BetVictor Northern Ireland Open 2021

[peejaytwo]

What do people think to Bingtao refusing the cut back black for the match against Ronnie and pushing it safe to the cushion. Not sure how many others would have done the same.
He still won of course, just very surprised at the time.

[mikee]

It was probably the best thing to do playing Ronnie ,Most of the Chinese play much the same ,good but bland ,Bingtao seems different and his game seems to be progressing .He’s probably well capable of winning the World title at some point .

[trains]

I see plenty of frames where player a on the verge of winning a frame or even a match opts to play a snooker instead of going for a pot out of fear of passing control of the table to his opponent , its just part and parcel of competition and gambling in that sense , easy to second guess afterwards if it goes wrong but you’ve just got to respect the players decision on how he felt at the time i suppose.

[JimMalone]

Playing Bingtao is like playing the computer game of snooker online on the highest level.....i.e. he doesn't do anything amazing but takes all chances left for him at a high level.

Not much more though? He kinda just sets the bar in his matches for what an opponent needs to exceed!

^Thoughts?

I still think that he lacks a bit of consistent firepower and makes a few mistakes to much (whether with positioning or potting) to be among the very best, but he's on his way certainly. He really has a very well all-around game and he plays clever shots most of the time and seem to be pretty strong mentally. The last two things are hard to learn, but very important to be at the top of the game, so I think he is on a really good way.

[trains]

look at the speed of that traffic on those two bridges behind white and o sullivan in the heart of belfast , looks like a nicer place to live than london , if you're tired of london you're tired of life my arse !!

[itsnoteasy]

Hope it's a cracker today, if they both fire it could be a classic.

[DeanH]

well, here goes

settling down for some top notch snooker! :snooker:

[JimMalone]

Hopefully it will be a great and tense match.
I think Higgins will win it.

[Zelig]

Mhm, maybe I am biased, but the Honourable Pundits are playing Mark's 3-1 a bit down (he was lucky here, he was lucky there...), those three or four cracking long reds by Allen were by no means lucky and were what allowed him to make crucial breaks.... Ok, maybe I am biased...

[JimMalone]

Classic Higginsian break to get to 4-4.

[fkhan]

A gutsy brown to draw level. I thought he would play safe there.

[JimMalone]

A gutsy brown to draw level. I thought he would play safe there.

I thought this as well.

[JimMalone]

The other four-time World Champion liked that clearance as well.


https://twitter.com/markjesterselby/...57776469704705

[Cue crafty]

What do people think to Bingtao refusing the cut back black for the match against Ronnie and pushing it safe to the cushion. Not sure how many others would have done the same.
He still won of course, just very surprised at the time.

I think a lot of players would rather try and take an opportunity to win a frame over losing a frame from playing safe, I just don't think Yan is one of them.

[Cue crafty]

Great great clearance from Higgins, just think Ronnie could have bigged it up a little more........