2017 World Championship - Main Event

[gavpowell]

he plays like a zombie now all focus and devoid of emotion - he used to play with a smile and attack the games more.

Yes! My mate can't stand Robertson, calls him the Robot. She was astonished when I said I loved him when he first broke through because he played with a real swagger, facial expressions, flair shots etc.

At some stage he became a percentage player and started winning but with no apparent personality.

[sealer]

It doesn't move at all

The contact between the 2 balls and black rocking is shown in second 30 of the above clip.

[mikeyd100]

Look at the video at 26 seconds. Watch the bottom of the black ball, it wobbles fractionally. It couldn't have moved without contact.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39773954

Watched it full screen and you are right, it moves ever sooooooooooo slightly.
Extremely hard for Jan to have seen such minimal movement though.
Tough call for him really.

[sealer]

Watched it full screen and you are right, it moves ever sooooooooooo slightly.
Extremely hard for Jan to have seen such minimal movement though.
Tough call for him really.

Selby saw it move, so should Jan ;-) White one moves back too.
It is a tough one, I was screaming at the screen at the time :-)

[jrc750]

That never moved

[mikeyd100]

Selby saw it move, so should Jan ;-) White one moves back too.
It is a tough one, I was screaming at the screen at the time :-)

I honestly dont think Jan could have seen that, it was that tiny a movement

[best1966]

The referee was poorly positioned and didn't move quickly enough. A person of his experience should have known that it was going to be a slow roll to the black and should have been much better placed. I have noticed in the last few years that the referees have changed their positioning habits. Have they been instructed to do so? If so, why? They used to stand at the yellow or green end when a player was on an extended red/black break but they almost always always stand behind the player now. Definitely need to be looked at.

Yes the refs have been told to change where they stand by the assessors. They are to stand behind the player more instead of the baulk pockets for a few reasons. 1, so you are not in the eyeline of the player when they are on the shot. 2, if the ref has to point at someone in the crowd who has a camera etc (which happened a lot in Sheffield) they can do that easily enough if they are behind the player. And 3, they are closer to the action, eg. spotting if a player feathers the cueball.

[Dave Walton]

It doesn't move at all

The contact between the 2 balls and black rocking is shown in second 30 of the above clip.

Watched it over and over, the black does not move.

[MrRottweiler]

I'm convinced there is one camera angle that shows the black move but it can only be seen by looking at the reflection of the lights above the table on the object ball. It's even more remarkable that this miniscule contact doesn't result in a touching ball.

[the_unrepentant]

I read some posts on here and the BBC site people saying Selby is boring to watch. I simply cannot understand this. He is playing snooker of the highest matchplay order. So much so, he is dominant in the game as it stands which is saying something. What do you want to see in snooker for god sake?? I for one LOVED it after his semi final that he finally let out some emotion. I thought Ding was out of order on the handshake. He is supposed to be best friends with Liang. So its OK for Liang to do it all the time but nobody else?? I went to all the quarter final matches and Selby was night and day the best player to watch live. That 143 was the icing on the cake. Give the guy a break. He deserves to be where is his and he isn't a bad person. Its called SNOOKER! I absolutely love it.

[daffie]

I Also have to disagree with that. I find his play extremely entertaining and very impressive indeed. And he certainly impressed the BBC crowd, 4 out of 10 entries in the shot of the championship comp, not too bad for serial bore ay.

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I echo this sentiment. Mark Selby I find extremenly interesting and entertaining to watch as he gives it his all on every single shot, whether it's a pot, break-building or safety. Completely focussed and his mental strength is second to none...I even place him above my former all-time favorite John Higgins in that department. There's no better snooker player to watch imo.

[Byrom]

I echo this sentiment. Mark Selby I find extremenly interesting and entertaining to watch as he gives it his all on every single shot, whether it's a pot, break-building or safety. Completely focussed and his mental strength is second to none...I even place him above my former all-time favorite John Higgins in that department. There's no better snooker player to watch imo.

Mark is one of the nicest guys on the snooker tour. On the table he is an animal and the story of where he came from to achieve what he has is quite inspiring I think.

Not my favourite player in snooker to watch either because he does not look as fluid as others and the sway bugs me but he is ultra consistent in his cueing and I do understand why people not totally into snookers B game grinding stuff understand why he does this in frames and some do not have the patience to watch some of the bits and pieces frames but snooker is not just pot ball and he does have it all - an excellent safety game and the best B game out there and an ability and mindset to grind out a win when playing terrible too - which like it or not is very important these days.

When on song he can destroy with an ability to end frames in one visit too - overall the complete package and worthy champion of our sport. Any doubters towards him should watch this break - class.

[alabadi]

I think so, yeah.

i recall the interview that Hendry did about this and all he said was in terms of how Robertson thinks when he was at the table, he didn't talk about technique change or how quick he plays all it was to do with is his thoughts when break building.

Robertson said something about he just pots the ball and not worry about the white too much. all Hendry said was that's Amateurish, and he should be planning where he wants the white for the next shot.

who knows if this has slowed Robertson down too much or is it just himself not being confident and trying too hard. what i have noticed is that he does walk round the table a bit too much trying to find the perfect position and this slows him down.

[alabadi]

I find Selby very interesting too. he isn't the robot or zombie some have said, he actually has character and cracks jokes at the table sometimes.

he doesn't play negatively either, he is quite an attacking player and goes for most shots that are on if he has a chance to get on the next ball and he can win frames in one visit when the balls allow.

his safety is second to non because he carefully thinks about it..(take a hint Trump) he doesn't just try a get the cue ball into baulk but in the hardest position for the opponent to get him to make a mistake. his getting out of difficult snookers and not leaving anything is incredible, however it's not down to luck he actually thinks about them carefully and is a big part of his game. (surely this is what we would all like to achieve when we are in the same situation).

when games go scrappy he can grind out a win because his superior safety play and will to win, it's not his fault that it did, because we all know he can knock in century after century when the balls open kindly.(he's the fifth of all time with 476 centuries).

overall he is the complete player and therefore dominant in this era. i bet all of the top 32 would swap their game for his if they could have some of the success he is having.

he's a true champion and a deserving one too

[screw-back]

Yes the refs have been told to change where they stand by the assessors. They are to stand behind the player more instead of the baulk pockets for a few reasons. 1, so you are not in the eyeline of the player when they are on the shot. 2, if the ref has to point at someone in the crowd who has a camera etc (which happened a lot in Sheffield) they can do that easily enough if they are behind the player. And 3, they are closer to the action, eg. spotting if a player feathers the cueball.

What a load of tosh. In reply to your points 1. referees have stood at the baulk since snooker has been on tv in the 70's so why change a tried tested and successful method? 2. if the ref has to point at someone in the crowd, there would be movement by the perpretator in putting the camera down and finally and most importantly, if the ref had not been standing behind selby, and more to the side, he would have clearly had the best view in this incident. Why did he ask selby if it hit?