Neil Robertson cheekily thanked Mark Selby after the Leicester snooker star played a crucial hand in earning him an additional £150,000.

Before winning the Welsh Open, Selby had ousted 2023 World Snooker Championship victor Luca Brecel in the semi-final in Llandudno. While he is undoubtedly a popular figure in the sport, perhaps his biggest supporter in the last four was Robertson, who’d been eliminated in the second round by Tom Ford.

The Australian‘s hopes of banking the £150,000 bonus for amassing the highest earnings in the Home Nations Series were therefore hinging on Selby knocking Brecel out. When he beat the Belgian, before overcoming Stephen Maguire 9-6 in the final, few would have enjoyed it more than Roberston.

Selby’s brilliance against Brecel ensured he was £150,000 richer. He later took to social media with a nod to his fellow snooker star.

He posted Selby’s name along with emojis of a love heart, celebrating hands and a smiley face. If Brecel had managed to triumph over Selby and beaten Maguire in the final, he would’ve walked away with both the £150k bonus and the £100k tournament prize.

But Brecel’s semi-final departure meant he bagged neither, while Robertson basked in the glory courtesy of Selby’s stellar performance. Robertson had positioned himself as the frontrunner for the bonus by winning the English Open back in September, braving a threatening fightback from Wu Yize to secure both the championship and the cool £100k top sum on offer.

Former snooker star Neal Foulds reckoned he was lucky to walk away with the bonus. Speaking to Eurosport, Foulds said: “He’s kind of won it by default in a way.

“I mean, he’s obviously picked up more money than anyone else, but the amount of people that were queueing up to take it off him, and none of them did. It’s happened like that a couple of times now. So congratulations to him. He’s the rightful winner.”

Brecel will also be feeling the heat after failing to beat Selby. He needed a triumph in Llandudno to move into the top 32 of the one year rankings.

As a result of his loss to the Leicester native, Brecel finished in 39th position, only £12,350 shy of Maguire. In order to qualify for the World Grand Prix in Hong Kong, which begins on March 4th, players must finish in the top 32 of the rankings.

After missing out, Brecel said: “I’m a bit disappointed. Obviously, I wanted to go to Hong Kong for the Grand Prix. But maybe it’s a bit of karma for not entering all the tournaments this year. I think I maybe skipped five or six tournaments.

“It is what it is. I had my chances I guess; I didn’t take them well. It’s all about building up the game for the World Championship, I guess, this season. It’s the only one I’ve got left.

“So for me, that’s the big one and I’m happy to be going there with a bit of confidence and some results.”

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