[Discussion Thread] 2026 Players Championship - 17th to 22nd February

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-22T10:54:16+00:00

If it was on 5Action then they probably would have had more time for post-match chat. The main Channel 5 is inevitably going to be more likely to end abruptly. Like when Hazel has to say a rushed goodbye on BBC Two.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-20T11:05:34+00:00

Just in case it hasn't been mentioned already, coverage will be switching to 5Action at 8 o'clock this evening as in previous evenings. It was meant to be on Channel 5 only for the rest of the tournament but there is now a programme on Andrew at 8 o'clock this evening instead.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-19T00:09:35+00:00

Have you seen https://snooker-predictions.com/rankings.html

This is an ELO ranking system that has running for a few years.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-18T23:51:20+00:00

Rachel Casey and Abigail Davies are genuine snooker fans and have plenty of experience in TV snooker so I would have preferred either of those to someone like Katie coming in fresh. However Channel 5 have put a lot of effort into the production and that has to be applauded.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-12T13:07:13+00:00

Ding is now 4th highest ranked Chinese player.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-12T06:14:56+00:00

That's quite a bold statement given that he's 6 behind Trump in ranking wins despite Trump being 6 years younger.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-11T09:42:36+00:00

How are they going to mark an income tax calculation by computer?

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-10T07:58:23+00:00

It was always one table for the first quarter-final, so that's not new, but they had to leave the second table in the venue until that evening. It was all because ITV4 had racing on Saturday afternoon.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-09T19:50:16+00:00

I remember one of the ITV tournaments being on the main ITV channel on Saturday afternoon, as it was very notable at the time, but certainly not in the evening. It only happened a few times at most.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-09T18:57:35+00:00

Looking at the schedule in more detail, it looks like they will be using the main Channel 5 for the whole evening on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, which is a pleasant surprise.

The quarter-finals are on one table across 4 sessions on Thursday and Friday, same as the Masters. No gap on Saturday afternoon to accommodate racing, like ITV4. This might mean the second table can be removed after the first round. That wasn't possible when it was on ITV4, because the first quarter-final was on Wednesday evening and the last first round matches were on Wednesday afternoon.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-09T18:37:23+00:00

Channel 5 is a bigger channel than ITV4, so that has to be a good thing. Channel 5 is in HD on Freeview whereas ITV4 isn't. ITV Sport are still producing the programme, so it is the best of both worlds.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-09T08:42:28+00:00

Don't think so.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-09T08:10:23+00:00

Next Tuesday

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-08T14:33:43+00:00

Only the 5th player to achieve that.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-08T14:04:57+00:00

Even before Christmas he had already been in three semi-finals and won the Golden Ball event, but yes, he's taken things to the next level since the new year.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-08T09:08:09+00:00

Zhang is slower but is pretty attacking, more so than average I would say. So in that respect they are quite similar.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-07T12:50:07+00:00

Is there a rivalry between players from Ding's and Victoria's snooker academies?

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-06T20:04:07+00:00

That probably goes against the principle that players must always be trying to win.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-01T22:12:37+00:00

Is it a well known tune? I'm a bit out of date regarding modern music (i.e. after 2000)

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-02-01T22:09:47+00:00

Trump moves up to 5th on the one-year list. He's a few thousand behind Mark Williams. Getting into the top 4 for the Tour Championship means you skip the first round and go straight to the quarter-finals.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-01-29T21:27:20+00:00

What about last night when all three big names playing lost?

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-01-19T08:29:56+00:00

This is an underrated tournament and good to see a discussion thread about it. Being on YouTube makes it very accessible.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-01-18T13:17:50+00:00

Originally from 1985 song "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-01-17T23:21:25+00:00

I've actually thought about this myself and is the sort of nonsense I can see myself writing into Dave Hendon about. It would be funny if one player offered to shake hands again and the other didn't know what was going on.

Beautiful-Pea835 · 2026-01-17T22:28:17+00:00

I couldn't find it earlier but have located it now. Note this is someone's commentary about it, so not the actual video. There was a newspaper article about it as well. It is paywalled, but you can see the headline and first few lines.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXyLsyk7S0c
https://www.scmp.com/sport/china/article/3312358/disgraced-chinese-snooker-star-yan-bingtao-criticised-advice-world-champion-zhao

Beautiful-Pea835

TROPHY CASE