Snooker World Championship 2014

Ardent

Nuts102 wrote: »

Really feel the standard is very poor this year.

Ronnie has been below par and everyone is crumbling against him. I can't believe how intimidated Murphy was he is somebody i expected to fight against Ronnie. If Ronnie starts playing well nobody has a chance.

Standard has been poor for years IMO. Far cry from Hendry at his devastating best.

Pighead

Did anybody see Willie Thorne acting like a wee child as Neil was walking back to his dressing room after the match?

Neil accused Willie of making a joke in commentary at an inappropriate stage of the match thus making the crowd laugh and Willie **** himself and mumbled 'Oh, I think Terry said something alright'

celticfc

Great match, well done to Neil, Title winning form in the last few frames.


As a side note though..

..Did anyone see at the very end of the match on the live stream when Neil had left the auditorium?

Neil walked out backstage toward the corridors but decided suddenly to turn back around and go to the commentary box.

He said with the door open something along the lines of, "who said the wise crack at 8-7 or 8-6." You could just hear Willie Thorne trying make an excuse for him and Terry having said something. Neil was obviously pissed off about it.

Then all of a sudden before anything else got said, the BBC cut the audio and went to a promo about the super league show next on the reb button.

The Golden Miller

How did Trump lose that? He seems too impatient, erratic and mentally weak. Under pressure he can pull off sublime shots, but will then miss a sitter or play a terrible positional shot. Like O'Sullivan, if he gets his act together mentally, he would take some stopping, and would have absolutely buried Robertson today.

Which is a shame and is pretty disappointing as O'Sullivan will canter to this title now, well if he comes out and plays well. None of the other players can stop him on form, as he will just out-power them on the table. Although Trump is mentally weak, one player he can get away with being mentally weak against is O'Sullivan funnily enough, as he's similar in this regard. If you watch them play in a match, they drag each other to each others level and also make similar mistakes. Both dodgy mentally, and it would have been a brilliant match-up.

All the other players feel inferior to O'Sullivan, and don't really believe they can beat him. Trump was the last one who believed he could beat him and actually thinks he is better than him. You feel Trump was the only player left who could really stand toe to toe with an on form O'Sullivan and hold his own. Roll on the remaining borefest

Witcher

Hawkins didn't give Ronnie a bad game last year and I would have liked to see him get another crack at it in the final against Ronnie. He's a nice down to Earth guy. But obviously now one of them will be out and I'd say it will be Hawkins.

Out of Selby and Robertson I'd prefer Robertson, never took to Selby...always seems like he thinks he's better than everyone else but can't handle it if he's down a few frames. He was nearly in tears when Ronnie was kicking the sh1t out of him in the Masters.

Would have preferred Trump-Selby and Trump to go on obviously but Robertson will suffice:pac:

Muppet Man

if he gets his act together mentally, he would take some stopping, and would have absolutely buried Robertson today

I'm stating the very bleeding obvious here, but thats why Robertston won last night and thats also why I still fancy Robertson against Ronnie. When his back was to the wall last night night, Neil played superb stuff, and is the kind of player that it doesn't matter who he is playing against. He believes in himself and he will compete. A century of centuries is not to be sniffed at. It does point to "good form"

I have no doubt that Ronnie is still blazing hot favourite, but Neil can definitely compete with him. Of the players that were in the quarter finals, I would have put Robertson as the only player that could have competed with O'Sullivan in a world final.

Of course putting the cart before the horse here as neither place might make the final... stranger things have happened.

I'm huge Robertson and O'Sullivan fan, but strongly biased towards Robertson as I have 20 euro on him at 8/1 with Paddy Powers to lift the trophy

Muppet Man

loyatemu

some of Trumps shot selections were baffling - the attempted plant at (I think) 11-11 was just plain stupid.

I did think Robertson's showboating after the 100th century was a bit off though - given the circumstances of the match. I don't blame Trump for not joining in - what have Robertson's achievements over the rest of the season got to do with that match?

cack_handed

i agree with above, didnt expect robertson to celebrate that milestone as if he'd won the tournament - which is his prerogative of course - but no issue with trump not acknowledging it. If there's a bit of needle between the players what harm...god knows the sport needs any bit of edge it can get. Robbo played great and there are signs trump is slowly becoming the player we thought he might be in 2011. Not there yet, but it was a great match and this tournament has had too few of them

tomdempsey200

it seemed to me like a bit of gamesmanship on robertson's part

like he was turning the screw on trump cos he couldn't handle the pressure

the commentactors said these 2 have history

BQQ

Yeah, I thought it was weird that Robertson celebrated like that.
No issue at all with Trump not acknowledging it. It's not like it was a 147.

Trump will never win unless he learns how to be patient.
He had that hot streak where everything he hit seemed to go in and then he bought into the hype.
Some of the kamikaze shots he played in the last few frames were ridiculous.

fiddykiddler77

Thought Trump was going to be the man to come through and 'sex up' snooker like Ronnie did. But he's flattered to deceive a bit

tomdempsey200

Hawkins discussing tactics with Terry Griffith:rolleyes:

SteM

melon_collie wrote: »

Murphy after throwing away a couple of frames there. That miss on the pink was shocking

Was at this match. A couple of different people that I spoke to afterwards were calling shenanigans. I don't think so myself but he missed some very easy shots after making a couple of great pots.

Some of the betting you can do on snooker seems crazy - betting on there being a foul in a certain frame, betting on a player to win a session of snooker etc. There must be some temptation for lower ranked players surely?

Backstreet Moyes

SteM wrote: »

Was at this match. A couple of different people that I spoke to afterwards were calling shenanigans. I don't think so myself but he missed some very easy shots after making a couple of great pots.

Some of the betting you can do on snooker seems crazy - betting on there being a foul in a certain frame, betting on a player to win a session of snooker etc. There must be some temptation for lower ranked players surely?

Winning the worlds would get you far more money than backing against yourself.
The players plan their season around the tournament.
If i could chose the least likely player to throw a game it's Murphy.

tomdempsey200

there'd be handy few Bob and you wouldn't have to have a big syndicate behind it

that's a surefire way of getting caught

it would be the smaller tourneys alright

Backstreet Moyes

Wonder was Ronnie pointing towards the commentary box giving out about the noise or maybe it was just the crowd.

tomdempsey200

gonna be a massacre here

cack_handed

Snooker is one of those games where sometimes you see misses from seasoned pros you cant understand and a voice in the back of your head whispers "fix". I can't really believe murphy would be on the take - the god-fearing shaun murphy!! - but then again the world championship is probably the ideal tournament to try something given the level of liquidity on the exchange markets and lesser risk of alerting suspicion.

I believe corruption is rife in snooker, spot fixing for sure, and i doubt the world championships are immune, remember peter francisco being nabbed in the 80s

tomdempsey200

of course it is

you can make a handy 10 grand on a bet without tripping anything

impossible to prove

tomdempsey200

when they get in bed with syndicates and big time

that's when they hit trouble

Pighead

loyatemu wrote: »

I did think Robertson's showboating after the 100th century was a bit off though - given the circumstances of the match. I don't blame Trump for not joining in - what have Robertson's achievements over the rest of the season got to do with that match?

Ah now come on. What's wrong with celebrating a landmark achievement? Did you have a problem with Sachin Tendulkar celebrating 100 centuries in international cricket? Arsenal when they won their final match of the 2003/04 season to become the invincibles? Frankie Dettori when he won his seventh race out of seven at Ascot? Snooker often gets criticised for being too staid and boring so it was pretty good to see how much the achievement meant to Robertson.

cack_handed

Unless you're as dense as stephen lee, of course, and leave a trail a mile wide

tomdempsey200

cack_handed wrote: »

Unless you're as dense as stephen lee, of course, and leave a trail a mile wide

what did John Higgins get done for?

was it betting scandal

cack_handed

Higgins basically was stitched up by a news of the world sting, charged with agreeing to throw frames for a cash inducement to people he believed were russian businessman but were reporters in disguise. Personally i had a little bit of sympathy for him, but he was a very stupid guy to get himself into that situation

Backstreet Moyes

tomdempsey200 wrote: »

of course it is

you can make a handy 10 grand on a bet without tripping anything

impossible to prove

How is it impossible to prove. If somebody is going to throw a match he can't back it himself or get family members to back it. He is going to have to get a third party to do it then they are going to back it. Then they are going to let a friend know who in turn passes it along and their is a lot more than 10 grand going down on the game.

SarahBM

Im watching on Eurosport. who is doing the commentary on BBC?

tomdempsey200

Nuts102 wrote: »

How is it impossible to prove. If somebody is going to throw a match he can't back it himself or get family members to back it. He is going to have to get a third party to do it then they are going to back it. Then they are going to let a friend know who in turn passes it along and their is a lot more than 10 grand going down on the game.

there's an incentive for the 3rd party not to pass on the tip

if he wants to keep it going

of course if he's stupid he can tell all his mate's and blow it

HeidiHeidi

John Virgo and Ken Dockerty (sic).

Who's on Eurosport? Got sick of Joe Johnson over the last few days.

SteM

Nuts102 wrote: »

Winning the worlds would get you far more money than backing against yourself.
The players plan their season around the tournament.
If i could chose the least likely player to throw a game it's Murphy.

I agree, I said i didn't think there was anything going on in the Murphy match. Just think it's an interesting subject.

SarahBM

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

John Virgo and Ken Dockerty (sic).

Who's on Eurosport? Got sick of Joe Johnson over the last few days.

to be honest I dont actually know. I think it'a Joe Johnson.
I'll put on BBC now while they have it. I like Ken. Virgo does annoy me a bit.
But no one is as bad as Hendry to listen to IMO