Masters - QF Discussion

[Rane]

A great finish from John Higgins. If he continues playing the way he did after the break, he´s as good a favorit as any.

[SnookerFan]

Jan sounded gutted on twitter.

@janverhaas
Jan Verhaas What a donkey!!!! Unforgivable really.... Sorry folks.

[roykay]

Not played snooker for 25 years but know the rules fairly well.
It is the highest value of the balls involved, EG fouled the brown,struck the blue, ball on red. Which is the higher?
5 of course which the ref called to start with.
Then he got in a mess poor sod.
Still the commentator's got it wrong as well.

If this were not the case anytime a foul of more than 4 penalty points were made all a player would have to do would be to touch a red or baulk colour to reduce the penalty to 4.

Roy Bacon

[poolqjunkie]

If you are snookered on a red, miss it, then cue ball hits the green, after which it hits the pink but the pink is not potted. Do you call 4 points or 6 points?
What about if you pot the pink?
I believe it is the same situation here...

[FerruleFox]

Judd is quickly becoming Ronnie's nemesis, just like he was to Hendry.

And by his commentary, it sounds like Stephen secretly loves it!

[daffie]

Judd is quickly becoming Ronnie's nemesis, just like he was to Hendry.

And by his commentary, it sounds like Stephen secretly loves it!

I must be getting old, but not too much enjoying Trump and other young up&coming super-attacking players. The very attacking style of play, often without too much eye for safety. Often getting the run of the ball as well, the balance is not there imo. I got into snooker in the early to mid 80s with Davis and later of course Hendry dominating the game. Hendry was very attacking as well, but still with a great safety game, which was needed back then of course to hold off the likes of Steve and later on the likes of Higgins. Guess my favorite type of snooker is the combination of attacking style, when possible...with safety and tactical battles much more often then nowadays seems to be desired by 'the crowd'. The changes in the game with the shorter 'quick-fire' matches instead of longer ones, where things can and often will be balanced out over time, are not favorable for me neither. The balance seems a bit off. Still enjoying snooker, but sometimes less than I did back in the days....

I *am* getting old

[montoya10]

Judd is quickly becoming Ronnie's nemesis, just like he was to Hendry.

And by his commentary, it sounds like Stephen secretly loves it!

Generation changes and it happens.

By the way, I guess it's no secret that Stephen loves it.
No, not because he likes to see Ronnie losing or something related. I guess he just realizes that (finally ) it is a normal thing for the old guns to lose to the up and coming boys.
I mean, even Ronnie is nearing 40 now year by year. Think that relaxes Stephen a bit in the way that his standard dropped a little bit too early for his liking, I guess.

[SnookerFan]

I'd be interested in seeing a John Higgins vs Judd Trump final. I'm not sure how that one would go. Judd was playing to a ridiculous standard in Sheffield, but John turned him over. Judd has improved since then, but you don't bet against Higgins beating anybody.

[roykay]

If you are snookered on a red, miss it, then cue ball hits the green, after which it hits the pink but the pink is not potted. Do you call 4 points or 6 points?
What about if you pot the pink?
I believe it is the same situation here...

It's the first ball struck by the cue ball that counts therefore foul 4 away for hitting the green. The pink doesn't matter unless the player touches it etc or it enters a pocket.
With Higgins the first ball struck by the cue ball was blue although he fouled the brown with the cue. Highest counts therefore 5 away

Roy Bacon

[Odrl]

So, what can we expect from today's matches?

Starting with Williams-Robertson, the match of the round for me. It's not a particularly common pairing... Two previous big matches spring to mind, the SF of the World Open last season, if you could call that a big match, as it was only a best-of-5, and the SF in Shanghai earlier in the season. These two matches proved the players to be pretty well matched, and we only have one round behind us to judge their form this week. As I said the other day, I probably found Robertson the most impressive of all players, very calm and determined, in exactly the kind of mood that usually sees him go far in a tournament. He made a couple of lovely clearances from behind against Allen, and even that break in the first frame, were the balls weren't routinely positioned, suggested he came here for the title. Now, he didn't play perfect snooker, Allen could easily have led 3-1 at the interval, and the match could have turned out differently. He also wasn't at his potting best, but today is another day...

Williams was ok for most of the match. I guess you could say he got through the way Higgins usually does, with solid but unspectacular snooker. He let Maguire back in the match after holding a good lead, but one had the feeling he was always going to take a frame when presented with a decent chance. And just the fact that he beat Maguire, an opponent he usually loses to, is bound to give him confidence. He beat Robertson in Shanghai, but they haven't played enough times for one of them to really have any sort of psychological edge. I don't see any tactical advantages either, we have two players who don't seem to have problems with any particular type of snooker, or any particular tempo of a game. So I reckon it will come down to who has the better day, and my gut feeling is that it's going to be Robertson, 6-4ish.

Not sure about Selby-Murphy either, a very close call. Murphy is another strong potter who wasn't really at his potting best in the 1st round. Everything else about his game was pretty good though, especially the three or four big breaks he made to stamp his authority on the match. He was playing an opponent who went for his shots in Gould, whereas Selby might be more cautious if he senses Murphy is scoring well. Still, Murphy can certainly mix it up, and he won't lose his patience, especially if he feels his opponent is counting on that. There were times when he has looked good in the Masters in the past, like 2010, but he has never really had a good run yet, so perhaps there is also a psychological barrier to overcome.

Selby is the opposite case, not that many appearances at the Masters, but almost always had a great run. I thought he played good stuff in the first half of the match against Lee, even the frame he lost was due to an unfortunate foul from the split. But then he got a bit edgy when the finishing line was approaching, which is something he can't really afford from now on, when he faces the top players. The first-to-6 format suits him, and he has a very good record in close matches at the Masters, with several victories in deciders. He won in a decider against Murphy in Shanghai earlier in the season, and it always seems to be a close affair between them. I think in this particular tournament, and with the evening match on one table, I would give Selby the edge. Perhaps a 6-5?

Anyway, bring it on!

[PatBlock]

No link up yet on the BBC website, so here it is just in caase.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/snooker/15973141.stm

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[Tom Read]

Should be a cracking match this, I fancy Robertson to nick it (mainly because I have a fiver on him to win the tournament!)

[daffie]

Would love to see MJW win this one. Sadly I find NR seeming to have turned a bit arrogant since his world title. In either case, the old happy-go-lucky NR seems to have vanished. Maybe that's a bit of a given now that he is perceived as an established player, and he himself takes his job even more seriously now. But me personally, I liked the former one....best of luck to both players though.

[Odrl]

Poor stuff from Williams, it seemed like he couldn't be bothered to take his time and think a bit more tactically. It seemed almost impossible to throw away that advantage.

Still a good clearance from Robertson though.

[Looki]

Williams needs to sharpen, careless play cost him the first frame.