Snooker World Championship 2018

[mikeyboy]

Snooker championship started  April 21 st 

Already  a huge shock with past 2 years Champion   Mark Selby out in the first round , losing 10 - 4 to Joe Perry ,

Ronnie O'sullivan  has it all to do also  , 6-3 down to Steven Maguire  ,   If he goes out then  maybe Trump or Junhui could break their duck .

For me , i might have some interest in Shaun Murphy or even John Higgins as outsiders . 

Mikeyboy

[jocky king]

I had snooker topic set up yesterday but disappeared , don’t know why ... but thankfully you have set up your own for us , thank you . 

Ronnie played terrible yesterday , seems that five titles he won this season had worm him out . Maguire is playing so well , saw him this year , big improvements, maybe a drop from top 16 had woken  him up . I don’t think Ronnie will beat him this morning (10am UK time ) . 

Mark Selby lost to Joe Perry wasn’t a surprise to me , firstly Joe Perry is a very good snooker player since he became a professional secondly Selby from had been poor this season even though he did won the China open , maybe that had worn him out also , can’t understand why some media saying a shock defeat to Selby . Even Selby knows Joe is a great player . I hope Joe will go on to win the championship , be another Joe Johnson or Dennis Taylor . I think the snooker fans will miss Selby with his hours of his gritty display and superb safety. I rather watch a snooker of safety and mistakes than watching century breaks or a 147 .555 .. For me a dark horse to win the championship is Luca Brecel of Belgium  which is available at 100/1 .

So happy to have the World Championship back , been watching it yesterday from 10am to 10 pm including football , Rugby . And this morning in 7 minute time before I post this comment . Thank you again Mike . 

[mikeyboy]

Thanks Jocky

Agree that Joe Perry is a fine gritty player  , but i think you were maybe only one of a few that wern't suprised by Mark Selby's loss .  You watch more Snooker than me !    I know Selby broke a toe in the winter and was out for quite a while and that may have been a factor  .

How are Ding Junhui and Judd Trump playing this year ?

Quality safety and snookers are also more interesting than big breaks on what to me look generous pockets . 

Anyways great Telly for those that enjoy it .

Mikeyboy

 

[jocky king]

1 hour ago, mikeyboy said:

Thanks Jocky

Agree that Joe Perry is a fine gritty player  , but i think you were maybe only one of a few that wern't suprised by Mark Selby's loss .  You watch more Snooker than me !    I know Selby broke a toe in the winter and was out for quite a while and that may have been a factor  .

How are Ding Junhui and Judd Trump playing this year ?

Quality safety and snookers are also more interesting than big breaks on what to me look generous pockets . 

Anyways great Telly for those that enjoy it .

Mikeyboy

 

For me I think that Judd Trump won’t win this tournament,  Ding maybe . Ronnie even said that Judd is making mistakes and said he could coach him to win the World Championship . Sometimes , Judd hit the cue ball too hard , and goes for crazy shots . Ten years ago , he was tipped to win the Championship few times with his wonderful talent . But he is 28 years old , maybe plenty of years left in him . He will want to hurry up to win one of the few . Ding , marvellous player , always get his cue ball on right positions most of the time . Problem is if the crowd is supporting his opponent,  they would be getting under his skin . 

Ronnie had a great game this morning , with a 10-7 win . Gotta feel sorry for Maguire , got few horrible kicks and missing few easy pots  that cost him few frames . Snooker can be a very cruel game for the professionals. 

[jocky king]

Top half has more difficult draw than the bottom half , but Ronnie will have to face Mark Williams or Neil Robertson in the quarter final if they go through the rounds . 

[PR1977]

Good topic, will be watching the blanket coverage on Eurosport for the next couple of weeks to try and take my mind off Patts.

Not surprised about Selby, he's been off form all season but maybe a year away from being the man to beat will do him good, also Stephen Maguire despite all the talent beats himself all the time, always down on himself and that was evident in some of the frames with Ronnie when things started to go wrong for him.

Bottom half definitely harder - John Higgins has to be favourite from top of the draw - aside from Ronnie in the bottom half I think Ryan Day could be a good shout after the season he's had plus I think his risk taking heavy scoring one visit game is suited to the longer format or Barry Hawkins maybe who's looked good again lately after a dodgy season  plus has form at the crucible.

Good win for Ali Carter now v Dott in a real war of attrition...bring on Ronnie!!

[jocky king]

Lyu Haotian Of China beat Marco Fu 10-5 .... very impressed with a 20 years old Chinese snooker player .. we might see him in the semi final if he played like today .   Played snooker very fluently . 

[PR1977]

Bit of a shock Shaun Murphy going out....really opens up that top quarter

[jocky king]

14 minutes ago, PR1977 said:

Bit of a shock Shaun Murphy going out....really opens up that top quarter

Jamie Jones had beaten Shaun few times including this tournament in 2012 with a 10-8 . He made 147 when he was 14 yrs old ,  comes from Wales ( Neath ) . He qualified for this tournament last week by beating three players in three rounds including Wenbo 10-0 , even though Wenbo nearly made a record of making 147 twice in his previous rounds but missed the black . Jamie will give anybody a really tough game . Here is a video of young Jamie playing against Ronnie in 2001 . 

 

 

[mikeyboy]

2 hours ago, PR1977 said:

Bit of a shock Shaun Murphy going out....really opens up that top quarter

I find watching Shaun Murphy very frustrating , at times he looks sublime with the best Cue action out there , and then he makes a sloppy schoolboy error , to throw all the good work away .

The young Chinese player Haotian is exciting to watch , is he really 20 ?  he looks about 12 years old !

Mikeyboy

[PR1977]

1 hour ago, mikeyboy said:

I find watching Shaun Murphy very frustrating , at times he looks sublime with the best Cue action out there , and then he makes a sloppy schoolboy error , to throw all the good work away .

The young Chinese player Haotian is exciting to watch , is he really 20 ?  he looks about 12 years old !

Mikeyboy

Get the impression sometimes with Murphy he doesn't really care enough any more, seems to lack a bit of edge now or something's missing...

Don't recall seeing Haotian at all this season, seems to be a lot of these young technically gifted Chinese players around but they all lack consistency...hope he can keep it going.

Watching the Hawkins Carrington game now, real battle this, quality not great but compulsive viewing

 

[jocky king]

Hawkins won 10-7 to Carrington . Carrington made some great pot but Hawkins safety play won him a match . 

[gmoule]

Was in class with jamie,cant go up to sheffield this weekend but if he gets through next round ill go up.can hear his father shouting in the background on the last frame 

[PR1977]

Ding through at a canter, Williams in a strong position...seeds beginning to assert their superiority. Although Walden beat Brecel I dont think that's an upset despite what the rankings at the moment say.

So lets see how Stuart Bingham goes v Lisowki tonight, real clash of styles and temperament.

[jocky king]

Lisowki played superb beat8ng Bingham 10-7.  Bingham should have won the last frame to make 9-8 before making a terrible miss on the last red . 

Robertson played so bad today to Milkins  , he was lucky to get the final frame of the first session to lose by three frames rather than 5 .. 3-6 . Robertson will bounce back tmw afternoon to his best . Might be a last frame decider . 

Ding and Walden got through to the second round . 

We have seen three former world champions knocked out early  , Dodd , Murphy and Selby .  Could be a year of an outsider . 

[mikeyboy]

Ding Junhui and Ronnie will be very happy Selby is out , he seems to get the better of both of them .

Nobody is talking about Judd Trump this year , maybe just what he needs , but pressure seems to get to him in the end .Barry Hawkins should play better as the tournament goes on , but i've a feeling Ronnie may add to his Titles ,  at least the bookies think so !

Mikeyboy

[Red-Devil]

Milkins tore Robertson a new one....!

[jocky king]

Another former World champ is out , Milkins beat Robertson 10-5 , even though Milkins wasn’t at his best today but Neil contributed the easy pots for Milkins in a couple of frames . Never saw Robertson playing so bad , he was telling on social media recently that he was practicing so hard for this Championship and felt great with his preparations, maybe too much expectations has knocked him off . 

Ronnie will be happy to see an easier route to the  final with only on form Mark Williams and Dangerous Ding to beat on the way .

[mikeyboy]

 

49 minutes ago, jocky king said:

Another former World champ is out , Milkins beat Robertson 10-5 , even though Milkins wasn’t at his best today but Neil contributed the easy pots for Milkins in a couple of frames . Never saw Robertson playing so bad , he was telling on social media recently that he was practicing so hard for this Championship and felt great with his preparations, maybe too much expectations has knocked him off . 

Ronnie will be happy to see an easier route to the  final with only on form Mark Williams and Dangerous Ding to beat on the way .

Have always liked the way Mark Williams plays the game .  

Ding Junhui looked fine in his first round match , immaculate break building and much improved safety which wasn't the case before .   If he does meet Ronnie he'll start to sweat a lot , the pressure / expectations of billions of Chinese on his shoulders .

Neil Robertson looked really distracted , can you practice too hard ?

Mikeyboy

[jocky king]

Mark Williams , a twice World Champ , always thought he played great snooker , probably the best potter along with Murphy and Robertson . But I didn’t like his showboating yesterday to Jimmy Robertson with a no look shot  , very disrespectful to a fellow professional. What you think of it Mike ? 

 

[mikeyboy]

No Jocky , i thought it was fine . 

He spent a decent amount of time lining up the shot with his cue /cue ball .  If he feels comfortable playing it that way , well why not .  The game needs a little flair .   

After all the frame was still very much live and several fouls would have probably have made Robertson favourite  to win that battle .

Mikeyboy

[PR1977]

I think it was OK too, Williams does a few odd things at the table, like playing one handed off the cushion  and the underarm rest shot

[PR1977]

John Higgins next former world champ with a target on his back, cant see Un Nooh coming back although he's started well. Not seen much of him before but decent cue power and positional play in first frame of the evening there as he makes a ton

 

[mikeyboy]

1 hour ago, PR1977 said:

I think it was OK too, Williams does a few odd things at the table, like playing one handed off the cushion  and the underarm rest shot

I watched it a couple of times again , and Stephen Hendrey actually calls it beforehand   " he may end up not even looking at the cue ball when playing the green " 

Mikeyboy

[mikeyboy]

Barry Hawkins 10 -10 with the Lyu Haotion  after gifting the Chinese player the 20 th frame with a nonsense shot when snookered  .  If Hawkins loses this match he will have nightmares about his schoolboy error .

Ronnie with it all to do 9 - 7 down to Ali Carter   looking forward to this last session today.

Mikeyboy