snooker – Pro Snooker Blog

World Championship 2016: Tour Survival Blog

April 2, 2016May 3, 2016 matt2745 4 Comments

ponds

And so it is almost upon us – the start of the 2016 Betfred World Championship qualifiers next Wednesday which will determine who will join the 16 seeded players at the Crucible Theatre two weeks from now.

Not only that, but the results will also determine who will stay on tour for next season, either as a top 64 player or via one of the other lists and also who will be forced to come through Q School if they are to retain professional status.

As is now tradition, this then is the post that will be updated throughout the week’s matches (and the Crucible if necessary), focusing on those players in the battle for tour survival…

Site Maintenance

November 21, 2015November 21, 2015 matt2745 Leave a comment

Next Tuesday will see the start of the UK Championship and as ever I will be on site to report on all of the action from snooker’s second biggest ranking event.

As you may have noticed in recent days however, not all has been well here at PSB from a technical point of view and although the timing might not be the best, there will be an element of maintenance here over the coming days which will limit my ability to blog as much as I would like.

Please bear with me!

EBSA Order of Merit 2015: Event Four Update

November 13, 2015November 13, 2015 matt2745 Leave a comment

Miah250

As was the case last season, alongside the European Order of Merit will run an EBSA Order of Merit, on which amateurs will be awarded points, with the top 16 after six events qualifying for a play-off event next spring.

Two players from that event will earn two-year tour cards from the start of the 2016/17 season, following in the footsteps of last season’s qualifiers Martin Donnell and Sanderson Lam.

Click below to see how the list looks after four events…

Rise of the Underdog

October 30, 2015October 30, 2015 matt2745 5 Comments

Gilbert1

David Gilbert today became the latest ‘lower ranked’ player to make it through to the final of a full-ranking event, but just how many surprise finalists have we had in recent years and why?

Click below for a few of my thoughts, not to mention some very interesting statistics…

Tour Survival 2015/16 – Player by Player

October 16, 2015October 17, 2015 matt2745 Leave a comment

Lines3

As the nights draw in and the clocks go back, it is also that time of the year when I take a close look at the battle for tour places from the start of the 2016/17 season. As regular readers will be well aware, to fully understand how each of the current tour players are currently placed, it is necessary to analyse a number of different ranking lists and orders of merit.

With two of the biggest money events to come in the International Championship and UK Championship tournaments, today I take my first player-by-player look at the current state of play and flag up some of the surprise names with work to do if they are to remain on tour for another season…

Trimming the Tour?

October 6, 2015October 6, 2015 matt2745 2 Comments

balls

As those amongst snooker’s ‘Twitterati’ will no doubt be aware, there has been some debate in recent days on social media as to whether the size of snooker’s main tour should be cut from its current field of 125 players (plus three invitational tour cards), to just 64 as suggested by 2005 world champion Shaun Murphy in his own blog post here.

With a few days now before the Ruhr Open gets underway at the weekend, today I offer a few of my own thoughts on the topic and suggest why personally at least, I am glad that the tour will be remaining as it is…

Weekend Pro-am at O’Sullivans S.C. – 26th September 2015

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015 matt2745 Leave a comment

A heads up for those on the south coast as this Saturday (26th September 2015) there will be a pro-am held at the O’Sullivans Snooker and Pool Club in Bexhill-On-Sea.

The action gets underway at 10:30am and will see matches played over the best of seven frames, while there will also be a plate event for first round losers.

There will be a guaranteed top prize of £500.00 to the winner of the main event, with the runner up taking £250.00, semi-finalists £125.00 and £75.00 on offer for the highest break. The winner of the plate event will take home £100.00, with £50.00 going back to the runner-up.

Entries cost £50.00 and main tour professionals will give a -21 start, Q School players -14.

For more information about the club including directions, visit the official website here.

World Snooker Rankings 2015/16: Revision Two Round-Up

September 21, 2015September 21, 2015 matt2745 Leave a comment

Wilson9 As the dust settles on Kyren Wilson’s remarkable victory at the Shanghai Masters, the official world rankings will now be revised for the second time this season as Kyren is rewarded for his victory with a 32 place rise up the list.

Continue reading for more information on the key changes to the seeding list, which will now be used to determine the seedings for the International Championship…