We’ve all played our best mate for a few quid – but perhaps not for the £40,000 that will be at stake when Barry Hawkins takes on Joe Perry on Saturday night in a Masters semi-final.
Read MorePRIDE AND £40,000 AT STAKE FOR PALS PERRY AND HAWKINS

Snooker
We’ve all played our best mate for a few quid – but perhaps not for the £40,000 that will be at stake when Barry Hawkins takes on Joe Perry on Saturday night in a Masters semi-final.
Read MoreRonnie O’Sullivan’s dramatic deciding-frame defeat at the hands of Barry Hawkins late on Monday night threw the destination of this year’s trophy into an eight-way melting pot.
Read MoreRonnie O’Sullivan was in the history-making mood at Alexandra Palace on Sunday night as he equalled Stephen Hendry’s record of six Dafabet Masters titles.
Read MoreThe line-up is strong, intriguing and contains various sub-plots as the remaining quartet vies for glory and the £200,000 first prize.
Read MoreBARRY HAWKINS won the Riga Open in Latvia, losing only seven frames in the whole tournament…
Read MoreTWO BECOMES ONE as the Crucible arena is transformed for the semi-finals, with one table, four players and five more days to decide who becomes 2015 Betfred world champion.
Read MoreALI Carter’s emphatic Masters victory over Barry Hawkins felt like a win worth far, far more than a quarter-final place, and the Captain’s post-match comments confirmed that suspicion.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins arrives at the Dafabet Masters in fine fettle, making a 147 maximum break in making it through to the winners’ group of the Championship League with success in Group One.
Read MoreBARRY HAWKINS claimed the first spot in the winners’ group of the Championship League with a 3-1 defeat of Stuart Bingham, who had topped the table after the round robin section at Crondon Park golf club on Tuesday.
Read MoreNEIL Robertson kept his Wuxi Classic title defence on track with the narrowest of victories over Shaun Murphy on Friday.
Read MoreRONNIE O’Sullivan took an even firmer grip on his semi-final against Barry Hawkins on Friday morning at the Dafabet World Championship.
Read MoreDEFENDING CHAMPION Ronnie O’Sullivan took early control of his Dafabet World Championship semi-final against Barry Hawkins, opening a 6-2 first session lead at the Crucible on Thursday.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins let the emotions flood out at the end of a titanic quarter-final against Dominic Dale which he edged 13-12 in the match of the Dafabet World Championship.
Read MoreMARK Selby and Barry Hawkins, the two seeds in their Dafabet World Championship quarter-finals, look poised to move into the semi-finals at the Crucible on Wednesday.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins handed out some more Crucible misery to Ricky Walden on Saturday as last year’s finalist reached the quarter-finals with a 13-11 win.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins took the decision to pull out of the China Open in Beijing after winning the Players Tour Championship Grand Finals in Preston, fearing that a return trip to the Far East would damage his preparations for the Crucible.
Last year’s finalist was of course able to advance the justification at the time of his withdrawal that the PTC Finals has originally been scheduled to be hosted in Thailand, which would have made a shorter flight.
That may not have been enough to avoid a fine, but the £100,000 pocketed at the Guildhall and £16,000 minimum for winning his first match easily in Sheffield will have covered that.
On the eve of the tournament Ronnie O’Sullivan branded some of his main rivals “insecure” for feeling they had to play in everything chasing the ranking-point dollar and arguably burning themselves out, while he was getting some hard practice yards done in relative comfort ahead of a bid for a sixth world title.
Although we have yet to see exactly what the full pay-off will be for the Kent left-hander Hawkins’ decision not to jeopardise his Crucible preparations was precisely the kind of thing O’Sullivan was talking about, and something we may see more of.
He certainly looked fresh enough in winning the last eight frames against Dave Gilbert for a 10-4 win to take him into the last 16.
BARRY Hawkins eased into the second round of the Dafabet World Championship on Wednesday morning – to set up a repeat of last year’s semi-final against Ricky Walden.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins and Mark Allen could both face fines after pulling out of the China Open on Monday, the opening day of the event.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins admitted the snooker gods must have been on his side as he beat Gerard Greene to win the Wyldecrest Parks PTC Finals and claim a second ranking title.
Read MoreBARRY Hawkins was in the mood to get on with it against Yu Delu to avoid another late night at the Wyldecrest Parks PTC Grand Finals on Friday.
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