German Masters 2013 - Discussion

[cueman]

So it's the usual crap from Williams and Maguire again, I don't know why I'm still surprised. :smile:

Holt played alright I guess, he did go into his usual nervy mode towards the end, but Williams was nowhere near solid enough to take any advantage. Great chance for either Holt and Maflin now...

It's tough to comment on Maguire without actually seeing the match, especially as King has his moments of playing well, but to be whitewashed is really poor. A year ago Maguire whitewashed Higgins and Murphy in this tournament, but that kind of form seems like ancient history now.

I agree these 2 are in the most danger of losing their top 16 status if or when we go to the 128 route and prize money is the ranking. I can see quite a few big names dropping very low in the rankings over the coming seasons with players like williams probably retiring altogether.

At this moment in time its hard to see anyone challenging Selby and he is hardly playing anything that resembles the form O'Sullivan produced to win the world championship last May. So many players out of form and struggling big time, you only have to play at about 85% of your ability to win a tournament now and to be honest I'm starting to worry about the standards of the game really slipping.
Maybe we have been spoilt by the legends of the past but this current crop don't look capable of reaching the highs of those players. During their peak years Ronnie, Higgins, Hendry or williams could conceivably win any tournament right now playing their 'b' game that is how average the standard is. To think that the 2 best players in the game have not won a world title shows how devalued the ranking system has become.

[sberry]

Agreed, I now expect finals and semi finals to contain Selby, then Murphy/Robertson, one other. The rest are struggling with confidence/consistency making it easier for the lower ranked players to get results and Stephen Lee must be fuming as he could be in the top four and banking tons by now instead of drifting out the top sixteen and not earning.

It's pretty much a different winner every ranking comp now and has been for the past two years, nobody has dominated but with Selby looking so solid in the way he approaches the game and grinds out results, he could seriously pull away from the pack and dominate like Davis/Hendry did.

I'm beginning to think the refs are under instructions to take at least 90 seconds to re-rack for ads and players told to take a walk after each frame.

[cebs]

Tonight tv match will be Allen vs Hawkins , nice.

Let's see which Selby turns out today, he should get in front early and play well in this match I'd have thought.

[sberry]

Frame 1 over, cut to eurosport ads, 3 ads, eurosport logo and back to the table just as the ref says "frame 2 Mark Selby to break" - must be miked up and told with the players they can't start the next frame until the producer says to continue.

[narl]

Frame 1 over, cut to eurosport ads, 3 ads, eurosport logo and back to the table just as the ref says "frame 2 Mark Selby to break" - must be miked up and told with the players they can't start the next frame until the producer says to continue.

THats usually how it works on channels with adverts, they have to wait till they come back from break.

[Odrl]

That was a lovely safety battle on the black. It's usually resolved within a couple of shots, but they kept it safe for quite a while. Nice pot from Perry in the end... Can he level the score? :smile:

[Looki]

Perry's such a good safety player!

[LittleMissAlexa]

Phil Studd 'What a great 144 by Anthony Hamilton' strnge i assumed it was the other player from Nottingham Michael Holt

[daffie]

Phil Studd 'What a great 144 by Anthony Hamilton' strnge i assumed it was the other player from Nottingham Michael Holt

Are all Nottingham folks a bit odd or just these two (jk of course...a bit odd myself)

[PatBlock]

Earlier today, one of the commentators said that Trump was having contact lens trouble yesterday, I had no idea he wore them. I wonder if the problem's now sorted and how good/bad his sight is without them?

He's down 2 - 4 to Anthony Hamilton now.

-

[Guy3103]

The commentator just said that Mark Selby is close to winning his 18th professional match in a row and that is the longest streak in quite a while. I'm just curious what's the longest streak?)

[daffie]

So just got home from work...a very busy week and I haven't been able to see any of the snooker so far. A lot of catching up to do Tomorrow a day off...completely dedicated to putting my feet up and watch some snooker. Looking forward to some good matches in the next days. In the meantime I'm watching Michael Holt making a very substantial 144 break in his first frame...good stuff from him.

[crocodile]

I agree these 2 are in the most danger of losing their top 16 status if or when we go to the 128 route and prize money is the ranking. I can see quite a few big names dropping very low in the rankings over the coming seasons with players like williams probably retiring altogether.

At this moment in time its hard to see anyone challenging Selby and he is hardly playing anything that resembles the form O'Sullivan produced to win the world championship last May. So many players out of form and struggling big time, you only have to play at about 85% of your ability to win a tournament now and to be honest I'm starting to worry about the standards of the game really slipping.
Maybe we have been spoilt by the legends of the past but this current crop don't look capable of reaching the highs of those players. During their peak years Ronnie, Higgins, Hendry or williams could conceivably win any tournament right now playing their 'b' game that is how average the standard is. To think that the 2 best players in the game have not won a world title shows how devalued the ranking system has become.

Perhaps one reason is the sheer number of tournaments which are played nowadays compared with just a few years ago - I can well imagine that what with the constant travelling around Europe and to China, practising and various other factors it all simply gets to the players at some stage and has an adverse effect on their game. Indeed, what I saw of the Masters seemed to be more characterised by constant mistakes than anything else.

[streamer45]

Well after another decider, Trump is out.

[cueman]

Earlier today, one of the commentators said that Trump was having contact lens trouble yesterday, I had no idea he wore them. I wonder if the problem's now sorted and how good/bad his sight is without them?

He's down 2 - 4 to Anthony Hamilton now.

-

Yeah he made a reference to it on his twitter page. Think he has trouble in some arenas when the air is very dry, usually because of the air con. Probably more of a problem in the events held overseas or at venues that don't often have snooker.
I should imagine its quite a distraction if your eye is itchy and watering all the time and can certainly make sighting the ball troublesome.

There is certainly something that is affecting him lately as he's really dropped in form compared to earlier in the season when he was playing some of the best stuff I've ever seen from any player. Particularly the one PTC where he knocked in a record amount of tons.