The Snookerbacker Blog

It’s not all about the match table.

It’s down to the one table set up today in Berlin as the final four battle it out over the best of eleven frames for a place in tomorrows final.

One semi final in particular might not be one which a lot of people would have predicted as this evening we see Australian Open champion  Barry Hawkins taking on Hong Kong’s Marco Fu, whilst this afternoon we see Neil Robertson up against Ali Carter after Robbo’s final frame win over Shaun Murphy last night.

It will be the first time that TV viewers will see either Carter or Fu playing this week and that has been picked up on by some as a failing of this event. To be fair, the people saying that the one big disadvantage from a TV spectator angle is that there is only one table to watch have a point. The fact that Robbo played only his first match on TV last night and that Hawkins only got on there because he was playing Allen and last night found himself playing the world number one on the outside tables will be frustrating for the fans that aren’t here. I hear that Eurosport were offered access to other tables on a roaming basis but chose not to take this option up, presumably because of the prohibitive cost.

Right, that’s the negatives out of the way, now to the positives. This place is bloody brilliant as a snooker venue and puts the UK venues that I have been to at least to shame. It reminds me a little of the feel of going to the Preston Guild Hall as a kid to watch the UK in the mid-80′s, in fact, with the amount of fine moustache action going on amongst the natives you could almost be forgiven for thinking you had stepped back in time.

The area surrounding the Tempodrom is a little dead by Berlin’s standards but that’s nothing that a five minute ride on the underground can’t fix and the venue itself is heaving. Inside the arena, the seating is tailor made for the snooker fan who likes to watch a few games at the same time, seats are allocated but generally people are free to roam. Thankfully, there are no jobsworth stewards telling you that you can’t do anything that isn’t in the rule book, the paying public are treated with respect and not like a bunch of errant juvenile delinquents that can’t be trusted.

The German audience for their part are respectful, almost grateful to have the snooker roadshow in town. Unlike China, there is hardly any crowd noise or disturbance and when there is a mobile phone ring there is a collective shake of the head from those nearby and an embarrassed apology from the culprit. People on the balcony area are free to tweet, take (non-flash) camera photos and speak in hushed tones as well as eat pretzels and drink their tipple of choice, in short, it’s everything that every snooker event should be and most in the UK have become the opposite of.

The players also seem to like it, though there have been some rumblings about the tables again from a few, though not all I stress.

Anyway, our day yesterday here in Berlin started with breakfast in possibly one of my one or two favourite breakfast rooms ever to grace the modern game. Mrs SB was absolutely overcome with emotion when we were asked if we would like an egg and it came out with it’s very own knitted cosy on to be greeted by her neatly cut ‘soldiers’ to dip in it. I think you had to be there.

As it turns out it was a good job we had a big breakfast as having set out for ‘a bit of a wander’, 5 miles and 2 and a half hours later we had walked all the way to the venue via top designer shops (we didn’t go in for fear of creating dust or furrowed brows on the beautiful people within), a rougher end which boasted several antique shops which we did go in to, only to be ejected from one by an overly irate German who tapped furously at a sign on the door which we are still oblivious to the meaning of. We then decided to walk through a park which looked like a crack-den, romantically saunter along a path full of dog shit, meander down the side of a dual-carriageway and then finally arrive at the Tempodrom.

We were greeted with a smile by tournament organiser Tomas, who was delighted as I got my Willie out to present to him. The tournament won the prestigious award in 2011 for best new event and the presentation was long overdue, but they have it now to display along with any other inferior awards they might have.

Inside the arena we mostly watched Ali and Anthony Hamilton’s match, at one point after a frame I decided I needed to visit the gents and on entering almost floored the Pottingham man with the toilet door which would have put an end to his afternoon even quicker than Ali ended up doing. We stayed to watch after that table had finished and soaked up the atmosphere until Mrs SB proclaimed to be ready for her afternoon nap back at the hotel.

Once that was done it was back over to the venue for us as we took our place for the evening session. There was a young lady sitting behind us for the early part of the evening who seemed to be wearing what could only be described as a ‘Bionic Eye’, we named her (childishly) Mrs Robocop and giggled away as she panned in and out on various things around the vast arena like a huge electric insect. We then had a chance to catch up with The MO’D who is still out here and he clearly loved his first taste of a main venue, Peter Lines walked in as we were meeting Martin and despite opening with the line that he was trying to get away from me, he stayed for a chat with Mrs Peter before we all headed back into the arena, he also found this venue to be incredible to play in.

There we got chatting to the lovely Michaela about all sorts of things from wine-smuggling to caravanning and the female company of Mrs SB seemed to go down a storm with the foxiest ref in town. As the matches in the evening drew to a close we said our goodbyes and headed home, stumbling upon a very nice Indian restaurant called Calcutta on the way home where we found an owner who seemed mad on snooker as well as the Indian religion of cricket and asked us all about our day while giving us naan bread on the house and a liquor as we were leaving.

Bettingwise, Ali is still in there fighting and the 25/1 recommended on him winning is obviously a lot shorter now but he has a tough old semi-final on today of course. Marco Fu landed the 8/1 recommended on him winning the quarter so that’s helped balance the outright book and with the recommended 7/2 acca landing yesterday as well as the big recommended bets the day before we’re in front and looking for The Captain to land a very tidy profit.

Anyway, that was our eventful first full day in Berlin, now to the matches today.

1pm (UK Time)

Ali Carter v Neil Robertson

Going on what I have seen here this week I would say that Robbo has to start favourite for this match. He looks a little sharper than Ali but I think The Captain’s concentration levels might improve now we are down to the one table set up, which he seems to like a little better than the multi-table one where he can at times look quite distracted. He’s looked solid enough but did benefit yesterday from chances missed by opponents Hamilton and Holt which he’s unlikely to get today. Of course I am rooting for the Captain but if I was to plump for a scoreline here I would pitch it something like the one below.

Prediction: Robertson to win 6-3.

7pm (UK Time)

Marco Fu v Barry Hawkins

You couldn’t really describe this as a glamour tie, but Barry Hawkins has got here by beating the World Number 1 as well as Mark Allen so his form has to be respected, particularly considering the manner in which he lost to Judd at the Masters, he has bounced right back. Marco has been quietly making his way through and to me looks to be cueing pretty well. I reckon this could go one of two ways, either Barry will blitz his opponent off the table from early on and put on a show or it will get twitchy, my feeling is that it will be the latter and if that’s the case, I’d side with Marco.

Prediction: Fu to win 6-5.

Recommended Bet: 2 point double on Robertson (-1.5) and Fu pays over 3/1 at Apollobet. 

THANKS AS EVER TO MONIQUE LIMBOS FOR THE MAIN IMAGE