Archive for General Snooker

My Luck Had to Change

I thought I had this whole snooker thing sussed, I predicted all 8 first round winners and published how I felt the tournament was going to pan out for the remainder of the BGC Masters event.

BUT! That young cueist called Judd Trump had other ideas, he thought I know, I am going to stop Pete from getting a complete clean sweep in this event. In fairness he played some amazing snooker to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-2 and step into the semi-finals.

I just felt that Ronnie was going to turn up for this event, I assume he didn’t expect to come up against snooker like that, especially as he knocked in a 141 en route to winning one of his own frames.

The evening session put my predictions back on track though as John Higgins dispatched fellow countryman Graeme Dott to also reach the semi-finals.

I still have Neil Robertson to win the whole event (and luckily he leads Mark Williams 5-3 as I type this!)

 

Masters Snooker Predictions – Wow!

As you will be well aware it is the Masters Snooker this week from Alexandra Palace and as part of a preview article I wrote for Cuesport News I had a go at making a prediction of the winner and runner-up.

Well, before this on a piece of paper just randomly thrown onto my desk I had a go at predicting who would get through every match, how would I be able to predict an overall winner without first plotting their path through the event right?

I cannot believe the run I have had so far, with only two first round matches left today I have so far predicted the winner in 6 out of 6 of the matches that have been played.

To get a first round clean sweep I need both Graeme Dott and Mark Selby to win today. Coupled with this yesterday I also got the correct score in the Robertson v Allen game when I said in a tweet it would be 6-3.

Now I didn’t have a bet (wish I had!) but I am thinking of playing Euromillions this week!

Right, so it is available for the world to see here are my predictions (based on wins for Dott and Selby) for the remainder of the tournament.

Quarter Finals

Ronnie O’Sullivan to beat Judd Trump

Neil Robertson to beat Mark Williams

Mark Selby to beat Shaun Murphy

John Higgins to beat Graeme Dott

Semi Finals

Neil Robertson to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan

Mark Selby to beat John Higgins

Final

Neil Robertson to beat Mark Selby

So, I have had my say, it would be good to read your own predictions in the comments below.

Do You Have a Website?

This is a shout out to all of our viewers from across the world (110 different countries have been served video from Cuesport TV!) asking if you have or know a pool related website that would like to link to us?

We are looking for active websites like amateur league sites, snooker league websites and forums and blogs that share our passion for pool and snooker.

There is an additional angle to look at as well, very soon our embed and sharing functions will be live again allowing any website to play our video content (works a bit like YouTube) and share to social networks. This gives anyone the chance to have fresh content. If you think it fitting we can even create custom playlists especially for your website.

So, what websites are there out in the WWW that we should be paying attention to and sending out a contact email? Please list any websites that you know of from your local area in the comments below, the more the merrier.

Can Six Red Really be Snooker’s Twenty 20?

With the first ever World Six Reds Snooker Championships this week in Killarney already in full swing my question is can the six red game revitalise snooker? Can it become the Twenty/20 game that changed the fortune of cricket?

Something that obviously goes in it’s favour is that fact that with only six reds on the table the game is much quicker, frames are won or lost with one visit.

In order to be certain that you have won a six red frame you need to make six reds and six colours. This probably does add an element of pressure, however most of the top pro’s can make a 60 break at each visit anyway so does it not become a bit of a lottery?

The thing about this World Championships which has been good has been the amateur element, we sure World Ladies champion, Reanne Evans beat John Higgins in the group stage, yet still most of the top seeds got through.

The benefit to the amateurs is that a decent level amateur can also consistently make 50 or 60 point breaks and can really do some damage in these events.

As yet I have not had chance to watch the coverage on Eurosport due to meetings so I would love your thoughts on the coverage, the tournament and whether or not you think six reds has a future.

Watch Live Snooker Online

This week there is of course the latest World Snooker ranking event, the Grand Prix.

Whenever there is a ranking event on this blog seems to get more traffic, thanks World Snooker, due to the fact that people are searching for live snooker streaming.

Now as a web tv channel operator, we at Cuesport TV do not condone any of the illegal streams that can be found on the web. I would also beg the question, why would you want to watch one, they are poor quality and generally on poor websites as well.

There are a number of places you can watch the Grand Prix Snooker legally online. I list them below:

  1. The BBC Sport Website (UK Only)
  2. ViewTV – The BBC channels are available on this video platform for free
  3. Eurosport Player (Pay-per-view but open to the world)

If you know of anymore then please let me know.

Premier League Snooker Betting

Tonight is week two of the 2009 Premier League snooker and Sporting Bet (who have incidentally just partnered with Cuesport TV) are offering a number of odds for in-play and outright performance both for tonights matches and the overall tournament itself.

The best one of the list at the time of writing in my opinion is Judd Trump to beat 7-times world champion, Stephen Hendry 4-2. You can currently get 11/4 on this exact scoreline.

The other match is John Higgins v Shaun Murphy in a repeat of the 2009 World Snooker Championship Final

Have a look at the odds by following the link below:

Premier League Snooker Betting – Sporting Bet

Premier League Snooker Returns Tonight

The most exciting invitational snooker tournament starts again tonight and is live in the UK on Sky Sports and Sky Player online.

Read a preview to the tournament here:

PartyCasino.com Premier League Snooker 2009 Preview

Ronnie O’Sullivan for his fifth title?

The Addition of Content

I don’t like to dwell too much on the fact that I am the only person working in this business full-time, but one thing this does mean is that video-on-demand content is always slower to be released than I would like.

However, by changing the way we record things from the live broadcasts it has meant certain matches and tournaments have been quicker to make available, especially where commentary has been recorded on site.

I thought with this post I would use it as a bit of an update post, these are the files that have been added over the last few weeks, some are free and some are only available to subscribers.

Please watch the latest videos and rate and review them if you get chance:

Please leave any comments below as well.

Cuesport TV Trial HD Streaming Snooker Videos

Web TV channel Cuesport TV have this week released two demo videos in 720p High Definition.

The videos are believed to be the first snooker videos to be streamed in High Definition online. The HD content shows the true capabilities of the platform that the company adopted in April 2009.

The HD videos that have been made available were recorded at the recent TCC Snooker Pro-am in Wales. The tournament is a very small but prestigious snooker event that the channel had exclusive access to. The tournament featured top snooker stars such as Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, Ryan Day and Matthew Stevens. Stevens will feature in some later HD demo’s recorded at the same period.

Managing Director of Cuesport TV Ltd, Pete Williams, commented, “HD video is always something we have wanted to serve but it has taken us a while to reach this stage, the video we have recently made available showcases the capabilities of High Definition as a video-on-demand concept.”

Williams also said, “It is theoretically possible to stream live Internet video in full HD, however, in reality the UK does not yet have the broadband infrastructure to cope with the demands of HD streaming. The VOD content in this particular demo requires a 5 meg Internet connection as a minimum otherwise a lot of buffering occurs. Once broadband across the whole of the UK develops, as it will in the next 5 years, then live streaming of HD video will become a reality. It is in our interest and within our aims to be at the forefront of this technology.”

In the first four days of the initial trial the company has seen it’s viewing figures rise by an amazing 10%. There are now plans in place for Cuesport TV to capture HD content at all of the major tournaments and matches that the channel has access to and make available both standard and high definition versions to its subscribers.

View the HD snooker videos here: HD Snooker Videos

Live Snooker and Live Pool in the Week Ahead

This week is the start of our busiest period of the year so far.

On Thursday we have the first two quarter finals and the first semi final of the TCC Snooker Pro-am. This week the feature match live on Cuesport TV will be Ryan Day v Matthew Stevens. This will be followed up by the semi final where the winner of the aforementioned match will play either Darren Morgan or defending champion Lee Walker.

At the weekend (1st-2nd August) we have the eagerly awaited first tour stop of the 8-ball Super Tour (This was the Oracle Super Tour last year).

The cream of the 8-ball crop come out to play in this £44,000 guaranteed World Rules series. Newly crowned WEPF World 8-ball Pool Champion, Phil Harrison, will be in action plus former champions Gareth Potts, Mick Hill and Carl Morris. In addition to the players of championship pedigree a myriad of tournament winners, like Simon Ward, Tom Cousins, Craig Marsh, Ben Davies, Ben Flack, Steve Munro and Lee Clough will also be in attendance.

Both of these events and more are available as part of a Cuesport TV subscription which can be bought from £2.90.

For further events throughout August visit the Live Event Schedule.