Ladbrokes Players Championship Quarter-Finals !!!

Pink Ball wrote:An hour and a half in to this match, no posts. Maybe this really is the endgame for Snooker Island?

Some of us have to work

SnookerEd25 wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:An hour and a half in to this match, no posts. Maybe this really is the endgame for Snooker Island?

Some of us have to work

I work. I just don't work very hard.

TheRocket wrote:Carter wins. Imo a little setback for Robertson. After whitewashing Hawkins and looking to be in better form recently. And as he has pulled out of the China Open, we'll see him in the World next. Really excited how his form will be by then.

I think he'll have a deep run there, been saying this since November.

It's such a diferent ball game that no matter what you're done in the season, it's a diferent tournament to the rest of them.

TheRocket wrote:I do think you can get fed up with it to be honest. Seeing too much of something could take out the excitement but imo the bo7 format also adds up to it. It just makes too many tournaments look the same. Lack of variety in other words.

So I wouldn't mind if we had 3 or 4 ranking tournaments less and replace them by a multi session tournament just to have more variety.

I agree. It's not that I'm sick of snooker but I'm not one who's happy to have any kind of snooker on TV. It has to mean something to me. Be it a grudge match, a newbie on a run, two players crumbling under the pressure, two players trading centuries, the ebb and flow of a multi session match, a tactical ding-dong, etc. With so many similar tournaments it also doesn't seem to matter if you lose because there's another one next week. That does take the edge off for me.

TheRocket wrote:Carter wins. Imo a little setback for Robertson. After whitewashing Hawkins and looking to be in better form recently. And as he has pulled out of the China Open, we'll see him in the World next. Really excited how his form will be by then.

Yeah, I hadn't realised, until his post-match interview there, that he hadn't entered the China Open.

So, like a number of others, his next game will be at the Crucible.

Mark Allen also didn't enter, while Barry Hawkins, Marco Fu and Ryan Day all lost in the 'qualifying round' for China.

Interesting to hear Neal Foulds suggesting Robbo could be a threat at the World Championship - although, I know Andre has also had a feeling that he could suddenly 'click' in Sheffield.

Meanwhile, the seedings for Sheffield (although, much can change) are currently:

1. Mark Selby
2. Stuart Bingham
3. Judd Trump
4. Shaun Murphy
5. Ding Junhui
6. John Higgins
7. Barry Hawkins
8. Neil Robertson
9. Marco Fu
10. Ali Carter
11. Mark Allen
12. Ronnie O'Sullivan
13. Liang Wenbo
14. Kyren Wilson
15. Anthony McGill
16. Ryan Day

Ronnie and Ding currently on a collision course for a Last 16 meeting at the crucible!

I see it was being suggested by some posters that Ronnie would be best served in his preparations for Sheffield by skipping the China Open. Is that a real possibility?
He's actually got a fairly good draw there...

Last 64 v Gareth Allen
Last 32 v Mark Joyce / Fraser Patrick
Last 16 v (possibly) Zhou Yuelong
Quarter-final v (possibly) Stuart Bingham / Kyren Wilson

I see the best of sevens as a bigger problem, then just being bored of snooker.

There's football on most days, but I suspect you don't get people on football forums online whinging that there's too much football.

The best of sevens dilute it, because people don't take best of sevens seriously. I'd argue it's short matches we're sick of. Not that there's too much snooker on at the moment. That's absurd, considering the sport nearly died on it's bottom a few years back.

Ronnie hasn't been making the most of easy draws lately, just look at the German Masters for instance.

China won't be any diferent I don't think.

TheRocket wrote:

Andre147 wrote:

TheRocket wrote:Carter wins. Imo a little setback for Robertson. After whitewashing Hawkins and looking to be in better form recently. And as he has pulled out of the China Open, we'll see him in the World next. Really excited how his form will be by then.

I think he'll have a deep run there, been saying this since November.

It's such a diferent ball game that no matter what you're done in the season, it's a diferent tournament to the rest of them.

Just seen Robertsons post match interview and he looks confident and thinks his game is in good shape for the Crucible. I'd make him the third favourite for the title. After Trump and Selby. Ronnie at four.

Ronnie 3rd for me, Selby 1st and Trump 2nd. Robbo 4th, very closely followed by Hawkins.

If Selbo doesn't win the World Championship, I'll run around the street naked with a daffodil up my ass.

I'm still worried about Murphy for the WSC (worried that he might win).

Coland wrote:If Selbo doesn't win the World Championship, I'll run around the street naked with a daffodil up my ass.

That's what Wild said if Ronnie won the 2013 Worlds...

I'd go Selby, Trump, O'Sullivan, Hawkins, Fu, Murphy, Ding, Higgins, Bingham, Robertson, Allen in that order.

Pink Ball wrote:I'd go Selby, Trump, O'Sullivan, Hawkins, Fu, Murphy, Ding, Higgins, Bingham, Robertson, Allen in that order.

The order is fine but Mark Allen? He will never win a World Championship. Not in snooker anyway.

Andre147 wrote:

Coland wrote:If Selbo doesn't win the World Championship, I'll run around the street naked with a daffodil up my ass.

That's what Wild said if Ronnie won the 2013 Worlds...

What a coincidence.

TheRocket wrote:

The Herminator wrote:

Pink Ball wrote:I'd go Selby, Trump, O'Sullivan, Hawkins, Fu, Murphy, Ding, Higgins, Bingham, Robertson, Allen in that order.

The order is fine but Mark Allen? He will never win a World Championship. Not in snooker anyway.

99% probably thought the same with Bingham or Dott. You never know.

Fair point but I still think June Deroubaix will win it before he does.

Selbo is a relentless machine, who fantasises every naive opponent who attempts to beat him in snooker combat.

At the tender age of 32, he is only 26 ranking titles and 6 world titles short of overtaking Stephen Hendry's two most coveted records. It's time to ask: is he the greatest sportsperson we've seen? When he wins the Players , I think he'll climb to an unprecedented rung.

Right now I'd say:

1. Selbo
2. Lance Armstrong
3. Phil Taylor
4. Bradley Wiggins
5. Nadal

Yes. Can't wait to watch another 17 days of him rolling up to the pack.

Coland wrote:1. Selbo
2. Lance Armstrong
3. Phil Taylor
4. Bradley Wiggins
5. Nadal

A great bunch of lads.

The Herminator wrote:I agree. It's not that I'm sick of snooker but I'm not one who's happy to have any kind of snooker on TV. It has to mean something to me. Be it a grudge match, a newbie on a run, two players crumbling under the pressure, two players trading centuries, the ebb and flow of a multi session match, a tactical ding-dong, etc. With so many similar tournaments it also doesn't seem to matter if you lose because there's another one next week. That does take the edge off for me.

Having so many different tournament winners doesn't help. Obviously you need variety of winners but practically every tournament has a different winner and it's like they waiting in a queue for their title.

SnookerFan wrote:There's football on most days, but I suspect you don't get people on football forums online whinging that there's too much football.

The best of sevens dilute it, because people don't take best of sevens seriously. I'd argue it's short matches we're sick of. Not that there's too much snooker on at the moment. That's absurd, considering the sport nearly died on it's bottom a few years back.

Football is a far bigger sport than snooker. Plus it's mainly played in leagues where every match has the same importance. A top player losing a last 32 best of 7 game has no real consequence while Liverpool repeatedly losing to bottom half teams threatened to ruin their season.

KrazeeEyezKilla wrote:

The Herminator wrote:I agree. It's not that I'm sick of snooker but I'm not one who's happy to have any kind of snooker on TV. It has to mean something to me. Be it a grudge match, a newbie on a run, two players crumbling under the pressure, two players trading centuries, the ebb and flow of a multi session match, a tactical ding-dong, etc. With so many similar tournaments it also doesn't seem to matter if you lose because there's another one next week. That does take the edge off for me.

Having so many different tournament winners doesn't help. Obviously you need variety of winners but practically every tournament has a different winner and it's like they waiting in a queue for their title.

SnookerFan wrote:There's football on most days, but I suspect you don't get people on football forums online whinging that there's too much football.

The best of sevens dilute it, because people don't take best of sevens seriously. I'd argue it's short matches we're sick of. Not that there's too much snooker on at the moment. That's absurd, considering the sport nearly died on it's bottom a few years back.

Football is a far bigger sport than snooker. Plus it's mainly played in leagues where every match has the same importance. A top player losing a last 32 best of 7 game has no real consequence while Liverpool repeatedly losing to bottom half teams threatened to ruin their season.

You make some very good points and yes it does feel abit like a merry-go-round with so many different winners. Obviously best of 7s don't help in this regard, but there simply isn't an outstanding player or group of players at the moment. Supposedly Selby is the best of the current lot, but he's hardly Hendry or Davis, is he?

TheRocket wrote:

Andre147 wrote:

TheRocket wrote:Carter wins. Imo a little setback for Robertson. After whitewashing Hawkins and looking to be in better form recently. And as he has pulled out of the China Open, we'll see him in the World next. Really excited how his form will be by then.

I think he'll have a deep run there, been saying this since November.

It's such a diferent ball game that no matter what you're done in the season, it's a diferent tournament to the rest of them.

Just seen Robertsons post match interview and he looks confident and thinks his game is in good shape for the Crucible. I'd make him the third favourite for the title. After Trump and Selby. Ronnie at four.

Based on what? He has had a dire season and one semi final at the Crucible in 6 years is appalling

No mention of the 'vote' on ITV 4 yet.

Selby calls this one of the big tournaments on the calendar.

Oh yeah. These two had those massive long frames in The Crucible semi-final.