Trump wins!!

[Gob]

World number one Judd Trump made a superb century break to win the English Open in a final-frame decider against Neil Robertson in Milton Keynes.

Trump, 31, now joins Robertson and Mark Selby in having won 18 ranking titles.

Robertson, who recovered from being 3-1 down to lead 7-4, needed a break of 125 to level the match at 8-8.

However, Trump, who has won his last 10 consecutive ranking finals, capitalised on a poor break by knocking in 114 in one visit to seal his win.

The Englishman, who won the world title in 2019, told Eurosport: "It was a really tough final and I felt most of the game Neil [Robertson] was probably the better player, he scored a lot heavier than me.



"The way Neil played at no point did I think I was going to win the trophy. I had to go out and earn that one, it was probably my toughest final in five years."

Trump reached the best-of-17 final after beating four-time world champion John Higgins 6-4 in Saturday's semi-finals.

Robertson progressed with a 6-5 win over Mark Selby, while world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan lost in the third round to Matthew Stevens.

[ex-khobar Andy]

Ronnie lost?? To Matthew Stevens?? Shouldn't happen. His problem is that although he is, IMO, the best player in the world, so often he is unmotivated and way too casual.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Marbles?

[Sue U]

Snooker?

[Gob]

[Sue U]

Ha! I actually thought it was darts, and thought I was making a joke with "snooker." My only experience with snooker is Andy Capp and I still really don't know what it is.

[Bicycle Bill]

It's a particularly weird British form of pocket billiards.  Requires a special table which superficially resembles the standard American pool table, a cue ball, six colored/numbered balls, and fifteen solid red balls.  One must pocket a red ball before one can try to sink a numbered ball; if they do so they score the same number of points as the number of the pocketed ball (if I remember correctly, the shooter also gets one point for the red ball). The numbered ball is then retrieved and returned to play, being replaced in its designated starting position, and the game proceeds until all red balls and numbered balls have been pocketed.

Yet another sport/game that would have died out long ago were it not for the Brits and their tenacity and obstinacy in, well, just being different from the rest of the world.

-"BB"-

[ex-khobar Andy]

The standard snooker table is 12' x 6' - which means that it has to be level to a very high degree in order to make long shots. A diagonal shot might be 13 feet. So any slight imperfection in the level or the cloth (i.e., the usual pub or club table) means long pots are almost impossible for an average player. My highest ever break (long long ago) is 38 - professionals regularly manage breaks of 100 or more (147 is the theoretical maximum). But to me it's the king of billiards games. I have watched people playing the non-pocket carom billiards which is just crazy difficult: even the top players in the world rarely manage a string of six or more successful shots.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Also the full-size snooker table is larger than a pool table and the pockets are smaller. OTOH, the full-size snooker balls are 2-1/6" while "real" American pool balls are 2-1/4". (Both regions use 2" balls for smaller tables such as in bars).

So the British have smaller balls.

[Gob]

But better aim..

[Bicycle Bill]

So the British have smaller balls.

But better aim..

They need to have good aim ... the holes are smaller too, and the rounded edges makes it harder to get the balls into them.

-"BB"-