Saturday 16th August saw CueSport TV visit Mickey Flynn’s in Cambridge for a £1000-per-man challenge match between Andy Nicholson and Australian snooker player Vinnie Calabrese. A match that was streamed live on the channel.
Before I go into the details of the match (which was great!) I must mention the difficulty we encountered this weekend!
The scheduled 10-ball pool challenge match was due to start at 7:30pm so we decided to arrive at the club at around 4pm to make sure we could set up the equipment and get a stream going to eliminate any problems later.
Things never go to plan! We could not establish an Internet connection which meant the Live pool broadcast was in jeopardy. As TV specialists and not network engineers it was causing some headache. Danny, one of the bar staff at the club, had some knowledge of the Internet and was immense in helping us set-up the feed. A mention must also go to his unknown friend that via telephone talked Danny through the IP address setup on the Mickey Flynn’s network. Eventually we established a connection with only 8 minutes to spare before the live stream!
Tense is not the word!
So getting back on topic. The match was 10-ball pool, played with call shot rules, this meant that every ball and pocket had to be nominated for the ball to be legal. Race-to-21 racks was the designated distance and winner breaks was the format.
Andy Nicholson started the match well and went into a 9-2 lead before faltering somewhat. Calabrese managed to win 15 of the next 20 racks giving him a 17-14 lead and dominance in a match that Andy looked as if he had covered.
Vinnie got a touch of nerves in the latter stages and allowed Andy to claw the scoreline back to 20-18 down.
After a couple of mistakes from Calabrese Nicholson pulled the match level (so much for my prediction of a 5 rack difference!) In the final rack he had the break and did what was neccessary to win the match and the £1000 cash payout.
The live match was also recorded and wil be available on CueSport TV this week!
