2021 World Championships

[vmax]

Bingham has gone down in my estimation after his post match comments as has Hazel for the way she put it to Mark Selby in his post match interview like it was office gossip. What she said was unnecessary and sounded like a paparazzi trying to get a story. It clearly shocked Mark and that isn't fair for a finalist.

Bingham has gone up in my estimation, telling it like it is. referees have to be stronger imo. Didn't Barry Hearn say that gamesmanshipo was tantamount to cheating and that he would put a stop to it, nothing been's done except keep a track of average shot times. Yes Selby was politely warned once, but once isn't enough when he continues to do it, and all us players know what he's doing, playing for re-racks, faffing about with rests and cue extensions for an age when he knows straight away what he needs to reach the shot, looking all around the table for two or three minutes and then playing the obvious shot, going for breaks between nearly every frame no matter how long it took.
When he's winning easily he doesn't do it, but when he's up against someone who is in the zone and putting it to him he adopts it every single time. I don't watch the bloke for that reason, missed everyone of his matches for the past two years now, will now miss the final but at least I now have the time to finish my lockdown guitar build project, thanks Mark, you *******!

[DeanH]

possibly this

can anyone dig up Shaun Murphy's crucible semi final record , which year/s if any did he lose

https://cuetracker.net/players/shaun...d-championship

[balkend]

Hope Murphy destroys Selby but can't see it happening. Selby will drag everything into slow motion and make it a total borefest. Murphys exciting style of play will be strangled by Selbys tactics. I can see Selby drawing up a plan of battle like an army general. He will lumber around like a constipated camel and choke Murphy to death like the big leggy preying mantis he is

[DeanH]

I am so split - I want Murphy to win - his second championship would great
But I have ?50 on the prediction!

[fkhan]

I am so split - I want Murphy to win - his second championship would great
But I have ?50 on the prediction!

You will win that 50 quid I think.

[DeanH]

You will win that 50 quid I think.

I think Murphy is too much a pedigree top player to not get fussed by any games-ship Selby may try to pull.

I was nice to see Ben Williams the other day tell Selby to take the shot - we need to see more of this

[P.Smith]

A few people in this thread claiming that Selby turns every match into a borefest. However imo he is always involved in the most intriguing matches so that's curious. Strategy is an important part of snooker and if Mark chooses to play defensively to disrupt his opponents momentum and rhythm I don't see this as an example of gamesmanship. Intentionally waiting for 3 mins to play a shot to disrupt your opponents rhythm however would be gamesmanship. In my view Selby has never done this intentionally but obviously many others disagree. In my view he has simply agonised too much over certain shots in crucial situations.

I remember in the last few frames of the UK final Neil Robertson was taking around a minute on each shot, even fairly straightforward ones. But I barely ever see anybody accusing him of gamesmanship?

[Nifty50]

I am so split - I want Murphy to win - his second championship would great
But I have ?50 on the prediction!

Thats what I call a win win.

[mikee]

Bingham lost it completely trying to get out of that last snooker on the green ,the chances of hitting the green and not leaving a shot on was minimal really considering he couldn’t hit at all in the first few attempts ,he would have had to have landed top side flush on the top of it .Probably hit and hope with pace would have been the better option .The miss rule seems to be having more of an impact on results at crucial moments ,bit like last years semi final .

[PatBlock]

No I wouldn't say so. The only thing which he shouldn't have done maybe was playing for five snookers past midnight, but I think even this is okay, just to send his opponent a signal: I will fight until the end and you won't get anything easy from me.
The long time of thinking at a complicated table is perfectly fine - as was Ben Williams' demand for Mark to play on in the one instance, where Selby took too long a time. But I think it's just his nature in such complex situations and his will to find the most perfect solution and I can feel this cause I tend to think a long time in such difficult situations as well.

I think it's part of the game to get into your opponents head and Selby is quite good in this. And actually I think other players don't mind, cause from my observations Selby is well liked among his peers. Players like Hawkins, Murphy, Bingham had some chats in the floors with him just before going out to the tables.

Exactly, he's a ditherer not a demon and sometimes when under pressure he becomes wracked with indecision and completely lost in the moment. I really don't understand all the hatred for Mark, the constant demonisation. You don't like his style of play, his head bob, his hairstyle, whatever, OK, but to effectively label him a serial cheat is OTT. He always comes across as a genuine bloke in his interviews. He talks about his indecision in his interview from last night:

I suppose it makes a great story for the media, fuelled by loaded questions from sensation seeking interviewers hoping to make a name for themselves. This woman is a disgrace IMO, desperately trying to create controversy at a difficult time for Stuart:

-

[JimMalone]

Big stakes tomorrow. Murphy can truly cement his legacy as an all time great (if he hasn't already), while Selby will surely take a huge step forward and enter the top 5 players in history, surpassing MJW? I wonder who Neil Robertson would rather win? He's big on history and makes up the trio with these two.

For Murphy a second title would really be special. I wrote a few posts ago of how few players only have won 2 world titles in the crucible era and he would certainly enter elite area. Obviously it depends on eachs definition, if he is/would be an all-time great then.

As for today's final I hope it will be close and think it will. P.Smith rightfully said that Selby is more than any other player involved in great matches and if you look at the stats: He has now played four world finals and seven semis here and if I'm right the least close contest was his 13-18 defeat against Higgins in the 07 final.

Murphy will need a really high percentage at potting and long pots I think to win this and maybe a bit of ballrun as well. If he gifts too many chances with his misses to Selby it could get punished.
Selby on the other hand should hope that his break-building will rather be like in the first three matches and not like in his semifinal, where his cueball control - also in some of the safeties - was not as accurate in the first and third session.

[Odrl]

going for breaks between nearly every frame no matter how long it took.

I took a quick look at that, just so it doesn't become one of those made up "facts" that people keep bringing up. In the 32 frames played between Bingham and Selby, nine were followed by the interval or the end of the session or match. In the remaining 23 frames, Bingham left the arena after eight of them, and Selby left the arena after seven of them. There were four occasions where both of them left the arena together, four when Bingham went out alone, three when Selby went out alone, and 12 when they both stayed in their seats.

[Starsky]

Personally I don’t think there was any gamesmanship from Selby . Slowing the game down is just part of tactics when somebody is out playing you . Selby has a history of over thinking shots which he has admitted to in the past and has tried to eradicate from his game this season although the ref was completely right to call Selby out for taking too long on a shot .
It’s for the opposing player to blank out any tactics from Selby and to concentrate on their own game . To me it’s just part of snooker even if I prefer to watch a more flowing game .

[DeanH]

is it just me, but does anyone else think the TV-people at the venue has turned up the audience mics, just to emphasis that there is a live audience?

the "ohhs and ahhs" are just to loud to what they would actually be
(grumphy-old-man rant over )

[Starsky]

is it just me, but does anyone else think the TV-people at the venue has turned up the audience mics, just to emphasis that there is a live audience?

the "ohhs and ahhs" are just to loud to what they would actually be
(grumphy-old-man rant over )

That’s so funny Dean as I was going to post something similar . I can’t remember them being that loud before or it could be that we just haven’t heard a full audience for so long we’ve forgotten what it sounds like .