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Pretty sure Ronnie said Efren is the only person to ever 'out-hustle' him on a snooker table (you can interpret that as you will, but I took it to mean that Efren could play snooker almost as well as pool, which is backed up by Jimmy White's encounters with him too). As you say, the pro always...

Isn't that basically a Chinese 8-Ball table?

Yeah, not dissimilar (other than the prize money ;-)

Its not really small, as you say the prize money is decent and its one of the few events in China that actually draws the crowds. Its small in terms of the field of course, as they only invite 16, but none of the elite players ever turn this one down which tells you something... Obviously...

Yes, but I don’t think it’s conscious. I think he has to get himself fired up and in the zone, to compete (in the manner he wants to, i.e. fluently) and that often involves taking on shots he might miss, knowing if he gets a few in, he’s basically ‘calibrated’ himself and he should go onto win...

Surely if a pool hall doesn't serve alcohol they'll go out of business (if they charge the 'real' table rate, i.e. without cross subsidisation from drinks then the rate would probably put people off)?

I’ve tried...it’s painful! Gave up very quickly! That said (apparently) some players (I mean top level players not bangers like me) practice for Chinese 8-Ball that way as they don’t have access to Chinese 8-Ball tables!

Assuming you're a reasonable player (and it sounds like you can pot a few balls) you should have no real problem adjusting. Some of the shots are a bit further away, but that's about it. Cushions, cloth etc. can be different table to table anyway, so that's not really specific to moving from an...

Yeah Sky don’t really advertise pool much, even on their own website, as it’s a minority sport for them, with only the 4 Matchroom events shown. Also outside the UK the rights may be different, so even with a subscription, some events could be blocked (I’m guessing).

Yes, so here basic Sky / Virgin (Cable) doesn't come with any Sports channels, to get Sky Sports as an add on you have to pay extra on-top (and generally commit to a full year as well). However we now also have a web TV service offered by Sky (called Now TV) which lets you buy a pay per view...

Presumably its the same as every other sporting event, company X (in this case Matchroom) sells the rights to local providers around the world. Those local providers then decide how they want to show the event. If no local provider has the rights to the event then Matchroom allow streaming in...

In a way it is a more logical game to transition to from snooker than 9-Ball, but unless the structure of prize money changes massively (unlikely), we’ll never know if anyone could make that transition.

...or more likely....having seen someone break a decades old record, other pro's now see it as something that is actually achievable if they are prepared to put the effort in. It almost certainly has nothing at all to do with whoever holds the record and not wanting them to hold it.

Well they are professional sportsmen, their 'job' is to be the best performer on a pool table, poor taste might be relevant in terms of table etiquette etc. but there is no established etiquette here, if someone chooses to go for the record they have every right to do so, there is no logical...

My point was that pro's shouldn't nicely ask other pro's not to beat their achievements, you can apply it to any sport / scenario. As I've already said, I don't expect anyone to beat the record in a hurry, I just think no pro should ever ask another pro not to attempt to beat them, its just odd...

If someone shoots a new course record in the 1st round of the masters, should the other players all play conservatively to ensure they don't set a new record too quickly? Of course not. In professional sport, every pro should be trying to win / be the best at every possible opportunity. For...

A lot, far more than anyone would put up!

Its a really odd statement in a way...on the one had he says please don't break my record...on the other he says, people don't realise how tough it was. Personally I doubt anyone will post a higher run in a hurry, but if I were a pro I would never ask my fellow pro's not to try, it just...

I agree that once the BCA (and/or WPA?) say it’s a record, then it counts. However ignoring all the stuff about tables etc (conditions change in all sports, if conditions had to be perfectly constant you’d have a million different records for virtually identical things) I think the exhibition...

It's no mystery, Matchroom are very transparent about the qualifying, if you don't play in enough qualifying tournaments, you can't get enough points to qualify (same for the Europeans, albeit the list of tournaments is different).