Jimmy White won all of the frames in the first session in his match against Dene O'Kane, and led 9–0. White saw out the match to win 13–6. The semi-final matches were played as the best-of-31 frames, held over four sessions, from 30 April to 2 May. Joe Johnson met Neal Foulds in the first semi-final. The pair were tied at 3–3, but Foulds missed a pot on the in frame 7; allowing Johnson to take a one-frame lead after the first session. In frame eight, Foulds made a break of 48 to win the frame, and won frame nine, despite requiring foul shots. Johnson made breaks of 47 in each of the next two frames to lead 6–5. Foulds took the next before Johnson, with his fourth break of 47 in four frames, took the lead again. Foulds won the last frame of the session with a break of 45 to leave them all square at 7–7 after two sessions. Foulds made a break of 114 in the 15th frame to go one ahead before Johnson won seven frames in a row to lead 14–8. Foulds won frame 23, but Johnson won the next two frames to win the match 16–9 to reach his second final. Davis and White had been level at 4–4 after their first session, with Davis winning the first four of their second session to lead 8–4 and finishing that session 9–6 ahead. White compiled a 119 break, the new highest in the competition, overtaking his earlier 114 in the second round, to end the third session 9–13 behind. Davis won the match 16–11. The final was played as a best-of-35 frames match held over four sessions between Steve Davis and Joe Johnson on 3 and 4 May 1987. It was the first time that the same two players had met in the final at the Crucible for the second year in a row. The last time that two players had met in consecutive finals at the World Championship was when Fred Davis and Walter Donaldson had both reached the final from 1947 to 1951, five years in a row. The next time it would happen was when Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White met in three consecutive finals between 1992 and 1994. This is also the only time that the final has been contested by the top two seeds of the tournament. The final was refereed by Len Ganley. In frame one, Davis compiled a 127 break, the highest of the tournament.