2017 World Championship - Main Event

[magpie1892]

Here's a question I bet no one can answer:

Why was Steve Davis' voice twice as deep when he was in his mid-twenties, compared to now?

Because he's got older.

My voice is deeper now than it was 10 years ago - which was WELL after puberty, FYI.

[Hello, Mr Big Shot]

If he gets the title this year he overtakes Williams in my books.

If wins this year, and he will, we should be talking about him in the same breath as O'Sullivan, Hendry, Higgins and Davis.

He's not well liked, that's the issue here.

And he's gone from being a journeyman grinder to being unbeatable in a few years. The likes of wilson should take note.

[Cue crafty]

Bazza's trodden in something and Maggs doesn't like the smell...

Not a fair game is it folks?

[itsnoteasy]

If wins this year, and he will, we should be talking about him in the same breath as O'Sullivan, Hendry, Higgins and Davis.

He's not well liked, that's the issue here.

And he's gone from being a journeyman grinder to being unbeatable in a few years. The likes of wilson should take note.

He's already there, he is a multiple world champion, one of the best players ever, just the worst of the very very best, no disgrace in that. He's still in the top five best players ever.

[JimMalone]

He's already there, he is a multiple world champion, one of the best players ever, just the worst of the very very best, no disgrace in that. He's still in the top five best players ever.

So that's why he is sixth on your list...

;-)

[JimMalone]

Mark Selby – Ding Junhui

A dream semifinal (especially for me as I like both players). We already know it from last year’s final. And they played also two finals this season. In the Shanghai Masters Ding became the only player to beat Selby in a final within the last three years. He won’t like to remember the other though, when the world number one defeated Ding 10-1 in the International Championship.
I wouldn’t have minded of being this the final again, as I think those two may be the two best players these days, when they are playing their best (Higgins and O’Sullivan are the two other candidates to replace Ding), but the draw doesn’t make this possible. I’m expecting a great semi-final though.
Selby caught Ding early in the final last year, when the Chinese didn’t play well in the beginning, while Selby did very much so and earned a 6-0 lead. Ding could reduce this gap, but in the end it was to much and the Jester won 18-14. This year I expect Ding, who has grown mentally and now has the experience of a final at the crucible to be at the start from the beginning.
Will this be enough? Well, if Selby plays like he did against Fu today, the answer is a simple “No”. But I think you can’t produce this kind of performance over a whole semi-final. And if Selby plays a bit weaker Ding has all the chances, if he continues at the level he played in his quarterfinal himself. If you rate them over the course of the whole World Championship, Ding has probably even been the slightly better player. True, he lost 27 frames compared to Selbys ridiculous 11 (don’t know if this is a low, Davis in 1989, Hendry in 1994 and Williams in 2003 also lost only 11 until the semi-finals, didn’t find any lower number, but haven’t looked closely), but his opponent also had more resistance.
I think Ding has the higher motivation, which can also play a role, but on the other hand he shouldn’t hope to be superior in the mental aspects of this duel. Surely he can’t allow to gift Selby as many chances as he did against Liang or O’Sullivan. So he shouldn’t avoid and quit a break to set Selby under pressure with good safeties, though we all know how good Selby is there. But it’s better than to allow Selby take the control of this game.
Overall Ding surely has the game to beat Selby and he did so several times. The defending champion is so good in the important matches these days though, that it would unwise not to make him the favourite here, especially after his display today. So I say 17-13 to Selby.

John Higgins – Barry Hawkins
While it’s a great semi-final on its own with the four-time world champion and world number six John Higgins playing world number seven Barry Hawkins it’s fair to say that this one isn’t as glamorous (as was the whole bottom half of the draw compared to the upper one). This is because Hawkins just hasn’t the same status as the three others. But it’s the fourth time in the last five years he managed to get to the semi-finals of the World Championship. And this is quite an achievement and showing of consistency. I think the last player to do so was Matthew Stevens between 2001 and 2005.
Hawkins so far has been the fourth most successful player in ranking events this season with Higgins being seventh. Things would look different with invitational tournaments though, cause the Scotsman would be number #2 then.
It’s interesting that this two (41 and 38 years respectively) only once played a match of note against each other. At the 2010 World Championship Higgins won 10-6, but this was before Hawkins became the player he is now. And while Higgins so far in this tournament played as in his heyday and certainly more impressive than Hawkins, he is less consistent these days and the Best-of-33-format could be a challenge for him. I really don’t know how his physical shape is, as he hasn’t played a match of this length in six years.
Hawkins wasn’t really challenged in the first two rounds and while he was also the better player, he had a bit of luck to win as comfortable against Maguire in his quarterfinal. I think that Higgins really wants this win though. He will see it as one of his last chances maybe to become world champion again. So I’ll go with a 17-12 win for Higgins.

[itsnoteasy]

So that's why he is sixth on your list...

;-)

Heheh! Counting its vastly over rated.

[peterpackage]

Trump must be kicking himself seeing how easy the bottom half of the draw ended up being (relatively to the top half)

Selby is favourite but Ding will run him close and has a legit chance but i agree that Ding must get off to a good start

[Stony152]

Surely one upset

Selby 13 - 11
Ding 13 - 9
Higgins 13 - 6
Hawkins 13 - 8

Quarter-Finals

Dark 4-0
JimMalone 3-1
Odrl 2-2
Stony152 2-2

JimMalone went 11-1 in the second round and quarters, missing only on Ding beating O'Sullivan. Dark went a perfect 4-0 in the quarter-finals. You guys should be betting and profiting from your very good picks.

[Stony152]

Selby over Ding (17-12)
Hawkins over Higgins (17-15)

[Cue crafty]

Quarter-Finals

Dark 4-0
JimMalone 3-1
Odrl 2-2
Stony152 2-2

JimMalone went 11-1 in the second round and quarters, missing only on Ding beating O'Sullivan. Dark went a perfect 4-0 in the quarter-finals. You guys should be betting and profiting from your very good picks.

Funny how once you decide to put your money down the results differ.... Lol.

[golferson123]

Selby can make a 147 look dull. Sorry.

Oh dear, you cannot see how good a player Selby is! cue hits ball ball hits ball ball goes in pocket! and Selby does it as good as anyone, remember when everyone said the same
of davies.

[The Rook]

If wins this year, and he will, we should be talking about him in the same breath as O'Sullivan, Hendry, Higgins and Davis.

He's not well liked, that's the issue here.

And he's gone from being a journeyman grinder to being unbeatable in a few years. The likes of wilson should take note.

Although Selby seemed to be under the radar in his early years, he didn't spend much time as a journeyman. I mean he effectively broke into the snooker elite at age 23, and was top 4 material around 2008.

I agree with you though, there is no disputing that Selby is one of the greats now, and that will especially be the case if he wins this week.

[Rane]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bY8-Eq3s01E

The 143 break for those who hasn´t seen it. Totally amazing.

[Cue crafty]

Trump must be kicking himself seeing how easy the bottom half of the draw ended up being (relatively to the top half)

That's very dangerous with those shoes. 😫