Shot Clock

If you was on the WSA board an you was ask this next question, what would be your reply?

Q. what ranking tourneys would you like to see shot clock on? and what time limit would you set?

Every tournament and one hour

Sonny wrote:Every tournament and one hour

one hour well i think even the world slowest player will play quicker than that.

thats why he said it i think

randam05 wrote:thats why he said it i think

yes i know, but i was hoping for some good discussion

Oh well whats your view on the topic then? I dont think its a bad thing, but only in limited tournaments.

randam05 wrote:Oh well whats your view on the topic then? I dont think its a bad thing, but only in limited tournaments.

i think on minor tourneys such as world open, premier league, welsh open and german open. the limit set to 25 secs

I hate shotclock. Hate it. I wouldn't be altogether against perhaps one event with significantly reduced points, but if I had my choice I'd prefer if it wasn't there.

Shot clock is perfectly acceptable in a non-ranking setting.

I think we all pretty much agree its okay in some minor non ranking tournaments like the PL? I think putting it in welsh open and german masters is a bit to far.

It wouldn't work.

In my opinion, the Premier League leaves a lot to be desired format wise... I'd go for eight players, four play-off spots. Matches first to 5 unless it goes 4-4, in which case a draw is called. Three points for a win, one for a draw. Semi-finals best of 11, final best of 17. Don't have to finish it before Christmas, could leave the last few rounds for the New Year. Have two matches on the Wednesday as well as Thursday. Don't clash with Champions League. Simple, brilliant.

Still a rubbish tournament though

Does sound better than it is, although not much difference. Its not a poo tournament at all..have you watched it before? the PL thursday night had 4 centuries and a great atmosphere, interviews with the players before and after the match, which can be funny and tells you how the players are feeling in themselves and about the season ahead. Fast snooker which is fun and of highest quality. You say the shot clock forces negative safeties, but if you watched it thurs night you will see not one negative safety was played at all. There was one frame between Fu and ronnie which was very tactical and had some top drawer safety, better than lots ive seen before. And the centuries were fantastic. Ronnie needed to win the last frame to force a draw and save a point and did it in style with a superb century clearance. Murphy also played a long double black at the end of his century which bought a roar from the crowd and was great to see!

It is a great source of weekly snooker between tournaments to keep us snooker fans updated with snooker otherwise the thought of the whole of November and october without any snooker on tv during the middle of the season is rather depressing. So in my eyes its a fantastic tournament to have and the players love it! so why shouldnt we? As shaun murphy said in his pre match interview with andy goldstein '' Its a great tournament to play in and players count it as the fourth unofficial major of the tournament for us to play in'' lecture over.

* 5th

Random, you clearly hold a very different view to me, and I'm fine with that.

I though last year's Premier League was dire. Worst tournament of the season, along with the Grand Prix. I never said it encouraged negative safeties, but to bring us on to a different point, I think shot-clock would do just that with journeymen involved.

I do watch Premier League occasionally, but with nowhere near as much interest as a ranking event. I think the game seems a bit rushed, and you can see some awful rushed shots played, which don't look good. I'm a purist I guess. I think it particuarly devalues the art of good safety, which more often than not take more than 25 seconds.

I'll give you one thing though: I think the Premier League is the perfect tournament for a shot-clock. It's what sets it apart.

It's a bit like a blondes-brunette argument. If you had two equally beautiful girls, one with blonde hair and one with dark hair, I'd always go for the dark one. Why? Well, I've nothing against blondes, lovely people, and great fun... but they're just missing that something you're gunna get from a brunette (generally between the ears). Premier League is a blonde tournament

Also fine with it, everyone has different views and I definantley prefer settling down for a week long ranking event and the worlds, but its a good source of snooker for die hard snooker fans like me. I know safeties take time and tactics need lots of thought and it can be very rushed at times, I agreed with you on that till the frame I saw between ronnie and fu last night which made me realise you can have a very good tactical battle under shot clock conditions. It just a nice side tournament

randam05 wrote:It just a nice side tournament

That I can agree with that said, format wise it could change, not changing the shot clock of course.

That I can agree with that said, format wise it could change, not changing the shot clock of course.

Change of format..yes i suppose but its better than no televised snooker for two months??? surely...

randam05 wrote:Does sound better than it is, although not much difference. Its not a poo tournament at all..have you watched it before? the PL thursday night had 4 centuries and a great atmosphere, interviews with the players before and after the match, which can be funny and tells you how the players are feeling in themselves and about the season ahead. Fast snooker which is fun and of highest quality. You say the shot clock forces negative safeties, but if you watched it thurs night you will see not one negative safety was played at all. There was one frame between Fu and ronnie which was very tactical and had some top drawer safety, better than lots ive seen before. And the centuries were fantastic. Ronnie needed to win the last frame to force a draw and save a point and did it in style with a superb century clearance. Murphy also played a long double black at the end of his century which bought a roar from the crowd and was great to see!

It is a great source of weekly snooker between tournaments to keep us snooker fans updated with snooker otherwise the thought of the whole of November and october without any snooker on tv during the middle of the season is rather depressing. So in my eyes its a fantastic tournament to have and the players love it! so why shouldnt we? As shaun murphy said in his pre match interview with andy goldstein '' Its a great tournament to play in and players count it as the fourth unofficial major of the tournament for us to play in'' lecture over.

I have to agree with this. For me the PL is one of the best tournaments of the season usually. I certainly don't agree the shot-clock encourages negative play, quite the contrary. And I'm not sure neither that "journeymen" would necessary struggle. It all depends on their natural rythm and style and they don't all come out of the same mould, far from it.
Shot-clock favours players with fast thinking, good "vision ahead" of the situation on the table and keeping calm under immediate pressure (which is somewhat different from pressure that builds up slowly during a match). It just happens to be a somewhat different set of skills and strenghts than the ones they need in other formats but they aren't "lesser" skills for that matter.
I've heard people saying "it's unfair on slow players". Maybe. But then short formats are "unfair" on slow starters who need a few frames to settle, random draw is plain unfair by the way it distorts the rankings, long formats are "unfair" on players with a shorter attention span ... I'm all in favour of having different formats and settings so that all players can express their strenghts - and sometimes expose their weaknesses - at some point in the season.
If we can have the World Open, carrying 7000 points, with random draw and best of 5 ... then I can't see why not a shot-clock. (*)
But what I would like to see really is a full round-robin tournament, under normal settings. That is for me the fairest format of all and the only one that would reflect the real value of the players. And ranking. With diffrent points awarded depending where you stand in the final result list, so that there would not be "dead matches".

(*) I totally disagree with the random draw, unless it becomes the rule for all tournaments and we have loads of them (then "luck" could even itself), and using that in a somehow major tournament is totally out of order for me.

Major
Shot clock
Goldstein

It sucks big ones.
(my final comment on this thread)

Wild is right, if you're not enjoying shot clock conditions it encourages more bail out type shots and can end up being more negative overall.

Yes I know it can happen, I saw Davis play that way two seasons ago and it was no fun. But then other players tend to be more negative when they have time ahead... I won't name the names
I agree last season PL was probably the worst I've seen. But then it was also linked to the line-up. Fu wasn't on his game at all. Hendry was struggling. Robbo not really at ease with the shot-clock (although better than first time...), Murphy dire for most of it., Ronnie far from his fluent best.
However this year I expect it to be good. Week 1 certainly was.

and OT, anyone telling me Ding looked happy to be there and play needs their eyes checked!

Oh so you watched it eh? I agree last years wasnt the best, but basing it on last nights match, its going to be a lot better. I just cant see how anyone who actually loves this sport will not watch weekly high quality snooker?

It does not always produce negative safeties, WILD, only from players who are slower like davis and hendry, but them not being in it this year, we should see the best premier league so far. Ding, robertson, ronnie,murphy, selby, williams...!!! 5 of the best players of the modern era? And through the PL I have grown to like Marco Fu, in his performance last night he was not once negative and played some great safety, it was good to see, so I dont mind him in the PL. I agree no ranking points for any tournament with a shot clock.

and OT, anyone telling me Ding looked happy to be there and play needs their eyes checked!

Couldnt agree more, he looked depressed to be honest and looked like he wanted to get out straight away as he so often does when he is not on par. Or even if he is!

and in the PL there isnt.

RON

please rename the title after its proper name

rubbish clock