Should 147 prize money be increased? (Part 1)

Previously, being able to achieve what’s known as the perfect break would result in 6 figure prize rewards. If you go back further in time, sometimes cars were offered as compensation for hitting that magical 147. Nowadays, a player would be lucky to even get over £10,000 for achieving one of snookers greatest feats. Is something wrong here?

Certain players (I’m not naming names) are notorious for either questioning prize money, or intentionally taking on a pink instead of a black during the middle of a maximum. As opposed to (significant) fixed sums being rewarded to a player, nowadays (since 2011 or so) a maximum break is rewarded via a rolling system where as each tournament goes on and no maximums are made, the prize pot increases. Once a 147 is made, the prize pot is reset.

Clearly, if we look at things from the perspective of World Snooker, they can’t afford to dish out £147,000 every time a maximum gets made. And maximums get made quite frequently, relatively speaking. For context, from the early 80s to late 90s only a handful of 147’s were made each year (2-3). This average has progressively increased over the years. From 2008, this has risen to roughly 7-8 maximums per year.

The only way World Snooker would be able to finance this would be to siphon funds from top prize winnings from various tournaments. And it’s no small amount that would be taken away. If it ever got to a point where prize money for winning tournaments were so low, then players would just enter tournaments to try and just get a single 147 as opposed to win any tournaments – reducing the standard of play across the board.

Obviously, the other view to look at is from the player’s side (and in a way, the audience’s as well). Hitting a 147 is by no means an easy feat at all. Being able to string together 36 precise shots definitely warrants a considerable reward for that player. Does Barry Hearn’s proposed changes following his recent press conference make any strides in going forward with 147 prize money? Check out part 2 of this short – coming soon.

The New Rankings List after WSC 2019

It’s pretty clear to see that the world rankings have changed drastically following the events of the World Championship. While some players have significantly improved their positions, others have conversely dropped down the rankings to a point where they risk danger of falling out of the Top 16/32.

Ronnie O’Sullivan still remains World No. 1 despite his poor WSC performance but absolutely phenomenal seasons prior to that. That just goes to show how strong his performance has been the past couple years to (barely) keep Judd Trump at his heels at No. 2 after a £500k boost. Trumps recent win propelled him from rank 7 to 2. And if he continues at his current rate, it won’t be long before he claims the No. 1 spot. However, Neil Robertson certainly will put up a fight for that No. 1 spot if he continues winning at the rate he has this season.

What’s also surprising is seeing former World No. 1, Mark Selby drop down to 6th place. Mark has now since lost a significant portion of his ranking points and will now need to start winning more events this coming season in order to remain within the top rankings. I don’t see Mark Williams remaining at the No. 3 spot for very long with his extremely laid back approach to matches and practice. Kyren Wilson and Mark Allen hold spots 7 and 8 respectively and I don’t see them moving down the rankings too much – their consistency is high enough to keep them at these positions or even move up a space or two.

Things get worrying for those in spots 9-16. The difference between 9th and 16th is £63,500 which means that any and all players within these rankings are in danger of potentially falling out of these ranks. In particular, players like Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire who I am sure have set tremendously high standards for themselves will need to remain cautious going into tournaments this season.

Now, we have to take notice of David Gilbert and his impressive jump to 12th place from 16th after his stellar WSC performance. Hopefully, this is the start of his ascendance along with Gary Wilson who leaped 12 places to reach rank 20.

What do you think of these new rankings and what are your predictions for this upcoming season?

Stephen Hendry as a commentator

This short is more of a shout out and a nod to the 7-time-World-Champion-turned-commentator, Stephen Hendry. I know there are others that will agree with me in saying that Hendry provides excellent commentary on any game that he voices over. But in my opinion, he is arguably the best commentator of the lot right now; and has been for quite some time.

No one else can provide the insight that Hendry does – don’t get me wrong, other commentators on both BBC and Eurosport’s team can do the job, but there aren’t any that can call the shots like Hendry does. He will precisely call the next sequence of shots long before a player has gotten down for their first shot.

I think one of the things that makes Hendry so good is that he doesn’t focus on superfluous catchphrases. He’s more concerned with the technicalities of the game and the match he is calling. He looks more at the fundamentals as to why a shot was missed or poorly played and can really get into the mind of the players. And who better to be able to read the situation a player is going through than someone who has ‘been there, done that’?

I must give an honourable mention to Steve Davis and Alan McManus on commentary as well. Steve, for the incredible humour he brings to a match (which often pairs well with Hendry’s personality) and Alan for his unique insight and delightful little expressions that he comes out with.

Three Players I hope do well at the World Championship (2019)

Originally, this was the ‘five’ players who I hoped would do well in this year’s World Championship but unfortunately, two of them didn’t make it through the qualifiers. And thus, we now have the three players who I hope make some distance in the tournament.

Jack Lisowski

A player that I’ve grown quite fond of over the last few years. I like to consider him as ‘Judd Trump without the ego’. Has bundles of talent but just needs more experience at the big events. Debuting at the Crucible in 2013 but more recently, making his second appearance last year at WSC 2018. Unfortunately, having suffered a near white-washing defeat to John Higgins in the second round, I’m hoping Lisowski makes some distance in this year’s championship.

Ding Junhui

Having reached the final in 2016 and the semi-final in 2017 (only to lose to Mark Selby on both occasions), Ding is considered one of the most deserving players that can win the World Championship. A player with one of the largest fan base of supporters, there will be plenty, including myself, who will be rooting for him to make it to the final. He’s done it before, and he can definitely do it again.

Barry Hawkins

You can’t just not like Barry Hawkins. He’s a player you always want to do well, and you know what: he has. He’s made the semi-finals of the World Championships almost every single year since 2013 (obviously making the final in ’13). Seriously. The man is a season ticket holder of the WSC semi-finals. Hopefully soon enough, maybe even this year, he’ll get to the final and eventually lift that trophy!

Honourable mentions: Neil Robertson, Luca Brecel (slightly outdated but not at the time of writing), David Gilbert, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (now just recently outdated - what a match though)