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Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby Wildey

Neil Robertson v Mark Selby

i first joined forums in 2007 the BBC Forum 606 when i first came across Sonny (oneball2) and GJ (GJtheaussiestud) and the Rivalries they had regarding Robbo and Selby its taken 5 years for these two players to meet in a Ranking event of any description.

Really looking forward to this Match its been a long time coming after some near misses the Biggest near miss was the 2010 World Final.

Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby Skullman

AC or LT? wrote:
Jewell wrote:In all honesty, I hope Robbo gives Selby an almighty battering tommorrow.


I want Selby to give Robbo an almighty bashing tomorrow. Please tell me this is the evening match so I can watch it.


It is :-D

Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby PLtheRef

SnookerFan wrote:
Jewell wrote:What blog is that you're reffering to there, Snookerfan?


Long story. An ex-poster with an axe to grind.



10 posts on the UK Championships on rr

Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby Wildey

Skullman wrote:Just switched to BBC stream. Why did no one mention Hendry was commentating? I was stuck with Mike Smith :grrr:

there's more World Champions in the Com Box than playing lol

Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby Roland

Witz78 wrote:
Wild WC wrote:
Witz78 wrote:The sooner the money ranking system comes in the better so the top players can focus on the big events instead of prostituting themselves to play in the tinpot events

dream on <doh>

what people are failing to mention is when defending the Money Ranking points of 2 years ago if you lose first Round you drop like Flies.


BUT youve got an unfair amount to defend and your in an elevated position thanks to that so your doing wel to benefit initially from that but going forward once the system kicks in itll be a level playing field so if your losing last 32 matches then yes those below you will close the gap

Whats your big issue with a fair system anyway?

Me and Monique and Sonny for that matter were discussing in length the merits of this system the other night and a majority verdict was reached <ok>

:stir:

Re: Williamhill.com UK Championship Last 16 Discussion.

Postby Roland

Another fantastic day at the Barbican to add to the list and one I'll remember with the best of them.

My two favourite players of the moment, Mark Selby and Luca Brecel both mirroring each other in going 3-0 down, winning 5 on the spin, losing the next and winning the last for 6-4 victories. It was pretty spooky, seemed to be destined to be mirrored scores and during the last frame there was one moment when both had mirrored pots to middle, Luca with a blue, Selby with a red and both walked around the table at the same time to work out where they wanted to leave the white, then both walked back round to play the shot at exactly the same time, mirroring each other. Fingers crossed for a Selby v Luca final but that would be dreaming a bit too much.

Selby didn't get a decent chance for the first 3 frames, but his safety let him down giving the great long potter Day a chance to get in first in each of them. He managed to salvage the 4th for a 3-1 defecit and that was enough for me. Selby always plays better in the second half of the match. It was pretty clear at 3-2 that Day was feeling the heat, and the two shots Selby played firstly to get the snooker on the pink, and secondly to pot the pink and send the white around the angles to land perfect on the black sums the man up and why I enjoy watching him so much. As soon as he levelled at 3-3 there was only one result on the cards although I thought 6-3 more likely than 6-4. He got a kick on 99 when going for the century at 3-3 then he nearly went in off on century ball in the next but the writing was on the wall at that moment.

I can't sum Luca up in a short summary but basically he is my new favourite player, equal with Selby. The kid is a genius. Ronnie didn't enter, Judd got KO'd in round 1 but who cares when you have Luca to watch? As with most of his matches he comes good in the end and modifies his game according to the player he is playing. This is something you can't teach. I was chatting to a snooker team mate at the interval about Luca, I said he's autistic, the team mate said "Is he good at drawing?" to which I replied "No, he's good at snooker." I can not put into words how highly I rate Luca and how much I love watching him play so I'll leave it at that for now.

Then after a few jars and a curry I headed back in and found the door into the arena unattended. I grabbed my chance, walked in and with security not letting me down the squeaky stairs I set up camp in the balcony seats for the rest of the night.

I joined the action with Robbo leading 3-1 and Davis leading 3-2, although it may have been the other way around. Mark Davis then struck 2 centuries on the spin to lead 5-2 and Mark Selby came and sat in the balcony seats with his manager to study Robbo. Then it happened, Higgins knocked in the first live tournament 147 I've seen! To be fair though, I've had Ben Harrison knock in a 147 against me where I played the shot to try to deny him the chance (tried and failed to stick a red in baulk, got a double kiss and the bastard cleared with a perfect frame) and ended up spotting for the entire break, so nothing will top that. But it was thrill all the same to witness the great John Higgins compile the perfect break without losing the white. The last 147 I remember was Higgins again in the Shanghai and it occurred during the 24 hour Snookathon and my mate Jimbo who I did the marathon with was also in the arena to witness it.

What struck me though, was the fact Selby didn't bat an eyelid on the max and instead remained totally transfixed on the other table. I glanced across when Higgins was on the pink, and he was totally focussed on the other table, and the players on the other table were oblivious as well!

After Robbo won Selby left, and as it coincided with the 147 (Robbo won within seconds of the max) Luca had obviously got wind of what was going on and came up to watch from the balcony seats. Higgins of course levelled at 5-5 but when he was 5-4 up he potted the last red but Davis conceded despite only needing 1 or 2 snookers, I can't remember exactly. But Luca was animated at that moment, he couldn't understand why Davis didn't play on for snookers. I liked that.

So I went and said that if Higgins didn't win the decider I'd eat my face. How close did he come though? He needed to clear after Davis built up a healthy lead and how many times have we seen Higgins win from that position? I couldn't see him missing for the life of me, and after that blue it seemed time to go home but he missed the pink! So he can miss when the chips are down after all! Fair play to Mark Davis, he deserves to have a result like this under his belt and he's cemented his top 16 place with a quarter-final against Matthew Stevens tomorrow.

Finally, as has been pointed out in this topic, FINALLY!!!! we will get to see Robbo v Selby in a proper match that means something! The winner will face Stevens/Davis so they are pretty much playing for a place in the final, no disrespect to the other two intended but we all know that's the case. This is the match we've all been waiting for! It comes just a month after my first proper chat with Selby in which I mentioned that they hadn't faced each other. He seemed surprised although he remembered with clarity their qualifier in the Welsh from 2005. This should be a classic for the purist and I can't bloody wait! Come on Selby!

Luca v Murphy will have to do in the mean time though, as well as Carter v Bingo. What a day in store tomorrow, and no Ronnie or Judd in sight!