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Starts Saturday.
Don’t watch a lot of snooker but love the world championships and if all else fails then it helps me to go to sleep.
My bets.
To win the championship
Mark Selby 8/1
Liang Wenbo 80/1First round match
Liang Wenbo to beat Ding Junhui 2/1
Anyone else having a bet?
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
Selby for me as well so long as he gets past a very tough 1st round match and Ali Carter to reach the final from the bottom half.
If Ronnie O’Sullivan is in the mood, then the rest can stay at home.
The best snooker player ever, imo.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
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The most naturally gifted, Himself, but I wouldn’t necessarily say the best – he’s never been consistent enough.
Snooker really is in trouble at the moment and with the hours of training the Chinese players put in now I can only see it becoming a more Asian-orientated sport (especially with the money that seems to be on the table to entice the World Championships away from Sheffield – criminal in my opinion, but I’m a sucker for tradition). Ding Junhui perhaps hasn’t done as well as one might have expected by this point, but there’s no doubting the future he and Liang Wenbo have.
Quite what the WPBSA can do to maintain and attract new audiences though, I don’t know, but I’m fairly sure six-red frames isn’t the answer. Do the powers that be really think that it’s as simple as making matches shorter? They have tried to equate the proposed change to the 20-20 model, but quite how they’ve made that judgement is beyond me.
As for this year’s World Championship, I’ll have a little on Joey Swail (you’ve got to love him) at 150/1, a saver on Shaun Murphy at 14/1 and the rest on O’Sullivan at 9/4.
Equitrack, I will concede that O’Sullivan is not as driven as the likes of Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis were in their prime, which may account for his lack of consistency compared to theirs.
However, as one who was a huge Steve Davis fan ( I wanted him to beat Taylor so much in that 85 final ) and then later realising and accepting that Mr. Hendry had raised the bar even higher – I am adamant that O’Sullivan is without equal in terms of overall ability. Any player who can make century breaks playing both right and left handed has to put in the genius category.
It was Steve Davis who said that had O’Sullivan (and Hendry) been around in the 80s, then he ( Davis) would have won fewer tournaments than he did. The competition is so much fiercer now. He described O’Sullivan as a genius – the only snooker player he said who was worthy of such an accolade.
After O’Sullivan won the 2008 World Championship, Hendry said that Ronnie was "the best player on the planet by a country mile."
If only those darn demons would stay away, just how good would this troubled genius really be ?
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
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I agree entirely that, in terms of pure ability, O’Sullivan is leagues ahead of anyone to have ever played the game – an in-his-prime Alex Higgins and Stephen Hendry included. But the accolade of ‘best player’ encompasses more than just raw talent, flair and showmanship, and with that in mind he (O’Sullivan) lags some way behind Hendry for me.
That said, I’m fairly sure I would be a singing a very different tune had Ronnie had the personal stability that breeds consistent play. I have no doubt that his father has had far too great an impact on his life and that his current problems are inextricably linked to that.
It’s scary to think that, despite all that he has achieved, he could have been even better.
I don’t watch as much snooker as I did years ago but I’ve always liked the style of
Neil Robertson
and considered him to be capable of winning the World Championships so my money is on him at 27/1 on BF.
Pete
I watched Ronnie O’Sullivan’s first round match. He isn’t exactly on fire – never is during the early stages – yet nearly knocked in a 147. Looking ominous for the rest already.
Not wishing to deride some of the other members’ choices as outright winner, but one would have to take a huge leap of faith to even imagine some of them getting anywhere near the final, let alone winning the tournament.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
I only watched the first session but like you say he tends to start slow. O’Sullivan is rightly favourite for the comp Himself and no one should get near him if he’s on song for two weeks but if he lets it slip for one match then I feel there is plenty of players capable of beating him. He has never won this competition twice in a row which is quite surprising for someone who is capable of winning it for years on end.
Charles Darwin to conquer the World
O’Sullivan is so good his price is never good value, and he’s always liable to chuck it in and get beaten if the likes of Ebdon, Dott, bore the life out of him.
I expect Ding Junhui to be a winner of this tournament during his career at some point so have backed him at 25’s. I would also think Maguire will win this tournament at some point, so will probably back him today as well.
The argument against Ding Junhui is his inconsistency at the very highest level, and whilst he’s still only 22 and has years left at the game if he wants them, it’s a touch alarming to me that he’s not progressed beyond round two at the Crucible the last twice.
There will be some who will imbue greater significance to his clash with Liang Wenbo than just the actuality of who wins. Ding has shouldered the weight of expectation of China’s interest in snooker for a few years now, whilst Liang has not. For all that 29 ranking places separate them currently, would a defeat for Ding here mark the start of a sea-change in that regard?
I actually think a win for Liang is far from out of the question. In addition to the lesser expectation upon him (for now, at least), as an inmate of the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield the Crucible represents as close to a "home tie" in the contest as one could possible hope for.
Certainly one of the more interesting first round ties, to my mind.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Completely agree. Forgetting my minor financial interest, its the pick of the 1st round for me.
Does Ding not remind you slightly of John Higgins, who swept all before him at the start of his career, apart from taking 4 years to progress further than the QF stage at the Crucible?
Very, very much so.
gc
Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
Just found this thread. I am a bit of a snooker fan (not just to watch but play) and without a shadow of a doubt O’Sullivan is the most gifted player ever to pick up a cue. However, the greatest player of all time is Stephen Hendry.
I know that sounds like a contradiction but snooker is about so much more than raw ability. Its about technique, timing, temperament, self belief, mental awareness, the ability to handle pressure. Even I have won trophies in my local area when I was younger despite not being the most naturally gifted player. And Hendry is the master at it. Not as good as he was these days but still a great great player. Ask Ronnie who is the best player of all time…I cant imagine he’d argue against Hendry.
For what its worth, the draw is lopsided so each way on Shaun Murphy carries some appeal although I wont be betting until after 1st round.
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