PTC Discussion Page + Other Snooker News

Random page for any snooker news, including tournament winners + PTC events

PTC 1: Stephen Maguire 4-3 Jack Lisowski
PTC 2: Martin Gould 4-3 Stephen Maguire
PTC 3: Rod Lawler 4-2 Marco Fu
PTC 4: John Higgins 4-2 Judd Trump

Ricky Walden won the Wuxi Classic. Up to 10th in the rankings. Go Ricky!

So we will use this page for random snooker shoite? Nice.
When i get out of hospital i have months of rehab so i will use snooker as a way to rehab and try to beat my current top score of 78

Hope everything's ok with you billy.

Good to hear you're doing well eire

Not dead yet, tried my best though

Hope you mend quickly. Just lie back and chill.

Chilling here CC, got the good lady taking care of me

Apparently Peter Ebdon has just beaten Ding 5-4 in 5 hours 20 minutes at the Australian Open. Priceless.

Barry Hawkins wins the AO beating Ebdon 9-3 in the final. First ranking event so Barry.

After watching Big Break on Challenge last night, a number of things had me puzzled. Namely :
1) Why hasn't Jim Davidson been prosecuted under The Trade Descriptions Act for describing himself as a 'comedian' ?
2) Why were the 'prizes' so laughably awful ? They weren't much better than the ones from 'Blankety Blank'.
3) Why was it called a 'Mystery Star Prize'' when it was always a holiday ? Surely it should have been called a 'Mystery Destination' ?
4) If Virgo was allowed multiple chances to get the trick shot right, why weren't the contestants ?
5) How did Warren King ever make a living as a professional snooker player ?
Finally, and most bafflingly of all :
6) Why did a contestant on last night's show pass on a true/false question ?

That's it, rant over.

No idea on any of them except the last one. Just i"numptyism" I imagine.

Mags wins the 1st PTC event beating young Lisowski in the final. Went to a final black decider.

Completely missed the snooker

Glad to hear that Mags won though

Yeah it was a good result for him. He says that this year he'll be taking it slowly and not going for everything and anything but if that doesn't work he'll be back to his usual self next season and he also has a new cue because he couldn't be bothered with a 3 piece one

I really thought that when Mags came onto the scene that he would challenge players like Higgins and Ronnie more than he has. He has never been the same since his grandad died.

That'll now be 2 years since Alex Higgins died. Is the John Virgo book 'Let Me Tell You About Alex' worth a read ?

Not read it Ed and dont really plan on reading it. I really just dislike John Virgo and he will be getting no money from me.

Gouldie wins PTC 2 beating who else but Mags in the final. Amazing.

An on form Gould is a very decent player. If he could get some consistency then he would be pushing for many a titel.

Hopefully Martin treated the world to one of his trademark beaming, million watt, light-up-a-dark-room, happy-to-be-alive smiles as he lifted the trophy and the wonga.

eirebilly wrote:An on form Gould is a very decent player. If he could get some consistency then he would be pushing for many a titel.

He reminds me of Robbo from a few years ago. All the potting ability, not quite the safety game. If he can improve his safety even 5% I reckon he'll become a fixture in the top 16 for a few years to come.

Random piece of news but KenDo has fiannly exorcised the ghosts of the past by making a long overdue 147.

Really happy for Ken Doherty, top quality guy. Gives so much back to the community and an excellent pundit. Just cant stand that god awefull Dub accent of his

If I remember right, Ken's 2000 miss on the black cost him an £85000 car.

Yeah it was a big miss that still hurts him, not for the money or the car but because it was on such a huge stage.

Went to Gloucester yesterday to see the final day of the PTC event. Some decent matches. Dominc Dale/Stephen Lee/Fergal O'brien/Ali Carter/Marco Fu/Milkins/Murhpy/Rod Lawler all made the 1/4's.

FU beat Murphy 4-0, 4 clearances after 1 shot from Murphy, with 2 centuries and a 90. Outstanding.

In the end, Fu made the final vs Rod Lalwer, a man who dropped off the tour last year after 22 years as a pro, only to return this year and in his first ranking event, he won the final 4-2 in a scrappy affair. He was superb all the way through, real gritty player, not too pleasing on the eye with his game, he beat Lee after grinding him down and annoying him with his slow play. It was a great event but a few disappointments regarding the players.

On the first day, Ronnie was playing and there were allot of fans waiting for autographs and pictures after his game, in which he lost and went out. He walked straight past them all in the foyer and walked to his car and drove off. This was a similar story with other players like Murphy, Carter, Lee and others.

Now, I know after a loss the last thing you want is to do some PR etc, but the fact is you pay money to go in, see these players up close and in an isolated area, its one of the few times you'll get to meet the big names in person. Yet, they just walked out on kids but even adults like myself who waited patiently for a photo/auograph politely, not even ramming pens in their face or camera's. That needs to change, they are millionaires yet haven't the time to see their fans. Think its very poor and Hearn needs to have a word or get contracts sorted in which they have to do 15 mins for fans at the end of a match. Its not allot to ask is it really.

All in all it was a great event run by a great bunch of people. The complex in Gloucester is first class and anyone around the area or anywhere within driving distance, should check it out, it truly is superb. In fairness to FU and Lawler, they were great sports and waited for photo's and shook hands with fans. Lawler loved it obviously, his dad was with him and you could see how proud he was with all the attention he was getting. Truly was a lovely guy as was FU.

Spoilt, arrogant, prima donna, airhead O'Sullivan would do well to remember a couple of things. Namely 1) Had it not been for the prodigious natural ability for playing this game that he was fortunate enough to be blessed with then "do you want fries with that ?" is a term he"d soon be accustomed to using and 2) The riff-raff that he decided to ignore ( presumably as he was in a hurry to get back to his 7-bedroomed Essex mansion ) after his gruelling 90 min of "work" for the day were the same people who helped pay for the afore-mentioned mansion. Rest assured if I was on 10% of OSullivan"s earnings I"d be only too glad to sign as many autographs as they wanted. What exactly is there to rush away for if you"re a full-time pro ? The same applies to the 2 pie-munchers. Perhaps their matches went on for close to 90 min and they were both starving hungry as that"s way too long for either of them to be deprived of food. Not sure why Carter feels he deserves to act like the big-shot prima donna. What"s he ever won ?
Totally agree about Marco. I"ve met him and he"s a total gentleman, both on and off the table. Also fair play to Rod Lawler. One of those players, like Barry Pinches, who seems to have been around forever whilst achieving very limited success but is still plugging away.

Very interesting to hear that Liam, it's a shame they never signed anything at all. I wouldn't want Lee's signature anyway as, putting it mildy, he's a fat so-and-so I've never warmed to, but that's not the point. Don't get me started on Ronnie though, after becoming slightly more liking of him I've gone back to square one. Wasted talent.

I've always wanted to go to live snooker but never quite managed it yet. I'll get to the Crucible one day though, unless they ship the WC's off to China.

Liam wrote:Went to Gloucester yesterday to see the final day of the PTC event. Some decent matches. Dominc Dale/Stephen Lee/Fergal O'brien/Ali Carter/Marco Fu/Milkins/Murhpy/Rod Lawler all made the 1/4's.

FU beat Murphy 4-0, 4 clearances after 1 shot from Murphy, with 2 centuries and a 90. Outstanding.

In the end, Fu made the final vs Rod Lalwer, a man who dropped off the tour last year after 22 years as a pro, only to return this year and in his first ranking event, he won the final 4-2 in a scrappy affair. He was superb all the way through, real gritty player, not too pleasing on the eye with his game, he beat Lee after grinding him down and annoying him with his slow play. It was a great event but a few disappointments regarding the players.

On the first day, Ronnie was playing and there were allot of fans waiting for autographs and pictures after his game, in which he lost and went out. He walked straight past them all in the foyer and walked to his car and drove off. This was a similar story with other players like Murphy, Carter, Lee and others.

Now, I know after a loss the last thing you want is to do some PR etc, but the fact is you pay money to go in, see these players up close and in an isolated area, its one of the few times you'll get to meet the big names in person. Yet, they just walked out on kids but even adults like myself who waited patiently for a photo/auograph politely, not even ramming pens in their face or camera's. That needs to change, they are millionaires yet haven't the time to see their fans. Think its very poor and Hearn needs to have a word or get contracts sorted in which they have to do 15 mins for fans at the end of a match. Its not allot to ask is it really.

All in all it was a great event run by a great bunch of people. The complex in Gloucester is first class and anyone around the area or anywhere within driving distance, should check it out, it truly is superb. In fairness to FU and Lawler, they were great sports and waited for photo's and shook hands with fans. Lawler loved it obviously, his dad was with him and you could see how proud he was with all the attention he was getting. Truly was a lovely guy as was FU.

Lovely little piece this Liam, thank you.

Would be great if these PTC things could really take off as I'm guessing with the exception of a few tw@ts it really allows you to get close to the players and maybe we could get to know them a bit more and get some new favourites.

Yeh I don't like Lee either. My Dad is friendly with the guy who owns and runs the event. He asks him to come down every year as Peter's food services (My Dads National UK sales manager) sponsor the event and offer free products to them. The year Lee won it, he had to present a hamper with Peter's produce to the winner which was Lee. My Dad extended his hand to congratulate him and when he handed the hamper over Lee looked at him and said 'What the f*ck am I supposed to do with a hamper?' deadly serious.

Since that day, everytime my Dad see's him play he's cursing him. He was praying he wasn't in the final as he would've had to represent the trophy to him.

Although my Dad said when he offered the same one to Maguire, he was over the moon with it, one of the nicest guys he's ever met according to my Dad. During intervals he sat with him and talked in the lounge and he had all the time in the world for him. Always liked mAguire myself anyway.

Like you Juan, I've come full circle with Ronnie and unfortunately, something I've put down to as mental issue is now just pure ignorance with him.

Hibbz wrote:

Liam wrote:Went to Gloucester yesterday to see the final day of the PTC event. Some decent matches. Dominc Dale/Stephen Lee/Fergal O'brien/Ali Carter/Marco Fu/Milkins/Murhpy/Rod Lawler all made the 1/4's.

FU beat Murphy 4-0, 4 clearances after 1 shot from Murphy, with 2 centuries and a 90. Outstanding.

In the end, Fu made the final vs Rod Lalwer, a man who dropped off the tour last year after 22 years as a pro, only to return this year and in his first ranking event, he won the final 4-2 in a scrappy affair. He was superb all the way through, real gritty player, not too pleasing on the eye with his game, he beat Lee after grinding him down and annoying him with his slow play. It was a great event but a few disappointments regarding the players.

On the first day, Ronnie was playing and there were allot of fans waiting for autographs and pictures after his game, in which he lost and went out. He walked straight past them all in the foyer and walked to his car and drove off. This was a similar story with other players like Murphy, Carter, Lee and others.

Now, I know after a loss the last thing you want is to do some PR etc, but the fact is you pay money to go in, see these players up close and in an isolated area, its one of the few times you'll get to meet the big names in person. Yet, they just walked out on kids but even adults like myself who waited patiently for a photo/auograph politely, not even ramming pens in their face or camera's. That needs to change, they are millionaires yet haven't the time to see their fans. Think its very poor and Hearn needs to have a word or get contracts sorted in which they have to do 15 mins for fans at the end of a match. Its not allot to ask is it really.

All in all it was a great event run by a great bunch of people. The complex in Gloucester is first class and anyone around the area or anywhere within driving distance, should check it out, it truly is superb. In fairness to FU and Lawler, they were great sports and waited for photo's and shook hands with fans. Lawler loved it obviously, his dad was with him and you could see how proud he was with all the attention he was getting. Truly was a lovely guy as was FU.

Lovely little piece this Liam, thank you.

Would be great if these PTC things could really take off as I'm guessing with the exception of a few tw@ts it really allows you to get close to the players and maybe we could get to know them a bit more and get some new favourites.

That's what I love about the Gloucester one, you genuinely feel so close to the players and can have a conversation with the ones who can be bothered to. Trouble for the one in Gloucester, its not very well marketed. The venue itself is right where the Police HQ is, on an industrial park in the middle of nowhere. They also market more in Wales when really they should target the locals.

Liam wrote:Yeh I don't like Lee either. My Dad is friendly with the guy who owns and runs the event. He asks him to come down every year as Peter's food services (My Dads National UK sales manager) sponsor the event and offer free products to them. The year Lee won it, he had to present a hamper with Peter's produce to the winner which was Lee. My Dad extended his hand to congratulate him and when he handed the hamper over Lee looked at him and said 'What the f*ck am I supposed to do with a hamper?' deadly serious.

Since that day, everytime my Dad see's him play he's cursing him. He was praying he wasn't in the final as he would've had to represent the trophy to him.

Although my Dad said when he offered the same one to Maguire, he was over the moon with it, one of the nicest guys he's ever met according to my Dad. During intervals he sat with him and talked in the lounge and he had all the time in the world for him. Always liked mAguire myself anyway.

Like you Juan, I've come full circle with Ronnie and unfortunately, something I've put down to as mental issue is now just pure ignorance with him.

Not like Stephen Lee to ask what to do with a hamper!!

Brilliant, if anyone else had said that I'd have called them downright rude but the fact that Stephen Lee asked what he was meant to do with a hamper is hilarious.

Maybe it's the same as if someone brings you what you think is a small portion and and you say it sarcastically. I mean a hamper is just elevenses to fatboy Lee.

If someone had given Lee 2 slices of bread to stick either side of the hamper he'd have been as happy as a pig in s**t.

Higgins v Trump in the Shanghai Masters tomorrow. Whoever wins it will suffer a rocky patch in their career afterwards. If you don't believe me, look at the previous winners of the tournament. They include Ali Carter, Christopher Dale and Ricky Walden. Mark Selby won it last year and look what's happened to him since.

Also, the winner becomes World Number 1.

Higgins wins 10-9. He hit a 147 in the final too. It's his 25th ranking even triumph; his arch-rival O'Sullivan is on 24.

Incredible comeback from Higgins - I don't think I've ever seen a more canny and stubborn player. The amount of times he somehow finds a way to win frames / matches when it seems all is lost is incredible.

I truly believe, and have believed for well over a decade now, that if John Higgins is at his best, then he's the best player in the world, that his top form is better than anyone's, and that he's the man to beat. And yes, I include Ronnie in that sacred chasing pack.

John was utterly magnificent, Trump played really well as well. Judd said after the game Higgins was the best player he'd ever played, it was an awesome final, best i've seen since the 2010 UK final.

88Chris05 wrote:
I truly believe, and have believed for well over a decade now, that if John Higgins is at his best, then he's the best player in the world, that his top form is better than anyone's, and that he's the man to beat. And yes, I include Ronnie in that sacred chasing pack.

So do I, although I might be being biased. As the commentators love to say, his "B game" is probably better than most players "A" game. Even against Ronnie, when it's "A game" v "A game", I'd pick Higgins to win but the scores would be incredibly close. The 2006 Masters final was proof of that when it came down to the final black in the final frame.

Also, Ronnie's now fallen out of the top 16 but I fully expect him to be back.

Happy Birthday Mr Reardon, 80 today.

Indeed, many happy returns to the great man

The Special Juan wrote:Also, Ronnie's now fallen out of the top 16 but I fully expect him to be back.

He is possibly the only snooker player with the ability to get back into the top 16 in quick fashion right now. Its a very tough group up there and it wont be easy but Ronnie has the quality to break the 16 again. Hope he does soon as well, i could not imagine him at qualifiers...

Judd Trump became snooker's new world No 1, as he booked his spot in the final of the International Championship in Chengdu, China.

Ronnie pulls out of the rest of the season

full story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/20221617

Yawn

He wont be getting the World no 1 ranking anytime soon will he

Indeed, we'll just have to put up with "phoney" ones until then

Higgins beats Trump (again), this time 4-2 in the PTC 4 final. I know who the real Number 1 is, even though he's not at the top :'). Best player I've seen and will ever see I think.