Dramatic battles in the closing seconds of the match, incredible flukes and fouls, and a snooker incident (11:21) made the first round of this tournament especially vibrant.

Flukes were a recurrent theme. While Martin O'Donnell's 'planned' fluke was not enough to bring Ben Woollaston to tears, as Neal Foulds suggests, it was certainly close and proved decisive.

No long seven-round tournament other than the Snooker Shoot-Out can host many exciting matches in the first round. Being single-frame matches, lower-ranked players significantly increase their chances of beating top players. It's a matter of probability theory and statistics - the shorter the match (fewer frames), the better the chances for the weaker player.

*For example, if your probability of winning a frame against someone is 40%, then your probability of defeating him in a best-of-7 match will be only 29%, and in a best-of-19 game, your chances will drop to 19%.
Hendry won 55% of all the frames he played against Jimmy. If we take that 55% as his chance to win a frame, then Hendry's chances of beating Jimmy in a final at the Crucible would have been 75%.

(*) A binomial distribution is assumed.

The statistics shown in the video correspond to the date of the match.

Cesar Muroya created a unique editing technique to extract the essence of the game without losing the drama involved. Contextual information is also an innovation appreciated by viewers.

This format is not intended to substitute the full version but rather to make snooker more accessible to new fans. The fluency and atmosphere of the game stay in a shorter length video, allowing even experienced fans to enjoy snooker at any time.

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