• Hi Guest Just in case you were not aware I wanted to highlight that you can now get a free 7 day trial of Horseracebase here.
    We have a lot of members who are existing users of Horseracebase so help is always available if needed, as well as dedicated section of the fourm here.
    Best Wishes
    AR

Snooker

Surely time for some outsiders here....

Xiao Guodong 7/4 against Murphy is a big price
Allen to beat Kyren Wilson at 11/8 looks big as well.
Hawkins v Williams prices are about the same as mine and expect a very close game there.
Xintong v Ding a Chinese classic but again the prices close to mine and wouldn't be wanting Xintong that short as Ding tries to regain his top place in Chinese hearts.
O'Sullivan around 1/2 looks very short so I suppose Higgins a tempter at the prices. Played really well apart from thee 4-0 to 4-5 part of the Carter game. Ronnie not so keen on playing Higgins as his safety keeps him pinned to the baulk area.
Selby around 8/13 another decent price though Wu is progressing very quickly and as mentioned very good in first game. But Selby is a different game to Lei.
 
Si the only failure of the seeds, 16th ranked officially but never in it today. Needs to get a mentor to rejuvenate his career.

The 2 remaining 2nd round games.

1776978443705.png
 
What a day of excitement today has been.
Somehow Higgins came back from 6-2 and 9-4 down to win a decider against Ronnie. Higgins upped his game from 9-4 but it will be a challenge for him to get back to form after the emotion of that.
Selby was a little off the pace and a superb cue bang in frustration that he very rarely does. Wu looked terrified in getting over the line but managed it. He had played really well until the nerves et in which had never really happened to Wu before.
Hossein beats Trump in a decider. Trump well off form really for most of the game and clearly his preparation been badly affected by his namesake. But Hossein after a terrible season has reacted much more positively to the war and after looking excellent in the qualifiers was on his very best tonight for the shock of the event at 9/2 with bookies. The win has now put his rating somewhere close to what would be expected.

These are my ranking positions for the last 8, Robertson still the big variance with the official ratings but Higgins will need to be fully focused to match him, Robertson at his best was top 2 and really his rating looks drawn down by his bad season 2 seasons ago.

Should also mention Murphy who was probably the display of the round and he had Xiao demoralised very quickly with a much better effort than the first round.

1777326675289.png
 
The Hare said:
Somehow Higgins came back from 6-2 and 9-4 down to win a decider against Ronnie. Higgins upped his game from 9-4 but it will be a challenge for him to get back to form after the emotion of that.
Click to expand...
..... saw a lot of this matchup and thought Ronnie was brilliant the first session. Then he seemed to go back in his shell from that point onward and was beaten by Higgins who really wanted the win more than Ronnie. It was quite apparent that John was up for it and gritted his teeth, got his head down and Ronniw looked as if he was never going to win from that point onward. Well done to John Higgins a true Warrior. ;)
 
Two close semi finals ahead with little to choose on ratings.

Higgins outlasted Robertson and Murphy the player of the Crucible so far, will be much tougher against Higgins quality safety though.

Allen won a great game against Hawkins and meets improving Wu, could be a hard fought safety game that one?

1777500858802.png
 
The Hare said:
Two close semi finals ahead with little to choose on ratings.

Higgins outlasted Robertson and Murphy the player of the Crucible so far, will be much tougher against Higgins quality safety though.

Allen won a great game against Hawkins and meets improving Wu, could be a hard fought safety game that one?

View attachment 166836
Click to expand...
...... should be a cracker the Shaun Murphy v John Higgins encounter and the way they are currently both playing it will be a hard shout on this one to find the winner. They both are playing very well and have not seen either doing so well for a long time. ;)
 
Delboy99 said:
...... should be a cracker the Shaun Murphy v John Higgins encounter and the way they are currently both playing it will be a hard shout on this one to find the winner. They both are playing very well and have not seen either doing so well for a long time. ;)
Click to expand...
Amazing only 4-4 after first session. Murphy must think that was one that got away. Higgins all at seas first 4 frames but improved after the interval.
 

What was the referee thinking of? It Took crowd abuse, that he told to stop before fellow referee Rob Spencer came and had a word in his ear. Then he decided to give them 3 shots, Wu obviously didn't really understand and Allen was not too happy. Not snooker's greatest moment.​

This from the Metro.

Record-breaking Mark Allen vs Wu Yize frame labelled ’embarrassment to snooker’​

Mark Allen and Wu Yize have secured the dubious honour of playing the longest frame in Crucible history, with the epic tussle labelled an ’embarrassment to snooker’ by Steve Davis.

The 14th frame of the lasted just over 100 minutes, comfortably beating the previous record of 85 minutes and 22 seconds, set by Mark Selby and Yan Bingtao in 2022.

The Northern Irishman was 7-6 ahead in the second session, having won all five of the frames on Friday afternoon to that point.

He was ahead 39-1 in the 14th frame when things started getting sticky as the black sat just by the right corner pocket and reds started to gather around it.

Both players nudged reds towards the black until there were eight of them surrounding the black, which was extremely close to going in.

There were 75 safety shots played in the lengthy exchange, with referee Marcel Eckhart eventually stepping in to say the players had three shots each to end the stalemate.

Allen was not happy because he had a significant lead, which was 43-13 by this point, and did not want to be forced into a re-rack.

He tried to develop the reds, but then chose to knock the black in, giving away seven points, but feeling like it was a necessary decision.

Wu didn’t win the frame from his next visit, but he did win it, levelling up the match at 7-7, but the frame had taken so long that the session had to end two frames early.

Before the frame ended, BBC presenter Hazel Irvine said: ‘It is the most tortuous frame I think we have ever seen at the Crucible. We are imprisoned by frame 14.’

John Parrott said on commentary: ‘The most remarkable frame ever played at the Crucible You have to say it was pretty farcical at the start of it, but what a finish!’

Both Parrott and Stephen Hendry felt the referee should have stepped in earlier than he did, but the right decision was eventually made.

Six-time world champion Steve Davis felt it was an embarrassing episode which should be avoided in future, if possible.

‘In a nutshell that frame is an embarrassment to snooker, and the referees’ and the players’ association need to try to work out a way so that never happens again,’ Davis said.
 
How did Allen miss that black? What a game apart from the slow frame. Murphy has looked much the better of the 2 semi winners but the pressure is on him now. 5th v 7th on my ratings, 5th v 9th official.

35 frames ahead.

1777762150899.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top