2022 Q School 3 !!

Michael Holt Pro career is hanging by a thread

hes been ever present on Tour since he returned to the tour in 1998 after initially turning pro in 1996

Sunny and Kurt both off the tour.

Guaranteed new boy on tour

Hallworth let a 3-0 lead go

Holt WINS!!!!

Wildey wrote:Michael Holt Pro career is hanging by a thread

hes been ever present on Tour since he returned to the tour in 1998 after initially turning pro in 1996

No, Holt was able to hang on. Cheung did well, but ultimately was not able to handle the situation. It's a tough one to swallow, with the funding of snooker due to be cut in Hong Kong, it could be the end of the road for him.

and 'Rick' Astley books the last place in tomorrow's deciding games

SPOT 9
Ross Muir v Lukas Kleckers

SPOT 10
Haydon Pinhey v Jenson Kendrick

SPOT 11
Michael Holt v John J Astley

SPOT 12
Zhao Jianbo v James Cahill

Third time lucky for Hayden Pinhey hopefully! I’m staggered that he gets so close to a main tour spot though

Should they lose, Zhao Jianbo and Lukas Kleckers will finish 1 & 2 in Oom.

Didn't I have a lovely time the day I went to Q School
A beautiful day, had breakfast on the way
And all for under five pounds you know*

Went to Sheffield yesterday after finishing Work Mountain for the time being. Nice start to proceedings at Ponds Forge as the card reader wasn't working, so they threw a wristband at me and let me in for free. Here's some general bullet points.

- Seated opposite Kleckers-Hussain, but got very good view of Akani-Dikme and Maflin-Hongyu. Not really rooting for anyone, just seeing how people are playing and if I can get behind them.
- I can see the edge of Muir-Glasby too. Muir plays with a pool glove. Glasby has the body language of someone defeated in his last six lives as well as this one.
- Dikme gets off to a flyer. He's a portly fellow and fun among the balls. Akani looks like the world is on his shoulders. Should be interesting.
- Kleckers plays solidly againt Hussain. Hussain plays abysmally. Real fart-brained stuff. Easy win, not much to be said.
- Maflin looks like the only pro in the room on the table next door, but also is occasionally wearing the expression of a man who stayed until last orders and beyond. Nice breaks followed by mindfog.
- Something terrible happens in frame one of Akani-Dikme. After Dikme's opening 50, the game has broken down. It's like 52-23 and the remaining reds are frozen against the bottom cushion and neither man is too interested in prising them loose. Frame goes an hour.
- Good century for Hongyu against Maflin, but Maflin mops up and wins at a canter in the end. Finishes on an authorative century.

Popped out for a coffee and a quick sneaky phone charge and returned for the second session - which started early (generally speaking times were not as advertised). Boiko out front with his Ukranian mates, all commiserating. He didn't seem too devvoed.

- Holt gets off to a flier against Keldie. 2-0 very quickly.
- These two frames happen as Dikme-Akani are locked in a facsimile of frame 1 in frame 5, only worse. I became morbidly fascinated. Both men had a thimbleful of confidence between them. They would switch between half-hearted attack and half-baked defence. At one point time ceased to have meaning. The world crumbled and was reborn. Mountains rose out of the sea. Mother Nature whispered the secret of it all in my ear. And then Umut Dikme missed another red and I promptly forgot it all.
- Wells-Cheung on the next table was reasonably full of intent if not top level play. Cheung has a nice BTS-style dye job. Wells kept whining to the ref behind Cheung's back and the ref seemed to genuinely commiserate, though I couldn't tell why. Wells looks like Keir Starmer from a distance.
- Eventually Akani gets over the line against Dikme and their table is host to Nüßle-Ullah. Ullah mostly has a 'mare all game. Sorry lad.
- Keldie, possibly because he's 2 down, stops giving a rubbish. I've seen teenagers take more time over pool shots. Magically the power of not caring seems to wear on Holt a bit and Keldie steals one. Doesn't last much longer though.

Went off a longer potter around Sheffield. Nice book store at Kelham Island. Recommended!

- Went far side to keep an eye on Muir-Akani and Cahill-Nüßle. In the distance I can see Holt and Cheung playing but not the table. Holt gets rattled a few times, smashes the cue into the floor, air-swings it. Couldn't tell why.
- Muir looked very solid and professional against Akani, who never got going.
- Cahill-Nüßle was the entertainment spectacle of the day, I suppose. Good close game though Cahill was the one making the breaks whilst Nüßle was hanging in there determinedly. Had a good finish where Nüßle made the snooker he needed to steal it at the death but couldn't quite see the game out. Hard lines. Speaking of lines, the two people watching this were me and Peter Lines.
- Watched the decider of Holt-Cheung. Good work under pressure by Holt, got his angst in check, and closed the door on Cheung. Cheung improved as Q School went on and was beating the likes of Kleckers, Surety, Hallworth a few years ago before COVID intervened. Can see him coming back.

Fun day I thought, though no one played really outstanding snooker.

GeF wrote:Should they lose, Zhao Jianbo and Lukas Kleckers will finish 1 & 2 in Oom.

With 131 Players on tour, opportunity in main events might be limited this season for top ups

primitivesludge wrote: Wells looks like Keir Starmer from a distance..

Beergate solved?

so this is the conclusion of q school in the UK

There are a only 10 places to be filled for 2022/2023 with first tournament end of june

Wildey wrote:

GeF wrote:Should they lose, Zhao Jianbo and Lukas Kleckers will finish 1 & 2 in Oom.

With 131 Players on tour, opportunity in main events might be limited this season for top ups

It will be limited but there should be a couple of spaces at least what with Hendry picking and choosing. We don't know what Fu will enter this year and who knows about the Asian Q School qualifiers, African qualifier and Sarkis.

At the very least there may be visa delays for some at the start of the season

Cahill and Kleckers both 2-0 up

Holt off to his usual slow start

Holty in trouble 2-0 down to Astley

SteveJJ wrote:

Wildey wrote:

GeF wrote:Should they lose, Zhao Jianbo and Lukas Kleckers will finish 1 & 2 in Oom.

With 131 Players on tour, opportunity in main events might be limited this season for top ups

It will be limited but there should be a couple of spaces at least what with Hendry picking and choosing. We don't know what Fu will enter this year and who knows about the Asian Q School qualifiers, African qualifier and Sarkis.

At the very least there may be visa delays for some at the start of the season

Yea thats why its very important to get right up there Last season there was 6 places guaranteed each tournament with only 122 main tour players

Holt off the mark

primitivesludge wrote:Didn't I have a lovely time the day I went to Q School
A beautiful day, had breakfast on the way
And all for under five pounds you know*

Went to Sheffield yesterday after finishing Work Mountain for the time being. Nice start to proceedings at Ponds Forge as the card reader wasn't working, so they threw a wristband at me and let me in for free. Here's some general bullet points.

- Seated opposite Kleckers-Hussain, but got very good view of Akani-Dikme and Maflin-Hongyu. Not really rooting for anyone, just seeing how people are playing and if I can get behind them.
- I can see the edge of Muir-Glasby too. Muir plays with a pool glove. Glasby has the body language of someone defeated in his last six lives as well as this one.
- Dikme gets off to a flyer. He's a portly fellow and fun among the balls. Akani looks like the world is on his shoulders. Should be interesting.
- Kleckers plays solidly againt Hussain. Hussain plays abysmally. Real fart-brained stuff. Easy win, not much to be said.
- Maflin looks like the only pro in the room on the table next door, but also is occasionally wearing the expression of a man who stayed until last orders and beyond. Nice breaks followed by mindfog.
- Something terrible happens in frame one of Akani-Dikme. After Dikme's opening 50, the game has broken down. It's like 52-23 and the remaining reds are frozen against the bottom cushion and neither man is too interested in prising them loose. Frame goes an hour.
- Good century for Hongyu against Maflin, but Maflin mops up and wins at a canter in the end. Finishes on an authorative century.

Popped out for a coffee and a quick sneaky phone charge and returned for the second session - which started early (generally speaking times were not as advertised). Boiko out front with his Ukranian mates, all commiserating. He didn't seem too devvoed.

- Holt gets off to a flier against Keldie. 2-0 very quickly.
- These two frames happen as Dikme-Akani are locked in a facsimile of frame 1 in frame 5, only worse. I became morbidly fascinated. Both men had a thimbleful of confidence between them. They would switch between half-hearted attack and half-baked defence. At one point time ceased to have meaning. The world crumbled and was reborn. Mountains rose out of the sea. Mother Nature whispered the secret of it all in my ear. And then Umut Dikme missed another red and I promptly forgot it all.
- Wells-Cheung on the next table was reasonably full of intent if not top level play. Cheung has a nice BTS-style dye job. Wells kept whining to the ref behind Cheung's back and the ref seemed to genuinely commiserate, though I couldn't tell why. Wells looks like Keir Starmer from a distance.
- Eventually Akani gets over the line against Dikme and their table is host to Nüßle-Ullah. Ullah mostly has a 'mare all game. Sorry lad.
- Keldie, possibly because he's 2 down, stops giving a rubbish. I've seen teenagers take more time over pool shots. Magically the power of not caring seems to wear on Holt a bit and Keldie steals one. Doesn't last much longer though.

Went off a longer potter around Sheffield. Nice book store at Kelham Island. Recommended!

- Went far side to keep an eye on Muir-Akani and Cahill-Nüßle. In the distance I can see Holt and Cheung playing but not the table. Holt gets rattled a few times, smashes the cue into the floor, air-swings it. Couldn't tell why.
- Muir looked very solid and professional against Akani, who never got going.
- Cahill-Nüßle was the entertainment spectacle of the day, I suppose. Good close game though Cahill was the one making the breaks whilst Nüßle was hanging in there determinedly. Had a good finish where Nüßle made the snooker he needed to steal it at the death but couldn't quite see the game out. Hard lines. Speaking of lines, the two people watching this were me and Peter Lines.
- Watched the decider of Holt-Cheung. Good work under pressure by Holt, got his angst in check, and closed the door on Cheung. Cheung improved as Q School went on and was beating the likes of Kleckers, Surety, Hallworth a few years ago before COVID intervened. Can see him coming back.

Fun day I thought, though no one played really outstanding snooker.

Love this.

Keldie's been playing faster than Thep all the way through. I was quite surprised how good he was considering his previous Q School record. Holty out of his league though.

lets be honest Jenson Kendrick has never even looked like a main tour prospect ever before so that would be a surprise if he gets there

Wildey wrote:lets be honest Jenson Kendrick has never even looked like a main tour prospect ever before so that would be a surprise if he gets there

He's only 21 and he's improved a lot. He's been much better this year than previously, but yeah if he wins today it'll have been the luck of the draw more than anything. There are at least 25 better players who won't have qualified.

barring snookers, Ronnie-slayer James Cahill is first man through

So Next man on tour is

James Cahill England Age 26 7th and 8th season on tour Turned Pro 2013/2014

I guess Jianbo will have the consolation prize of being high on OoM to take Hendry's place when he withdraws from events.

The_Abbott wrote:I guess Jianbo will have the consolation prize of being high on OoM to take Hendry's place when he withdraws from events.

2 or 3 will have to withdraw to get him in

If Astley clears the colours its bye bye Hitman

Barring snookers Hendrick is on the tour

Looking at the OOM it looks like a strong Q Tour next season.

Muir v Kleckers to a decider

Hendrick WINS!!!

for the first time

Jenson Kendrick England Age 20 1st and 2nd season on tour Turned Pro 2022/2023


is on tour