For those who don’t know, I went to Alexandra Palace to watch a Masters match on Monday evening to watch Stuart Bingham and Joe Perry (eventually, I mean, accidently missed a stop on the Tube straight from work, but got there in plenty of time! Though it was the shortest match of the Masters so far (it finished 6-1 to Perry), it was a very high-quality match as well – three centuries and two half-centuries are pretty damn good! Then Trump and Fu turned up and we all know how well they did (if you haven’t seen the break-building of that match, do it now!)
Essentially, this post is an intro of what walking into the Masters is all about (as well as many bad photos of mine! Essentially you come in and you see everyone in a waterproof jacket and glasses holding a programme in one hand and an earpiece in another. A number of sandwich stalls to my right and three massive screens relating to – you guessed it – betting and plenty of it! They show the rest of the tables, the lovely trophies and the like!
We entered the main arena and to be honest, it does look smaller than on the television. But damn does the table look good! It was quite odd seeing the commentary team in their own glass bubble back to us but everyone was seated comfortably. Rob Walker was our MC for the evening, gave everyone a good cheer, especially to Jimmy White (legend, UK Champion, and 6-time World Championship finalist), Joe Johnson (World Champion) and Andy Goldstein was left begging for applause (eventually received for having lovely hair).
After the quick warm-up, the players were introduced to the stage, with Rob managing to fit in that Stuart became a dad again after the birth of his third child. After the quick shake of hands, the match can begin!
One thing I had noticed is that the audience seem to come and go as their please and leave the arena whenever they like – rather rude I believe but I think my father was occupied by someone digging in the back of his seat and anoraks (says me) shouting “SHOT” at a straightforward red or colour. Anyways, the first frame lasted 18 minutes, with Joe Perry making a lovely 124 to set off the match. It was followed by a 40-odd minute slog of a frame with both players having chances to clinch the frame. Perry stole the frame from blue to black to force a re-spot (the first time I’ve witnessed it live!) and potting a lovely long one after some superb safety exchange.Bingham replied brilliantly, scoring then, the highest break of the Masters (now overtaken by Selby’s 139 against Mark Williams at the time of writing this). Perry then stole the frame from behind to make a lovely break of 77 despite good safety exchange and reverse side from Bingham.
So it was 3-1 at the interval and Perry was the better and more confident player, but I thought Bringham would go for a comeback here. Mainly because I mentioned in my blog that I thought Bingham was going to win 6-3 – what do you mean I’m biased. The 15-minute interval was just people getting refreshments and older men surrounding the bookies. Maybe Alfie Burden was there? I don’t know. No one would touch him with a bargepole since World Snooker that, as well as being a rule-breaker, he is also really shit at betting (lost almost £2,000 in 10 years!!!!) It’s quite nice seeing other famous people of the snooker world outside of the match, such as referees Paul Collier and Jan Verhaas and even WPBSA Chairman and non-exec director of World Snooker Jason Ferguson and took a few pictures of him, but he was with important people so let’s best not bother him!
With the interval out of the way, it was still relatively tense as many people from the crowd thought that the fourth frame was the dealbreaker, especially for Bingham. Bingham wasn’t playing badly, so I thought he had something in the tank. But despite getting some points on the board, Perry managed to knock out two breaks to lead 5-1. What I like about Perry is that he is very workmanlike, he isn’t as flashy and exciting as the Trumps, the O’Sullivans, and the Robertsons – he is quick, efficient and gets the job done. And he did just that, winning the match on the pink to increase his head-to-head record against Bingham by winning 6-1. He will play Ding Junhui next, the man who he beat two years ago to win his first match in the Masters!
It was a lovely experience and would definitely go again and maybe do an all-day one if need be. Anyway, here is my face – I am not too bothered about revealing it since the Internet seems over-the-top about who’s behind it all and it’s all total codswallop. Might as well get it over and done with – Since the blog is going okay I think I can show it anyway.
I do have tickets go to the Crucible in Sheffield in the evening of 15th April – seriously looking forward to that! Enjoy the rest of the Masters! More previews coming up (and much shorter, and I wouldn’t recommend using my predictions either!)
