z

F5 was the key that most Snooker fans were pressing today. Why? To find out the news on today's AGM. Refreshing snooker websites every 3 seconds to see if it had been announced.

The suspense was crazy. As Dave Hendon said on his Twitter, it made Bush v Gore like a parish council election. So, what was it about?

It was simple, professionals voted on whether he should go or stay, with "go" winning 32-24.

Even from the moon you could hear the cheers of joy from the snooker world as they refreshed Snooker Scene blog to see the headline "Walker Defeated."

It was confirmed by World Snooker soon after that Walker and some other people that no one really cares about had been dismissed. So long!

So who will become chairman now?

I reckon it's between Barry Hearn, Me and this guy.

Snooker in the USA?

2009-11-30T18:37:00.002Z

The Snooker World Tour plans announced plans for tournaments all over the World. Germany (waiting for a while), Australia (Robertson) and Macau (Chinese fans) are all fine but one struck me as crazy. USA? U.S.A? Since when did they ever care about Snooker? I went to Florida recently and on the sports channels it was NFL, NFL, NFL, Baseball, Baseball, NBA and for like half an hour I discovered some Woman's Pool. The stories of great Woman's Snooker players are out there but they all seem to end with "and after realising she had no money she went off to play in the US Pool Tour and became rich again. Pool is big in America, Mosconi Cup in about a week (can't wait) proves that. But why has Snooker never taken off? Does anyone like Snooker in the States? Do they have their own tournaments? Detective Sammy is on the case.

The USA do have their own federation it turns out, The United States Snooker Federation. And it has it's own website, SnookerUSA.com.

The association was founded by a Brit born in 1991, Michael Collins who wanted to promote Snooker in the USA. It is a member of the IBSF and in 2006 California held the World Team Championships.

In May last year the USA Snooker Championships took place with Ahmed Aly El Sayed winning in the final. You can watch the First Frame here.

This forum proves there is a small but interested fan base and it would be great to see them getting excited if a tournament was announced. Who knows? Maybe a young budding star is out there and could be the first American Pro. Maybe one day, ESPN will be showing Snooker as well as their endless supply of Basketball and Ice Hockey (how can anyone find them interesting?).

Lets hope this proposed U.S Open goes ahead.

Rodney? Barry? Or ME!?!?!

2009-11-29T20:21:00.002Z

So the time has come, will the disaster end? Will Barry save the day? Of course, it will only happen if the players vote for him, but you know what? I'd quite fancy a go at ruling the World of Snooker, so here is what I would do...

1. Create the "Rodney Walker Award for Absolute Awfulness" and give it to whoever comes 96th in the end of season rankings.

2. Freeze Michael Holt's ranking if he gets in the Top 16 so he stays there till he dies. There's no rule saying the Head can't be bias towards his favourite players.

3. Screw ITV and Sky Sports and put all new tournaments on Bravo. With each match followed by an episode of "When Snooker Goes Bad."

4. Give Earl Strickland a tour wildcard. Here's why.

5. Play over the top dramatic music whenever a player comes out. Suggestions could be this, or this, but surely this.

6. Due to the fact Prestatyn isn't low enough, hold all qualifiers in Runcorn in a 1-Star Hotel.

7. Give Reanne Evans a wildcard. Seriously.

8. Make Pro Snooker Blog and Snooker Scene Blog official websites.

9. All players must get Twitter.

10. Change the shot-clock on the Premier League to 5 seconds with no time-outs.

11. Teach Barack Obama how to play, and then watch in satisfaction as America go snooker-loopy.

12. Hold a tournament on the Moon with the Qualifiers on the I.S.S.

13. When a re-spotted black is played. Make the black-ball remote controlled and give the controls to the player not taking the shot. Hours of fun deciding the frame.

14. Give further tour wildcards to Jedward, Mr T, This Guy, Susan Boyle and Bruce Forsyth.

So what are you waiting for? VOTE FOR ME!

Or Barry

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2009-09-23T15:33:00.002+01:00

Amazing, one year ago I decided to start a blog. I hadn't really a clue what to call it but chose Snooker Sceney, it sounded funky. I started just writing about what was going on in the Snooker World. I didn't update it much and I lacked motivation to update it.

At the end of the year I decided to do something different, a humorous look at what would happen in 2009. About a week later, it was spotted by Cuesport TV, and the blog started to become known. I then decided it was time for a change, so I redesigned the website to turn it into a fun place for Snooker fans. More funny blog entries followed and I started to get a legion of fans. Comments came, I was linked to on websites, I was mentioned on a Russian Forum and I appeared on Bongo from TSF's sig.

It wasn't long until I decided to join Twitter. It's been great fun and I managed to get to my target of 50 followers by the end of the year quite comfortably.

Who knows what the next year holds for Snooker and more importantly(ish), me. I hope you enjoy the blog as much as I do and keep reading!

Thanks for a great year.

Sammy

My Top 5 Fave Blog Posts:

1. My Magical Crystal Ball

2. Tour Survival for Dummies

3. If They Were Football Teams...

4. My Crystal Ball is Fixed!

5. 10 Things You Didn't Think Last Season

My Top 5 Readers

1. Bongo

2. Pete Williams

3. Matt from PSB

4. Whoever Subscribed First (Can't Remember Name)

5. Everyone Else

My Top 5 Players

1. Michael Holt

2. Davy Morris

3. Tom Ford

4. Judd Trump

5. Ali Carter

Don't Worry! I'm Still Here!

2009-09-21T16:14:00.003+01:00

Readers would probably have noticed that the Shanghai Masters Daily Reviews stopped at Day Two. And, it did. Everything sort of went Wrong. I suddenly realised how busy I was that week. And my Sky+ was clogging up. I then ran out of time, had failed recordings and just lost it. Very Annoying. So those who suspected I went to cry in a corner for a week because Holt lost were wrong(ish). Otherwise there hasn't really been anything to write about apart from the Premier League which... (Dramatic Pause)

I'M GOING ON THURSDAY!

Woo Hoo!!!

Can't Wait cause it's gonna be AWESOME.

I'm gonna go and try to be all PSB and all that by updating using my phone. But I'm not sure how to do that. Meanwhile, (again hopefully) I'll try to update with some pictures using my DSi and Facebook. Yay! Again not sure how to do that but I'll still try. Can't wait till Thursday!

Wow, my spelling and grammar goes out the window when I'm excited.

Shanghai Masters Day Two: What Made Me...

2009-09-09T06:14:00.002+01:00

Laugh: Ricky's fluke snooker that led to Mark lobbing his chalk across the table. Turned the match, the fluke not the chalk.

Cry: Marcus Campbell letting slip a 4-0 lead against Hendry. Horrible Hendry I feel so sorry for Marcus, although he should of finished it off earlier.

Need a Stress Ball: Joe Johnson's commentary. Please. Just. Stop. Now.

Dance: Music, nothing in the Snooker.

Fast-Forward: God, don't they have any adverts to show other than the "Eurosport Text Service?"

Get Excited: Eurosport are gonna show Holt v Murphy not Ding's match! WOOOO!!! Anything bad I've said about Eurosport must be reversed.

Shanghai Masters Day One: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

2009-09-07T18:10:00.002+01:00

During this week I'll be reviewing each day of the Shanghai Masters, with the Good, Bad and Downright Ugly. Here's Todays!

The Good: Snooker's Back! Well that was a certainty. After waiting 4 Months, the Season has begun, woop woop! Shame there's only 6 tournaments, but still, woop woop!

Dave Gilbert's New Hair Cut! Looking at his hair last season, I was thinking that was the reason he was underachieving, and he has responded with some new shorter, spikier, better look.

Eurosport Not Overrunning! OK, two matches went to 5-1 but well done to Eurosport for giving good coverage. Dave and Mike commentated well and we hardly missed anything. (Still not as good as BBC though)

Tiang Penfei! How is this guy not on the Tour? He was amazing! Didn't quite get the 147 but with like 5 50 breaks in the match it shows why he should be on the Tour!

The Bad: The Crowd! Apart from the Liang match, where were they?

The Chairs! What. The. Hell. They were shaped like Car seats! Obviously because of the Sponsor. Still, I'd love to sit in one and while my opponent was at the table I'd pretend to drive!

Liang's Miscue! Think it was Frame 2 when Liang was about to cut a red in and completely miscued it! He left Gilbert right in. Probably the day's highlight. I laughed like mad but I have no idea why.

The Ugly: Frame 4 of the Liang-Gilbert match! Never has a single frame has so many pots missed. Summed up the whole match, so boring.

OVERALL:

A Good fun start to the season. Looking forward to seeing Selt v Higgins tommorrow!

Quote of the Year :D

2009-08-19T17:16:00.000+01:00

"I would like to learn some Chinese because it would be nice to be able to say more during press conferences and interviews. All I can say is 'hello', 'thank you' and 'watermelon.'"

Mark Selby

ROFL

Meet the Noobs: Jimmy Robertson

2009-08-13T17:14:00.002+01:00

Wow! He was so close to qualifying for the Shanghai Masters!

Oh yes he was, leading Graeme Dott 4-1 he looked like he was about to qualify for a tournament at the first attempt. Unfortunately Graeme came through 5-4.

Has he been on the Tour already?

Believe it or not, this is the 3rd time! He's never qualified for a TV stages of an event and has never stayed on the Tour for more than one year.

How did he get onto the Tour this season then?

The Pro-Ticket Tour Rankings had been his way in the past, and they helped him again last season.

How Do you see him getting on?

If the Shanghai Qualifiers are anything to go by. He'll be looking at least Top 64 by the end of the season. Unfortunately with just 5 events left. He'll need to prove himself.

Anything Else About Him?

Here is his Player Profile on Pro Snooker Blog. And an interview with The Argus.

Snooker Sceney Bingo!

2009-08-11T08:26:00.002+01:00

Watching Snooker on TV is great, but It can be even more fun if you watch it while playing Snooker Sceney Bingo. Take this list, and tick them off as you see it on TV. When you've got all of them. Shout BINGO!

1. Ronnie pulls a stupid face after breaking down on 17 during an outrageous maximum attempt.

2. Joe Johnson says, "Well, would you believe it!"

3. BBC show some feature they showed 10 minutes ago.

4. At least 5 people in the crowd are wearing Football shirts.

5. Mark Allen fist-pumps after getting at least a break of 3.

6. Judd Trump says it's "nice to avoid Ronnie in the Draw"

7. Ref Patricia Murphy mistakes a foul for a Frame-Winning Pot.

8. You miss the first 5 Frames of the Final on Eurosport because the Lacrosse overran.

9. Rob Walker leans forward 10 times during his talk.

10. The audience for the match on Table 2 are all trying to lean and watch Ronnie on Table 1.

Lisowski Q&A - What He Really Means

2009-08-10T19:49:00.002+01:00

While the Pro Season has only just started. The Amateur Scene never really stopped with the PIOS and others. One of the stars is young Jack Lisowski and he recently did an interview for Eurosport.

Now I used the Snooker Sceney lie detector (stored next to the Magical Crystal Ball) and saw he was lying!

Here's what he really said.

Eurosport: You won the first PIOS event of the season. Is it the biggest achievement of your career so far?

Jack Lisowski: Winning the first PIOS is definitely the biggest achievement of my career so far. All the best amateurs from around the world compete in it and to win the first event is a great start to the season.

Translation: Can't believe that's all I've won. I need more!

ES: That weekend was a double celebration for you as a day before the final you turned 18. How did you celebrate it all?

JL: It was the perfect 18th birthday present and after the final I went home to spend time with my family who I hadn't seen for about a month. We went out for a meal and it was pretty cool having a few drinks for the first time. I also had a few days away from the table and played golf and went shopping with my friends.

Translation: I got drunk and got a hangover for a month. That's why I went out in the 1st Round of the 2nd PIOS. Accidentally took up Golf while drunk.

ES: Now, that you're a beneficiary of the Paul Hunter Scholarship and you have started your campaign so well, people will be keeping a close eye on you. Does that put more pressure on you?

JL: Having been awarded the scholarship people will definitely be keeping a closer eye on me. I played in the Paul Hunter Open a few weeks ago and had a bit of flu. I didn't play or feel very good and for the first time I think I felt the pressure of everything. I spoke to my dad about it and he told me to just focus on my game and ignore other people but I think it's easier said than done.

Translation: Go Away! I'm Not Pro Yet!!!

ES: What is the strongest part of your game? Technique, tactics, mentality, or something else? And what's your weakest point?

JL: I think I play a very attacking game and this can be my strength but also my weakness. When the balls are going in it works really well but I'm working on the bit when they don't. I think this is where being at the academy will help me the most. If I'm constantly playing other good players I can learn as fast as possible about my game and what happens when I'm playing well or not. On the technical side I'm quite happy but in another six months I'll be better. Mentally I'm also feeling good and I'm doing some work with a psychologist at the academy to just sharpen up a few things.

Translation: I'm better than Judd Trump.

ES: Daniel Wells set the target. He qualified for the main tour during his scholarship year and 12 months later he was a frame away from the Crucible. Can you beat that?

JL: Daniel Wells did brilliantly after his year from the scholarship. I don't know if I'll do better or worse than him, I'll only aim to push myself every day - making the most of the academy, and see where I end up in a year. If you think about it, all a person can do is their best.

Translation: Didn't make the Crucible! I'm so better than him. I will be better!

ES: Do you have roots in Poland as you family name would suggest?

JL: Obviously living in England and having the surname 'Lisowski' makes me stand out as it's definitely not an English name. People often struggle to pronounce it and it's usually a good conversation starter. My family are not really sure where it's from. My granddad was Ukrainian however I'm regularly told that it's a Polish name. One day I definitely want to look into it and find out for sure where some of my roots lie.

Translation: Don't Shoot! I'm Not an Illegal Immigrant!

ES: It's been reported that your favourite daily is the Times and your favourite magazine is the Economist. So...when is the economic world crisis going to end?

JL: In my spare time I like to read and one of my favourite magazines is The Economist. I think it's important to know what's going on around the world, especially with the current recession. It's effecting everyone's lives, from the world's top sportsmen to the working class, a high percentage of people now have less money than they had this time two years ago. In my opinion I think we've seen the worst and things are already starting to gradually improve, but I think it's going to take a few more years for the banks and consumers to regain their confidence and start spending again. I am however grateful it's not my job to predict this.

Translation: How the heck will I know? I'm a Snooker Player!

Interesting

Apologies

2009-08-09T09:55:00.003+01:00

I know it's been over a month but there has been a problem with my computer so I have been unable to post. I have been Twittering so you can follow me there. As you can see, the Holt Bedford match almost killed me.

The Big update now is I'm on Facebook!!!

Not sure why or what to do on it but hey!

Click Here to Visit

Holty Saves the World (Snooker)

2009-07-01T16:41:00.002+01:00

So World Snooker have announced some new Series. Woopee! At last, new tournaments!

But it wasn't Sir Rodney's idea, it was Michael Holt's! (And Dave Harold) So I think we all need to thank him.

Knowing World Snooker it won't be televised or streamed but we can hope. Hopefully they'll announce more details soon. So far the only venues are Prestatyn (don't they have enough Snooker!) and Leeds (because everyone loves Leeds!)

I would of preferred more Ranking Events but hey, at least we've got Snooker.

I've got a decent idea though, why not have a table for these events (point for each events) and you get ranking points for your postion. This would promote the "Series" part.

Worship me people!

I'm better than Rodney!

New Look for New Season

2009-06-25T17:28:00.003+01:00

Unless you're slightly stupid, you may have noticed Snooker Sceney has changed a bit. After a first season Snooker Sceney is a recognised blog. And last week significant progress was made as when you type 'Snooker Sceney' into Google, it no longer says Did You Mean: Snooker Scene?. It comes straight up with Snooker Sceney! I've had mentions on Cuesport TV The Blog, Pro Snooker Blog, a random Russian forum (!) and been linked to on many others. I also have a large fanbase, making peoples weeks, being the funniest thing someone's read in a while and being told so many blogs could learn for this. Shucks Guys! Still a long way from my life-long dream of replacing Ken Doherty as a commentator though. (No more tree frames to nil!) It hit a big redesign a couple of months ago, turning into the Definitive Fun Place for Snooker Fans (I just made that up), and since then it's been changing, and here are all of them.

OUT:

Player Pictures: They blocked up the Sidebar, and the Dennis Taylor one scared me.

Quote of the Week: Ran out of quotes.

Videos: BBC copyrighted them.

New Page to Comment: Wasted Time.

Big Adverts: Annoying, now they're smaller.

Template: Blue is so Last Month.

Spangly Red Writing: It was annoying, now it's big and bold.

News: It Broke.

Top 3's: Never did any anyway.

IN:

Latest Snooker Sceney News: Missed something, check news updates about the Blog.

Email: snookersceney@gmail.com to ask me questions, give feedback about the website, or just spam me to death.

Subscription: Congratulations to the one person who's done it so far! It means you won't miss anything!

Twitter: Follow me at twitter.com/SnookerSceney! All info is put there first. I have 21 followers and by the end of 2009 I want 50!

Search Button: Want to see if your fave player has been written about in my blog? Thought not but you can with 'the Search this Blog' button.

Improved Match of the Week: Now it's what you wanna see! Email, Twitter or Comment to suggest one. Not all can be used.

Games: Right at the bottom there are 3 addictive Snooker games for you to play! Yay!

New Season Countdown: A second countdown until the Shanghai Masters, slightly depressing.

Traffic Feed: Tell's me who's visiting, I have visitors from Sweden, Ukraine and Belgium!

Blog Rating: You can rate it if you want, it stands at 7.3 which is better than Pro Snooker Blog. (?)

Updated Ranking List: It now has 09/10 rankings.

Links to this Post: I have no idea what it does. Oh well!

Planned but not Confirmed:

Player Profiles: Started but a long way off, don't expect to have the time but I'll give it a go.

Highlights from recent Matches: Hopefully during tournaments I'll have better Highlights.

Another Snooker Blog: Not for another couple of years probably, but stay tuned for info.

So hope you like the new look and make sure you give feedback on Twitter, E-Mail or Comment on this post.

Thanks for reading!

Meet the Noobs: Xiao Guodong

2009-06-21T07:05:00.003+01:00

Well the season is nearly started, less than 2 months! And we now know the 96 players who will be contesting the Tour, these include a bunch of new guys who you might not of heard of, well here they are...

Xiao Guodong:

Well how did he get on the Tour?

Well, Xiao managed to win two events on the PIOS last season, shoving him high up the Rankings and winning promotion.

Guodong, I recognise that name!

Yeah, he was on the year before, but dropped off after a disappointing season.

I swear I saw him on TV last season?

He showed his potential by beating Michael Holt and Ding Junhui before pushing Ronnie quite far until falling in the Last 16 as a Wildcard.

Wow, he sounds good! Will we see him on TV again this season?

Well, don't bet against it. The qualifiers are tough but if he plays like he did at the 2009 China Open then we could see him again.

Cool! Any videos of him in action?

Why yes, here is one. Against Ding in the China Open, and as they say on Snooker Extra, The Scores 4-3 to Xiao, and Ding's at the table with a lead of 31 points.

Gameshows that 'Step up to the Rocket' Should not be Based On.

2009-06-10T20:33:00.002+01:00

Today's main news in the World of Snooker is this. Yay! A new gameshow, we wanted Ranking Events.

Oh well, it isn't completely confirmed what you actually do in the game. So, what should this new Gameshow be like? Well, not like these.

Total Wipeout/Gladiators/Takeshi's Castle - (A.K.A Ronnie's Total Clearence) For it to work, you've got to able to imagine Steve Davis doing it. While it might be fun to watch the Nugget get knocked over again and again, it might kill him, which wouldn't be good.

Britain's Got Talent - (A.K.A Snooker Player's Can Do Other Things) I loved Britain's Got Talent, but if it had Snooker Players, it would be awful. Holt can DJ, and Dale can sing, sort of, but no other players can do anything!

Goldenballs - (A.K.A Goldensnookerballs) What's in the ball? A yellow one? A blue? The dreaded Killer Black Ball?

Big Break - (A.K.A Bigger Break) Please don't copy it! If it didn't have Snooker Pro's in it, it would be the worst thing on TV, yes worse than Fifi and the Flower Tots.

I'd Do Anything - (A.K.A I'd Do Anything to be a Snooker Player) Hosted by Graham 'I think I'm funny but I'm not' Norton with Steve Davis replacing Andrew Lloyd Webber. The General Public battle it out to get the public's vote with the winner getting a Tour Place! Every week the contestants battle it out to show their Snooker Skills!

Actually that last one might not be that bad...

10 Things You Didn't Think Last Season

2009-06-01T15:59:00.002+01:00

1. "Ooh, Ebdon-Bond on the red button, I'll watch that instead."

2."I love these Europsort commentators."

3. "I reckon Steve Davis will pot this."

4. "Ronnie looks happy today!"

5. "This Hotshots Programme is genius."

6. "Was that '1st' thing a new one?"

7. "Has Ebdon got a new haircut?"

8."How did they think of 6-Reds? Wow they are clever!"

9."I wonder if BBC SPORT have updated the Snooker section on their website?"

10."Yay! Holt Lost!"

I'm bored, so time for some jokes!

2009-05-30T06:49:00.005+01:00

I know, it's been ages but there is nothing to do, nothing. The Jiangsu Classic isn't on TV which means this summer is going to be awful. 8 Weeks! Actually more than that! What can we do?

But I've got some brilliant jokes!!!

Michael Holt is awoken in the night in his hotel room by a phone call from the Police.

"I'm afraid your house has been broken into by burglars," said the Policeman

"Oh no!" responded Holty, "did they take the cups?"

"No, they didn't get into the kitchen"

Soz Holty.

"Doctor, Doctor! I'm turning into a Snooker Ball!"

"Get to the back of the queue!"

What do you call a gorilla playing snooker?

Hairy Potter!

What did the Cue Ball say when it was hit by surprise?

"I'm stunned!"

Why would Stephen Hendry make a good gardener?

Because he knows everything about pots and plants!

A Snooker Monster runs to the Doctors.

"Doctor, Doctor, I'm felling terrible!"

"What do you have to eat each day?"

"Well, for breakfast I have a couple of reds, for Lunch a black, brown and two pinks. A yellow with my tea. A three blues for dinner."

"I know what's wrong, you aren't getting any greens!"

Why can't DJ's play Snooker?

Because they always scratch!

Did you hear about the underwater snooker player?

He was a pool shark!

What lights up the Crucible?

A Snooker Match!

I know your laughing so hard!

I wish I was in Portugal...

2009-05-08T18:28:00.000+01:00

... but I'm not.

Looks like It's Eurosport for me tonight.

Top 8 in 2014: No.7 - Ryan Day & No.6 - Daniel Wells

2009-05-06T14:29:00.004+01:00

7th - Ryan Day

Ryan Day is what I'd say, the best player never to win anything. 3 Finals, 0 Wins will easily frustrate Ryan, but once the 1st win comes, expect loads to follow. Ryan is up to Provisionally 6th, pretty good considering the lack of a win. When will it come? Next season, and then he'll fulfill his promise.

6th - Daniel Wells

After coming ridiculously close to Qualifying for the Crucible 07-08 Paul Hunter Scholar Daniel will hope to build on that going into this season. Watching the BBC coverage of the Top 8 prediction, I was hugely surprised to see none of them went for Daniel. (One picked Nooh, who has really struggled on the PIOS this season) One disadvantage is Daniel didn't get in the Top 64, meaning he still has to play the 1st Qualifying round this season, still, I see Titles coming his way within 5 years.

THE SCA'S 2009! (The Snooker Sceney Awards)

2009-05-05T15:48:00.002+01:00

So after a long season, there has to be some awards and here they are! The Sca's! (What? Why don't you try to think of a name?)So here they are...

The Worst Haircut Award!!!

Winner: Martin Gould's Blond Spikes

Martin wasn't the most well known player at the Crucible this year so he probably wanted a bit of attention. His haircut, awful. Blond spikes looked totally wrong on him and he crashed out to Mark Allen.

The Forgot To Read The Script Award!!!

Winner: Barry Hawkins Beating Daniel Wells in World Championship Qualifiers

It was a meant to be a fairytale ending to Daniel Wells' season, he hadn't done much and going into the World Championships he needed to win two matches to stay on the Tour. He beat Li Hang in a dramatic 10-9 decider, but Ian Preece was next. Again, incredibly 10-9! He took on Marcus Campbell next, two wins away from the Crucible. Amazing 10-9 to Daniel! Surely Barry Hawkins was too tough though and Barry pulled ahead. But Daniel started an incredible comeback, 9-9! They shook hands for a decider, He's won 3 10-9's already, he's gonna do it again! Incredible stuff from the young star! He's gonna be great at the Crucible. Barry knocks in a long red and makes a break of 80.

Oh.

The Hey! Who Are You and Where did You Come From? Award!!!

Winner: Stuart Pettman

It was a huge surprise to see Steve Davis get knocked out in Qualifying by Stuart Pettman, but that was just the start of things for Stuart. He beat Mark Allen, Ali Carter who had just won the Welsh Open and Graeme Dott. He got thrashed by Ebdon though in the Semis but everyone was still going, Wow! Who is this guy? Turns out he's been on the Tour for more than 10 seasons!

Strange.

The Nicest to Me Snooker Player Award!!!

Winner: Ali Carter

To be fair this is only between the 2 players I've met: Ali Carter and Paul Davies. I played Paul in a match and if it was a movie, it would go like this...

Paul: Hi, What's Your Name?

Me: Sammy.

Paul: Wanna Break?

Me: (Over Confidently) Sure.

(I break off, and put the red in Baulk)

Paul: (after fluking a red) Haha, sorry.

Me: Haha. That's OK!

(Paul clears up with a break of 137)

Paul: Unlucky! Next!

Me: Wait, What!

Not great then, as for Ali, he gave me his Autograph during the Welsh Open.

The Michael Holt Performance of the Year Award!!!

Winner: Holty 10-7 Dominic Dale

Holt's best performance was a tough one to choose, as he had so many! (Not Sarcasm) But the Dale one tipped, 10-9 v Davis (Worlds), 5-0 v Morris (Bahrain), 5-1 v Allen (Grand Prix) and 5-3 against White (Grand Prix). Why, the importance, the showing to the public that he's not a choker (yeah Milkins, whatever...), the comeback, the tricky opponent.

Oh and he won...

The Fluke of the Year Award!!!

Winner: Shaun Murphy's Title-Winning Pink at the UK Champs

What a Final. 9-9. 1:00 a.m. Then Murphy took a pink to win, he missed! No he didn't! 2 Million people watched as the Pink pinged back into the middle pocket.

Sorry Fu. LOSER!

The Pointless Scheme of the Year Award!!!

Winner: Hotshots

Narrowly beating the 6-Red thingy. The Hotshots promised to be good, but all they did was a 15-second clip of a Trickshot competition on BBC News.

Okay?

The Worst Player of the Season Award!!!

Winner: Michael Georgiou

It was tough to decide between Georgiou and Doherty, but as Ken won 2 matches during the season, Michael wins. What happened? He promised loads, World Under-21 Champion means your probably good (Doherty won it though.), but Michael failed to live up to his reputation. He won 0 matches. He won 18 frames, Higgins won more in a match. His highest break was 61.

Will we see him back? Dunno.

The Best Website apart form Snooker Sceney Award!!!

Winner: Pro Snooker Blog

Keeping me entertained during the season was PSB (cool initials eh? Better than SS) A brilliant website with everything on it. The player profiles are my fave bit, they put World Snooker to shame!

Well Done Matt for an excellent Blog.

Now What?

2009-05-05T14:52:00.003+01:00

"From all of us at the Crucible, goodbye!" - Ray Stubbs.

What a great tournament the World Championships was. Youngsters being born, Century breaks, Drama. But then it ended.

According to PSB, the season'll start on September 7th. That's ages. So what are we all going to do now?

Luckily for us, Eurosport are showing the World Series Finals over the weekend (Friday-Sunday) and I expect there will be a couple more of those events. The Jiangsu Classic was on last year, as was a couple of other events. Fingers crossed the 6-Red Champs in Thailand will be televised but we want more!!!

I'm sure Snooker Scene and Pro Snooker Blog will entertain us with random news and stuff, but don't count on BBC Sport doing anything.

As for Moi, well I've got a reasonable amount of stuff. I'll finish my Top 8 in 2014 that I started and I'll be doing a Top 20 Players to Watch in 2009/10. I'll try to think of other things to do (ideas would be appreciated) and hopefully I'll be a nice place to go other than watching Last Season's Snooker all over again on Youtube.

Hope you enjoy the next 4 Months!

Top 8 in 2014: No.8 - Luca Brecel

2009-05-04T08:50:00.003+01:00

Anyone watching the Evening Session of yesterdays Final on BBC will know what this is about. Experts were asked who the Top 8 would be in 2014. I am an expert, but bizzarely I wasn't asked so, I'll just do it on the website. And all my readers can be very privileged.

8th - Luca Brecel

It was a tough one, this one. Everyone tipped Trump when he was 14, Judd isn't even in the Top 16, but I believe Luca Brecel is better, and has the ability to be amazing. Luca has been slightly known this year. Read the top comment on this article, but shot to fame after winning the Euro Under-19's Championship this year. Unfortuantely he's not allowed on the tour, which I think is a joke. He's better than Michael Georgiou! I'll even start a petition. Leave a comment on the Blog saying "I want Luca on the Tour." And who knows, it might work!

Whether my stunningly brilliant idea works or not, Luca will be on the tour when he's 16 and will be a huge talent.

Wildcard, YAY!

2009-04-30T17:03:00.002+01:00

At the end of the season World Snooker will choose a person (or two) to be on the tour next season, but with so many Youngsters, legends and Top quality players it's almost impossible to choose!

But who would you choose?

Michael White - The youngest century break maker ever (aged 9).

Anthony McGill - Another top youngster, Anthony will want to follow in the footsteps of fellow scots hendry and higgins.

Sam Cragie - Brother of Stephen who dropped off the tour this year, could Sam replace him and keep the name Cragie on the circuit?

Adam Duffy - Paul Hunter Scholar last year, done OK on PIOS this season.

Jack Lisowski - This year's scholar, 2007 Junior Pot Black finallist.

Mitchell Mann - Beat Lisowski in that final.

Mike Hallet - Was doing great on the PIOS this season but has flopped. A popular semi-legend.

Alex Borg - 2nd best Maltese player.

Tony Drago - Immensely popular, struggling on PIOS though.

Itaro Santos - The No.1 German. Could World Snooker give German fans a player to support?

David Gray - Great player, but all gone wrong last couple of seasons.

Liu Chuang - Two Years in a row?

Jamie Jones - Beat Ronnie aged 13.

Stephen Cragie - Meh.

Michael Georgiou - Hotshot! And that's it.

Vinnie Muldoon - A top young player and was desperately unlucky not to stay on the tour last year. Save Him World Snooker!

My Choices:

1. Adam Duffy

2. Vinnie Muldoon

3. Jack Lisowski

My Crystal Ball is Fixed! Let the Predictions Begin...

2009-04-08T18:14:00.004+01:00

A little bit of glue and sellotape have fixed my Magical Crystal Ball, but only so I can see as far as 5th of May so I'll have to use it to predict the World Championships. So here we go...

Monday 13th April:

All 32 players turn up at Sheffield to get some practice in. World Snooker tell them to go back home until Friday because they are rehearsing a surprise opening ceremony.

Tuesday 14th April:

Snooker Scene's Dave H makes his predictions on Betfair, and millions listen to him and bet on what he told them to.

Wednesday 15th April:

Betfred pull out of sponsoring the tournament, saying they only pretended to get everyone excited. The race is on to find a new sponsor.

Thursday 16th April:

I wake up to find that Snooker Sceney is sponsoring the Tournament, even though I didn't do anything or am paying any money. It's announced the Chairman (guessing that's me) will present the Trophy, star in a TV Ad, and get tickets to every day.

I think up a great idea for the TV Ad, using Compare the Meerkat's Idea, I decide to do Snooker Sceney not Snooker Scene! It airs on Eurosport every 2 Minutes.

Friday 17th April:

Turns out Snooker Scene paid £5 Million to sponsor the World's but a Typo meant an extra Y was added making it The Snooker Sceney World Championship. It's too late to change it however and the name stays but World Snooker keep the £5 Million.

Saturday 18th April:

The Opening Ceremony is cancelled 10 Minutes in when Rodney Walker's Belly-Dancing doesn't go down well.

The Tournament doesn't begin well when MC Rob Walker collapses during the opening line. The Chairman of Snooker Sceney is told to take over so I give it my best shot:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, he won it last year, so that means he's good. Ronnie the Rocket O'Sullivan!!!"

"He's Funny, he's bald, most of his shots will be holed. Mark King!!!"

Wait. Wrong Match.

Back to the other one.

"He hasn't done anything in his career. Please Welcome, Stuart Pingham!!! I mean Bingham."

"Everyone cheer loud, for Rory McLeod!!!"

I thought it went well, but everyone booed so I ran off quickly.

The BBC do a tribute to Rory becoming the first black man to qualify for the World Championship, they edit Martin Luther King's (related to Mark?) speech to: "I have a dream, that one day, a black person will win the Snooker World Championships!" Barack Obama turns up to support.

Sunday 19th April:

I am replaced by David Beckham as MC, and normal service resumes. It's all going well until the Hendry Williams match when Stephen misses a tricky pot. An Old Guy in the audience stands up and shouts "You were good in my day!!!" Hendry lunges for him and suddenly a massive fight breaks out in the Crucible. The only one standing at the end is Rodney Goggins, but no one knows how.

Monday 20th April:

The Crucible Theatre is packed with the Chinese ready for the big Ding Liang match. The audience except for one is Chinese, and he leaves claiming he felt awkward. There's disaster back in China however, when a power cut leaves the entire population without T.V and access to the Match. 1 Billion people flood into Nepal to watch the match. And just about fit.

Tuesday 21st April:

Peter Ebdon and Nigel Bond send the crowd and 6 Million watching on TV to Sleep with the World's dullest Snooker game ever. The average shot time is 20 minutes and the match is only slightly livened up when Nigel dies of old age.

Andrew Higginson lives up to his promise of "never having a sad face at the Crucible" by having plastic surgery to leave him permanently smiling. Unfortunately it leaves him unable to breathe so he becomes the second casualty of the Tournament.

Wednesday 22nd April:

Betfair report unregular betting patterns for the Maguire Burnett match for a 10-3 Maguire win. The players and crowd are slightly surprised to find MI5 people watching the match with AK-47's.

Thursday 23rd April:

Holty finishes off Higgins 10-0. (Nothing to do with me) And the world are quite surprised to see Burnett lead 5-4. At 9-9 it looks like Burnett will win with match ball on the brown. Unfortunately he overscrews the white into the pocket after potting and Maguire clears up. Terry Griffith's dies laughing so hard and becomes the Tournaments 3rd Casualty. (This is getting ridiculous) BBC nick Eurosport's commentators.

Turns out all of Dave H's predictions are wrong and he is sued £5 Trillion from the General Public. Another typo missed out 'not' so it said "Dave H is responsible for all your losses" instead of "Dave H is not..."

Friday 24th April:

Spectators to the Ebdon match are given free Duvets, Pillows and Teddy Bears in case it gets too boring. To improve his speed Peter buys some Roller Skates, but falls over and cracks his head on the Table. Making him Casualty No.4.

Nepal is squished up with all the Chinese watching Liang v Hendry. Liang wins but the Chinese are unable to celebrate because they can't move.

Saturday 25th April:

With Joe Swail struggling against Shaun Murphy he asks me for some help. I ask my Snooker Sceney readers, and they refer to the First Ever Snooker Sceney World Exclusive! When I found Joe Swail eating a Full English Breakfast to help win his Welsh Open matches. I nip out to some Cafe in Sheffield and return with Sausages, Bacon and Eggs. Joe comes back from 12-0 down to win 13-12 with 13 147's.

Martin Gould came into his match against Ronnie wearing some super-green-laser-glasses. He said they were to make him look cool, but inside it told him where to hit each ball. Gouldy smashed Ronnie.

Sunday 26th April:

Holty smashes Cope 13-0. (What?)

Monday 27th April:

Gerard Greene is no match for Steve Davis "because Steve drinks Actimel, which helps his bones continue through the day!"

Barack Obama gives Rory McLeod a stirring speech before taking on Maguire.

"Can we play Snooker?"

"Yes We Can!!!"

"Can We Beat Maguire?"

"Yes We Can!!!!!!"

"Can We win the World Championships?"

"YES WE CAN!!!!!!"

Tuesday 28th April:

Martin Gould's Laser Glasses short circuit and burn him alive making him Casualty Numero 5.

Joe Swail asks for a double Full English Breakfast, but dies of indegestion. 6.

Wednesday 29th April:

Holty wins 13-0 against Walden. (WHAT? WHAT'S IT GOT TO DO WITH ME?)

Thursday 30th April:

Barack goes all out at Rory with another crazy speech. (To Long to Print) while Holt and me have a game of Table Football.

Nepal is close to bursting as there is now 1 person by Square Milimetre. Liang says he'll win the World Championship, and then save the Chinese Power Supply!

Friday 1st April:

Shaun Murphy walks into a Snooker Sceney advert and dies. (7!) World Snooker sue me and say Snooker Sceney brings bad luck. Snooker Sceney is forced to die. Pro Snooker Blog offer me the job of updating all the Player Profiles. Accepted.

Saturday 2nd April:

Holt beats Day 17-0. (People accuse me of witchcraft and banish me to Nepal)

Sunday 3rd and Monday 4th April:

The Final. Holt v Liang. Without my magical powers though Holt is unable to smash Liang to pieces. It's 17-17. But Song's of Praise is forced to be delayed due to the Final overunning. Up pops the sign "Songs of Praise will follow this Programme." Fine, back to the most dramatic final since '85. But the sign didn't go away and it was in the way of the Scoreboard! No one could see the score. 60 Million people grabbed their remotes and flicked to Eurosport. A sign read "We Apologise for a lack of commentary, BBC nicked them." And guess where the sign was. In front of the Scoreboard. All 60 Million people in Great Britain pegged it out of their houses and towards Nepal.

Meanwhile, I was just fitting into the 1 Milimetre gap that was left in Nepal. And I saw the entire population of the U.K running towards Nepal to watch the match. They ran in, but couldn't fit, and slowly, the Himalayas toppled over. The Earth started cracking.

Back in Sheffield, Holt was on the final Black to win the World Championship. He played it, it rolled towards the pocket, Holty was going to be World Champion! Then a crack appeared in the ground, the table leaned side ways, moving the Black away form the pocket. So Close!

The Earth then split in Half, and everyone fell into space. The only Human survivor was Rodney Goggins who clung onto the TARDIS and spent the rest of his life living with Doctor Who on Raxacoricofallapatorius.

Hmmmm....

Wonder if I glued it right?

Oh.

2009-04-07T08:08:00.004+01:00

Quote from "ZOMG! Where Have You Been":

'NOOO! Holt gets Higgins in the First Round of the Worlds!

Why couldn't he get Ebdon?'

Yesterday's News Headline:

'Ebdon beats Higgins to win China Open'

Oops.

Unlikely Sponsors for the 2009 World Championship

2009-03-22T12:30:00.003Z

4 Weeks to go... and I can't wait, but as it stands, there is no sponsor for this years World Championship. World Snooker have turned some down so I was wondering, what would definitely not be the sponsor...

Moonpig - No thanks. I probably wouldn't be able to cope with, 'and Michael Holt is the winner of the 2009 "Moonpig dot coooam!" World Snooker Championship.' Painful.

118-118 - "And here to present the trophy for our champion are 118 and 118!" Or, "If you're in a Snooker, and you need some help, who can you call? 118!" It sounds like 888, so World Snooker might want it.

World Snooker - Self-Sponsoring is probably the next stupid idea Snooker's governing body come up with. The World Snooker World Snooker Championship 2009.

Cadburys - Everyone, fans and players get free chocolate, and every player must star in the Eyebrows Advert during the Tournament!

ITV - "You're watching the BBC coverage of the ITV..."

Snooker Sceney - YOU KNOW YOU WANT IT! The Snooker Sceney 2009 World Snooker Championship. Sounds great doesn't it? I'd present the winner (Holt) with the trophy and everyone would be on this site! Now where's my Piggy Bank? Surely it won't cost too much to sponsor it? I hope.

ZOMG! Where Have You Been?

2009-03-18T16:12:00.002Z

Yeah, I know, it's been about a Month since I last did something. But I've been busy, sort of. So here is the news everyones missed:

Holt Qualifies! Yup, after a day of dramatic Live Scoring on the Computer. Holt saw off the challenge of Dominic Dale to qualify for the Crucible. It was a dramatic match, Holt looked down and out at 4-1 down, but I had faith in my Fave Player! He came back strongly to 7-7 and then came a huge moment Dale got the Yellow, Green, Brown, Blue, Pink. Then the Arrow switched to Holt. Then back to Dale. Holt. Dale. Holt. Dale. I was pulling my hair out! Please Holt Pot! And he did. Cue massive celebrations from me. Holt then wrapped up the match, and I went mental.

Holt Gets Higgins. Nooo!!! Just when I thought Holty had of chance of a Top 16 place next season, he gets Higgins in the First Round of the World Championships. Why couldn't he get Ebdon?

I Hit a 147! During the Break between Holt and Dale I went out to play some Golf. They'd installed some machiney thing that measured how far you could hit the ball. So I got out a driver, smashed the ball as hard as I could, and watched the Machiney thing measure 147 Yards.

I hit a 147! At the wrong sport!

Questions Answered on Snooker Scene Podcast! Listen here to hear my questions! Episode 2 has my question about Holt, and Episode 5 has my question about Trump. He says I have problems. Should I be worried?

3-Cushion-Billiards! I am currently watching the Final of the World Carom Championship. It's so cool! I wish I was that good, wait I mean I am that good. Seriously though, I need a table.

I Have a Blog Rating! Not sure what it really means but hey, 7.3 is "Good" apparently! You can rate it if you want so if you want to make me angry then rate it "1" If you like me, rate it "10". It's under the Trumpy picture.

So there we have it! You've hardly missed anything!

Tour Survival For Dummies

2009-02-27T17:06:00.005Z

So we're at the stage of the season where it's make or break for some players. The pressure is enormous going into the World Championships and Qualifiers for most players. 'Am I going to be going to Prestatyn next season?' 'What round will I be starting?' 'Am I going to be playing Snooker next season?' The List goes on and on. But fear not confused people! Snooker Sceney is here to help you, or your favourite player, stay on the Tour.

THE RANKINGS

What you do next season depends on your Rankings at the end of the year. You can view your current position going into the World's here.

What Positions do what then? Well here's the guide.

No.1: You are the best in the whole wide world. (Example: Ronnie O'Sullivan)

No. 2-16: You don't have to play in the qualifiers. (Example: Mark Selby)

No. 17-32: You only have to play 1 qualifier. (Example: Matthew Stevens)

No. 33-48: You only have to play 2 qualifiers. (Example: Michael Holt)

No. 49-64: You only have to play 3 qualifiers. (Example: Mark Davis)

No. 65-96: Explained Later...

Top 16

So you're a top player eh? You reckon you can join Snooker's Elite? Well, Good Luck! Because it's tough. Those on the outskirts or just inside need to get to at least the quarters of both the remaining tournaments to be safe. It's tight, but the rewards are awesome, Money, TV Appearances. It can be stressful with Mark Allen being reduced to tears after losing to Stephen Hendry which blew his chances of a place, only for results to go his way and he finished 16th.

In at the moment but need to watch out:

Stephen Hendry

Ding Junhui

Mark Williams

Barry Hawkins

Dave Harold

In with a shout:

Peter Ebdon

Mark King

Stuart Bingham

Joe Swail

Jamie Cope

Outsiders:

Matthew Stevens

Ricky Walden

Steve Davis

Michael Holt

Judd Trump

Top 32 & Top 48

Securing a place in one of these is very important, even if it doesn't seem like it. These determine how many qualifiers you have to play and help your chances of qualifying for events.

Top 32:

In at the moment but need to watch out:

Liang Wenbo

Dominic Dale

Fergal O'Brien

Anthony Hamilton

Ian McCulloch

In with a shout:

Michael Judge

Nigel Bond

Gerard Greene

Graeme Dott

Adrian Gunnel

Outsiders:

Ken Doherty

Mike Dunn

Rory McLeod

Mark Davis

Dave Gilbert

Top 48:

In at the moment but need to watch out:

Alan McManus

Barry Pinches

Jimmy Michie

Jamie Burnett

Stuart Pettman

In with a shout:

Andrew Higginson

Tom Ford

Martin Gould

John Parrot

Jimmy White

Outsiders:

Paul Davies

Andy Hicks

Mark Joyce

Robert Milkins

David Roe

Tour Survival:

This is where it gets desperate, with around 40 players slugging it out to keep their careers going. The aim, Top 64. It can get close, for example Li Hang and Peter Lines are tied on 64th on 10288 points at the moment, there can be hardly any difference between staying on at Snooker or possibly changing career.

If you don't make it to the Top 64, don't go signing up for the PIOS or looking in the Job section of your local newspaper just yet. There could still be hope! As well as the Top 64, you can stay on Tour by coming in the Top-8 in the One-Year-List of the remaining players. Complicated, I know but it's how Jimmy White stayed on the Tour last year. It helps the new players who didn't get many points at the start of the year.

In at the moment but need to watch out:

Liu Song

Ian Preece

Matthew Selt

Joe Delany

Li Hang

In with a shout:

Peter Lines

David Gray

Jin Long

Daniel Wells

Vincent Muldoon

Outsiders:

Aditya Mehta

Kuldesh Johal

Stefan Marzocis

Liu Chuang

Scott Mackenzie

The Wildcard(s)

So you've tried your hardest but you're not on the Tour next season, but there is one LAST hope, World Snooker give 1 (or possibly 2 this season) places to a player who they think deserve to be on the Tour. Last Year it was Liu Chuang after his stunning run to the Crucible, this year, who knows?

Contenders:

Tony Drago - Everyone loves him.

Tony Knowles - Currently doing superbly at the World's Qualifiers and if he gets far then who knows?

A German - Who's Good.

Me - I'm Good.

Michael Georgiou - He won a grand total of 0 matches this year, but as he's a 'Hotshot', World Snooker might not want to lose him.

So there we have it, I hope you now have a clearer understanding of the complicated process. Good Luck!

The Welsh Open - Awesome

2009-02-22T18:52:00.003Z

I was eagerly anticipating the Welsh Open, but Thursday was the day I was anticipating. Why? Because I had tickets!

I arrived at around 11:30 so I could watch the Welsh Junior Pot Black. It was a bit pointless but hopefully when they are top players I can boast I saw them early.

I then searched the swimming pool to see if any players were having a splash but the only player I could see swimming in a kiddie pool was Dominic Dale, and no he wasn't there. I walked past Martin Gould but didn't have anything for him to sign. I later bought a program and put my pen in my pocket. I needed at least one autograph.

Everyone was finally let into the arena and I decided where to sit. I sat between the Carter - Dott Match and Ronnie - Fu, so I could watch both. Carter won 5-4 and Ronnie sort of lost interest so Fu won. Once Carter had finished I bounced out of my seat with my program turned to his page and gave him my pen. I had Ali's autograph!

Eventually everyone cramped round table 2 to watch Maguire and Ding in a Final Frame. I sat right at the back but then noticed Mark Selby was right behind me. Just as I was about to ask for his autograph he and a friend said something about an interview and they sped off.

After the Snooker I had a Giant Chocolate Cookie (it was nice) in Starbucks before settling down in the same seat as last time. It wasn't nice watching Anthony Hamilton walking out knowing it could of been Michael Holt, but watching Hamilton was great, he break-built nicely and his safety was perfect. I didn't get his autograph though, no point. After watching the Robertson - Higgins epic in which Robertson went to the Loo. (The day's highlight) I went off to the Holiday Inn for sleep. I watched the highlights of me looking stupid in the crowd during the Match and went to bed. My snookering time was over, or was it?

My alarm rudely awoke me and probably half the hotel at 8 a.m and I went to breakfast. I considered taking my program just in case a player was staying but I decided against it.

Oops.

Half way through my Coco Pops I noticed Joe Swail sitting on the table next to me. I could of got him to sign my Coco Pop box but I decided against it.

But, here comes WORLD EXCLUSIVE INFO...

Joe Swail got through his epics against Maguire and Robertson because he had a Full English Breakfast!

The First ever Snooker Sceney World Exclusive!

Tournaments that Need to Happen

2009-02-04T16:21:00.003Z

So at last, the Welsh Open Qualifiers have begun but I was on the brink of explosion due to a lack of Snooker.

How can this problem be solved then you ask? Easy, more Tournaments. And these are the ones that need to happen:

German Open - Everyone wants the German Open. There are millions of fans in the country and some top players (I think) are coming through. Simple, it's guaranteed to sell like hotcakes (why do hotcakes sell so well?) and World Snooker will be rich!

However, there should be special rules. Every German Wildcard would need a moustache and like sausages and beer.

Also, if an Englishman is playing a German, if it goes to a decider, there must be a Penalty Shoot-Out, so we can beat the Germans on penalties!

The Martian Championships - Think about it, Zero-Gravity Snooker, on Mars! It would be awesome, sure it would cost a bit of money to get all the players up into space but it would be worth it! All the Wildcards could be aliens that cue with their antennas!

Zero-Gravity Snooker is the sport's future.

Other Possibilities:

Underwater Open - Snooker with the fishes!

Arctic Trophy - Blizzards, slippy Ice Tables, Penguins!

Skydiving Open - Players jump out of an aeroplane with the table and play while falling (Possible death though.)

Wait I think I need to calm down...

Top 3 Worst Misses: No.1 - Hendry Misses Re-Spotted Black

2009-01-27T16:52:00.004Z

(Funny how they're all blacks!)

There have been some nervy Final-Frame deciders over the years but surely none can compare to 1998 Masters Final with Hendry and Mark Williams.

The match was one of only a few matches to be decided by a Re-Spotted Black in the Final Frame. And on that Re-Spot, Hendry missed a pot even I would have knocked in.

Hendry had already missed a Pink to win the match 10-6 but missed it and Mark won the next 3 frames. Eventually it went down to the Black and Hendry was given the chance to win with the Black over the middle pocket.

But he missed, and Williams potted and won.

You can watch the miss here.

So there we have it, the Top 3 worst misses ever.

Snooker Sceney Changes - Like Ronnie's Opinion About Snooker

2009-01-25T18:33:00.005Z

If you're a regular follower of this site, then firstly thank you but you'll probably notice the whole layout has changed.

I decided to give the site a massive overhaul and turn it into a fun place for Snooker fans. There will now be very few serious blogs and more jokey ones like My Magical Crystal Ball and The Brand New World Snooker Championship Final.

CueSport TV recently called Snooker Sceney refreshing so I will stick to the funny blogs.

There will also be Top 3's. I've started with Top 3 Worst Misses and expect many more.

The design has changed to make it look nicer with more stuff from the Snooker world.

There are now pictures, links to the best Snooker Websites (apart from Snooker Sceney, obviously), quotes and all the news from BBC Sport.

Also improved are the videos. As usual you can watch all the tournaments on this website just a couple of hours after they've been shown on TV, thanks to Youtube.

New to the site is Video of the Day, with a different video everyday. Today's (25th January) is Ronnie's record-breaking Crucible 147 back in May last year. Expect big breaks, top matches, funny moments and much more. Also, on weekends you can enjoy entire matches! And I've got an absolute classic lined up for Saturday!

Scroll down to the bottom of the page to watch the day's pick.

Thanks to everyone who reads this, and I hope you all enjoy the new site!

Top 3 Worst Misses: No.2 - Steve Misses That Black

2009-01-25T08:46:00.003Z

'Steve would have knocked that black in 999 times out of 1000'

Ted Lowe

It's past midnight, but more than 18 million are glued to their televisions as Steve Davis and Dennis Taylor are locked at 17-17 and on the black. Taylor then misses a long pot and leaves Steve with a chance to win. He just needed to cut the black in and he'd be champion of the world.

'I thought to myself, don't Undercut it, because that is how I miss it.'

Steve Davis

And what did he do, he missed it! And left Dennis to knock it in.

Steve blames his mind, Taylor blames the pressure, I just think it was a terrible miss and that it should be No.2.

You can watch the miss and the final frame here

Top 3 Worst Misses: No.3 - Ken's Missed Black

2009-01-24T13:53:00.003Z

My life long dream is to hit a 147, not win the Worlds, not be No.1. I just want to hit a maximum.

Presumably at the Crucible. In the Final. In a deciding Frame. Against Ronnie.

It might not be everyone else's dream but it's something you want to do in your career. You don't often get a good chance (I did today but got a break of 9) so if you do you've got to take it.

Ken Doherty has never hit a maximum, but he had a chance, a very good one.

In the 2000 Benson & Hedges Masters Final Ken was playing Matthew Stevens, and got all the way down to the black.

He should of just rolled it in but hit it hard, it missed and Ken became the first and currently only player to miss a black to get a Maximum.

I'll admit it wasn't the easiest shot for a maximum ever but the significance of it was huge. Ken still is yet to hit one in a tournament and it looks like he won't considering he can't even get into tournaments (he's just lost 5-0 to Judd Trump in the China Open Qualifiers).

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stuart Bingham have both got to 134 before before missing the final pink.

You can watch those and Ken's miss here.

The Brand New World Snooker Championship Final

2009-01-24T09:00:00.004Z

As you know, the Snooker news is being dominated of how it should be more like Darts.

What would happen though if it was? Well here is my report from the New World Championship Final which has been changed to be like Darts.

(Unfortunately it won't be accurate as My Crystal Ball has broken)

It's a warm day in May, and the Lakeside Crucible is full of people dressed up. The beers are selling loads and the audience walk into the Crucible arena and find their table to sit on. They find their cards with 147! on the back and a space for them to draw on. There, on the stage however. next to two giant screens is the Table.

5 Minutes later, the players walk out, the song 'Beautiful Day' by U2 is played, lights flash everywhere and out walks Ryan Day with some skinny blonde twice the size of him. He walks towards the stage shaking everyone's hand. He takes a gulp of beer, sits down and waits.

Then, out of the smoke comes Ronnie O'Sullivan to the tune of 'Rocket Man' by Elton John. He does the same as Ryan and collects the white ball from the Ref with a microphone. The Ref turns to the crowd, and they all shout 'LETS. PLAY. SNOOOOOKEEEEEERRRRR!!!!!!'

Ronnie Breaks Off in the World Final and finds the Baulk Cushion.

'NO SCORE!!!' Shouts the Ref

Ryan plays a safety shot.

'NO SCORE!!!'

Ronnie plays a negative safety shot to the top cushion.

'NO SCORE!!!'

After a long safety battle and 27 'NO SCORE!!!'s, Ryan finds a chance of a long red, he downs some beer, lines up, and pots!

'OOOOONNNNNEEEE!!!!'

The TV shows Ryan's wife/auntie sitting at a table looking nervous.

Ryan pots again.

'EEIIIGHHHHTTT'

This time Ryan lines up a red into the middle/treble pocket. For a Treble One...

'EEEELLLLEEEVEEENN!'

Ryan continues, knocking in treble blacks (24) and moving towards a frame winning position.

But, disaster! He takes a tricky yellow into the double/bottom pocket and misses it.

'RYAN DAY! EEEEIGGGHTY OOONEEE!'

'Come On Ronnie' is heard in the crowd.

Ronnie pots loads of balls and a couple of trebles and doubles.

Soon the Rocket is on the last three balls. John Virgo commentates...

'Here we go, Treble Blue.'

Potted.

'Single Pink.'

Potted.

'DOUBLE BLACK TO WIN!'

Missed.

The Black clipped the wire/jaw and went the wrong side. Ryan stepped up to knock the double black in.

'FOOOOURTEEEEEN AND THE FIRST LEG'

Ryan went onto take the first set 3 legs to 1. He raced into a 3-0 set lead but Ronnie fought back to 3-3 in a first-to-5-legs final.

Day took the next set 3-2 but Ronnie hit back with a 147 much to the delight of the crowd in the next set.

The deciding set was nervy and it was 4-4 before the Ref told the players there would be a Tie-Break.

It was 2 'o' clock in the morning and half the crowd had downed over 67 pints of beer. Ronnie got a fluke off the break and went off, unfortunately he missed a Treble Green and gave Ryan a chance. Ryan went on and got a chance to win the BDO (British Darts-Snooker Association) World Championships.

'Single Blue'

Got It

'Double Pink'

Clipped the Wire and went in'

'DOUBLE BLACK FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP!'

Missed by a Mile.

Ronnie now had three shots for the title, 19 Million were watching on TV. He stepped up.

'Miss'

'Clipped the Wire and Missed'

'NO SCORE!'

Ronnie picked up his cue ball and walked back to his seat. Ryan put his white on the table, aimed and...

'FOOOOURTEEEN! AND THE CHAMPIONSHIP!'

Ryan Day had won, he fell to his knees, kissed his cue and shouted 'YES!'

A Skinny Blonde Woman 3 Times the size of Ryan presented him with a cheque of £1 Million, and Barry Hearn, organiser of the event gave Ryan the trophy.

My Magical Crystal Ball

2008-12-29T15:37:00.004Z

I have this Crystal Ball that can see into the future. It can see the whole of 2009 so I think I'll use it to see what's going to happen in the Snooker next year.

January:

The Masters takes place in Wembley with the Wild Card Rounds opening proceedings. Both seeds, Allen and King lose so Walden and Trump go through. There was controversy in one first round match. O'Sullivan Breaks-Off in his match against Joe Perry, but it falls short of the top cushion. Ronnie, clearly angry, picks up his cue and walks off. A random audience member is chosen to replace Ronnie. But unfortunately the three-year-old-boy fails to put up much of a fight, losing 5-0.

The rest of the tournament goes well, with Ricky Walden winning 10-0 against Graeme Dott in the Final. Ricky says he is pleased.

February:

With Tickets selling slowly, World Snooker decide to completely change the Welsh Open, making it a Welsh only tournament. In uproar, all the Professionals (including the Welsh ones) form their own circuit. The WSAABOMSWDTMTAA (The World-Snooker-Are-A-Bunch-Of-Muppets-So-We-Decided-To-Make-This-Association Association).

World Snooker used the audience-fill-up-missing-players trick from the Masters to fix the Welsh Open. Ryan Giggs defeats the Three-Year-Old Boy 10-5 in a Final watched on TV by 34 people.

March:

World Snooker take legal action against the WSAABOMSWDTMTAA. The WSAABOMSWDTMTAA lose and are forced to disband. The Welsh Open is replayed as normal, with Ryan Day beating Matthew Stevens in an all-Welsh final. The losing Semi-Finalists are Welshmen Mark WIlliams and Dominic Dale.

Pontins in Prestatyn unexpectedly collapses during qualifying for the China Open. The remaining 16 places in the Tournament go to Chinese Amatuers, who the Chinese Snooker Association claim will all be World Champions.

During the Tournament, the Young Chinese players are incredible, with Farco Mu hitting 5 147's during is Last 16 match with Chiu Luang. The tournament is won by 13-Year-Old Jing Dunhui after he won a Re-Spotted Black Final Frame against Wiang Lenbo. British viewers were unable to watch the dramatic Final however, as the Lacrosse World Championship, which was being broadcast on Eurosport overran. England lost on Penalties.

April/May:

The Crucible is enlightened with Steve Davis' unexpected run to the World Championship Final, despite his highest break being 32. A lucky draw and the withdrawal of Michael Holt when the Hitman broke both hands on the table after missing a maximum chance helped Steve into the Final. In a two week marathon final with an average frame time of 11 hours, Steve saw off Adrian Gunnell in a match filled with safety play. Both players went through 567 cups of coffee during the match which the highest break was 4. And that was a foul.

After the match, Steve announced his retirement from the game and received a standing ovation, a knighthood and £1 Million for his service to Snooker. Gunnell also announced his retirement but all he received was a retirment confirmation leaflet from World Snooker.

June/July:

Nothing.

August:

The Northern Ireland Trophy is won by qualifier Mark Allen, much to the delight of the local crowds. He beats Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-6 in the Final despite the Rocket hitting 6 147's. Allen hopes he'll move up in the Rankings after falling 50 places last year with poor results.

September: A new Ranking Event, The U.S Open is held. Despite pleads from players to put it into a European area where Snooker is most popular, World Snooker say that the Americans will love it. When no tickets are sold, it is turned into a pool tournament with Tony Drago, back on the tour this year, beating Mark Selby in the final.

The Premier League starts again with the Shot Clock changing to 8 Seconds. Wildcard Drago starts sensationally, beating Davis, Selby and Championship League winner Neil Robertson in the First 3 Matches.

The Shanghai Masters is won by a Wildcard with Jing Dunhui beating Ding Junhui in an all-chinese final.

October: Snooker is finally shown in HD on BBC HD during Your-Company's-Name-Could-Go-Here Grand Prix. World Snooker fail to find a sponsor in time and are banned from changing the early name. BBC begin coverage with their new team.

Presenters: Vernon Kay, Sir Steve Davis and Ricky Walden.

Commentators: John Virgo, Ken Doherty, Willie Thorne, Murray Walker.

Fans are annoyed at Walden's struggle to analyse anything, and find Vernon Kay slightly annoying compared to sacked Hazel Irvine. Murray Walkers commentary surprisingly goes down well, saying he adds more excitement.

Ricky Walden wins it but is stripped after it is found that BBC wanted one of their team in the Final and signed a deal with every player to let Ken or Walden win. Despite Higgins' efforts to let Doherty win, Ken was still not good enough. Walden surprised everyone when he actually won the Final. The trophy went to Runner-Up Jamie Cope.

November: World Snooker finally crumple under the pressure and allow the German Open to take place as a new Ranking Event. Unfortunately it clashes with the Premier League. So Ronnie, Selby, Drago and Walden are all forced to withdraw, Ronnie claims he was going to withdraw anyway.

Despite a hampered line-up the German Open is a stunning success with even the Qualifiers (held in Pontins, Berlin) being sell-outs. The crowds love Snooker and World Snooker make £5 Million profits. The crowds fall in love with some German Wildcard as he goes on a stunning run to the Final. He loses to Robertson 9-0 in the Final however.

December: Drago wins the Premier League, beating Walden in the Final.

Sir Steve Davis gets the Masters Wildcard, and he will come out of retirement to play in that tournament.

The UK Championships are won by... Michael Holt! He beats Ronnie in the Final and becomes a 'Hit' with the viewers.

Roll on 2010!

Half Term Report Part 1

2008-12-22T09:45:00.003Z

OK, so it's Half way through the Season. Well done to Shaun for winning the UK, even if it was on a fluke. But how have players got on so far?

1. Ronnie O'Sullivan - Ronnie has done OK. He won the Northern Ireland Trophy and looked on form but has had a lot of off days. Needs to calm down and not concede silly frames.

Best Moment: Winning the Premier League in stunning style against Mark Selby.

Worst Moment: Pulling out of Bahrain.

Grade: B

2. Stephen Maguire - A disappointing season with some poor showings. Saved himself with a Semi Final appearance in the UK.

Best Moment: Beating John Higgins 9-7 to reach the Semi-Final stage of the UK's.

Worst Moment: Getting thumped 5-1 in front of friends and family in the Grand Prix First Round.

Grade: C-

3. Shaun Murphy - Had a shocking season until the UK's which have really saved him with that win.

Best Moment: Duh? Winning the UK's, the only tournament he won a match in.

Worst Moment: Losing to Mike Dunn in Bahrain, it was his 4th defeat in a row.

Grade: B-

4. Mark Selby - Looks like the best player on the tour but keeps throwing away matches he should be winning.

Best Moment: Smashing Hendry 5-0 in the Premier League Semi. A stunning performance which included 3 centuries.

Worst Moment: Losing a day later to Ronnie O'Sullivan 7-2 in the Final. Selby just simply did not turn up.

Grade: B

5. John Higgins - Looked consistent this season and won a title in the Grand Prix beating Ryan Day in a close final.

Best Moment: Beating Day to win another Ranking event, and possibly the first of many this season.

Worst Moment: Losing to Dave Harold in the Semi's of the Northern Ireland Trophy. A match he should of won.

Grade: B+

6. Stephen Hendry - One Word: DISASTER. Hendry is not creating the form he showed in the 90's and his career is looking in danger of flopping like Doherty's.

Best Moment: Showed his true class and experience to nick the final frame in a tough first round match against Dave Gilbert in the Grand Prix which he looked like losing.

Worst Moment: Losing 5-2 to Higgins in 'The Clash of the Scottish Titans'. The match didn't live up to what was expected as Hendry was brushed aside.

Grade: D+

7. Ali Carter - Reached a stunning 3 Semis but lost ALL of them. Maybe it's because I keep tipping him for glory in every tournament?

Best Moment: His crushing 5-0 victory against John Parrot shut John and Rob Walker up after Rob had put John into the next round. John didn't stand a chance.

Worst Moment: All his Semi-Finals are in contention but he was 5-2 up and should of made it 6-2 against Marco in the UK's. It was 3rd time unlucky for Ali.

Grade A-

8. Ryan Day - Consistency for Ryan but too many close defeats have stopped him winning titles. Can play incredible stuff but loses scrappy frames too often.

Best Moment: Beating Mark Selby 5-4 on the Black in the Grand Prix. Looked doomed when Selby had simple frame ball but cleared superbly to stun Selby and go onto the Final.

Worst Moment: The Final. After playing stunning stuff to beat Ali, Ryan looked favourite to beat Higgins and win his first ranking event in his 3rd final. He started awfully and despite a late surge Higgins hung on.

Grade: B

Part 2 will come, I promise!

Ding Hits 147

2008-12-16T18:27:00.001Z

And I missed it!

32 in Telford Part 1

2008-12-10T16:19:00.002Z

Here are my thoughts on what will happen to each player at the UK's.

Part Two Coming Soon

Ronnie O'Sullivan - Obviously the favourite and showed his class with a 7-2 thrashing of Mark Selby in the Premier League Final. Has his off days and he'll hope he doesn't have one against Joe Perry in the First Round.

Stephen Maguire - Should get past Burnett but Holt or Robertson won't be easy. Needs to do well here or will face slipping further down the rankings.

Shaun Murphy - Martin Gould is a good draw and a bad draw (if that's possible). It may be good to get the Lowest Ranked player in the competition but if he loses (which I think he might) it could really kill off Shaun.

Mark Selby - Mark needs to forget what happened at the Premier League and focus on the UK's. He has potential to blow everyone away if he performs like he can. Mark Williams isn't the easiest draw in the world but expect Selby to win that. Unfortunately he's in the Top Half of the draw with Ryan Day and Ronnie. That could dent his chances.

John Higgins - Higgins is probably the only likely winner (except Holty, obviously) and will want to perform as well as he did in Glasgow and make it 2 out 2 in the BBC Tournaments. Swail should be easy, and the rest of his half are all beatable.

Stephen Hendry - I thought Stephen's career was over when he lost to Higgins at Glasgow, he couldn't pot and he only just beat Gilbert in the previous round. Then he thumped Walden in Bahrain and reached the Semis. He then lost 5-0 to Selby in the Premier League and once again I think his career is over. Can he prove me wrong? Maybe. He should beat Stephen Lee but Trump looks a likely end.

Ali Carter - My tip for Bahrain (until he lost) has another good chance of winning a title. McCulloch is, well, McCulloch. Unfortunately, he is in the Top Half with Day likely in the Last 8. Still, he is a good bet.

Peter Ebdon - It's not like anyone cares but I'll do him anyway. He has Andrew 'Hey- I-Once-Reached-A-Final' Higginson in the First Round before Carter. Expect it to end there.

Neil Robertson - Bahrain winner will want to win two in a row to prove the first was no fluke (yes it was). Doesn't stand a chance against Holt though, obviously.

Ding Junhui - Mr Inconsistent will want to win the title he won in 2005 (I think). Back then he beat Steve Davis in the final to win. His first round opponent? Ooh, it's Steve. Is in the 2nd Half of the draw so that will help his chances.

Joe Perry - So close to beating Ronnie in the Prem but has chance for revenge in the 2nd Round. Mark Davis has beaten Walden and Ding this season so he will be no pushover.

Graeme Dott - Believe it or not Dot is still in the Top 16. Provisionally however he is only just in the Top 48. He takes on Ken Doherty in a match that could kill off the losers career. Dott loses he's in danger of falling below Liu Song. If Ken Doherty loses he er... gets to commentate. Lets hope Dott wins then.

Marco Fu - Barry Hawkins is one of the best players outside the Top 16. So Marco won't like this draw one bit. Barry'll be favourite so Fu needs to play well.

Mark King - Judd Trump = Game Over.

Mark Allen - It's been a poor season for the young Northern Irish star, so this tournament is huge for him. Bingham is not an easy match and Allen will be the underdog.

Look out for Part Two!

Road To Telford

2008-12-07T12:06:00.003Z

So today is the start of the Final Qualifying Round for the UK Championships. A chance for the Non-Top 16 players to get on BBC. There are plenty of exciting matches today and tomorrow for you to watch on Live Scoring. Here are the picks:

Today:

Ken Doherty v Liu Chuang

Young v Old as Chuang tries to qualify for his second ranking event in two years. Doherty has struggled this season but should be able to get past the Chinese Teenager.

Dominic Dale v Martin Gould

Dominic has struggled this season and failed to qualify for the last BBC tournament. He faces Martin Gould hoping to play on TV for the first time.

Tomorrow:

Matthew Stevens v Marcus Campbell

Stevens will be hoping to get back onto TV after reaching the Final of Bahrain. To do that he will have to beat Mr Journeyman, Marcus Campbell, who hit the only maximum in the Bahrain Champs

Michael Judge v Judd Trump

Trump showed BBC viewers his enormous potential at the Grand Prix and will want to show them even more at Telford. His match is tricky as he only just beat Jin Long 9-8 in the last round.

Steve Davis v Adrian Gunnel

Rematch No.1 as Adrian takes on the player he lost to at the Grand Prix. Steve will be desperate to be playing as well as presenting at Telford but has a tough match. Expect this one to be a bit of a grinder.

Fergal O'Brien v Michael Holt

Rematch No. 2 as Fergal O'Brien wants revenge over Holty for the Northern Ireland Trophy defeat. This'll be the one I'm watching supporting The Hitman!

Liang Wenbo v Joe Swail

The Big One. Rematch No.3 and Joe will be desperate for revenge after he thrilling 2nd Round match at the Crucible in which Wenbo beat him in a Final Frame decider that went to the colours, it included controversy after Wenbo failed to admit a referee mistake. Expect a thriller. If you're going down to watch the Qualifiers, this is the one to watch.

Snooker on The Box

2008-12-06T13:57:00.002Z

It's a week to go until the UK Championships, and also 2 weeks to go until Snooker's back on the BBC. The BBC Tournaments (Grand Prix, UK, Masters, Welsh, Worlds) are always the most exciting and the best to watch. BBC's coverage has everything expected, great pundits (sort of), great commentators, and a lovely Big Red Button, letting us viewers choose the matches we want. All matches are televised in one way or another whereas the Eurosport Tournaments (Northern Ireland, Shanghai, China,) leave you with just one match. Meaning you can't watch who you want.

BBC is obviously better.

However, BBC doesn't have the perfection. Watching the Grand Prix, I noticed the repetition of the videos about players, Scotland, Hotshots, that little kid with glasses. OK, yes, people will want to see these but might be unable to so when they are watching put it on. Also there aren't really many videos about past tournaments, I'm talking about 80's and 90's which is surprising considering the presenters are Steve and Parrot. Compared to Wimbledon, which (thanks a bit to rain) shows tonnes of documentaries featuring Sampras, McEnroe etc.

The commentators are good I suppose, but when this appeared, I was shocked. Clive is one of my favourite commentators but now they've said their gonna ditch him for Ken Doherty. (?) What have the Beeb come to? Are they trying to beat Eurosport by shoving in as many players as possible? Eurosport only have 1, if you count Mike 'Pontins' Hallet as a proper famous player. (No Offense Mike, it's just you've never won the Big One)

What happens if Steve, John and Ken all qualify?

Of course there is Eurosport. But it isn't mega rich like it's opponent. Hopefully one day Eurosport will add a studio for presenters, like they've done for the UCI World Cycling Championships and the Superbikes.

Where does the future lye then? BBC, Eurosport and Sky Sports have all got HD channels now but Snooker somehow avoided getting the High-Definition treatment (come on, we got Yachting in HD!)

But what interests me the most is will there be a new channel jumping up and snagging some rights to do some tournaments? Is Football and Golf mad Setanta willing to get some Snooker in there? I think Setanta are good enough to get some decent better-than-Eurosport coverage, so lets cross our fingers.

And no ITV, don't try coming back.

Whatever happens, nothing beats some live Snooker on the BBC. Expect me to spend the UK Champs on the sofa, eyes glued to the box. Holt's winning 6-2 against Johal in the Qualifiers with a game against Fergal probable, he's beaten him once this season, lets hope he can do it again and get on the box.

Wild Thing

2008-11-27T17:56:00.003Z

Come January, the Masters will be ready to rumble at Wembley, and we already know 17 out of the 18 competitors; The Top 16 plus Judd Trump, who qualified by beating Mark Joyce (?) in the final of the qualifiers. That leaves one place, with it going to a wild card. Who? Well here are the contenders:

Ricky Walden (Pictured): The big favourite to get it, as he won the Shanghai Masters earlier this year. Also won the Belgian Open, a non-ranking event and took eventual-finalist Ryan Day to a Final Frame in the Grand Prix.

Chance 9/10

Dave Harold: Apparently this years best player outside the Top 16, this helped by a run to the Northern Ireland Trophy Final. Unfortunately he's always losing 4-5. So that's bummed down his chances a bit.

Chance 6/10

Liang Wenbo: The ever so popular Chinese player won the hearts of fans at last years World Championships and has carried on that form this season with some notable wins. Last year Marco Fu was chosen because he was a favourite with the BBC viewers after his Grand Prix win. It'll be interesting if that is the way of picking.

Chance 8/10

Steve Davis: BBC will probably want a presenter playing and Steve has done superbly this season (despite his highest break being something like 40) reaching a couple of Quarter-Finals. However he didn't enter the Qualifiers which asks the question whether he wants to play?

Chance 7/10

Daniel Wells/Michael Georgiou/Jamie Cope A.K.A 'The Hotshots': World Snooker's 'Hotshots' have done nothing since being introduced at the start of the season. But is the Masters the start of it all? 2 of the 5 Hotshots will be there (Mark Selby and Mark Allen) but is that enough? Georgiou probably won't get it as he does nothing, Cope's failed this season with a load of poor performances but as for Daniel Wells, I think he deserves it. (Well, sort of) The Qualifiers for the tournament saw the popular youngster beat Michie then Liang before coming heartbreakingly close against Fergal O'Brien in the Quarters losing 5-4. Dan's only TV moments have been the Hotshots Video and being a judge in The Sportsround Trickshot Challenge, on CBBC. It's unlikely but I would love to see him play.

Chance 3/10

Others

Michael Holt: A couple of good performances probably won't be enough. 3/10

Stuart Bingham: Decent season but who wants him? 4/10

Matthew Stevens: Bahrain finalist has a decent chance. 6/10

Ken Doherty: Plenty of fans but has had an awful season. 5/10

Jimmy White: Done alright this season but he is sort of gone. 3/10

Me: Amateurs can play right? 0/10

Ronnie=Chelsea, Holt=Reading

2008-11-21T18:02:00.008Z

OK so it's been a while since my last post (Robertson Won! As I predicted!) so I thought about doing something fun. Apart from Snooker, my favourite sport is football. So what happens when you mix them together? Hopefully not this.

But if Snooker players were football teams, who would they be? Well here we go...

Chelsea - Ronnie. The Best

Liverpool - Hendry. Once the absolute best

Man U - Higgins. Huge Fan Base and Title Winner

Arsenal - Mark Selby. Young Challenger but keeps losing this season

Aston Villa - Ryan Day. Consistent last season, looks like Top 4 this

Hull - Judd Trump. New Kid who's surprised a lot of people

Everton - Ding Junhui. Looked like breaking into Top 4 but have faded now and are very

inconsistent

Boro - Dominic Dale. Won some trophies recently but otherwise done nothing

Pompey - Marco Fu. Last season stopped the best team/player never to win anything

Fulham - Liu Chuang. Great escape last season with a great performance at the final

tournament/match of the season

Sunderland - Joe Swail. In and out of Top 16/Prem like a Yo-Yo

Man City - Jamie Cope. Bags of Talent but never does anything

Bolton - Peter Ebdon. Boring

West Ham - Neil Robertson. Won a title in 2006 but hasn't done much since apart from get

fans in Middle East

Stoke - Liang Wenbo. New, but can only Long Pot/Throw

Wigan - Andrew Higginson. Stunned everyone by coming out of nowhere to reach a final/Prem. Nothing since though

Newcastle - Graeme Dott. Injuries have killed of this once great team/player

Blackburn - Shaun Murphy. Consistent, but struggling this season

Tottenham - Steve Davis. Great in he 80's, looked like he was coming back but struggled last season. Slight revival this season

West Brom - Mark King. Into Top 16/Prem, out this season

Reading - Michael Holt. Favourite player/team. Unlucky last season but back to best this season

Leeds - Jimmy White. Slight revival this season from a former great.

ROBERTSON WINS!!!!!!!

2008-11-13T20:18:00.000Z

'Faints'

I predicted something Right!

Holt Loses

2008-11-12T19:14:00.002Z

Goes and bangs head against wall.

HE WAS 4-0 UP AND STILL LOST! AAAHHH!!!

Ryan Loses

2008-11-11T20:34:00.001Z

Maybe I should stop Predicting?

Poor old Neil Robertson, my other tip.

Ali Loses

2008-11-11T17:05:00.000Z

Good Thing I Didn't Make a Bet.

So Who's Gonna Win Now?

2008-11-10T16:21:00.005Z

Fu - Out

Ebdon - Out

Murphy - Out

Cope - Out

Dott - Out

Doherty - Out

Only Ryan Day from the Top 16 has made it through.

So who's gonna win?

Day?

Holt?

Robertson?

Milkins? (Wait, No)

No doubt it's gonna be an interesting tournament.

My tip...

Ali Carter.

Providing he can get past the Judge.

Holt?

What Happened to Shaun?

2008-11-09T16:54:00.005Z

Who here has heard of Mike Dunn?

Yep, as I guessed, no one.

But bizzarely, I was expecting him to defeat the 2005 World Champion and even more bizzarley, I was right.

So how did Shaun lose? And how did I predict he'd lose? Well Shaun hasn't won once this season. Losing to the likes of Adrian Gunnel and now Mike Dunn.

This guy was hailed as the next big thing after winning the Worlds when he was 150/1.

Since then he's done OK and only lost one 1st round match last season. But he sees to be falling apart now.

A New Beginning

2008-11-09T10:37:00.002Z

Snooker Scene recently did a blog about the best player to never get into the Top 16. They suggested Dominic Dale and I'll probably agree. He has won two ranking events in his career.

I thought about my favourite player, Michael Holt, only having reached the Quarter Final of a ranking event 3 times.

There is no doubt he has plenty of talent and now, this season, he's beginning to show it.

He looked to be in control against Ding Junhui at 2-2 in the 2nd Round of the Grand Prix before losing 5-2 but he showed he can play and now, in Bahrain, is a superb chance to go far.

I spent this morning, fingers crossed, staring at the Live Scoring on the World Snooker website (Eurosport were showing Mountain Walking) as Holty took on one of the favourites for the tournament, Jamie Cope.

It was nervy, Holt looked to be cruising at 3-0 but Cope got it back to 3-2. Holt won the next with a 70 break before Cope nicked the 7th. Then, Holt won a long 8th to progress to the next round where he'll play Peter Ebdon or Robert Milkins.

Lets hope Eurosport will show it. Live Scoring isn't fun.

Wild Failures

2008-11-09T07:08:00.002Z

So as I predicted, No Wildcards got through. But, what was even worse, was the fact that none of them won more than 1 frame.

The only highlight of yesterday was Marcus Campbell's 147. Providing no one else hits one. Campbell will get more money than he did in the WHOLE of last year.

Time for Bahrain

2008-11-08T08:14:00.002Z

So here we go, Bahrain.

The first tournament in Bahrain ever, starts today but, in my opinion, it has failure written all over it.

Okay, so tickets are selling well and all the players are loving it but there are problems.

1. It's in Bahrain, hardly the most Snooker crazy country on Earth.

2. The Wildcards, it's obvious they're not going anywhere.

3. But most importantly. Where are the top players? Ronnie, Selby, Ding, Higgins and it looks like Steve Davis is going to pull out, all because of the Premier League clashing! Who makes up the dates? OK, so we might have a surprise winner. Day, Cope and Trump spring to mind but seriously? It can't go without the last two World Champions.

It looks like Eurosport aren't starting there coverage until Monday (?) So unfortunately we won't get to watch those talented Bahrainians (if you put it like that) get whitewashed 5-0.

What a shame.

THE NEW LOOK SNOOKER SCENEY

2008-11-06T08:03:00.002Z

If you read this blog you may know it's hardly updated.

But fear not my er.. 3 readers!

Get ready for the new daily updated blog!

Starting Tommorow

Hooray for Holt

2008-10-14T06:45:00.001+01:00

As you may of read in my last entry, I said Michael Holt was my favourite player.

However, it is not often I can watch him on TV as he is struggling to qualify for most events.

He failed to qualify for the Worlds last year and has dropped out of the Top 32 which is surprising for a player of his quality.

The main reason he isn't playing in the Top 32 or even 16, is he struggles under pressure and can get frustrated easily. He has been docked many frames for swearing and has broken his knuckle once slamming it against the table.

But this season is going better for him. He reached the second round of the Northern Ireland Trophy and is in the hat for the second round of the Grand Prix after a stunning win 5-1 against Top 16 member Mark Allen.

Hopefully this'll be a new step for the future and hopefully he can go far in the Grand Prix, like Snooker Scene predicted, they said:

''Of the qualifiers that could threaten to complete a similar giant-killing run, Michael Holt may be worth a couple of quid. I realise many people will think I've lost the plot here. Holt is, after all, renowned as a nervy character who once rapped his hand so hard on the table rail after missing a pot that he was taken to hospital with a broken knuckle. Backing him to win a title may look a bit like backing Amy Whinehouse to join the Women's Institute but I've noticed he is playing with renewed confidence this season and he demonstrated his fighting qualities by coming from 3-0 down to beat Jimmy White 5-3 in the qualifiers. Holt's a much better player than many people realise and, if he can keep his own doubts at bay, could spring a real surprise. He's currently 120.0 for the title.''

Come On Holty!

Lucky Break

2008-10-13T16:52:00.000+01:00

As you may already know Graeme Dott was forced to pull out of the Grand Prix because of a broken arm. This meant his opponent would get a bye into the random second round draw, that person was 19-Year-Old Judd Trump.

Judd is being hailed as a future star for the game, he hit a 147 in tournament play when he was 14 and apparently he hit one in practice at 10 years old. This season he has qualified for every tournament but he is still frustrated at a slow rise in the rankings, 41st in Main and 40th in Provisional.

Last season he qualified for the Welsh Open and did well against Ronnie O'Sullivan before succumbing 5-3.

He finished disappointingly last season with a 10-9 defeat to Joe Swail in the Final Qualifying Round of the World Championships.

But with this bye and a promising start to the season, things are beginning to look for ''The Ace''.

For tomorrow's draw it would be nice to see Judd avoid players like Ronnie and possibly play one of the weaker players so Judd has a chance ti reach the latter stages.

Whoever he gets, I will be supporting him all the way. (Unless he gets Michael Holt, my favourite player)

Bye Bye to Shanghai

2008-10-12T08:02:00.000+01:00

OK so it's a little late but here is my view of Shanghai.

Nobody expected Ricky to win except for possibly Snooker Scene who tipped him to do well.

I agreed with Snooker Scene (yeah I'd say that after he won) that Ricky stood a chance, after he won the Belgian Open just before.

Still with the form Ronnie was in, it was a huge surprise that Walden beat him 10-8 to claim his first ranking tournament.

It was disappointment for the Chinese support as Ding and Wenbo were sent crashing in the first rounds and they were quite quiet, a reason they should not host the Worlds.

Cope hit a 147 that was not televised on Eurosport, Eurosport again bored people to death by boring presentation and the fact they showed Lacrosse instead of the Final Live.

Shanghai TV Times

2008-09-28T16:28:00.000+01:00

All These are BST

Monday

8:00-11:00 Xiao Guodong v Jimmy White

12:45-15:45 Liang Wenbo v Atthasit Mahitthi

Tuesday

8:15-11:15.

12:45-16:00

Wednesday

8:00-11:00

12:45-16:00

Thursday

8:00-11:00

12:45-16:00

Friday

8:30-10:00

12:45-16:00

Saturday

8:30-11:15

Sunday

8:30-11:00

Hi Hi to Shanghai

2008-09-27T12:41:00.000+01:00

Monday sees the start of the season's second ranking event, The Shanghai Masters.

Last year it was won by Dominic Dale (pictured) but I think everyone knows that he probably won't do it again.

Monday is the Wild Card Round. A Qualifier v A Young Chinese hopeful. These include Xiao Gudong who has won two tournaments already in the Pontin's Series. It'll be a case of young v old when he takes on Jimmy White.

It'll be interesting if that'll be the match on Eurosport, or if it'll be Judd Trump, who plays (try and pronounce this!) A Bu La Jiang. Also playing are Anthony Hamilton and Ricky Walden.

Liang Wenbo, China's new star (he's just got Ronnie in the First Round of The Grand Prix) plays Attahasit Mahithi in a Third Round Qualifying match with the possibility of playing Mark Allen on Tuesday at 3am BST in the Fourth Qualifying Round, Mark replaces Dominic as a qualifier as Dale qualifies as last years winner.

Dominic kicks-off against Davis at the start of what should be a great tournament!

Future Number 1's

2008-09-25T15:54:00.000+01:00

I said in my last Blog about the Qualifying stages having some top young players and future champions, well here they are:

Judd Trump: Judd (pictured) is currently the youngest person to hit a competitive 147 at 14 years of age. This season he has qualified for the Northern Ireland Trophy and Shanghai (He is currently playing Stephen Lee for a place at the Grand Prix). He reached the First Round at the Crucible in 2007 but failed to qualify last year after losing 9-10 to Joe Swail.

Jamie Cope: Hailed as the absolute next big thing, the only player to have hit a 155 Break turned 23 just 2 weeks ago. He reached the final of the 2007 China Open and Grand Prix but lost out to Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott. Last season he reached the Quarter-Finals of the UK Championships before finding The Rocket at his best. He qualified for the Worlds but lost 10-9 to Peter Ebdon despite having chances.

Mark Allen: Northern Ireland's big prospect is in the Top 16 for the first time and is looking like he can win titles. He ended last season with a disappointing 10-9 defeat to Stephen Hendry. He led 9-7 but missed so many chances to win. This is the one problem he has, to finish off matches. At Northern Ireland this year he led Dominic Dale 4-1 but only just squeezed past 5-4. If he can turn this around, he has a bright future ahead of him

Me: (Actually, Nah!)

Qualifying Stages Need More Attention

2008-09-24T16:36:00.000+01:00

OK, so a couple of minutes ago Jimmy White lost to Michael Holt 5-3 (He led 3-0). But it ended a superb run of 8 consecutive wins at Pontins.

Unfortunately, many Snooker fans do not know where the Whirlwind is these days. The Qualifiers are hardly coveraged, and most people do not care.

Jimmy has been doing this for quite a while now, but for people like Ken Doherty and Mark Williams, it'll be tough trying to get back.

Ken did lead 4-2 against Ronnie in Northern Ireland and seemed to be playing well until he fell away, but then defeat to Jimmy for a place in Shanghai reminded him of the harsh reality of playing Qualifiers.

The Qualifiers also have many young players and possible top players in them. Judd Trump seems to be winning regularly and Liang Wenbo seems to thump everyone.

However, the only way to (sort-of) watch them is to go to Pontins or watch live scoring on the World Snooker website, which I tell you, is not fun.

I know the point of Qualifying is to get through to the ''Televised'' stages of a tournament, but wouldn't it be nice to have a little camera installed next to every table so we could watch it on the web or somewhere?

At least it would give some more respect to Jimmy, Judd and all the others.

Premier League Kicks Off in Style

2008-09-24T16:12:00.000+01:00

We are two rounds into the Premier League and I, like many others, am enjoying it a lot.

Take Round 1 for example, Selby's incredible 343 unanswered points got us off to a flyer then Higgins drew with Ronnie including a dramatic First Frame on a re-spotted black!

Again Higgins drew in Basingstoke in Round 2, again Ding took a big lead only to squander it. But the big surprise was definitely Joe Perry beating the Rocket.

I watched Perry at the World Championships last year and I thought he was very good and I predicted a good season for him. He was unlucky to get an unstoppable Ronnie at Northern Ireland but this time, when Ronnie wasn't at his best, Perry played superbly to win 4-2.

Sky Sports' coverage was fantastic, not as good as BBC, but miles better than Eurosport. It is an entertaining format made even more entertaining thanks to Sky. (Eurosport, Take Note)

Snooker returns with Northern Ireland Trophy

2008-09-23T19:54:00.000+01:00

So after absolutely ages, Snooker finally returned with the Northern Ireland Trophy.

As everyone expected, Ronnie won. But there were many surprising players during the tournament:

Dave Harold - Stunned Maguire and Higgins to reach his first final for 15 years.

Mark Davis - World No. 50 beat Joe Swail and Ding 5-4 to reach the Third Round, chances are however, he won't do it again.

Liang Wenbo - Beat 'The Nugget' 5-3 and then thumped Ebdon 5-0 to show his Quarter-Final showing at the Crucible was no fluke. Sadly a Kamikaze Pot-Every-Ball showing against Higgins live on Eurosport sent him back home.

Jimmy 'Whirlwind' White - The story of the qualifying round. The World No.65 (Yes, 65!) won 3 matches at Pontin's to qualify and lead Barry Hawkins 2-0 before losing 5-3.

As usual, Eurosport bored everyone to death with their coverage. A joke about Northern Ireland getting flooded starts getting boring after 12 times. But Ronnie was entertaining as always, his comeback against Doherty was stunning. No 147 this year, Ronnie and Holt got about a run of 40.

Still after months of just World Series of Snooker, it was good to see it back!

Neil Robertson

2000-01-01T18:38:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

Marco Fu

2000-01-01T18:36:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

Mark Selby

2000-01-01T18:34:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

Ryan Day

2000-01-01T18:31:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

Ali Carter

2000-01-01T18:29:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

John Higgins

2000-01-01T18:26:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

Shaun Murphy

2000-01-01T18:22:00.001Z

Coming Soon...

Stephen Maguire

2000-01-01T17:49:00.000Z

Coming Soon...

Ronnie O'Sullivan

2000-01-01T17:41:00.002Z

Coming Soon...