The Main Contenders

Yes I agree with Wild.

Anyway, looking like Ronnie can yet again face MJW in Last 16, the other 2 times he beat him heavily then, and 2006 Quarters match was MJWs best chance of beating Ronnie at Worlds.

If they meet again Ronnie should hammer him again, that result at IC was almost a fluke, not taking anything away from MJWs win there though.

Andre147 wrote:Yes I agree with Wild.

Anyway, looking like Ronnie can yet again face MJW in Last 16, the other 2 times he beat him heavily then, and 2006 Quarters match was MJWs best chance of beating Ronnie at Worlds.

If they meet again Ronnie should hammer him again, that result at IC was almost a fluke, not taking anything away from MJWs win there though.

Mark is playing much better than the last time they played at the WC

Selfishly I would love a Robbo/Trump re-match. That's one great snooker rivalry.

Wildey wrote:

Andre147 wrote:Yes I agree with Wild.

Anyway, looking like Ronnie can yet again face MJW in Last 16, the other 2 times he beat him heavily then, and 2006 Quarters match was MJWs best chance of beating Ronnie at Worlds.

If they meet again Ronnie should hammer him again, that result at IC was almost a fluke, not taking anything away from MJWs win there though.

Mark is playing much better than the last time they played at the WC

True. If they meet in the last 16 MJW will fancy his chances especially if Ronnie's head isn't 100% right. I think it's going to be a very tight match.

John Higgins at 33/1 - price suspended with Coral. I think it will move in to about 25/1 if he beats Ding.

Selby at 9/1 also suspended with Coral. I think it must be being reviewed.

Selby (1) v Maguire (16)
Perry (9) v Murphy (8)
Hawkins (5) v Allen (12)
Carter (13) v Robertson (4)
-----------------------------------------
Ding (3) v Higgins (14)
Fu (11) v Trump (6)
Walden (7) v Bingham (10)
Williams (15) v O'Sullivan (2)

Easiest Quarters in Ranking Order

Quarter 4
Quarter 2
Quarter 1
Quarter 3

Ronnie will be pleased with his quarter, it couldn't have turned out much better for him to be honest.

Overall I think the quarters are quite well balanced.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Ronnie will be pleased with his quarter, it couldn't have turned out much better for him to be honest.

No change there then.

Robertson V Trump final

If Selby wins the China Open this weekend it won't be an advantage at all at the Crucible. He would just set himself up to fail. He's already defending champion and World No. 1. With the CO under his belt as well the pressure and expectations he'll put on himself will be way too much and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go out early. Selby likes being the underdog and he could never be further away from that role than this year.

Judd will much prefer to play Ding in the QF than Robbo. So it is good for him that Ding won today. Ding just isn't playing well enough. Although, barring any shocks (which there will be plenty of) Judd will be faced with the hardest SF possible against Ronnie. The top side of the draw could be interesting, I have a good feeling about Murphy this year.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:If Selby wins the China Open this weekend it won't be an advantage at all at the Crucible. He would just set himself up to fail. He's already defending champion and World No. 1. With the CO under his belt as well the pressure and expectations he'll put on himself will be way too much and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go out early. Selby likes being the underdog and he could never be further away from that role than this year.

Well, according to some he has no chance anyway due to the Crcuible curse, so winning in China can't reduce his chances anymore.

armchair de critique wrote:John Higgins at 33/1 - price suspended with Coral. I think it will move in to about 25/1 if he beats Ding.

aha, Higgins now 25/1 with Coral

ROS 15/8 FAV

Robertson 5/1

Trump 6/1

Selby 9/1

Murphy 10/1

Ding 14/1

armchair de critique wrote:

armchair de critique wrote:John Higgins at 33/1 - price suspended with Coral. I think it will move in to about 25/1 if he beats Ding.

aha, Higgins now 25/1 with Coral

ROS 15/8 FAV

Robertson 5/1

Trump 6/1

Selby 9/1

Murphy 10/1

Ding 14/1

The so-called Crucible curse notwithstanding, 9/1 on Selby looks a decent bet. Though if he reaches the final, I will have probably switched off the TV a long time ago.

Muppet147 wrote:
The so-called Crucible curse notwithstanding, 9/1 on Selby looks a decent bet. Though if he reaches the final, I will have probably switched off the TV a long time ago.

Will you have stopped posting?

SnookerFan wrote:

Muppet147 wrote:
The so-called Crucible curse notwithstanding, 9/1 on Selby looks a decent bet. Though if he reaches the final, I will have probably switched off the TV a long time ago.

Will you have stopped posting?

Stop waving at me, fatso.

No way is ros fav, selby looks a good bet to me

Robbo will be happy having hawk instead of Judd

GJ wrote:Robbo will be happy having hawk instead of Judd

I think you are acknowledging that Trump will be the man to beat in Sheffield.

The only player who can stop him is Ronnie.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:If Selby wins the China Open this weekend it won't be an advantage at all at the Crucible. He would just set himself up to fail. He's already defending champion and World No. 1. With the CO under his belt as well the pressure and expectations he'll put on himself will be way too much and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go out early. Selby likes being the underdog and he could never be further away from that role than this year.

i really do not buy that bullocks theres no better way to go to the Crucible than just winning a event confidence breeds confidence.

i see it as a Big Advantage going there with wins under your belt.

Yeah like winner of china open the last 2years

You say that, but in reality you could say it has no effect. It's unlikely that wins two rankers in a row these days, regardless of when in the season it occurs.

Last/only person to win China Open and the Worlds in the same season was ROS in 2000/1, and that was when it was in December.

Last person to win the last two rankers of the season was John Higgins way back in 1998.

GJ wrote:Yeah like winner of china open the last 2years

If Judd had a more control game in 2011 he would have done it instead of blasting balls at 100mph.


What carried Judd in to that final was his success in China.

It depends on the player really. I saw Trump lose to Martin Gould in the PTC Finals in 2011 and he looked like a jobber, I would never have saw what was going to happen over the next six weeks. Winning in China gave him confidence to go on a run, for that reason a win for Ding this year is more useful than winning it last year.

Muppet147 wrote:
Stop waving at me, fatso.

My bad.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:It depends on the player really. I saw Trump lose to Martin Gould in the PTC Finals in 2011 and he looked like a jobber, I would never have saw what was going to happen over the next six weeks. Winning in China gave him confidence to go on a run, for that reason a win for Ding this year is more useful than winning it last year.

Yeah, he suddenly went from painfully mediocre to world class almost overnight.

SnookerFan wrote:

Muppet147 wrote:
The so-called Crucible curse notwithstanding, 9/1 on Selby looks a decent bet. Though if he reaches the final, I will have probably switched off the TV a long time ago.

Will you have stopped posting?

S/fan 1-0

Wildey wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:If Selby wins the China Open this weekend it won't be an advantage at all at the Crucible. He would just set himself up to fail. He's already defending champion and World No. 1. With the CO under his belt as well the pressure and expectations he'll put on himself will be way too much and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go out early. Selby likes being the underdog and he could never be further away from that role than this year.

i really do not buy that bullocks theres no better way to go to the Crucible than just winning a event confidence breeds confidence.

i see it as a Big Advantage going there with wins under your belt.

I guess we see it differently.

I say the pressure and expectations will get to Selby at the Crucible, you say they won't. We'll have to wait and see what's going to happen.