The German Masters Feb 4 - 8, 2015

[neuronic]

a good event, with good crowds. Anyone know the capacity of the auditorium as it seems thousands!

2500 seats for the German Masters as far as I know. Great venue, it's a shame they don't make it seven days...
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempodr...abb_Totale.JPG

[DeanH]

The German Masters Feb 4 - 8, 2015

2500
and looks nearly full
snooker big in Germany

maybe in addition to the Welsh I may go to this event as well
as long as I can find a reasonably price hotel

[cueman]

From the first round I never thought Selby was in good enough form to be playing like he has done in the last two rounds. He played very well against Trump although Trump through away his chance in the decider, Selby still scored very well, a lot of frames won in a single visit.

Yesterday against Maguire he was still scoring very well but Maguire never really got going and the run of the ball didn't favour him much either.

As for the final I can't see it being anything other than a very close match. The table seems to be a break builders table so I can't see many safety battles or negative frames and I doubt that Selby will be able to play Shaun into those type of frames as Murphy is potting too well to get dragged into a Selby type frame.

I just hope that both players get an even run of the ball though as I feel too many matches this week have been won with one player dominating the luck whilst the other guy gets none. I know I probably go on about luck more than anyone on here but its such a game changer at this level that quite often its the determining factor as to who wins these days. Luck doesn't even itself out and never has done and certainly in a final no one player deserves a better run of it to be the champion.

[neuronic]

Yeah, you can't beat a good run of the balls, we've all been there. Is it just me or does Mark Selby seem to get that ball run more often than most other top players? Somehow I get the impression...
Might be his style of playing, leaving things awkward quite often. Felt sorry for Maguire quite a bit yesterday, anytime Selby messed something up, things were awkward for Mags. Strange game sometimes.
Two sessions should count luck out somewhat, I hope.

For pure "form" (and if Shauns long potting is where it was over the last weeks (months even) and he doesn't revive his bad habit of missing simple shots whilst in the balls) Shaun Murphy should be favourite to win his second consecutive ranking event, but Mark will give him quite a fight, that's for sure. It will be about the scrappy frames and for sure there's gonna be scrappy frames. Let's say Shaun 9, Mark 7...?

[Odrl]

I agree, it looks like it will be a very close final, but then again, we haven't had much luck with finals this season. Only two out of seven have been close, so maybe we are due another one. :smile:

This particular pairing is not my favourite, mainly because their matches have disappointed so often in the past. The first major final they ever played was in the 2012 UK Championship, a close match in the first part, until Selby pulled away to win 10-6, and the standard of play was fairly mediocre. Murphy then returned the favour in the 2014 World Open final, taking a 7-2 lead, before Selby briefly got back into the match at 7-5, but it was too late and Murphy went on to win 10-6. There at least the standard was better, particularly from Murphy, obviously. For some reason there seem to be a lot of one-sided matches between them, scorelines such as 6-1, 6-2, 5-1, even 5-0, so their recent 6-5 match in the Masters was a pleasant surprise. But even then it could have easily gone 6-1 to Murphy, or something similar, had he taken his chances when Selby was coming back at him.

Both players have impressed at times this week. Murphy has played very well under pressure, starting with that fightback in the penultimate frame against Allen, before making a big break to win the decider in one visit. He scored well from 4-2 down against O'Sullivan as well, but his best stuff came from 4-3 down against Liang, when he closed out the match with breaks of 65, 145 and 89, adding to his 141 from earlier in the match. He doesn't seem to lose confidence at all lately, even in the Masters he came from 2-0 down on two occasions with some brilliant snooker, and today's match is certainly long enough for him to find his scoring form, even if he goes a couple of frames behind. In the last frame against Liang he got in with a ridiculous long red, the kind that even the best safety players can't help leaving on, and when Murphy plays like that he is an extremely tough opponent.

Selby had a pretty easy job last night, but of course that's party because he took his early chances and immediately put the pressure on Maguire. Selby had six breaks over 50 in the six frames he won, and he had five breaks over 60 in the five frames he won against Trump in the previous round, so you could say he is playing one-visit stuff for the first time this season. That's the one element of his game that comes and goes with form, the others are all fairly reliable, and we know his safety and tactical awareness in general are as good as it gets. He also loves the one-table setup and the big crowds, and he is a late-night specialist, so his chances get better the longer the match goes on.

Before yesterday evening I was thinking Maguire had a good chance to win this event, because he was the hungriest player still in the tournament, while Murphy and Selby have both had major success in the last year, so you could forgive them for being less driven than usually. But of course the other side of the coin is that neither is under as much pressure to win more titles at the moment, so they can both be pretty relaxed and hopefully produce some good snooker. I suppose from Murphy's point of view it will be best if he doesn't get involved in too much scrappy stuff, because Selby is the king of that type of snooker. He needs to go for his shots, within reason, and score as well as he has done, and he should be fine. For Selby, it would be ill-advised to get involved in a potting duel with Murphy. He needs to keep it tight and not leave Murphy the kind of shots he likes to play, which would either make the match fairly tactical, or force Murphy to go for one too many, and we know Selby is scoring well enough to take advantage if that happens.

The last two finals of this tournament were a little underwhelming, but the first two were really great. The 2011 final saw a gripping tactical battle between Selby and Williams, while the 2012 final between O'Sullivan and Maguire was a high-quality exchange of big breaks. I'm hoping for a mix of the two today. As I said, this pairing has not always been the best in the past, but I am quietly optimistic that we will see a good and close match this time. 9-8 either way at midnight please, but my prediction is that Selby will prevail. :smile:

[Odrl]

And just another thing, a big thanks to Eurosport for their coverage of the final, as usual. "Don't miss a ball", they said at the end of last night's coverage, but of course they are not actually showing the afternoon session. A youth hockey game gets priority, and I don't think it's even live. :wink:

[cueman]

We are okay here in Britain, British Eurosport showing all sessions of the final!!!

[Odrl]

We are okay here in Britain, British Eurosport showing all sessions of the final!!!

Then at least tell me it's Studd and Hallett commentating, so I can enjoy Hendon and Johnson in the evening. :smile:

[neuronic]

Well... here's the bad luck

It's happening again: Mark "Ballrun" Selby....

[streamer45]

Then at least tell me it's Studd and Hallett commentating, so I can enjoy Hendon and Johnson in the evening. :smile:

unfortunately they mixed them up, it's Studd Johnson now

[Odrl]

unfortunately they mixed them up, it's Studd Johnson now

One out of two, I can live with that. :smile:

It doesn't matter actually, because I have to watch a British Eurosport stream anyway. Normally I would watch it on Eurosport Player, but it looks like they have some technical problems and it doesn't work at the moment. Great stuff from them, as usual. :wink:

[PatBlock]

And just another thing, a big thanks to Eurosport for their coverage of the final, as usual. "Don't miss a ball", they said at the end of last night's coverage, but of course they are not actually showing the afternoon session. A youth hockey game gets priority, and I don't think it's even live. :wink:

That's terrible! Can you not watch it on one of the usual streams?

http://www.yopika.tv/20150204/v-haha....91047201.html

-

[robertmac]

Go for it Murphy. You can do it.
Tied at 1-1.

[Odrl]

That's terrible! Can you not watch it on one of the usual streams?

That's exactly what I'm doing, and not for the first time this week. Whenever there is a Bundesliga match played at the same time you can pretty much guarantee there won't be any snooker shown in my part of Europe. :smile:

Scrappy start then, not surprisingly...

[neuronic]

Now that's more like it... flawless century from Murphy to level. Hope he can keep this up, we're gonna have some great snooker in front of us.