World Snooker Championship 2012

radiata · 27-04-2012 9:37am

Ah yes another day of watching snooker all day, you just can't beat it. The world championship is just brilliant with so many surprises.
And while i'm waiting for it to begin I've just watched Thorburns 147, it gives me tingles every time. Up next Kirk Stevens 147

Setun · 27-04-2012 9:42am

15 minutes until the clash of the scots. Looking forward to it, at work now but will have a stream running on the side

Come on Hendry!

StephenHendry · 27-04-2012 11:19am

zack01 wrote: »

Day seven at the Cruicble and here's the line up for today.

10am
17 John Higgins v Stephen Hendry
22 David Gilbert v Neil Robertson

2.30pm
18 Joe Perry v Stephen Maguire
23 Ryan Day v Cao Yupeng

7pm
17 John Higgins v Stephen Hendry
22* David Gilbert v Neil Robertson

* denotes to a finish

Match of the day is no doubt the all scottish clash between Higgins and Hendry, 11 world titles between these two really sums up what we have in store. Both may be struggling with form this season with only the odd glimpse on show but there is no doubt that they will be both up for this match. I have to fancy Higgins simply for the fact he can win even when not playing well, Hendry when he has struggled this season has simply been awful. Yes he made that magical max in his first round match but during the second session of that match he was really struggling. It's amazing to think that this will be there first ever meeting in the world championships.
The other morning match is the scond session of Gilbert v Robertson, Robertson leads 5-3 and played great snooker from 3-1 down to lead overnight. Robertson will probably win this session 5-3 again and maintain his lead going into the final session.

2.30pm sees Perry v Maguire resume, their first session was a really high quality affair with three centuries and breaks over fifty in the other five frames. I fancy this session to be shared.
Day v Yupeng begin their second round match, Day will still be on a high after knocking out Ding and his second Chinese opponent of the week will provide as big a test as Ding did. Yupeng played excellent to see off Allen and although both players are playing well i would have to fancy Day to prevail.

7pm sees Higgins and Hendry resume and Gilbert v Robertson play to a finish.

The second round is indeed well underway.

morning zack , 2-2 at the MSI against terminator (aka john higgins) when stephen wins this im going party like its 1999 !!!!!:D

zack01 · 27-04-2012 11:23am

StephenHendry wrote: »

morning zack , 2-2 at the MSI against terminator (aka john higgins) when stephen wins this im going party like its 1999 !!!!!:D

A scrappy opening but it's warming up nicely. Hendry really needs to stay with him, this might just go to a last frame decider tomorrow!
Are your nerves up to that !!!

StephenHendry · 27-04-2012 11:28am

zack01 wrote: »

A scrappy opening but it's warming up nicely. Hendry really needs to stay with him, this might just go to a last frame decider tomorrow!
Are your nerves up to that !!!

no chance and this is only round 2

. the gilbert and robbo game is shaping up nicely as well

StephenHendry · 27-04-2012 12:34pm

5-3 to the wonderbairn against john bhoy

robbo taking control against dave gilbert to lead 9-5.

zack01 · 27-04-2012 1:43pm

The high quality standard continues and after the morning sessions Hendry leads Higgins 5-3 and Robertson is closing in on a quater final slot leading Gilbert 10-6.

zack01 · 27-04-2012 5:00pm

It seems to be the same old story with Joe Perry, nearly every frame today he's had a decent enough chance, now more so than the 13th frame when on a 52 break he misses a straight forward red into the middle and Maguire clears up with an 80. Currently 10-4 to Maguire, Perry needs the last two frames of the session to stand any chance.

The other match sees Day 4-2 ahead on Yupeng.

zack01 · 27-04-2012 5:08pm

That's more like it from Perry, a ton to make it 10-5, needs to win this last frame.

cherryghost · 27-04-2012 6:02pm

Really looking forward to this evenings matches.

Setun · 27-04-2012 6:42pm

<rant>
Shame the BBC felt they have to cut the evening snooker coverage to make way for Antiques Road Trip and Great British Menu. As if we don't already have enough of Tim Wonnacot during the day's 'flogging old tat' omnibus, and we all must be great cooks by now between all the Hairy Bikers and Masterchef etc on. :pac:

Guess I'm stuck with either the dutch/belgian eurosport, or an intermittent livestream that somehow consistently knows to lag half-way through a key shot!
</endrant>

That aside, I'm really looking forward to it :cool:

Permabear · 27-04-2012 6:51pm

This post has been deleted.

zack01 · 27-04-2012 7:00pm

Agreed boys, I'm really looking forward to tonight's matches.

Another bit of news away from the table today was that a new ranking event for next season was announced...

Here's the press release...

The new International Championship will be staged for the first time later this year, with the biggest top prize ever for a snooker event in Asia.

The world ranking event will run from October 28 to November 4 with £600,000 total prize money and the winner to collect £125,000. It will have the same level of ranking points as the UK Championship.

The event will be staged for the next five seasons following an agreement between World Snooker and CCTV Sports & Entertainment Co Ltd.

The tournament will feature 32 of the world's top professional players, plus eight Asian wild cards. The host city will be confirmed shortly.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: "We are absolutely delighted to announce this fantastic new event, alongside CCTV Sports & Entertainment Co Ltd, a great partner with vast experience in television broadcast and events.

"The International Championship will be an outstanding addition to the calendar and will take snooker into a city which has never staged a professional event before, which will help the sport continue to grow in China.

"The prize money for this event is the highest ever seen in China, and the incentive for all snooker players to climb to the top of the sport and reap the awards has never been greater.

"Last season there were two ranking events in China, next season there will be five. That shows the level of growth in the region and the hunger of the Chinese fans for more snooker. This tournament will really be something special."

China's top player Ding Junhui added: "It's great news for the players and the Chinese fans that we will have a new ranking tournament in China next season. It's another chance for our supporters there to watch the best players. I'm really excited about playing in the International Championship and I'm sure it will be a great success."

Scorpion Sting · 27-04-2012 7:27pm

Hendry now ahead 6-3. Slight favourite at this stage?

zack01 · 27-04-2012 7:30pm

Yes a big frame that one, Higgins doesn't really look settled, but Hendry too has missed some really straighforward pots.

27-04-2012 7:31pm

jebforever wrote: »

Hendry now ahead 6-3. Slight favourite at this stage?

Well I certainly wouldn't bet on Higgins winning any frames.

cherryghost · 27-04-2012 7:48pm

Higgins playing terrible, Hendry playing Mediocre but getting the job done. If Hendry wins all 8 here.... well... do the maths. No final session! :eek:

zack01 · 27-04-2012 8:07pm

Incredible. What a frame of snooker. Nice to see the big breaks going in but those types of frames we just saw are great

Setun · 27-04-2012 8:45pm

Daddio wrote: »

<rant>
Shame the BBC felt they have to cut the evening snooker coverage to make way for Antiques Road Trip and Great British Menu. As if we don't already have enough of Tim Wonnacot during the day's 'flogging old tat' omnibus, and we all must be great cooks by now between all the Hairy Bikers and Masterchef etc on. :pac:

Guess I'm stuck with either the dutch/belgian eurosport, or an intermittent livestream that somehow consistently knows to lag half-way through a key shot!
</endrant>

That aside, I'm really looking forward to it :cool:

Thanks, but unfortunately I mostly just pick up the BBC London broadcasts as I don't have Sky here. Alas!

Managed to catch a bit of the Hendry/Higgins match (currently at 8-4), shaping up to be a very interesting encounter. Hendry playing a tad slack as he feels maybe a bit unthreatened by Higgins - but giving even an under-par Higgins a chance is to give him a chance too many, he seems to manage a fightback out of nowhere. While I'd be surprised to see him pull it back to all square by the end of the session, Hendry needs to keep the match very tight if he doesn't want any unpleasant surprises.

zack01 · 27-04-2012 9:37pm

What drama !!

Hendry has now won 12 out of the last 14.
I've watched John Higgins for nearly 20 years and I can honestly say that I've never seen him play so poorly. It's not down to the pressure or brilliant play of his opponent, he has simply just failed to turn in any performance.
Not taking anything away from Hendry but he must have been really surprised at how poorly Higgins has played.

Meanwhile Neil Robertson advances to the quater finals after a 13-9 win over qualifier Dave Gilbert. All credit to Gilbert he battled hard tonight and at one stage almost made it 11-9.
Robertson plays Williams or O'Sullivan next.

oneillMan999 · 27-04-2012 11:06pm

This might be the start of the Higgins downfall, he was beyond woeful this evening and Hendry will need to seriously up his game if hes gonna threaten Maguire in the quarters..

Permabear · 27-04-2012 11:10pm

This post has been deleted.

radiata · 27-04-2012 11:15pm

oneillMan999 wrote: »

This might be the start of the Higgins downfall, he was beyond woeful this evening and Hendry will need to seriously up his game if hes gonna threaten Maguire in the quarters..

Or Perry if he does an amazing comeback!
Some great games tomorrow, really looking forward to O'Sullivan/Williams at 14:30, and Carter (who has been the surprise for me, as I've seen him falter so many times) /Trump game in the evening.
I think Higgins snooker in this tournament has really rounded up his performances this year

Wilberto · 27-04-2012 11:23pm

Superb frames of snooker tonight alright........

Higgins was unbelievebly poor, especially considering he's defending his title!!

Hendry was very good for the most part but a couple of frames he could have lost ((only for Higgin's to save him with his poor performance all round!!))

And what about Hendry's unbelievable miscue on the yellow. It just looked plain ridiculous!!

Exciting stuff though in fairness......C'mon Hendry, you don't need to end up like the way Steve Davis or Ken Doherty are now just yet....

:P :P!!!

StephenHendry · 27-04-2012 11:46pm

well played robbo, maguire looking good for the qf. stephen 12-4 up , could be done and dusted very quickly tomorrow morning when they resume at 10am

Rjd2 · 28-04-2012 12:08am

oneillMan999 wrote: »

This might be the start of the Higgins downfall, he was beyond woeful this evening and Hendry will need to seriously up his game if hes gonna threaten Maguire in the quarters..

hopefully, I am enjoying the championship but getting rid of honest John would be lovely especially after the nauseating effort of BBC trying to paint him as a victim last year.

Bruthal · 28-04-2012 1:54am

oneillMan999 wrote: »

This might be the start of the Higgins downfall, he was beyond woeful this evening and Hendry will need to seriously up his game if hes gonna threaten Maguire in the quarters..

I would fancy hendry having a good chance of beating maguire even if hendry was a bit inconsistent. Maguire gets very annoyed when things are not going well, which is a bit of a distraction for him.

JBarnes1986 · 28-04-2012 8:09am

Rjd2 wrote: »

hopefully, I am enjoying the championship but getting rid of honest John would be lovely especially after the nauseating effort of BBC trying to paint him as a victim last year.

You're entitled to your opinion and I don't condone in any way what he did,it'll hang over him for the rest of his career but seeing John playing as bad as he did yesterday just makes for a poorer World Championship.

zack01 · 28-04-2012 10:06am

Day 8 kicks off with the conclusion of Perry v Maguire and Day v Yupeng. Maguire should have no bother wrapping up the win over Perry, once again nearly every frame last night Perry was in first but his old failings of not converting frame winning chances really showed last night. Maguire did in fairness to him stick to his task andfinds himself on the verge of the quater finals.

Day v Yupeng's first session was more a workmanlike performance from Day and another session will see him with one foot in the quaters.

The afternoon sees four players with 16 world titles between them,there is a classic in store with Williams v O'Sullivan on show, this game needs no build up, O'Sullivan will be a strong favourite simply due to the record he has over Williams, it's ten years now since Williams has beaten The Rocket and I fully expect that to stretch to 11. They will have the Cruicble all to themselves to as you would expect Hendry to finish the job on Higgins early enough. I don't think there is anyone who expected to see such a dismal performance as the one produced by Higgins last night, simply put , he was awful,he did'nt look comfortable, any even when he did get chances of which there were plenty he just could'nt make it happen.Hendry didn't exactly play wonderful stuff himself but he potted the balls that mattered and is on route possibly for another all Scottish affair this time with Maguire in the quaters.
As usual there was one or two comments posted here relating to Higgins and what happened in Kiev in 2010 but we're always going to get that. Suggesting the beginning of the Higgins downfall is slightly premature, Higgins will recover from this defeat, he has recovered from a lot worse.

The evening sees Ali Carter v Judd Trump start their match, hard to call this, Trump will be favourite but a refreshed looking Ali Carter will push him hard, I expect lots of high breaks in this game.
Day v Yupeng will play their match to a finish also tonight.

10.00am

Joe Perry 5-11 Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day 6-2 Cao Yupeng

2.30pm

John Higgins 4-12 Stephen Hendry
Mark Williams v Ronnie O’Sullivan

7pm
Ali Carter v Judd Trump
Ryan Day v Cao Yupeng

JBarnes1986 · 28-04-2012 10:21am

Totally agree,to suggest that this signals the start of a downfall is total nonsense,form is temporary,class is permanent.Some people seem to be taking delight in his poor form.I think that anyone who knows and actually plays the game would like to see John back to his best next season.

zack01 · 28-04-2012 10:38am

Great start from Joe, if he could nick the next two we'll have a match on.

Bruthal · 28-04-2012 11:13am

JBarnes1986 wrote: »

Totally agree,to suggest that this signals the start of a downfall is total nonsense,form is temporary,class is permanent.Some people seem to be taking delight in his poor form.I think that anyone who knows and actually plays the game would like to see John back to his best next season.

Its likely just a dip in form alright, but to say class is permanent as if to suggest he will be as good as he is indefinitely, is not right. A downfall will start sometime, no matter how much class a player has.

So at some stage, what was suggested wont be nonsense.

zack01 · 28-04-2012 11:15am

Maguire seals the match with a classy 79 break, Perry put up a flight and only for a fluked red from Maguire it could have gone 11-8.
Day meanwhile is 7-5 up on Yupeng

tmax500 · 28-04-2012 11:49am

cherryghost wrote: »

Really looking forward to this evenings matches.

higgins probabley has a bet on the frame score

zack01 · 28-04-2012 11:55am

robbie7730 wrote: »

Its likely just a dip in form alright, but to say class is permanent as if to suggest he will be as good as he is indefinitely, is not right. A downfall will start sometime, no matter how much class a player has.

So at some stage, what was suggested wont be nonsense.

Of course a downfall will start sometime, there is no question of that regardless of who the player is. I just feel like the OP has said is that Higgins still has a lot more in him. When Davis knocked him out in 2010 people said the same thing but the following season he won three ranking titles including the world championships.
He'll come back a stronger player next season of that I have no doubt.

JBarnes1986 · 28-04-2012 1:12pm

robbie7730 wrote: »

Its likely just a dip in form alright, but to say class is permanent as if to suggest he will be as good as he is indefinitely, is not right. A downfall will start sometime, no matter how much class a player has.

So at some stage, what was suggested wont be nonsense.

That's not what I meant.The class is permanent quote was meant to mean that a player of Johns class will definitely bounce back after a poor season,to suggest otherwise,is personally I think,nonsense.The way some people are talking,he might as well hang up his cue now.Of course I don't think he's going to be able to produce his best form consistently forever but he's got a good few years left in him

Gunslinger92 · 28-04-2012 2:31pm

Who's Stevens playing in round 2? I had a bit of a crush on him when I was 15 hahaha

I met him a few years ago in Killarney, he's a sound lad!

radiata · 28-04-2012 3:03pm

Gunslinger92 wrote: »

Who's Stevens playing in round 2? I had a bit of a crush on him when I was 15 hahaha I met him a few years ago in Killarney, he's a sound lad!

He's playing Barry Hawkins tomorrow morning. Good 1st frame from Williams/O'Sullivan

purple_hatstand · 28-04-2012 3:04pm

Mark & Ronnie look in good form and really up for this - could be a classic...

http://www.firstrowsports.eu/watch/121571/3/watch-world-snooker-championship-sheffield.html

...Ken on commentary

radiata · 28-04-2012 3:24pm

Ronnie looking really good so far, hasn't really given Williams a chance in last 2 frames

3ndahalfof6 · 28-04-2012 5:25pm

well he got very lucky there, but its great to see it so tight couple of great frames to watch.

cherryghost · 28-04-2012 7:56pm

Carter 2-0 on Trump already. Entertaining first 2 frames.

Setun · 28-04-2012 8:53pm

cherryghost wrote: »

Carter 2-0 on Trump already. Entertaining first 2 frames.

Looks like Trump has recovered from his food poisoning! Very smooth around the table on that last break to make it 3-2.

babymanval · 29-04-2012 3:55am

Rumour has it that there was a £50,000 bet placed in Glasgow on a 13-4 Hendry victory over Higgins

zack01 · 29-04-2012 8:51am

babymanval wrote: »

Rumour has it that there was a £50,000 bet placed in Glasgow on a 13-4 Hendry victory over Higgins

Pathetic

Kidchameleon · 29-04-2012 8:56am

babymanval wrote: »

Rumour has it that there was a £50,000 bet placed in Glasgow on a 13-4 Hendry victory over Higgins

Ha

Wouldn't surprise me!

zack01 · 29-04-2012 11:06am

This is the order of play on day nine.

But firstly a word on Hendry v Higgins yesterday, a fantastic result for Hendry, he did'nt really have much to beat really as Higgins turned in probably his worst ever performance in tneir second session on Friday night. Hendry still had to pot the balls though and he has every chance of beating Maguire in their quater final.
Higgins was truthful in his interview after and wished Hendry the very best and that it was great to see him on the big stage again, he never made any excuse, like some other fallen seeds this week, he took it on the chin and showed the champion that he is.

First two matches can go either way, no strong favourite but im going to back Higginson and Hawkins to win.

Afternoon sees the second sessions of two matches, i would expect Trump to make some sort of inroads on Carters lead but Carter is a tough nut, this session could be shared 4-4.
I'll go Ronnie to beat Williams 5-3 again.

Now time to log onto betfair.
10am
19 Jamie Jones v Andrew Higginson
24 Matthew Stevens v Barry Hawkins

2.30pm
20 Ali Carter v Judd Trump
21 Mark Williams v Ronnie O'Sullivan

7pm
19 Jamie Jones v Andrew Higginson
24 Matthew Stevens v Barry Hawkins

zack01 · 29-04-2012 12:12pm

A great piece by Ben Dirs from the BBC about the torture chamber within the Cruicble !!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bendirs/2012/04/the_torture_chamber_hidden_wit.html

Setun · 29-04-2012 3:24pm

Excellent article, and fitting to read it while Ronnie is playing sensational stuff against Mark Williams. Such a large part of the game is about confidence - if you're feeling good on a shot, your chances of making it increase exponentially. Ronnie seems to be feeling very good this afternoon.

cherryghost · 29-04-2012 3:27pm

The way its been going so far, an O'Sullivan vs Hendry final could be on the cards! Robertson will have something to say about that though. Carter has looked excellent too. That's my top 4 of the tournament anyway. I wouldn't bet on one of them to win outright.

World Snooker Championship 2012

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