2014 World Championship - Discussion

[mythman69]

Does anyone give Barry Hawkins a chance i reckon if he makes it to semi might give Ronnie a run
even tho think Ronnie will win it

Yeah, Barry has a chance to win the WC if he plays well. He is paying $21 on Bet365.

Dominic Dale up 8-2

[HIPPY147]

Does anyone give Barry Hawkins a chance i reckon if he makes it to semi might give Ronnie a run
even tho think Ronnie will win it

[scottley]

Ali is a great player, just quietly goes about his business, classy break this!

[Odrl]

I'm looking forward to the start of Selby vs Carter today, probably one of the three or four best prospects of the 2nd round...

Carter has definitely impressed me more in the 1st round. He had probably the toughest opponent on paper, and it proved to be true, because Xiao held his own all through the match, but Carter made a couple of really good breaks under pressure towards the end. The long pots are going in, and he can usually follow them with some good scoring, so he is tough to beat over a long match.

Selby scraped through 10-9 against Michael White, even though his opponent only made one break over 50 in the entire match. An in-form Selby would have punished those missed sitters and won comfortably, but he just can't seem to put much together at the moment. He only really played a strong frame at 9-9, when he couldn't afford any more mistakes. He usually finds a way to compete in the long matches, even when his form isn't quite there, so I would expect this match to go close to the full 25 frames, or maybe one or two short.

Selby won 13-12 when they met in the quarter-finals in 2007. Quite a long and slow match if I remember correctly, with the typical tense Crucible finish. It was before either player won their first major title, but this time they meet as proven winners and potential World champions, so it should be great. They've not met a lot recently, and certainly not at the later stages of tournaments, so probably no psychological edge either way. The rankings say Selby, the form says Carter, and I say Carter to win 13-10. :smile:

And just a few words about O'Sullivan vs Perry, in case I don't find any time later...

O'Sullivan has looked quite solid in the 1st round, probably the best performance out of anyone apart from maybe Fu and Robertson so far, and he didn't really need to give it his all. He has been pretty bulletproof in the long matches over the last two years, so it's tough to see a "lower" seed such as Perry staying with him.

Perry has all the experience though... He was a couple of frames away from meeting O'Sullivan in the World final in 2008, and he has a victory against him in the UK Championship over two sessions. He was also a couple of balls away from beating him in the 1st round of the Masters in 2009, but missed a sitter in the penultimate frame, and O'Sullivan of course went on to win the title. Perry has had an excellent season, with a string of appearances at the business end of major tournaments, but his performance against Burnett wasn't all that convincing, and you would think he needs a better one tonight to have any chance. It could be close, it could be one-sided, but O'Sullivan is the favourite in any case, 13-7. :smile:


On another note, O'Sullivan and Carter have played some great stuff at the WC in the past, so I wouldn't mind seeing either of them at the business end, but one thing I don't want is the third edition of the nightmare final. So it would be nice if one of them lost here, so I can be at ease. :smile:

[Stupree]

Its a trev white cue with a badge Dom designed himself.

Cheers Jim - You would have seen it in person at Broomfield

[jim evans]

Its a trev white cue with a badge Dom designed himself.

[Stupree]

I doubt its a maximus, they always put photos up on their FB page for cues they make for pros and the only cues Dale had from them were the Hendry style conny reps which he mentioned on here a few months back when he was selling his old cue.

I think this one he's playing with he's used for the last few months and it does look like another glover to me. Badge had what looked like a crown on it, maybe a coronation replica? I've seen him a few times with the same grain and design but never got a close up of the badge before last nights coverage.

True! To me it just looks like a Thai made cue based on the finish and the woods used but I could be completely wrong.

Here is a pic of the cue that he is currently using taken from the Welsh Open - Not great but gives some detail.

[rich45]

Did anyone get a sense of rowdiness creeping in from the crowd, towards the end of last night's match with Walden and Wilson? It was a poor match with both players struggling, and I wonder if the rowdiness was born out of boredom.

It was especially apparent whenever Virgo made some comment about the poor play and the crowd would laugh somewhat boisterously, with seemingly little regard for the players' concentration. Most of the time Walden just look bemused at the crowd's reaction to his misses, and I did begin to feel for him a little.

I don't so much mind the good-natured laughs you sometimes get when a commentator cracks a joke, but I wasn't keen on the crowd's mood during this particular match.

Yes it was discussed at the time. I am sick of the crowd tittering away at any slight comment from the also-to-blame commentators. Two solutions: 1. get rid of the earpieces, or 2. instruct the commentators to commentate on the snooker as opposed to treating it like a comedy show.

[cueman]

I doubt its a maximus, they always put photos up on their FB page for cues they make for pros and the only cues Dale had from them were the Hendry style conny reps which he mentioned on here a few months back when he was selling his old cue.

I think this one he's playing with he's used for the last few months and it does look like another glover to me. Badge had what looked like a crown on it, maybe a coronation replica? I've seen him a few times with the same grain and design but never got a close up of the badge before last nights coverage.

[Stupree]

see a post earlier
we think it is a Maximus

badge says glover but his contract says maximus!

I am pretty sure he is on a Maximus now. This is a different cue from the Eureka Rep he used in the Shoot Out. I will grab some shots of it from the TV today if we get a good angle.

[gettingbetter]

Its taken me a few days to get over Ding's loss.

Hoping for a Fu win now.

[DandyA]

Did anyone get a sense of rowdiness creeping in from the crowd, towards the end of last night's match with Walden and Wilson? It was a poor match with both players struggling, and I wonder if the rowdiness was born out of boredom.

It was especially apparent whenever Virgo made some comment about the poor play and the crowd would laugh somewhat boisterously, with seemingly little regard for the players' concentration. Most of the time Walden just look bemused at the crowd's reaction to his misses, and I did begin to feel for him a little.

I don't so much mind the good-natured laughs you sometimes get when a commentator cracks a joke, but I wasn't keen on the crowd's mood during this particular match.

on a similar note, I was watching a bit of Fu vs Gould ... at one point, Gould was addressing the white to take on a difficult pot when the audience burst into a fit of giggles ... Gould got up off the shot and didn't half give the commentary box a stare ... the commentators didn't even notice as they were gassing so much

I really think many of the BBC commentators are too big for their own boots ... they need to commentate, not to try to be media celebrities and entertain the crowd with their wit ...

[ADR147]

Did anyone get a sense of rowdiness creeping in from the crowd, towards the end of last night's match with Walden and Wilson? It was a poor match with both players struggling, and I wonder if the rowdiness was born out of boredom.

It was especially apparent whenever Virgo made some comment about the poor play and the crowd would laugh somewhat boisterously, with seemingly little regard for the players' concentration. Most of the time Walden just look bemused at the crowd's reaction to his misses, and I did begin to feel for him a little.

I don't so much mind the good-natured laughs you sometimes get when a commentator cracks a joke, but I wasn't keen on the crowd's mood during this particular match.

agree 100% but then it was a terrible match - never seen walden play so badly.

[Billy]

Did anyone get a sense of rowdiness creeping in from the crowd, towards the end of last night's match with Walden and Wilson? It was a poor match with both players struggling, and I wonder if the rowdiness was born out of boredom.

It was especially apparent whenever Virgo made some comment about the poor play and the crowd would laugh somewhat boisterously, with seemingly little regard for the players' concentration. Most of the time Walden just look bemused at the crowd's reaction to his misses, and I did begin to feel for him a little.

I don't so much mind the good-natured laughs you sometimes get when a commentator cracks a joke, but I wasn't keen on the crowd's mood during this particular match.

[ADR147]

see a post earlier
we think it is a Maximus

badge says glover but his contract says maximus!