Mark Selby wins the Paul Hunter Classic

Photo by: Monique Limbos
Written by: Rachael Rodgers

Mark Selby won the Paul Hunter classic or PTC 4  4-0 beating Mark Davis, who had been a very strong contender until he faced Selby.  Audiences had thought Ronnie O'sullivan would walk away with his second PTC title of the year after he completed a fantastic 147,  before sitting down and looking very unbothered by the audiences reactions to what they had seen.
This win for Selby sees him listed at World number 2, his 2,000 ranking points means he has edged above John Higgins although Mark Williams is still at world number 1.  Runner up Mark Davis has also bagged himself a all time career high at 15 in the world, if he can keep his place before the next ranking up date he will no longer need to attend qualifying matches.

Ben Woolaston Wins first Pro title

Picture from World Snooker
 Written by Rachael Rodgers

Ben Woolaston world number 60 made his first professional title by beating Graeme Dott 4-2 in the PTC 3 event at the EIS Sheffield.
  It was no easy task for the 24 year as Dott had seen off the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, John Higgins and Stephen Hendry to book his place into the final.  Woolaston who has never made it into the last 32 before, won the first frame with a break of 70 but Dott soon came back in the second frame, with a much needed snooker to make it 1-1.
   The PTC's are a test of staminia, the matches maybe short but they are constant especially in the latter stages. Players may finish one match and the have less than 30 minutes minutes before the start of the next.
"I think this shows the strength in depth on the Tour, no result surprises me these days," said Woollaston after collecting a cheque for £10,000 and receiving 2,000 ranking points. "Hopefully I am starting to fulfil my potential now. I'm guaranteed to be in the PTC finals now and my target for the season is to get into the top 48 and qualify for a few venues.

"I didn't play a bad match in the tournament, the only time I was worried was in the quarter-finals when I was 2-0 down to Alan McManus. I came back to win that 4-3, and in the final against Graeme I did well to recover from 2-1 down."  Woolaston commented to World Snooker after he won.

The PTC has given Ben something else to celebrate along with his recent marriage to Tatiana, a referee from Belarus, and she is moving to England permanently tomorrow. Meaning thatthe couple can officially start their married lives together.

  Fast and Furious Snooker wish them all the best and a big congratulations to Ben on his PTC win!

Judd Trump wins PTC2

Written by Rachael Rodgers- picture by Maximum Snooker

Judd Trump was crowned the second PTC Champion at the South West Snooker Academy
in Gloucester.
  Judd faced a shorter rematch of the World Championship Semi final match against Ding Junhui, and once again Judd came out the winner, pocketing £10,000 and 3000 ranking points, which in a ever moving Ranking system those points are worth more than money. Next PTC starts in Sheffield 19th August

Barry Hearn not happy about Brazil

Written by Rachael Rodgers
Barry Hearn World Snooker Ltd Chairman, has today released a angry letter naming and shaming players who have gone against his wishes and have pulled out of the Brazilian Masters which will take place soon after the Shanghai Masters.  His statement read....

"The fact that Mark Williams, John Higgins, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Allen and Matthew Stevens have all declined their invitation to the Brazilian Masters is very, very disappointing.

“A year ago all these players were moaning about lack of tournaments and yet now I am getting excuses ranging from “I think I’m worth a few more bob” to “I do not want to be away from the wife and children!”

“It is time for all players and in particular the top players, who have so much to gain, to understand that snooker is a sport not a hobby and they are professional sportsmen not part timers.

“This tournament could open up the whole of South America and it needed the support of all the top players to get us a major ranking event next year. Frankly, the commitment is just not good enough.

“I know it is a long trip coming so soon after Shanghai but they were the only dates available so we had no alternative. Nevertheless, it is time some players realised their responsibilities to the sport if they want to share in the future success.

“So let us start by behaving like professionals please – there is a massive amount of effort going into revitalising snooker and it is very demotivating to see that the support from the so-called “stars” is not really there."


The event in Brazil maybe deeply exciting for the organisers and for World Snooker but it offers no ranking points, this may prove that money does not control all sport and that the players are more concerned about improving their ranking position, the top 100, all desperately seek a position in the top 16. Those is the top 16 have to fight hard to stay there, slipping out of the top 16 means that the players have to qualify for events, meaning they are away from home more and most soon becomes tight with travelling around the country and staying in hotels.


It is sad for the game that top players will not appear in Brazil but the future calendar needs to be looked at and structured more carefully so to not have so many events outside of the UK so close together.

 This is however the first year with more events and you can only make it better by learning for you're mistakes. Barry Hearn is a treasure to Snooker he cares and loves the sport I am sure he will make all run smoothly.

Ronnie causes outrage

Written by Rachael Rodgers

Some have said that as great as it is, that snooker players have twitter and talk to fans on a regular basis. However when it comes to Ronnie O'Sullivan it is considered he maybe shouldn't be allowed to have twitter.
  Last night Ronnie caused a mass debate on whether or not players should be made to wear the shirt, bow tie and waistcoat at the PTC events. World Snooker have ruled that since live streaming is now available on two tables that any player on those tables has to be fully dressed in the attire you expect to see a player be wearing. Players on none life streaming tables do not have to wear a bow tie.
  Ronnie stated that for PTC events players should be allowed to wear polo shirts and smart trousers, to be more relaxed. Most fans and players agreed with him but he didn't stop there.  When told by Janie Watkins who works are the South West Snooker Academy that air conditing will keep the rooms cool. to which ronnie replied.

"@weewelshwitch f*ck the air con, part of the fun on the ptc is that it's casual"

Ronnie that stated that he will wear his dress suit as the rules state, but he shall roll around in shit before hand which could be a rather stinky arrive for O'Sullivan, who seems prepared to actually turn up for the event tomorrow. 

  In further attempt to put bum's on seats just to see if Ronnie will do as promised he stated by tweet "I might even even play with my nob out, hows that"

It appears that in the past few weeks players have recieved guidlines on how to deal with social media, obviously Ronnie failed to read that piece of post and seems intent on flauting the rules set my world snooker.  Rumour has it that Ronnie maybe after his expected ban before Shanghai.  Ronnie's thoughts are however a showing of personality and devloping the character that Barry Hearn says is missing from snooker.  Personally i think it is unfair to limit the players to what they can say, yes someone will always be offended by something they say, but really its real life.
  And with Ronnie you never know what side of serious he sits upon