Snooker

Bump for the World Championship.

Great finish to the Fu v Robertson match last night. He's a battler, ain't he?

It was quite a match. Certainly a battler. And so nonch.

A speedy first frame to Selby. Come on Marco!

Classic Ronnie last night. Total collapse, looks like he couldn't be arsed and then knocks in a six minute century.

incredible, such difference in style and pace. the true natural. hope he can continue like that this afternoon, he will need to...

Yeah. He has the opportunity to make Ding cry again.

Only seeing the scores so can't read too much into it but 1st 3 frames to Ronnie. Exciting!

Nope - third to Ding. Though Ronnie looks like he's on for a maximum this frame

What a break. But still buttocks clenched...

Don't like the new(ish) feature of earpieces in the audience btw, whenever the commentators make jokes they distract the players.

Bloody exciting right now!

Agree about earpieces. Went to a couple of games at Ally Pally earlier this year. Can't believe how loud the settings are.

Ding well done, stood his ground, even a little tear from his eye embracing his idol (my projection) Ronnie, who remains as inconsistent as he is brilliant

Gah!

Just gearing-up for the highlights. I caught the emotional final scenes, but not the main body. Ding ding!

Watching now. Ding so solid.

But Selby seems to be beasting anyone and everyone, amazing match player. Reckon he'll win the whole thing tbh

Cheating little shit Higgins also looking really strong. Should be good SFs tomorrow.

'146 is the new 147, innit'. Brilliant.

Ding so solid indeed. He's not won a world championship, has he?

Ha ha just been talking about that. He's never really given a shit about losing! Would be a first for Ding, but Selby thrashed him a few months ago in China.

http://cuetracker.net/head-to-head/mark-selby/ding-junhui

I don't think you'd need to if you had the snooker equivalent of ginga. Plus, it seems his new line's attempting to hustle American pool without being recognised. He's a card that Ronnie.

And a day of century breaks too. Snooker's the new cycling, innit.

Re: earpieces. They aren't that new, I've been going to live snooker for the last 20 years and they've been around for at least a decade. The volume is not hard set, it's up to each person to twist the dial. I like them, but am happy without. For people with less knowledge about the game, they are fantastic.

But, they charge a tenner for them which is criminal and I agree that the commentators need to have more awareness of the effects of their words

I was at the crucible last week, watching Robertson destroy a Thai player who's name escapes me. At one point Peter Ebdon made a Virgo style in-off gag as yet another attempted break ended in failure.

For the player, whose crucible dream was becoming a nightmare, it must have seemed as if the crowd was jeering him. Not nice.

Cheating little shit Higgins also looking really strong. Should be good SFs tomorrow.

The whole conspiracy​ of silence around that episode totally pisses me off. It also makes me very suspicious.

Cheating wanker, who looks like the Pillsbury dough boy.

146 is the new 147, innit'. Brilliant.

I want to see a 72 total clearance. 15 reds with yellows. That would be something.

I've often thought the commentators could mute for the crowd when they crack a funny. 72 clearance would be great to watch.

So why don't we like John Higgins? Cos he did a bit of match-fixing and whatnot? He got cleared though, did he not? Enlighten me.

Barry's my new fave!

Edit: I think a red/yellow clearance would be wicked. As would, red/yellow, red/green, red/brown etc. Is the red/yellow one a thing?

Further edit: Lets see what Selby's new tip does...

"a bit of match fixing" is cheating. He can get in the sea.

He was "cleared" by saying that he did it but he didn't mean it because he was too​ scared to say no. In a meeting in a hotel that he had arranged.

And now the BBC sucks up to him like it never happened.

Compare with the treatment of Stephen Lee.

Ah, I had a feeling there was another match-fixer. So, Stephen got hung-out to dry? I see, I see. Come on Bazza, John's a scumbag! It is interesting how they do treat John with utmost respect, without a hint of his cheating past. Maybe reminiscent of the treatment received by David Millar, as opposed to other dopers..?