Match fixing suspicion in the Maguire - Burnett match

[Mal]

Clearly it needs to be investigated. Although I seriously doubted the Ebdon one, this one appears very suspect - Both need to be investigated however. it was said on GSC before the frame finished that it was easily the scrappiest frame of the tournament so far, not satisying the local Wednesday night league - When I read this, I was just going into a meeting and was not aware of the scandal, but it certainly makes you think. Whe
http://www.globalsnookercentre.co.uk...08-uk-draw.htm
(on archived notes)
This was before the brown to black - the news just showed the black, but I thought there was suspicion on all these shots.

[tallguy]

I finally got around to watch the frame in question, thanks for the upload!
Some bad misses, but then you see that sometimes.
I wonder, if he had really wanted to lose the frame that badly, wouldn't it have been less suspicious to mess up a safety a bit earlier? Or why didn't he just try to miss the blue after running out of position? First pot a difficult long pot and then try to miss one over a similar distance (pink) just seconds after that? Doesn't make much sense to me.
Looking at the pink and black alone, it is suspicious, but the shots he played before didn't seem all that awful (only the double kiss on the yellow was bad)

Maybe he didnt actually try to pot the blue ! If he was confident of making it wouldn't he have tried to get better position on pink. Like someone said he played it almost like a shot to nothing. Maybe he just tried to make it like a near miss and it turned out too well

Quite funny if that was actually the case. Imagine the situation from green on. Green is over the pocket. Can't miss it. To make matters worse brown is over the pocket, blue and pink on spots and black quite open.

Potted the green. Pretty difficult not be on the brown. Played the brown and ended up out of position but not too much as to make blue impossible. So far so good. Played the blue without really commiting to the shot. Just want to make it look like a good miss. Here is where it starts to unravel. Blue goes in without hitting the jaws !. At least pink is not too easy to miss ! Still lets not take chances and get good shape on the black. Plays the pink and misses it closely but damn, the blasted pink rolls into the middle pocket. You got to be kidding me !! . Boy, am I glad I decided to go out of position for black. Whew !
I am not playing the black with any pace now. With all my bad luck I might fluke that too .

[Ekphantos]

Maybe he just tried to make it like a near miss and it turned out too well

I guess you need to be very accurate with your shot then, so maybe he is not good enough as a player to bend a match convincingly

In the end, the experts have to decide...

[Rane]

Making a narrow miss on the yellow when he was snookered would have been much less suspicious.

[rivercard]

Potted the green. Pretty difficult not be on the brown. Played the brown and ended up out of position but not too much as to make blue impossible. So far so good. Played the blue without really commiting to the shot. Just want to make it look like a good miss. Here is where it starts to unravel. Blue goes in without hitting the jaws !. At least pink is not too easy to miss ! Still lets not take chances and get good shape on the black. Plays the pink and misses it closely but damn, the blasted pink rolls into the middle pocket. You got to be kidding me !! . Boy, am I glad I decided to go out of position for black. Whew !
I am not playing the black with any pace now. With all my bad luck I might fluke that too .

That's kinda the way I saw it really. Of course I didn't know about the betting at the time, so the narrow miss and fluke on the pink didn't look suspicious. I was a bit angry when Burnett missed the black, as I wanted the match to continue, and than I thought 'how did this guy beat Jamie Cope in the final qualifying round?'. Half an hour later I was reading about the betting issue..

[April madness]

That's kinda the way I saw it really. Of course I didn't know about the betting at the time, so the narrow miss and fluke on the pink didn't look suspicious. I was a bit angry when Burnett missed the black, as I wanted the match to continue, and than I thought 'how did this guy beat Jamie Cope in the final qualifying round?'. Half an hour later I was reading about the betting issue..

Cope didn't play that well, was struggling all the time. Honestly I wasn't paying much attention to that match, but my impression was from what I saw - oh, that's going scrappy!

[Billy]

The way I look at it is this: A professional snooker player wouldn't have to miss a pot by that margin, to miss. Why arouse suspicion by missing to that degree?

However, I can't say I know too much about this situation because I haven't heard a single word Burnett has said so far. The BBC should subtitle him!

[RaNeN]

I note 13 predictions of 9-3, eleven of them early ones, out of 70 so I don't expect the Prediciton Contest to be of much use as evidence. 25 (more than a third) went for 9-4 – if that had been the result I would have suspended the contest!

LOL! Got all your stats there Statsy! I hope it wasnt fixed!

[tallguy]

The way I look at it is this: A professional snooker player wouldn't have to miss a pot by that margin, to miss. Why arouse suspicion by missing to that degree?

However, I can't say I know too much about this situation because I haven't heard a single word Burnett has said so far. The BBC should subtitle him!

Which miss are you talking about Billy, Pink (counting the fluke as a miss) or Black ?

[adrift]

Whatever the outcome of this is I hope it is clear. I don't want this swept away. We need a firm hand here and none of these ambiguous cricket decisions. Snooker needs to remain respectable otherwise it is a waste of time playing , watching, or betting on it.

[snooky147]

There is also the point to make that the bookmakers, as ever want it both ways. They suspend betting on 9-3, so if that score happens they wont pay out without the fuss thats going on so if Maguire and Burnett were in on it and knew about the suspension in betting they must have known that if it did finish 9-3 it was going to be very unlikely that the bookies paid out so therefore what would have been the point of fixing the match for that score at all. And absolutely nothing would have been said if Jamie Had potted that black. If it was fixed it was a momentously stupid thing to do seeing as it was flagged apparently days in advance, according to reports.

[Templeton Peck]

If betting is suspended can you reclaim your stake straight away? Obviously they won't pay out on a 9-3 result but if it had finished 9-4 would they have paid out on 9-4 and not refunded the 9-3 stakes? It seems like if you bet on 9-3 innocently there was no way you were going to see your money again...

[Monique]

There is also the point to make that the bookmakers, as ever want it both ways. They suspend betting on 9-3, so if that score happens they wont pay out without the fuss thats going on so if Maguire and Burnett were in on it and knew about the suspension in betting they must have known that if it did finish 9-3 it was going to be very unlikely that the bookies paid out so therefore what would have been the point of fixing the match for that score at all. And absolutely nothing would have been said if Jamie Had potted that black. If it was fixed it was a momentously stupid thing to do seeing as it was flagged apparently days in advance, according to reports.

That's a very good point snooky indeed. Matt put a link to the post-match interview of both Maguire and Burnett on his blog. I did not get all of it as Burnett is quite hard to understand for a (half deaf ) non native english speaker... But for sure if the guy despair is fake he's in the wrong business ... he should be an actor then.

[snooky147]

They would have paid out on 9-4 I believe but I am not sure on those who bet 9-3. I would imagine after the investigation is over money would be returned to the accounts of those involved. But if there was wrongdoing involved and they somehow trace it I doubt that money would be returned as it would then be potentially a criminal matter.
I could be wrong in this though.

[steedee]

Watching the match without the allegations, i might have thought nothing of it. knowing what i know though it does look bad. it also looks as if maguire,knowing the situation to, is trying to do burnett a favour on the yellow knowing he's well in front and not wanting to get him in trouble.
its probably nothing but it lookscrazy