The Crucible Countdown !!!!

My Prediction

Round One
Stuart Bingham 7-10 Allister Carter
Stephen Maguire 10-5 Alan McManus
Ricky Walden 10-4 Robbie Williams
John Higgins 10-8 Ryan Day
Judd Trump 10-8 Liang Wenbo
Martin Gould 6-10 Ding Junhui
Mark J Williams 8-10 Graeme Dott
Neil Robertson 10-1 Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy 10-5 Anthony McGill
Marco Fu 10-5 Peter Ebdon
Barry Hawkins 10-6 Zhang Anda
Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-4 David Gilbert
Mark Allen 10-5 Mitchell Mann
Joe Perry 8-10 Kyren Wilson
Michael White 10-6 Sam Baird
Mark Selby 8-10 Robert Milkins

Round Two
Ali Carter 13-11 Stephen Maguire
Ricky Walden 13-9 John Higgins
Judd Trump 13-7 Ding Junhui
Grame Dott 7-13 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 13-7 Marco Fu
Barry Hawkins 3-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Mark Allen 9-13 Kyren Wilson
Michael White 13-9 Robert Milkins

Quarter-final
Ali Carter 13-11 Ricky Walden
Judd Trump 13-11 Neil Robertson
Shaun Murphy 7-13 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Kyren Wilson 13-6 Michael White

Semi-final
Ali Carter 17-15 Judd Trump
Ronnie O’Sullivan 17-9 Kyren Wilson

Final
Ali Carter 7-18 Ronnie O’Sullivan

Some age stats I've calculated...

Average Age
Quarter 1......36.6
Quarter 2......33.5
Quarter 3......34.4
Quarter 4......30.2

Top half.........35.1
Bottom half...32.3

Overall Average....33.7

So more than a six year average age gap between top and bottom quarters. Unusual.

Andy Spark wrote:

Andre147 wrote:

Andy Spark wrote:The top and bottom of the draw are roughly evenly matched for strength when you adjust for the fact that Ronnie is the real number 1 by a distance.

Sory but the real WN1 is Mark Selby, even if atm he's not playing the best Snooker out there.

Robbo and Ronnie are, Trump too, but my point is Selby is WN1 for a reason. Those 3 players didn't earn enough money to be WN1.

You go by world ranking which thinks a player who hasn't entered an event (with no data on performance) is worth the same as a player who has entered but loses first round (with available data suggesting he's not at even a level to win one match). World rankings are nonsense because they are based on nonsense. Garbage in, garbage out.

Normally an intelligent and thoughtful posetr - what has happened!

The World Rankings are everything in snooker! They influence seedings, they reflect how much money you earn, they determine where you stand in the game and therefore your status.
But most importantly, they dictate whether you can even continue as a professional in the sport and have a future earning capability.
Try telling Peter Lines, or the other players who've been knocked-off Tour and lost their livelihood that the rankings aren't everything.
Wow.

I like That Pink Ball

Murphy's backing O'Sullivan
Bingham's backing Mark Allen
Parrot's backing Trump/Robertson.

Let the battle commence...

snookerlover wrote:Murphy's backing O'Sullivan
Bingham's backing Mark Allen
Parrot's backing Trump/Robertson.

Parrot acknowledges players that aren't Ronnie?

SnookerFan wrote:

snookerlover wrote:Murphy's backing O'Sullivan
Bingham's backing Mark Allen
Parrot's backing Trump/Robertson.

Parrot acknowledges players that aren't Ronnie?

Yup, he was specifically asked apart from Ronnie and Allen (who'd already been mentioned).

Skullman wrote:Thing is with Selby, he's a bit of an uncertainty right now. He's gone off the radar a bit, which I think suits him, but since he missed the last two event for personal reasons, we don't know what he's been doing.

If it's a serious family illness or something similar, he could've not touched his cue for a month for all we know.

My top three to win the Worlds and why:

1. Ding, China deserves this and it would be fairytale stuff to go from quallys to the crown. It would do major things for the game in snooker's biggest potential market.

2. Trump, UK snooker needs this and the hype would be unreal.

3. Ronnie, a 6th crown will generate a lot of GOAT column inches and please the overwhelming majority of snooker fans out there.

Who and why are yours people?

Dom Dale is talking up the possibility of working with Eurosport as a commentator and pundit for the Worlds. He's easily one of the best around and it's a massive shame that the beeb continue to shaft him to Welsh Open punditry.

My message didn't post the other day it seems, blasted mobile of mine, but I have an ominous feeling in the back of my head that this is O'Sullivan's year. No real reason, just a vibe is all.

Let's see.. Mark Allen maybe? Mark Allen always seems to be a hot pick for 'dark horse'. There's no real stand out or in-form players this season, so it's hard to really fancy someone outside of your favourite player.

The Old Monk has changed it's name to The Head Of Steam.

SnookerFan wrote:The Old Monk has changed it's name to The Head Of Steam.

Looks like an Arty Farty ale type pub.

PoolBoy wrote:Normally an intelligent and thoughtful posetr - what has happened!

The World Rankings are everything in snooker! They influence seedings, they reflect how much money you earn, they determine where you stand in the game and therefore your status.
But most importantly, they dictate whether you can even continue as a professional in the sport and have a future earning capability.
Try telling Peter Lines, or the other players who've been knocked-off Tour and lost their livelihood that the rankings aren't everything.
Wow.

I didn't say they were not important, I merely suggested they lack sense if we are using them to ascertain the number one player in the world in a narrow field of possible contenders. This is mainly because the very best players will play in different numbers of ranking tournaments and this variable, which is entirely unrelated to skill level, profoundly influences rankings. Furthermore, the ranking system completely ignores data from non-ranking events like the Masters. So, while rankings truly give you a rough idea of skill level, if one then proceeds to order the skill level of the very best according to their ranking, then it is a nonsensical operation. There are other and better methods.

SnookerFan wrote:

SnookerFan wrote:The Old Monk has changed it's name to The Head Of Steam.

Looks like an Arty Farty ale type pub.

Let's hope there's lager for ya!

Andy Spark wrote:

PoolBoy wrote:Normally an intelligent and thoughtful posetr - what has happened!

The World Rankings are everything in snooker! They influence seedings, they reflect how much money you earn, they determine where you stand in the game and therefore your status.
But most importantly, they dictate whether you can even continue as a professional in the sport and have a future earning capability.
Try telling Peter Lines, or the other players who've been knocked-off Tour and lost their livelihood that the rankings aren't everything.
Wow.

I didn't say they were not important, I merely suggested they lack sense if we are using them to ascertain the number one player in the world in a narrow field of possible contenders. This is mainly because the very best players will play in different numbers of ranking tournaments and this variable, which is entirely unrelated to skill level, profoundly influences rankings. Furthermore, the ranking system completely ignores data from non-ranking events like the Masters. So, while rankings truly give you a rough idea of skill level, if one then proceeds to order the skill level of the very best according to their ranking, then it is a nonsensical operation. There are other and better methods.

God sakes every bucking year you come out with the same old bucking bullocks.


Rankings are there purely as a way of seeding players.

its not really a indication of who the most Talented or Skillfull player is that's totally irrelevant its worked out on success over a period of time if you don't play you cant win its that simple.

in Physical sports if you're injured you drop down the rankings they don't give a monkeys about skill levels.

Wildey wrote:in Physical sports if you're injured you drop down the rankings they don't give a monkeys about skill levels.

You get a protected ranking in tennis if you are injured

I think holt will win more than one frame against robertson

Two dull matches to start off with on Saturday. Tournament not exactly getting off on a high note, as most would have hoped.

Would love to see Bingham get dumped out early. It's about time that particular Cindarella story came to an end.

Ronnie79 wrote:I think holt will win more than one frame against robertson

yes bold prediction allright.

Cheshire Cat wrote:-- On that discussion about Carter a ways back in this thread, his poor record against ROS is because for me, he goes into his shell too often and I don't know why. I've always thought Ali plays better when he plays aggressively. He tried this ultra-negative voodoo safety dross in 2012 that rather amazingly got him to the final, but it imploded when he met ROS there

This match is worth a watch for Hendry's scathing commentary alone. He is disgusted with Carter for this approach and rightly so. 'At some point you have to pot balls if you're going to win'

Gridlock wrote:I've had some Bush Mills Black Bush Irish Whiskey tonight thinking about watching the Q's today. I just started following snooker a year ago, and feel so happy to have found this forum since last August. Being here in the states, I will be up as always at 5 am to see the last 32 draw. Life is good. Til tomorrow my snooker island friends.

Rightbackatcha snooker brother. I'm lucky, I have two actual friends who I can chat about snooker with here in London (not quite as obsessed as me) but finding this forum was a real find. That New Yorker article is a peach.

This Worlds is about one thing, and if he fails, they'll turn their tellys off in droves. He's plastered on the BBC sport homepage, which of course, is a good thing..........................

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36049580

Ronnie is snooker.

Cloud Strife wrote:Two dull matches to start off with on Saturday. Tournament not exactly getting off on a high note, as most would have hoped.

Would love to see Bingham get dumped out early. It's about time that particular Cindarella story came to an end.

your obviously not a fan of the sport theres not such a thing in the World Championship every match excites me i couldn't give a toss who plays

Where has this idea that Mark Allen is going to win The Crucible come from? No he isn't.

Master Blaster wrote:This Worlds is about one thing, and if he fails, they'll turn their tellys off in droves. He's plastered on the BBC sport homepage, which of course, is a good thing..........................

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36049580

Ronnie is snooker.

Again not a fan of the sport what a load of cockerel

Master Blaster wrote:This Worlds is about one thing, and if he fails, they'll turn their tellys off in droves. He's plastered on the BBC sport homepage, which of course, is a good thing..........................

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/36049580

Ronnie is snooker.

Careful. You'll give your sausage a whiplash the way you're going.

He's the blaster, the master blaster.

So someone states that Ronnie's going to win a match which he clearly is favourite for and there are cries of 'oh god the Ronnie fanboys are out in force already' yawwwwwwwwn zzzzzzz why don't people try to be a just a tad original?

I don't know what I find more boring - those that only seem to like Ronnie (and not snooker as a whole) and those that bemoan that group. Both equally dull. I wish they would all stfu.

Posted from Ronnie's tree. It's comfy up here.

Nothing wrong with saying Ronnie is favourite. He's going to win the tournament, in my opinion.

Going "Ooooh, his face in on the promotion, that's amazing. I'll turn off if he gets knocked out" is annoying fanboyism.

SnookerFan wrote:Nothing wrong with saying Ronnie is favourite. He's going to win the tournament, in my opinion.

Going "Ooooh, his face in on the promotion, that's amazing. I'll turn off if he gets knocked out" is annoying fanboyism.

Nope, you're wrong again cockwomble. It's a fact. Ronnie turns the ticket machine and the remote controls. When he doesn't play, viewing figures plummet. Is that because most snooker fans find him their favourite worth watching? Yes.