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Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Pink Ball

MIGHT I SUGGEST:

It looks very unlikely that we'll get a perfect number of participants: 2, 4, 8, 16 etc. We'll probably end up with five or six.

If that happens, maybe we should have a first round where, say, the five participants register their nine breaks, and the top four advance to the knockout stage. For those who aren't drawn in a preliminary match, four weeks is a long time to be waiting around.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Pink Ball wrote:MIGHT I SUGGEST:

It looks very unlikely that we'll get a perfect number of participants: 2, 4, 8, 16 etc. We'll probably end up with five or six.

If that happens, maybe we should have a first round where, say, the five participants register their nine breaks, and the top four advance to the knockout stage. For those who aren't drawn in a preliminary match, four weeks is a long time to be waiting around.

Pink Ball, this is a great idea. I like it.
We do have 7 players though currently (2 joined by PM), including myself, and I'd like to keep the matchplay element of the tournament if possible.
If anyone else drops out, we'll consider your idea.
Building on your idea, what I plan though, to make sure everyone plays in the first round, is to draw one match of 3 players, with 2 progressing.

There's the possibility someone else enters before this evening of course, in which case it is 8 and a straight knockout.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Juddernaut88 wrote:I really wish I could do this but it is getting very difficult :( not many snooker clubs open in my city or nearby. There are the odd pubs and sports centres that have 2 Snooker tables but you need a lot of luck to be able to manage to play for 3+ hours on them in case other people are waiting. Rileys is back open but the prices are ridiculous and I'm not prepared to pay the prices they are charging these days.

Very sorry to hear you're dropping out Juddernaut.
I suspect you were intimidated by the description of my play, and knowing you can't beat me have withdrawn, rather than the reasons you mention.

Seriously though, if anything changes in the next couple of weeks, let me know and I'll try to sneak you in to the competition. Hope to see you in the next one at least.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

acesinc wrote:
chengdufan wrote:I've decided to enter.

Anyone who draws me is basically getting a warm-up for their next match. For reference, my 'par' is probably 3 10+ breaks in 9 frames.
Why am I willing to embarrass myself? Well, despite loving playing snooker, I don't play very often and this is going to give me an excuse to get out and play. It might also encourage me to try out a more attacking game. If I pot a red, I normally just try to secure the points of the colour and then play safe. But needing to go for breaks, I think I will make more of an effort to play position when potting the colour. If I end up getting more than 3 10+ breaks, I'll be quite pleased. And who knows, I might get that elusive 20+ break!


I actually did something of a study in my little club and came to the conclusion that this is exactly true for many, many low level players. In fact, worse than that, many players will pot Red and fail to have any sort of position on any colour and so will play a half-safe such as attempting a ridiculous long Blue off spot into a baulk corner which of course NEVER comes off and ALWAYS leaves the White in baulk where even if they had made the Blue pot, they could not have continued the break. And now the Blue is probably out of commision for most of the rest of the frame. Or after pot of Red, they may decide better off to just play straight safe off a baulk colour, leaving White against cushion but probably knocking the baulk colour out so it nestles in among the pack of Reds, again creating an impedance to the assembly of a decent break. These tactics are usually done in ignorance and are nearly always annoying to vain attempts to keep a tidy table.

It is actually a huge step to the improvement of your game for you to recognize this.

For purpose of this competition, I will need to be selective of my opponent because many players in my club do exactly what you describe so that it is difficult to run any sort of reasonable sized break against them. There are a few that will attempt to go for the larger breaks, which (in my opinion) is better snooker.....at first, it will cost you some frames because a lazy safety player will often win against a weak break-builder, but if you are patient and put in the work to learn a better game, you will become the stronger player in the long run.

As you already know, I can be pretty long winded with these posts. I do have a whole write up to explain this thought process if you are interested in it. With that said, my kid and I developed a whole handicap system and ultimately a different variation of Snooker based on this concept. If you are willing to be bored to tears by my musings, you can find those two write-ups here:

http://acesmachinery.com/site1/league/h ... epaper.pdf

and here:

http://www.acesmachinery.com/league/club74_gen.pdf

and a little bit more about the Club 74 variation here:

http://www.acesmachinery.com/Club74.htm

Using the information in these documents, my kid has become the most improved player in my club over the last three years. He has gone from a handicap of 28 plus 3 Provisional Colours (you need to read the stuff to understand that) to a straight 16 point handicap (zero PC) and I have a very tough time winning a match. His breaks have gone from 3 ball (Red, colour, Red) with a rare fourth ball potted to running multiple four ball breaks (usually 14's and 16's) just about every frame. He will generally run two or three breaks of 20+ in a session of 10 or 12 frames. High break of 39, reaches something in the 30+ range about once every four or five sessions. Take the info to heart, stick with it, and the 20+'s will start to come very natural to you.

By the way, my little club has just 10 members. 8 of us ALWAYS play the Club 74 variation for about the last year and a half, and I have seen fair improvement in all of their games. They simply make better decisions now. The other two guys are older (mid-70's), absolutely stuck in their ways, and will play nothing else but standard snooker. I have known one of them for well over thirty years now and his game is the same now as it was then, back in his 40's....very rare to clear the 20+break ceiling, probably about once every 20 to 25 frames. I should also add something about my kid, you know, I said "most improved player" up above? He HATES to put in any practice at all. He just wants to have fun, knock balls around the table. So he has seen all this improvement based solely on the system and learning what he should be doing in order to properly understand the game. He literally does ZERO practice routines or exercises. Not really looking to improve at all, just play the game.

That actually is a huge problem among lower level players.....everyone WANTS to play the game better, but very few are willing to WORK to learn to play the game better. This system finds a nice balance to help you improve to some degree but still have a lot of fun doing it.

Also, I am not suggesting this for the Snooker Island league; it is strictly to help you to improve your personal game and become more competitive. Good luck!

Thanks for the message Aces. Haven't got chance to read the linked posts yet. Will do when I get a minute.

I'll report back on whether going for breaks helps or hinders my chances of beating my friends.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Pink Ball

chengdufan wrote:
Pink Ball wrote:MIGHT I SUGGEST:

It looks very unlikely that we'll get a perfect number of participants: 2, 4, 8, 16 etc. We'll probably end up with five or six.

If that happens, maybe we should have a first round where, say, the five participants register their nine breaks, and the top four advance to the knockout stage. For those who aren't drawn in a preliminary match, four weeks is a long time to be waiting around.

Pink Ball, this is a great idea. I like it.
We do have 7 players though currently (2 joined by PM), including myself, and I'd like to keep the matchplay element of the tournament if possible.
If anyone else drops out, we'll consider your idea.
Building on your idea, what I plan though, to make sure everyone plays in the first round, is to draw one match of 3 players, with 2 progressing.

There's the possibility someone else enters before this evening of course, in which case it is 8 and a straight knockout.

Either way, your idea is better.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Hello and welcome to the live draw for the quarter finals of the 2020 Snooker Island World Championship.

There are 7 players in the draw, each of whom has been allocated a snooker ball which will be drawn out of a hat.

The balls are allocated as follows:
Red - Pink Ball
Yellow - AcesInc
Green - Deewee
Brown - ChengduFan
Blue - Rekoons
Pink - SnookerEd25
Black - PLtheref

The first three balls drawn will determine who plays in match 1, from which 2 players will progress.
Then 2 balls will be drawn to decide each of the matches 2 and 3.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Match 1: Pink, that's SnookerEd25
Red, that's Pink Ball
Blue, Rekoons

So match 1 is
SnookerEd25 vs Pink Ball vs Rekoons

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

That concludes the draw.
1. SnookerEd25 v Pink Ball v Rekoons
2. ChengduFan v PLTheRef
3. Deewee v AcesInc

For match 2, I haven't heard anything back from Andre. Any volunteers to receive and post the scores from me and PL?

Matches 1 and 3, please PM me your 9 highest breaks from the 9 frames you play.

For match 1, the 14 highest breaks from the 27 scores I receive will each win a frame. The two players with the most frame wins will progress.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Juddernaut88 wrote:I really wish I could do this but it is getting very difficult :( not many snooker clubs open in my city or nearby. There are the odd pubs and sports centres that have 2 Snooker tables but you need a lot of luck to be able to manage to play for 3+ hours on them in case other people are waiting. Rileys is back open but the prices are ridiculous and I'm not prepared to pay the prices they are charging these days.

How much is Rileys Juddernaut?

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby rekoons

chengdufan wrote:
Matches 1 and 3, please PM me your 9 highest breaks from the 9 frames you play.



Allright, I should be able to have played 9 frames within the next 2 weeks.
Hopefully with 9 breaks over 10 points.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Johnny Bravo

So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Andre147

chengdufan wrote:So we currently have 6 confirmed entries:
Pink Ball
Juddernaut88
AcesInc
Deewee
Rekoons
ChengduFan

SnookerEd25 is a tentative entry.

There are still 6 more days to enter, so we may get a few more. Let's hope so. The more the merrier!

The draw for the first round will be made here at 12 noon GMT on Friday September 11th (7pm my time here in China). I will make the random draw live, editing one post as the names come out of the hat.

@Andre147 Would you mind acting as the 'referee' for my match? That would involve receiving the scores from me and my opponent, and posting the result here when both sets of scores are in.


Yes no problem. Just PM them to me and I'll post them here.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Johnny Bravo wrote:So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?

Hi Johnny, That's basically it, yes.
Would you like to join? If so, I can do a random draw to put you against one of the match 1 players.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Andre147 wrote:
chengdufan wrote:So we currently have 6 confirmed entries:
Pink Ball
Juddernaut88
AcesInc
Deewee
Rekoons
ChengduFan

SnookerEd25 is a tentative entry.

There are still 6 more days to enter, so we may get a few more. Let's hope so. The more the merrier!

The draw for the first round will be made here at 12 noon GMT on Friday September 11th (7pm my time here in China). I will make the random draw live, editing one post as the names come out of the hat.

@Andre147 Would you mind acting as the 'referee' for my match? That would involve receiving the scores from me and my opponent, and posting the result here when both sets of scores are in.


Yes no problem. Just PM them to me and I'll post them here.

Thanks Andre

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

So I've just read Aces 'Provisional Colour' paper. It's absolutely genius. Exactly what me and my playing partners need. Will definitely try it once I've been knocked out of this.

Had me smiling throughout reading and the occasional laugh out loud, but I do have a weird sense of humour.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Johnny Bravo

chengdufan wrote:
Johnny Bravo wrote:So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?

Hi Johnny, That's basically it, yes.
Would you like to join? If so, I can do a random draw to put you against one of the match 1 players.

Yes, I'll join, and I'll probably start playing from tomorrow. I will probably PM you at the end of next week, is that ok ?

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby acesinc

chengdufan wrote:So I've just read Aces 'Provisional Colour' paper. It's absolutely genius. Exactly what me and my playing partners need. Will definitely try it once I've been knocked out of this.

Had me smiling throughout reading and the occasional laugh out loud, but I do have a weird sense of humour.


Thanks, ChengduFan. While I did not have comedic intent in this writing, I can't help but occasionally turn a phrase of wry wit. I am glad you may be willing to try these concepts. More importantly, you will need to convince your mates that they may find value in these methods. To that end, I actually made a YouTube video to demo both the Provisional Colours and the Club 74 in a (relatively) short film (14 min.). It is unlisted so you cannot search for it. I did this to prevent the unnecessary, unwanted negative comments from traditionalist snooker players who would be prone to stumble across the video and display their ignorance in comments while not understanding what is actually occurring in the video. So if you want to share this with your friends/partners, you will need to share this direct link with them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUci8JB9RPI



Hopefully, the video, while not easy to sit through without alcohol (or whatever your pleasure), will make the point with your mates more easily than the encyclopaedia of "snooker theory" that is my writings.

As for my match for the SIWC, I haven't had a frame in about two weeks. My son (from the video) is my usual partner and he is back at Uni for a few months. I am having a hard time getting up a game with someone this weekend. Hopefully, I can post my scores before too long.

Edit: I tried to embed the YouTube vid but looks like it didn't work. I don't understand why. Anybody, advice?

Edit, the second: Oh! I get it now!....You have to ONLY input those gibberish letters at the end, not the entire URL. Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Johnny Bravo wrote:
chengdufan wrote:
Johnny Bravo wrote:So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?

Hi Johnny, That's basically it, yes.
Would you like to join? If so, I can do a random draw to put you against one of the match 1 players.

Yes, I'll join, and I'll probably start playing from tomorrow. I will probably PM you at the end of next week, is that ok ?

Really pleased to hear this! We now have a full bracket of 8 :)

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

With hindsight, it would have been good to make a video of the draw and post it on Youtube. Didn't think of that.
I've made a video of the second draw, to pair up a match 1 player with Johnny Bravo. I'm heading on holiday this morning so am in a bit of a rush. I'll try to upload the video when I get back.
Anyway, Pink Ball was drawn (from a Bingo tombola this time), so he will play Johnny Bravo in the Quarter Final.

Here's the new full draw:

1. SnookerEd25 v Rekoons
2. ChengduFan v PLTheRef
3. Deewee v AcesInc
4. Johnny Bravo v Pink Ball

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby chengdufan

Johnny Bravo wrote:So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?


As I said, this is basically it, but I thought it may be worth remind players of a few subtelties of the rules. I think they are all important for various reasons:

1. If you score fewer than 20 points in a frame in total, that frame does not count in your 9.
2. Breaks you make which only include the colours at the end of the frame do not count. There must be at least one red in each of your breaks.
3. It's better if players don't post their break scores on here, they should send them by PM.

Re: 2020 Snooker Island World Championship

Postby Johnny Bravo

chengdufan wrote:
Johnny Bravo wrote:So let me get this straight, cause I don't completely understand the rules:
I play 9 frames against a friend/opponent in real life.
I'll send you my best 9 breaks
You'll compare my breaks with the breaks made by someone else on the island ?!? :?


As I said, this is basically it, but I thought it may be worth remind players of a few subtelties of the rules. I think they are all important for various reasons:

1. If you score fewer than 20 points in a frame in total, that frame does not count in your 9.
2. Breaks you make which only include the colours at the end of the frame do not count. There must be at least one red in each of your breaks.
3. It's better if players don't post their break scores on here, they should send them by PM.

Ok.