The 2013 World Snooker Championships from Sheffield | Snooker

I think Poomjaeng is good viewing, he seems to be enjoying himself unlike most who just get uptight out there, he is slow which I don't like but he certainly is a character and the audience has warmed to him already. Looking forward to seeing how my bet Neil Robertson get's on later now.

 

The 1st round matches have nearly come to a conclusion with only 2 fixtures left to be completed...

So here is the draw for the 2 round... I will edit them when they are complete... Any of the Top 8 seeds left in are in Bold...

R. O'Sullivan v A. Carter
Bingham v M. Davis
S. Murphy v G. Dott
M. Fu v J. Trump
Milkins v R. Walden
M. White v D. Poomjaeng
M. King v D. Junhui
B. Hawkins v M. Selby


Bingham is currently 8-1 up and so will win his match where Robertson is in a tussle with Robert Milkins 5-4...

 

The first matches of the 2nd round start today with 2 former Champions against each other in Shaun Murphy and Graeme Dott with 2 debutants in Michael White and Jack Poomjaeng playing each other later tonight...


My second round predictions... Best of 25 frames...

R. O'Sullivan v A. Carter - Carter 13-11... - 8-13...
Bingham v M. Davis - Bingham 13-9... - 13-10...
S. Murphy v G. Dott - Murphy 13-10... - 13-11...
M. Fu v J. Trump - Trump 13-7... 13-7...
Milkins v R. Walden - Walden 13-9... 13-11...
M. White v D. Poomjaeng - White 13-10... - 13-3...
M. King v D. Junhui - Ding 13-8... - 13-9...
B. Hawkins v M. Selby - Selby 13-10... - 10-13...

Here's hoping then...

 

Well i got 10 out of the 16 results right but only 1 when it came to the correct frame scores, and that was the very first match involving the Rocket... Bring on the next round...

 

Now as shocks go Roberts Milkins beating the ex-champion Neil Robertson is the biggest upset so far at this years World Championships...

It was just not the Aussies day today, especially after he started off like he would dominate this match, as he did going 5-2 up. But he missed some balls that a top club player would get, and im being kind there. He wasnt at the races and he certainly didnt look that smooth operator that we know he can be. His flow was stopped in no short terms by a very determined Robert Milkins who fought and scrapped for every battle on the snooker table. Credit must be given to him first before we say how bad Robbo was...

This now opens the whole of the bottom halve of the draw now with the probable finalist coming from Ding or Selby, who shall meet in the next round should seeding's go to plan...!!!

Michael White is making a mockery of the result that got Jack Poomjaeng past Ste Maguire as he has an overnight lead of 6 frames leading 7-1 going into today's session. The colourful character from Thailand also gave away a frame by not hitting any red in the 4th frame, something that is unforgivable at this standard. I think the lad has burnt himself out in beating Maguire in the last round and simply hasnt got anything left in the ole memory tank to give. Never mind as he has put a smile on the faces of the public who have watched him, though i doubt Maguire shares those sentiments...!!!

Today's matches see's Murphy look to push on against Dott, he leads 6-2, and Mark Selby starts his 2nd round match against Barry Hawkins. Michael White could beat Jack with a session to spare later this afty with Trump taking on Marco Fu...


Here's hoping for another good day...

 

Just thought id put up the odds for the market asking Name The Finalists...?

O'Sullivan/Selby - 6/1
O'Sullivan/Junhui - 7/1
Trump/Selby - 8/1
Trump/Junhui - 9/1
Selby/Murphy - 14/1
Junhui/Murphy - 16/1
O'Sullivan/Walden - 18/1
Junhui/Carter - 25/1
Selby/Carter - 25/1
Selby/Bingham - 25/1
Junhui/Bingham - 33/1
Trump/Hawkins - 40/1
Trump/Walden - 40/1
Selby/Dott - 80/1
Junhui/Dott - 80/1

In my eyes the Trump/Selby and Selby/Murphy ones make most appeal... Im not toatally convinced that The Rocket will make the final so that makes the most sense to me... might just put a few £ on each of em...

 

The casualties in this years World Championships continue to happen as Mark Selby went down 10-13 to Barry Hawkins over the weekend... Not a good betting tournament for me so far as i had Selby down to win and also reach the final v Trump or Murphy... So my last pre tournament bet of Trump winning this is my only hope now, and he saw off Marco Fu 13-7 on Sunday...

Of the matches still left to be completed we have O'Sullivan 9-7 on Ali Carter, Mark Davis and Stuart Bingham locked at 8-8. Ding holds a 2 frame advantage over Mark King at 9-7 and Ricky Walden holds a good lead 10-6 over Robert Milkins... 'Game On' as they would say approaching the end of the 2nd round matches...

 

The 2nd round will be completed after tonight's matches come to an end with Ronnie 9-7 up on Carter, and Ricky Walden 10-6 up on Robert Milkins...


Quarter-final line up...

R. O'Sullivan v S. Bingham
S. Murphy v Trump
R. Walden v M. White
D. Junhui v B. Hawkins

With only 3 left in, of the original top 8 ranked players this year, it shows that it has been a tournament of upsets. What we do know is that the top half of the draw with Ronnie, Ali, Judd and Shaun will be the hardest to call. All past finalists of this championships before, with Ronnie and Shaun winners in the past, they will know what it takes to win this title this year...

The bottom half is wide open for someone to make it the biggest match of their career as only Ding has ever made it to the semi-finals before now. Walden or Ding look the most obvious of picks but you just never know...

 

How come Ronnie was number one seed when he's not played for a year? I'm guessing its because he is the defending champion.

 

Gerrez, its down to the fact that he was the defending champion and that the seeding's for this tournament dont go hand in hand with the World seeding's...

If you made the final for 2 years on the trot but slipped out the top 16 in the World rankings you would probably be in the top 4 seed's for the following years tournament...

I think they do the same for the Wimbledon tennis as well.

 

Quarter-final predictions...

R. O'Sullivan v S. Bingham - O'Sullivan, 13-11
S. Murphy v J Trump - Trump, 13-10
R. Walden v M. White - Walden, 13-8
D. Junhui v B. Hawkins - Ding, 13-11

So after thinking that Ronnie would be turned over by Ali Carter i have to say that he will beat Bingham and meet either Trump or Murphy in the semi's... The other matches could go either way really but experience should be enough for Walden to beat Michael White, and the same for Ding over Barry Hawkins. Though after he beat Selby in the last round im not totally confident that Ding will get the victory...

 

So Ronnie takes a huge lead into today's session, leading as he dos 7-1, and will probably win with a session to spare...!!! Ding is in a right royal battle with Barry Hawkins, trailing him by 7-9, and as good as Ding is he isnt the best when it comes down to a battle. Get a few back to back scrappy frames and he isnt the same potting machine that has had over 50+ 100 breaks this year...

Murphy and Trump are both hanging back for bets as both sessions have gone the same score line, 6-2 each, leaving us tied at 8-8 with one session to go. Michael White is hanging on in there with Ricky Walden in the other quarter-final, but he will have to play extremely well to peg back the 4 frame deficit he currently has. Walden leads 6-2...

 

Cracking semi in prospect, the winner will have to play poorly not to take the final i feel.

 

Ronnie walks it, Walden strolls it. Ding got bored of it and Trump got up for it...!!!

The semi-final line ups have now been completed and we get what many of us would have liked to have seen as a final with O'Sullivan v Trump. This would grace any final but the seeding's have it as a semi, so we cant complain but just enjoy the next 3 days of action...

Ricky Walden and Barry Hawkins step into the unknown as far as they are concerned as neither of them have been this deep into the World Championships before. Ricky has had the better season but Barry has beaten more of the top players this year than him. Could go to a final frame decider or a 10 frame winner...


Semi-final Predictions...

R. O'Sullivan v J. Trump... Trump, 17-14
R. Walden v B. Hawkins... Hawkins, 17-15

 

So Ronnie says that he only came back to play in the World Championships to "win a bit of money so i can pay off the school fee's". And he also said, "I've realised I don't miss snooker but I needed a bit of money"...

Well, there is two ways of going on his latest statement as you can slag him off and say get in the real world, you dont know what its is like to be trying to make ends meet week after week. Then there will be the ones that will be sympathetic towards him, and understand that the bloke owes no one anything and its up to him what he dos with his life...

The one man who wont be happy with this will be Barry Hearn. And he should be more worried if the Rocket goes onto win this years World's at a canter as a few more of the top players will start to copy what Ronnie has done. The fact that he has walked up to the Crucible without hardly playing 1 competitive match since last year, and looks a hot favourite to win it, will have the alarm bells ringing off in the other top players heads...

Why should they play every tournament on the tour only to give themselves a mental burnout going into the World Championships. The mental strength that these blokes have is incredible, but it is hard to maintain that standard over 3 weeks of top class snooker after such a hard and long season. Only 40 hundreds have been made so far in this years tournament, a number which is 20 short on this time last year. The amount of frames that have been won on the black has increased, as have the frames pinched with the smaller 30-50 break clearances. This is mainly down to players mistakes not clearing up like they used to do. There is no let up from frame one to completion, and only the very best players can just switch off and play like it means nothing to them. Stephen Hendry being the best of them...

Even the top golfers, who do travel the world week after week, dont play in every tournament. They manage there workload so that they can be ready and ripe for certain events, and this is what will happen with the snooker players...

I know what Hearn is trying to do in promoting the game world wide, and in China its has a massive fan base and support, but at what cost to the best players in the world. Maybe in 20 years time the top players will all come from abroad, and the home country players will be in the minority. But he has to look at the product he has first and try to help move them forward as well as the sport...

He has my sympathy, unlike Ronnie...

 

Sod Hearn, come on Rocket!!!

 

First time I've Ricky Walden play and I already him him in the final against Ronnie. Would be the quickest ever final

 

I wouldnt mind Ricky getting to the final

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Not massive stakes but then again i never usually do!

 

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I take it your a Ronnie fan then...

 

Got to love the rocket. He's own man who is very honest and awesome to watch