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Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Dan-cat

Running side wrote:My first choice playing partner away on holidays for 2 weeks, asked one of the guys in our club for a game next week which he readily agreed to, fellow behind bar then informed me he's just had 4 centuries in 9 frames anybody got some white gloves.


<laugh> <laugh>

This reminds me of a Bill Hicks routine he did in Egham, Surrey, there's a bootleg on youtube. For those that are unaware of who Bill Hicks is, he was an American Comedian who found an audience in the UK, before dying prematurely aged 33 in 1994.

On his second tour of the Uk in as many years, he said he'd been watching the snooker in his hotel room.

'I was here last year, watched two guys playing each other for 3 days. I turn it on this time, same two guys playing each other!'

'I know why this game takes so long. That white-glove f*cker keeps picking the balls out of the pockets and putting them back on the table! In my country, if you pot a ball it stays in the pocket!'

He must have been talking about Hendo and the Wind... :-)

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

acesinc wrote:
chengdufan wrote:...
To play a match, play a real life 3-frame session of snooker (You can play more frames than that, but only the first three frames will count towards this competition). Your high break in frame 1, high break in frame 2, and high break in frame 3 will be used in this competition. You may not have a 'warm-up' frame.

...


Man, this is gonna hurt. I tend to follow the late, great Bill W. method (he of snooker fame, not the other one) in spirit, if not in volume. I like to take a beer in the first frame (they are rather low alcohol 12 oz. cans, not proper pints), then one per two frames until the fourth or fifth beer where I taper off. Generally about six beers for a longish session (six or seven hours, 15 to 20 frames). So I don't exactly pass out under the table by the end of the night too often.

I tend to peak somewhere between frame 3 and 10. I guess I will be drinking early tonight. :beer: :drunk:

Sadly, I will only have another 2 or 3 sessions with my son after tonight; he is heading back to Uni week after next. After that, it is back to the slog of "hit and run" snooker, untidy tables, colours out of commission. Even if I do well this round with Pink Ball, I won't have much chance going forward. Gonna miss the boy for a few months.

Play well, Pink Ball!

Always good to get your excuses in early :chuckle:

My excuse is that I'm not very good!

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby TheSaviour

Is someone missing the whole point...?? It´s all about of being together.

Actually, that point is quite easy to miss.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Running side

TheSaviour wrote:Is someone missing the whole point...?? It´s all about of being together.

Actually, that point is quite easy to miss.

The Saviour makes my head hurt and i don"t now why.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

chengdufan wrote:I'm playing after work tomorrow


Good luck :-)

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Running side

I'm playing Friday against a guy I've never played,he plays most days gets complementary table fee,knocking in tons for fun,if he gives me 45 can I use as my high break.Any advice appreciated

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Badsnookerplayer

Running side wrote:I'm playing Friday against a guy I've never played,he plays most days gets complementary table fee,knocking in tons for fun,if he gives me 45 can I use as my high break.Any advice appreciated

rofl

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Running side wrote:I'm playing Friday against a guy I've never played,he plays most days gets complementary table fee,knocking in tons for fun,if he gives me 45 can I use as my high break.Any advice appreciated

Seems Juddernaut88 has a chance of causing an upset :-)

Best of luck to both of you <ok>

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Prop, have you sent your scores to Iranu?
I've received BSP's

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

chengdufan wrote:Prop, have you sent your scores to Iranu?
I've received BSP's


Yes, I PM’d him yesterday.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Badsnookerplayer wrote:Hi CDF,

My scores in frames 1, 2 & 3 today were 28, 19 and 29 respectively.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Iranu

Prop wrote:Well that was horrific. The worst I’ve played for years, and I’m not exaggerating. I couldn’t see the shots, I couldn’t cue straight, and I couldn’t get comfortable. It was embarrassing. It’s actually put me in a pretty bad mood. Snooker’s always been my solace, and it feels like it’s gone. I wouldn’t usually say that but considering last time was terrible as well I’m worried that I’m losing my game.

8
6
14

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Badsnookerplayer 3-0 Prop
28-8
19-6
29-14

The first result of the competition! Congrats to BSP who makes the perfect start and takes all 6 points. What do you remember of your game Baddy? Care to share the details?

Commiserations to Prop. There's a long way to go though. As we all know with snooker, you can be at your worst in one frame and at your very best in the next, with seemingly nothing to explain it. The key to unlocking that best form is to remember that fact. If you forget it, the mental gremlins creep in to stop you.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

acesinc wrote:Hi Chengdufan,

Not a great night for me, but I am reasonably happy and may take 2 points off Pink Ball I hope. I had a the jitters for some reason and missed Black off spot numerous times which of course creates a vicious cycle. I don't think I have scored so many breaks of 9 in a single session before....Red, Black (from some arbitrary spot on the table), Red to leave plum on Black spot, then somehow manage to MISS the damn Black! Again! No kidding, in the 3 frames, this exact scenario happened about 5 or 6 times.

So here are my scores in order Frame 1, 2, and 3: 21, 17, 9

Frame 1 I broke off and opponent replies with a reasonable safety return to Baulk. I pot a cracker to open and leave plum on Black, a couple inches off its spot. Pot and beautiful soft draw to another nearby Red in same pocket. Simple pot and roll through for the next Black off spot in opposite corner. And...I missed it! Thus setting up my ongoing mental block for most of the night. I was probably only 40 percent on basic Blacks off spot. Ugh! I finally salvaged a reasonable break starting from the last Red. Brown was in jaws of the Green pocket with the Pink sitting a foot away from it toward the Green spot. Brown created a Big Pocket for me when my opponent's stroke went awry and the last Red rolled along the Green side cushion a couple feet away and White in good position for the pot. Red could have potted cleanly, but I was very clever and purposely played Red off cushion, off Brown leaving perfect on the Pink into the now wide open Green pocket. Tough Yellow into middle pocket, then routine Green and Brown left my White near baulkline with Blue near its spot for a looooong Blue in the top right to complete the 21. Didn't leave well on Pink (now on spot) so end break there.

Frame 2 was one of the few times I managed to take two Blacks. The third Red brought White down to Baulk side of mid-table, but with no Blue in sight, I had to try a medium length Brown off spot but no good. 17 and end break.

Frame 3 was awful. My brain was fried so high break of 9 as already described. I literally believe that I had 3, count 'em, 3, breaks of 9 exactly the same way that frame.

So hopefully, I may take 2 points with the 21 or 17, but I don't expect to win the match with these mediocre numbers.


Thanks and good luck in your own match!


Pink Ball wrote:My three breaks were 17, 24 and 50.


Pink Ball 2-1 AcesInc
17-21
24-17
50-9

Well done Pink Ball! Great to see a 50 break there :-) How did your game go?

Aces, you must be please with the result, taking 2 points, if not your performance?

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Pink Ball

I was delighted with my level because when I got back playing for the shootout, timing wasn't there at all. Posted an okayish break for the actual shootout frame itself, but in the other frames I played, I wasn't getting any kind of run together, even with a couple of decent openings.

Played three frames in total and won two. I made a 22 before making that 24 and it was the best I've felt at the table in a while. There was nothing that needed to be developed on either break and both breaks ended at the first signs of trouble, but my cueball was tight and I pulled off the basics well.

The 50 even was another effort with a fairly open table, although I had to go down to baulk a couple of times and never lost the cueball travelling either way. I missed a straightforward enough red to middle off the near jaw, smacked it and it careered up towards the baulk and around, so it was an ugly shot, but everything was dropping in plumb up to that point.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

My playing partner has cancelled
:-(

Too short notice to find a replacement. And I'm going away this weekend.
Rekoons might need to wait until next week for my scores. Apologies everyone.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

I played again today. I know it’s not relevant to this competition but thought I’d share how things went considering I was so hopeless on Tuesday.

We switched to another table, tighter bags but nicer cloth, and moving the white around was much less of a slog. I felt I could really loosen up and get work on the white just with the weight of the cue, and that meant my potting was loads more accurate. No breaks really, just a few 20 odds, but I felt so much better than Tuesday. It’s inexplicable really, but that’s just snooker, as Chengdufan mentioned earlier!

I felt like there was a decent break in me, but it just didn’t happen. I had an opportunity early on and the reds were really nice but mostly beyond the pink spot (which itself had gone safe, but I still had blue and black). So that should have been 50+ but I tried to get clever and position snowballed out of my grasp. I think that was a 24.

It was more frustrating today, because I knew I was playing well enough to knock a good one in, but silly mistakes (mainly shot decision) cost me.

I’m determined to beat my 65 one day. On the odd occasion I do play ok I honestly feel I’ve got it in me to make a 70, maybe 80. And yes, this sounds a bit optimistic after how I felt on Tuesday, but I know I only need one momentary run close to my peak. That gets rarer, but I believe my peak is still as good as it ever was.

I think we’ll play on that table again next time!

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Thanks for sharing, Prop. Good to hear you played better!

Yes, the table can make a massive difference, probably more than any other factor (except perhaps your opponent).

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

chengdufan wrote:Matchday 1

A
Acesinc v Pink Ball
Running Side v Juddernaut88

B
Chengdufan v Rekoons
Badsnookerplayer v Prop


Matchday 2

A
Acesinc v Running Side
Pink Ball v Juddernaut88

B
Chengdufan v Badsnookerplayer
Rekoons v Prop


Matchday 3

A
Acesinc v Juddernaut88
Pink Ball v Running SIde

B
Chengdufan v Prop
Rekoons v Badsnookerplayer

Just looking at the schedule. Matchday 2 has a couple of crackers. Aces v Running Side and Rekoons v Prop could both be very close and may well decide who goes through to the final group.

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

chengdufan wrote:Thanks for sharing, Prop. Good to hear you played better!

Yes, the table can make a massive difference, probably more than any other factor (except perhaps your opponent).


Cheers mate :-)

And good luck to all remaining players!

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

Hold on a minute… I thought I was out. But I’ve just read the rules again. I’m still in with a shout then?!

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby chengdufan

Prop wrote:Hold on a minute… I thought I was out. But I’ve just read the rules again. I’m still in with a shout then?!

rofl

Deary me, Prop!

Re: Snooker Island Grand Prix

Postby Prop

chengdufan wrote:
Prop wrote:Hold on a minute… I thought I was out. But I’ve just read the rules again. I’m still in with a shout then?!

rofl

Deary me, Prop!


:blush:

Well my scores can only improve from last time <laugh>