Welsh Open match discussion

[Alex0paul]

Excuse me, PL mickey mouse, you are joking aren't you! Only the top players get invited to it and they earn more in an event like that than most ranking events on the calendar. Add to that £1000 per frame and per century, I don't think anyone can consider it mickey mouse. This is more mickey mouse than anything, having a player slow the game down like his life depended on it.

The PL is a glorified exhibition if you ask me. Only the top players? Jimmy White, Steve Davis ahead of players ranked 2, 3, 4?

[cueman]

Exhibition or not, its entertainment, jimmy will always sell out more than Selby ever could. The game is crying out for talented players who can entertain, if it weren't for Ronnie the game would be dead. Its already suffering, the last thing we want is a throw back to the 80s with the likes of Charlton, Thorburn, Griffiths et al. Selby is in that mould, he can pot and break build but his main strength is messing his opponent around and playing gamesmanship. If you like that kind of snooker fair enough, but the majority want to be entertained, not bored to death.

[Alex0paul]

Exhibition or not, its entertainment, jimmy will always sell out more than Selby ever could. The game is crying out for talented players who can entertain, if it weren't for Ronnie the game would be dead. Its already suffering, the last thing we want is a throw back to the 80s with the likes of Charlton, Thorburn, Griffiths et al. Selby is in that mould, he can pot and break build but his main strength is messing his opponent around and playing gamesmanship. If you like that kind of snooker fair enough, but the majority want to be entertained, not bored to death.

Well Selby has a very big fanbase and in my opinion could sell out more than White could at the moment. At the Masters people were desperate to get tickets for a Selby match over others.

[cueman]

Selby sell more than Jimmy, not in a million years mate!

[Ekphantos]

What was Selby's average shot time yesterday?
To me he doesn't seem to play so much differently, but then I don't follow the match too closely rigth now.

[cueman]

I don't know who calculates the average shot times but they tend to only show them when the game is slow, like today. The balls don't help as such, but most of Selby's games are like this, its the way he plays. Its just against certain players he slows down a bit more.

[cueman]

Something will be said between these two at some point, it could be very interesting as you can sense a lot of tension between these two.

[Ekphantos]

. Its just against certain players he slows down a bit more.

I guess that's only natural.
I actually quite like watching his matches. He seems to try potting the loose reds first and then quite often can't continue the break, if the split goes wrong, which leaves a chance to the other player. Far more interesting than big breaks.

[johnwilliamson147]

ronnie frustration

i can see where ronnie is coming from, i do like mark and think he is a good character but he has really sent this game into a bad out of touch tatically dominated match. Mark just should play his free flowing game as he is more than good enough as a break-builder to win tournaments like that!

[toupihiggins]

Mark has always been a very slow player...even when a frame is won he still plays slow....peter ebdon plays faster than him...tough i have nothing against his style of play

anyway...Ronnie look really ****ed...at one moment i thought he would punch mark...i'm very curios about his next interview

[cueman]

i can see where ronnie is coming from, i do like mark and think he is a good character but he has really sent this game into a bad out of touch tatically dominated match. Mark just should play his free flowing game as he is more than good enough as a break-builder to win tournaments like that!

This is the point I'm trying to make, people that don't play the game to a good level don't really understand what is going on out there, but you can tell from the shot selection what mark is trying to do. I call it gamesmanship, basically its playing a negative game, different to your natural game to frustrate your opponent. Its no different to how Ebdon played one year and he got villified for it but it accounts to the same thing.

[attilahun]

Mark saw what Ronnie did to Murphy last night and that is why he is playing a slow game. He knows he has a better chance of winning if the frames are fragmented and scrappy.

[cueman]

Selby played exactly like this in the UK against Ronnie, fortunately Ronnie managed to win but it wasn't pretty. I don't think Ronnie's performance last night had any relevance to Selby's tactics.

[April madness]

Mark saw what Ronnie did to Murphy last night and that is why he is playing a slow game. He knows he has a better chance of winning if the frames are fragmented and scrappy.

Ronnie proved he also can win a very awkward and scrappy frame just now

[toupihiggins]

well..selby can't win all of them:P