It was a very, very hectic and busy day for Jason Francis, who had to make sure everything was ready and perfect for the launch dinner: from ironing the players shirts to securing a prize for the possible maximum, a Fabergé egg worth 28K … I wonder what he will do if there are two 147 over the week-end

It was all the more hectic because, for some reason, a lot of flights were canceled or delayed at London airport. Mark Selby’s flight was canceled, but he managed to get another one in tome. Kyren Wilson’s flight was delayed too and Michaela Tabb only arrived minutes before the dinner’s launch. But Ronnie didn’t make it in time …

Ronnie had a launch event on the previous evening to promote the “American Hustle” and his timing was probably a bit too tight to accommodate any unexpected delay.

Anyway, he’s the loser here, as he missed a great evening, some excellent food, great live music provided by Fallen Empire, with Mark Selby performing as a special guest, a quiz, a raffle, the captains revealing their line-up for tomorrow’s first session and  lots of laugher at the tables and on the dance floor …

Here is the pictures album on Facebook

Here is a small selection

Today the real action starts and there will be no quarters given. Both teams want this badly.