The Masters

Gary ITR

O'Sullivan has taken first round victory over Ding

Ronnie O'Sullivan survived a fightback from defending champion Ding Junhui to advance to the second round of the Masters with a thrilling 6-4 victory.

The four-time Masters champion settled the quicker of the two players at the tournament's new venue, Alexandra Palace, to take a 4-1 lead.

Ding hit back to win the next three frames, but O'Sullivan found some form and sealed the match with a 125 break.

O'Sullivan will face either Judd Trump or Stuart Bingham, who play on Monday.

I only saw the first couple of frames, bit of a shakey start for both but Ronnie looks relaxed, if he can continue like this I don't see him being beaten. He was ill there for a bit and got a good rest. If I was a betting man I'd have a tenner on him

RachaelVO

Gary ITR wrote: »

O'Sullivan has taken first round victory over Ding



I only saw the first couple of frames, bit of a shakey start for both but Ronnie looks relaxed, if he can continue like this I don't see him being beaten. He was ill there for a bit and got a good rest. If I was a betting man I'd have a tenner on him

Me too, he tend to pull it out of the hat when no one is looking!

StephenHendry

great win for ronnie, he has a great record in the masters plus with the home support he could go all the way

cherryghost

Maguire out to Williams 6-4 last night. Maguire had a few chances to wrap it up but didn't. Oh well.

Today we have Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham. You'd put money on Judd to win that game any day but Bingham has a reputation of digging in and grinding out results, so it might be an interesting watch.

Shaun Murphy and Martin Gould play this evening. Looking forward to that one.

cherryghost

Murphy looked on form tonight. Strongest display so far imo

StephenHendry

shaun murphy played really well last night, can't wait for ronnie v judd. shame they're meeting so early in the tournament

Omega28

any online streams?

cherryghost

mypremium.tv shows the BBC coverage live

Dunder Mifflin

Ronnie vs. Trump on Thursday, should be a great game.

TheMilkyPirate

Like watching the snooker but don't follow it much, If you were going to throw a tenner on someone now for interest who would it be? Gonna have a nibble for interest tomorrow.

iMuse

baraca wrote: »

Like watching the snooker but don't follow it much, If you were going to throw a tenner on someone now for interest who would it be? Gonna have a nibble for interest tomorrow.

I think Trump will beat Ronnie again like he did in the UK in dec so my money is on him.

giant_midget

baraca wrote: »

Like watching the snooker but don't follow it much, If you were going to throw a tenner on someone now for interest who would it be? Gonna have a nibble for interest tomorrow.

I backed Ronnie from the start, mad i know but when he turns it on he can win with ease.

I also recently put a few quid on Mark Allen to win world championships, got him @ 20/1 worth a punt as he does well in long matches & in think this could be his year....


Roll on the Ronnie/Trump match today, this will be the highlight of the week @ the Masters

iMuse

Judd 4-0 up at the interval, Can't see him losing from here, Ronnie getting totally outplayed.

MoscowFlyer

Judd Trumps runs like God. The amount of times he gets away with ridiculous shots is amazing.

RachaelVO

Thoroughly enjoying the masters...

Judd to win I'd say, but then again Higgins looked on form with some solid breaks against Dott. I'm hoping its a Judd/Higgins final!

syngindub

Semis:

Robertson V Trump

Robertson broke his tip beating Williams. Enjoyed Robertson's interview after the game. he threatened to grind trump down..should be a cracking semi.

Higgins V Selby OR S.Murphy
Quarters on tonight at 7pm..

zack01

Great weeks snooker so far, didn't make any plans to go over this year and I'm beginning to regret it.
Trump has obviously stolen all the headlines and limelight and I'm sure the other players won't mind that.
Regarding a favourite, well I always go for Higgins and this week is no different, but I do have a sneaking suspicion that Neil Robertson may have something to say about it albeit he does play Trump in the semi's.

Tonight's game between Selby & Murphy I just can't pick a winner and I can see it going the full 11 frames.

A quick word about the venue, one word, fantastic, Wembley was great but this place looks made for snooker.

LynHan

Hi there!
Wrong place for this (sorry!) but it won't let me post new threads until I reach 25 comments!

I am interested in going to the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield this year.

I would like to know

(a) where the 'good' (and 'bad'!) seats are before I book?
(b) Any tips on travelling to Sheffield, and also on decent accommodation
(c) Does anyone do any good deals for any of the sessions (including the final)

I'd be grateful on any other tips you can give me!
Thanks!

oneillMan999

LynHan wrote: »

Hi there!
Wrong place for this (sorry!) but it won't let me post new threads until I reach 25 comments!

I am interested in going to the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield this year.

I would like to know

(a) where the 'good' (and 'bad'!) seats are before I book?
(b) Any tips on travelling to Sheffield, and also on decent accommodation
(c) Does anyone do any good deals for any of the sessions (including the final)

I'd be grateful on any other tips you can give me!
Thanks!

(a) No bad seats in the crucible really but order early if u want to be close to the action.

(b) Fly into Manchester and get the train (about an hour) to Sheffield. I stayed at the park inn hotel (i think that is correct) pretty cheap and quite nice and only a 10 min walk to the venue. Again, book early!

(c) Not sure of any deals other than booking for the whole day, the final and semis will be sold out very quickly so be ready the second they go on sale.

Im sure Zack01 has some good tips also if he wishes to share

cherryghost

So who's money is on Robertson grinding it out, or will Murphy withstand the pressure? They both have quite a cool head so will be interesting to see how things pan out

zack01

Enderman wrote: »

So who's money is on Robertson grinding it out, or will Murphy withstand the pressure? They both have quite a cool head so will be interesting to see how things pan out

I'm really surprised about all these grinding out remarks about Robertson by Trump and his cronies, we're talking about a player who has made the most century breaks on the tour this season add to that he's also a fantastic match player and to be that you have to be able to adapt your game to the situation you find yourself in.
If Robertson went out yesterday with the intention of going toe to toe with Trump and put on a potting bonaza well as good a potter as Robertson is i dont think he would have stood much of a chance with Trump.

His game plan was spot on and if O'Sullivan had adopted the same plan then he may have fared better than his 6-2 defeat.
Don't get me wrong Trump does have more to his game than an excellent potting ability but what separates him at the moment from the likes of Higgins and Robertson is his choice of shot at a certain time.
A prime example was in the fifth frame yesterday and with a relatively simple blue to go 3-2 behind Trump decides to hit it as hard as possible and therefore misses the ball and loses the frame.
He played the same type of shots in last years world final when he had a below par Higgins in all sorts of trouble, missed them and gave the momentum to Higgins.
Again don't pick me up wrong Trump is a tremendous player and i have no doubt a future world champion and as much as yesterdays defeat will hurt him it will serve him well if he learns his mistakes from the match.
And personally he would do well to give a wide berth to the muppets who call themselves friends.

To the final, and as a big fan of Robertson i would love to see him win, he does have that amazing record of winning every major final he has played in but in Murphy he's up against a previous world and UK champion and one of the best cue actions in the game.
Murphy likes a free flowing game with plenty of break building and i feel Robertson will adopt his cautious match play approach once again here, it won't be as slow or tedious as some will suggest but it will be intriguing.
I'll go for Robertson 10-7.

zack01

oneillMan999 wrote: »

(a) No bad seats in the crucible really but order early if u want to be close to the action.

(b) Fly into Manchester and get the train (about an hour) to Sheffield. I stayed at the park inn hotel (i think that is correct) pretty cheap and quite nice and only a 10 min walk to the venue. Again, book early!

(c) Not sure of any deals other than booking for the whole day, the final and semis will be sold out very quickly so be ready the second they go on sale.

Im sure Zack01 has some good tips also if he wishes to share

oneillMan999 is spot on with the seats and travel plans and accomadtion for the Cruicble.
There are other hotels such as the Swallow St George where the established players stay and there is also the Novotel where the majority of the press and officals stay, i've stayed here a few times and it can be a lively place at night with most having a few pints and letting their hair down!

Tickets wise, i have heard that the final is a confirmed sell out and that the semi's too are sold out (unconfirmed).
There are tickets available for the first week and if you are a first time visitor to the Cruicble i would reccomend picking up a couple of days here, this way you will see several players in action and also bump into several players coming to and fro to practice at the venue, so bring a camera and loiter around the stage door.
The WPBSA site at www.worldsnooker.com will have details about ticket sales.

LynHan

To Zack 01 and oneillman999, many thanks for your advice, I think I'll go for the early days of the tournament this year and try for the Final tickets next year! I'll let you know how I get on!!
Great to hear snooker fans are still alive and kicking!!

Daemos

I'm supporting Robertson just for the epic entrance music :pac:

zack01

So Robertson wins and maintains his incredible record of winning every major final he's played in.Great final, two great players competing at their very best and a really enjoyable Masters event.

fryup

robertson vs murphy

two of the most charismatic colourful jovial characters the game has ever seen

they really inspire the youth of today to take up the game

StephenHendry

great win for neil last night. shaun played well to get it back to 9-6 but overall neil was the better player. he will hard to beat at the WC later on this year