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Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby chengdufan

HustleKing wrote:I don't really know other opinions on this so don't know how controversial it is, but I would like to see the Masters being a roaming tournament, so it would take place outside the UK about once every 3 years or so.

All 3 Majors taking place within the UK every year seems a bit dismissive of developing snooker outside these islands, but I've never seen anyone here criticize it, so I assume no one wants this to happen.

+1 Great idea to have the Masters roaming <ok>

While I agree with HustleKing on this and wanted to say so, the main reason I'm bumping this thread is to snake hiss HustleKing off. So mixed emotions here rofl

My hot take is:
Best of 7s are great.
They're the perfect length for watching one snooker match of an evening. Any longer and you're at the point where you have to arrange your rubbish to accommodate snooker. Doing that is ok occasionally, for example for the world championships, but I don't want to be doing that all year. While I love snooker, my family comes first.
2 other reasons why they're good:
An on form top player is boring to watch for more than 4 frames when they're thrashing someone.
The lower ranked players get the chance to go deeper when they play well, meaning we don't always see the same players in the later rounds.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Dragonfly

Iranu wrote:A hot take, for those who don't know, is an opinion you have that you know or believe will be largely unpopular and disagreed with. An example might be: "The Beatles were a rubbish band."

To express such an opinion, particularly to an audience who are especially passionate about the subject matter, is to have admirable confidence in your beliefs. That or you just want to have an argument.

I thought it mght be cool if we had a space where we could share and discuss our "hot takes" about snooker, be it players, events, moments etc.

I'll start with a biggie: Alex Higgins' famous 69 break in the 1982 world semi against Jimmy is overrated and pales in comparison to many breaks that have been made in recent years. As much as anything else it's a perfect demonstration of how loose 80s pockets were. The first red alone wouldn't have dropped even in modern "loose" pockets.


I've been saying for years that Alex Higgins was one of the most overrated players ever. Not many believe me, but I'm sticking with it

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby HustleKing

Chengdufan if your reviving some of these threads to generate interesting discussions that deserve to be revived with their old thread fair enough (and I'm glad this particular thread was revived).

But if your reviving all these threads to pee people off (it's definitely more than me getting annoyed), that is just sad. At least a high percentage, if not over 50% of internet forums, discourage extreme bumping to help stop lowlife trolls from agitating others.

I have no issue if your bumping these threads for positive reasons, however if you're not, then I will have no choice but to leave the forum and not come back until the mods get somewhat tighter on bumping (with some leeway). I have no problem with friendly banter and have taken a lot of banter here relatively well, but I cannot accept someone going out of their way to consistently troll me (and other people who get annoyed by this, like Ronnie79 in a previous thread)

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Acé

HustleKing wrote:Chengdufan if your reviving some of these threads to generate interesting discussions that deserve to be revived with their old thread fair enough (and I'm glad this particular thread was revived).

But if your reviving all these threads to pee people off (it's definitely more than me getting annoyed), that is just sad. At least a high percentage, if not over 50% of internet forums, discourage extreme bumping to help stop lowlife trolls from agitating others.

I have no issue if your bumping these threads for positive reasons, however if you're not, then I will have no choice but to leave the forum and not come back until the mods get somewhat tighter on bumping (with some leeway). I have no problem with friendly banter and have taken a lot of banter here relatively well, but I cannot accept someone going out of their way to consistently troll me (and other people who get annoyed by this, like Ronnie79 in a previous thread)


Don't cry

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby HustleKing

I'm being serious Ace, there are reasons a lot of internet forums discourage bumping.

I know there is a line between banter and overboard trolling that should be punished/guarded against in the first place and trust me, if this was merely banter I would be happy to let it go

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby chengdufan

HustleKing wrote:I'm being serious Ace, there are reasons a lot of internet forums discourage bumping.

I know there is a line between banter and overboard trolling that should be punished/guarded against in the first place and trust me, if this was merely banter I would be happy to let it go


Hi HustleKing.
Sorry, I was just pulling your leg with the earlier comment. It was an attempt to diffuse any awkwardness from before, but unfortunately it made things worse! These subtleties are tricky online.
I bumped this thread because I wanted to share my views and thought it was an interesting topic. Nothing to do with you really.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby HustleKing

Fair enough I won't comment to you about this again, now that I know you were genuinely joking and just couldn't get that across properly

Unfortunately, doesn't look like the Masters are going anywhere till Hearn leaves the game

I don't really like best of 7's from a viewing standpoint, but at least they allow for lower ranked players pulling off upsets like you said

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby McManusFan

Best of 7s are ok, as long as we don't have them every tournament. It doesn't feel quite as bad as it did a few years ago when it seemed like every single match barring finals (and the tripple crown) was a best of 7. It also doesn't seem right having best of 7s in the later stages of tournaments.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby SnookerFan

I don't see anything wrong with bumping this particular thread.

If you think of a new hot take, why not bump it?

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Iranu

Hustleking did specify he was happy this thread got bumped.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Pink Ball

The Pro Series format isn't bad.

Players have to play at least 14 frames in one day, perhaps as much as 21. That should be more than enough to separate the men from the boys. I think the better players, by and large, will go through, and that's good.

It also offers a serious match-practice opportunity, at least, for less-experienced players. How often would they be guaranteed 14 frames in a day?

Round-robin snooker is flawed, but as round-robin formats go, this isn't a bad one.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby badtemperedcyril

The top players are making too many century breaks. In an effort to make break building more challenging, the two middle pockets are to be closed with immediate effect. The entrances will be filled in with play doh until more permanent arrangements can be made.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby McManusFan

Pink Ball wrote:The Pro Series format isn't bad.

Players have to play at least 14 frames in one day, perhaps as much as 21. That should be more than enough to separate the men from the boys. I think the better players, by and large, will go through, and that's good.

It also offers a serious match-practice opportunity, at least, for less-experienced players. How often would they be guaranteed 14 frames in a day?

Round-robin snooker is flawed, but as round-robin formats go, this isn't a bad one.


I can see what your saying, but do we really need this AND the championship league? I get why it's good this year given the missing tournaments, but I hope in future seasons it's one or the other.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby SnookerFan

The Eurosport punditry team is overrated because it doesn't take much to be better than the BBC.

Foulds and McManus are good, but Ronnie and Jimmy are liked more because of popularity. They are fairly average pundits.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Reg Varney

SnookerFan wrote:The Eurosport punditry team is overrated because it doesn't take much to be better than the BBC.

Foulds and McManus are good, but Ronnie and Jimmy are liked more because of popularity. They are fairly average pundits.


I think Ronnie is actually a pretty good pundit. Jimmy on the other hand... Wouldn't even describe him as "average".

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby LDS

CaldoTheKid wrote:John Higgins should have got the Lee/Hann treatment


Can you try to keep it somewhat 2021 relevant please?

Or at least last decade relevant?

I've no doubt you've garnered huge personal enjoyment from no doubt repeating this sentence at every available opportunity over the past 10 years, but can you think of others for once and perhaps find a new 'scandal' to keep you occupied for the next 10 years?

Perhaps something from the current tournament?

I dunno, maybe try to spot a player picking their nose or something, you could rant about that for at least 2 years I should think.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Iranu

LDS wrote:
CaldoTheKid wrote:John Higgins should have got the Lee/Hann treatment


Can you try to keep it somewhat 2021 relevant please?

Or at least last decade relevant?

I've no doubt you've garnered huge personal enjoyment from no doubt repeating this sentence at every available opportunity over the past 10 years, but can you think of others for once and perhaps find a new 'scandal' to keep you occupied for the next 10 years?

Perhaps something from the current tournament?

I dunno, maybe try to spot a player picking their nose or something, you could rant about that for at least 2 years I should think.

Excuse me, LDS.

I think you’ll find this is my thread. You’ll also find I opened the thread by talking about Alex Higgins’ 1982 break. Much longer ago than his namesake’s misdemeanour.

I’ll thank you not to try to impose rules and restrictions on my threads.

If you have an issue with the content of his contribution, stick to discussing it on those terms, please.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby LDS

Iranu wrote:
LDS wrote:
CaldoTheKid wrote:John Higgins should have got the Lee/Hann treatment


Can you try to keep it somewhat 2021 relevant please?

Or at least last decade relevant?

I've no doubt you've garnered huge personal enjoyment from no doubt repeating this sentence at every available opportunity over the past 10 years, but can you think of others for once and perhaps find a new 'scandal' to keep you occupied for the next 10 years?

Perhaps something from the current tournament?

I dunno, maybe try to spot a player picking their nose or something, you could rant about that for at least 2 years I should think.

Excuse me, LDS.

I think you’ll find this is my thread. You’ll also find I opened the thread by talking about Alex Higgins’ 1982 break. Much longer ago than his namesake’s misdemeanour.

I’ll thank you not to try to impose rules and restrictions on my threads.

If you have an issue with the content of his contribution, stick to discussing it on those terms, please.



I think my bemusement was more the fact that it's not exactly a hot take is it.

What with it having been repeated every single tournament by a handful of people for approximately a decade.

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Alex0paul

David Gray wasn’t a journeyman

Re: Snooker Hot Takes

Postby Iranu

LDS wrote:I think my bemusement was more the fact that it's not exactly a hot take is it.

What with it having been repeated every single tournament by a handful of people for approximately a decade.

Then that’s what you should’ve said.