By Dan Warren BBC Sport at the Crucible

"I had a couple of beers and a meal" Stevens on his preparation for Monday's session

Imagine you're Matthew Stevens, you're struggling against in-form Paul Hunter and there's a place in the last eight at stake.

Unfortunately, you need to win nine frames in a row to get to the quarter-finals. What do you do?

Well, in the case of the laid-back Welshman, you crack open the booze.

"I had a couple of beers and a meal in the afternoon before the match. Basically I had lost the game," he admitted after his defeat.

It looked as though the pint-based preparation was going to work a treat as Stevens won his first two frames with some inspired snooker but perhaps the hangover then kicked in as Hunter wrapped up his expected victory.

Another man who will not be unfamiliar with the barmaid's apron this week is second-round loser Quinten Hann.

The Australian has a reputation as a bit of a hellraiser, and did little to dispel that image after his defeat to Mark Williams.

"I'm flying home on Thursday, so I'm going out to [fashionable London nightspot] Chinawhite's on Wednesday night," he explained with more than a hint of mischief in his eye.

It's easy to think that journalists are a hard-bitten, cynical bunch but Ken Doherty's match against John Higgins on Tuesday proved they are prone to outbursts of emotion too.

Beleaguered John looked like a broken man as he slumped 10-0 behind but rallied in stirring fashion and looked to be on for a 147 in the 11th frame.

As the excitement grew around the media room, Higgins missed the 15th black and was forced to settle for a 113.

One crestfallen journalist appeared to take Higgins' failure to heart.

His glum face revealed a real heartache. "I really, really wanted him to do that", he wailed.

Because of empathy for Higgins? Because he was impressed by the Scotsman's great spirit? Because of the chance of seeing sporting history being made? Erm, no.

"I had a really great headline ready, and now I can't ******** use it," the distraught hack confessed.