1 Week to Go!

[Alex0paul]

As the main season starts next week in Shanghai for the Shanghai Masters I am curious to know who you think will win it. Personally as it is the first tournament of the season it will be the hardest to predict but I am going for three players.
1. Stephen Maguire - Bar one session, Maguire was in my opinion the best player at the World Championships and looks to be back to his best if not better. He will be hungry for another title but the only question mark for me is that he hasn't performed too well on foreign soil.
2. Mark Williams - This is the key tournament for Williams as another failure here will really knock his confidence. He has a tremendous record in Asia especially China and must be worth a pound at 28/1.
3. Ding Junhui - He has had a very good close season winning a couple of small events in China albeit not against very good standard. It is one of his home events and will want to prove to people that he is still the up and coming force he was this time last year.

The player to look out for for a shock is Stuart Pettman. Ok he has O'Sullivan in the first round but he has been playing in Asia for most of the close season and winning matches and events there. He wont win the event but he could take a few scalps.

[doorag]

Yeh, Stuart nearly beat Ronnie in the northern ireland trophy a year ago so I dont see why not. Of course it also depends on which mood Ronnie will be in, he doesn't always seem too keen on playing his best game when on foreign soil..

I think Ken Doherty will do well in this tournament, I don't really have anything to base that theory on, just a hunch that i have.. I think two of the players you mention have a good chance of winning in Shanghai, and those two are Ding and Maguire, but I really dont think Williams stands a chance. He may have an impressive record in China, but I dont think that will win him this tournament, since he hasn't been playing well for quite some time now.

I hope Matthew Stevens wins though. That would be awesome

[cueman]

I wouldn't have gone for any of those three! Maguire I think is struggling again, saw him in the pro-am near me last week and he was awful. I know form can change quickly but he didn't look anywhere near ready for the start of the season.

We haven't seen Williams play well for a long time now and I think mentally he has gone. I don't think he will ever get back to winning ways and this season could be his last in the top flight unless he really gets his act together.

Ding looked pretty poor in the recent asia challenge and for me still hasn't got over last season and the heavy defeats to Ronnie. Another player who has the ability but I doubt his mental strength. If he can overcome that then being on home soil he has a chance but I think the pressure of being expected to win will be too much.

As for my thoughts well its tough to call because many players won't have played much and probably won't have practiced too much for this tournament.
Doherty always plays well overseas, Higgins is still in form and I think there is a good chance one of these two will win. My main player though is Robertson, I think he will be the player to beat this season and I hear is in very good form.

Outsider, look out for Bingham, another player playing really well at the moment, just needs to take his practice form to a TV event and he can win anything.

[lagermike]

It is, as it always is, very difficult to predict the winner of any snooker tourney. One thing for sure though, is how strange it is for the season to be starting so early.

I think O'Sullivan will win, he has won in China a few times before and is long overdue a ranking title.

[Alex0paul]

Another player I forgot to mention was Ali Carter. Last year I had huge question marks about what he wanted from his snooker career. But since the turn of the year he has had some great performances reaching the Malta semi and was a whisker away from reaching the World semi and it really proved to me that he still had a hunger. He has a favourable draw as he is in the second quarter with Ebdon, Davis, Doherty which is probably the 'easier' section. Personally he is a very underated player as players like Day and Hawkins etc get mentioned ahead of him but this could be his tournament.

Saying that he will probably end up losing 5-0 in the first round.

[RaNeN]

I dont really know who is gonna win. I just want the new season to start!!!

However, GO RONNIE!!!!!

[Scissors61]

I think being 8th in the rankings may give Stephen Hendry the kick he needs and he might do well here, but it's pretty hard to pick a winner. Can't see Ronnie doing well, sadly. He doesn't seem to play well out of England. Having said that, he is unpredictable, so I hope he plays well. I think Selby will carry on his good form and reach the quarters at least. I think Higgins will lose a tight quarter final. Robertson is another to watch out for in my book, along with Murphy. And no one should write off Ebdon, remember that UK semi with Higgins? He's still got it, and he's also one of my favourites. Preparing to be proved wrong.

[Alex0paul]

I think Selby will carry on his good form and reach the quarters at least. I think Higgins will lose a tight quarter final.

That can't happen as they are both due to meet each other in the round of 16.

[MrRottweiler]

I only have the standard 4 channels and miss a lot of tournaments. Does anyone know if getting a freeview box will increase the Snooker available to me? I want to start following Snooker more closely again so I can put on lots of winning bets.

[Alex0paul]

I only have the standard 4 channels and miss a lot of tournaments. Does anyone know if getting a freeview box will increase the Snooker available to me? I want to start following Snooker more closely again so I can put on lots of winning bets.

If you get freeview you will get all the BBC tournaments with live streaming via the red button but you wont get any Tournaments on Eurosport. However if you buy a freeview box which you can slot a card in you will then be able to get top up tv which has Eurosport on it.

Hope that doesn't sound too complicated.

[MrRottweiler]

Thanks Alex that sound promising. How do you rate Snooker coverage on Eurosport and does freeview also include Cartoon Network? I may be 30 but I still love a bit of Scoob once in a while.

[Alex0paul]

Thanks Alex that sound promising. How do you rate Snooker coverage on Eurosport and does freeview also include Cartoon Network? I may be 30 but I still love a bit of Scoob once in a while.

Freeview doesn't include Cartoon Network but Top up Tv does. Eurosports coverage is pretty good from what I've seen but it isn't as good as the BBC's.

[Ellena]

I dont really know who is gonna win. I just want the new season to start!!!

However, GO RONNIE!!!!!

Lol Rane.. you sure dunno whos goin to win but its obvious who you 'd like to see winning . And i second that !

[samasnookerfan]

The first tournement is always full of surprises. Maybe Tony Drago will win.

[andy_drake]

I think that Ding needs to prove himself again in this tournament. After seemingly suffering stagefright against Ronnie twice last season, if he can't perform on home soil, questions will be asked.