The Snookerbacker Blog

The New Favourite (left) and Footie Shirt Man (right)

We are now nearly half way through the Crucible marathon and after a day which surely all but saw the end of John Higgins challenge for his fifth crown at the hands of Stephen Hendry we move into an absorbing encounter between two other former champions Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams.

The session between Hendry and Higgins last night was, in a nutshell, awful. Both struggled and I am sure when Stephen speaks to the assembled bloodhounds of the press he will be the first to admit that he just played slightly less dreadful than the defending champion who produced one of the worst sessions of snooker of his life, if not the worst.

But the difference was that Hendry potted the balls he had to and Higgins didn’t, I’m sure John is relishing the prospect of being introduced to a packed crowd this afternoon in what is a thankless task, doubtless he’d rather be back home with Denise and the kids and forget what has been a very poor season for him.

Hendry meanwhile will take the win and marches on to what looks like another all Scottish clash with Stephen Maguire who leads Joe Perry 11-5 and needs just two frames this morning.

Meanwhile, we have a new favourite for the event as Neil Robertson took the first quarter final slot by defeating the plucky Dave Gilbert who had already won five matches to get to this stage. The Tamworth Massive were giving it large all evening but they could not inspire their man, he did however get closer to the Aussie than I thought he would and it really makes you wonder why he’s not done more in the game up to now. All in all, a great end to the season for him.

The other match that got underway was between Ryan Day and Cao Yupeng and Day seemed the calmer, more assured of the two throughout and will be looking to stamp his authority on the session this morning and establish an unassailable lead against the last remaining Chinese player, in all, it’s been a disappointing world championship for China and the assembled press contingent, the lovely Victoria hasn’t even had a chance to have any of them play with her toy penguin.

Though on announcing a new event yesterday, namely the new International Championship which unsurprisingly follows exactly the same format as all the others over there, the Chinese party brought with them some very impressive hand crafted golden boats as a present for World Snooker, who returned the gesture by running to the local souvenir shop to get some steel wine goblets for the bemused visitors to take away. It was definitely one-nil to China in the gift stakes it has to be said.

Mrs Snookerbacker arrived at the Crucible on Friday and I thought that was all I needed to instill a bit of normality to my final days here. The Crucible experience can get you wrapped up in a lifestyle of late nights, a bit too much booze and poor eating habits, all of which are no good for you but are inevitably things that I end up doing. Mrs SB can usually spot the signs when I am beginning to get too excited and stray into this sordid existence but even she missed them on Friday and we ended up getting a bit drunk, this resulted in me annoying (the easily riled) Roland from Snooker Island by inventing a new variation of pool, which basically involved moving the balls by hand after every shot. Juvenile stuff.

Yesterday was all about recovery and what better way to start than a nice ‘interesting’ breakfast? On entering our chosen eatery we were confronted by The Nugget, Steve Davis who was nattering away to us all the way through our morning curer, we talked about doughnuts, blogging, running up hills and cunning ideas to keep him in the top 64 for another season, one involved calling in a few favours from Bazza, including automatic qualification to a couple of ranking finals if things got a bit tight.

Feeling a bit more refreshed I headed back to the Media Centre and Mrs SB went shopping. There was a bit of filming going on in there and the Nugget once again turned up with a waistcoat he’s getting signed by everyone for an auction on EBay, he didn’t ask me to sign it which would of course had increased the value by at least 50%, a rare chance missed, but I did promise to put a link up to it when it’s ready to sell. Whilst all this was happening a rather amusing incident involving the BBC TV crew, a member of the Press Association and a decidedly unstable table had the place in uproar, let’s just say that the quality of the furniture in here is of the usual standard.

Tabby - Wants a Willie.

Later in the day I also caught up with the lovely Michaela, who gave me a great big smile and a hug, no doubt with the forthcoming Willie awards on her mind. Her great rival for the title of Foxiest Referee, Ivy being far less blatant in her pursuit of the big one, the decision is still with the judges who are determined not to be swayed by underhand tactics. Eirian Williams was close by and said ‘ah, you’re the funny one’ so at least someone likes me, Paul Collier revealing soon after that a certain Mr Maguire isn’t my biggest fan (in other news Michael Jackson died), but as they say, you can’t win ‘em all.

Bettingwise, it’s still a mixed bag. A maximum bet on the handicap in Robbo’s match ducked on one frame, Gilbert winning nine rather than eight, whilst how there wasn’t at least four centuries in the first session of Higgins and Hendry I will never know, they are currently on two and for the over three to land it would entail Higgins hitting at least one, which looks about as likely as spotting Elvis Presley in the crowd sitting next to Whitney Houston. But on the plus side, the signs are good that this will be recouped by Maguire and Day this morning.

All eyes today however will be on Ronnie and Mark, who will probably play most of the session in front of the whole of the Crucible, assuming Higgins doesn’t mount an unlikely comeback on the other table, which I can’t see happening at all. Mark will be hoping that the talk of the head to heads and how poor his record is against Ronnie will be rammed down people’s throats come Monday evening. Today also sees Ali and Judd get underway in what I still think will be a lot closer than the odds suggest.

My full preview for round two is here.

10am

18* Joe Perry 7-13 Stephen Maguire
23 Ryan Day 9-7 Cao Yupeng

2.30pm

17* John Higgins 4-13 Stephen Hendry
21 Mark Williams 3-5 Ronnie O’Sullivan

7pm

20 Ali Carter v Judd Trump
23* Ryan Day 13-7 Cao Yupeng

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Just a quick post for anyone around today to have a natter about the action. A traditionally quiet day at The Crucible before the second round gets underway in earnest tomorrow. If either Ali or MJW lose from their first session commanding positions it will break the record set in 1992 for seeds losing in the first round, it currently stands at 8 which was the number who lost then. 

1pm
7* Ali Carter 10-2 Mark Davis 
22 David Gilbert v Neil Robertson

7pm

18 Joe Perry v Stephen Maguire
9* Mark Williams 6-3 Liu Chuang

Joe Perry beat Graeme Dott 10-1 earlier today in a match that can best be described as pretty awful. Graeme was totally perplexed at how badly he played and said that it was made worse for him by the fact that Joe played ‘rubbish’. He claimed that had he not been risking a fine he’d have conceded the match this morning after missing a black off it’s spot at 8-1 down. He was clearly wanting out of the match from very early on and you can see his reaction to his defeat here and the winner Joe, who was also a bit surprised at quite how poorly Dott played here.

So the match that everyone was talking about prior to the event ended in an eventual comfortable win for Ronnie O’Sullivan over Peter Ebdon.

Ronnie was in low key mood after the match and but for one quip about his hair he basically went through the motions. Peter however, was extremely emotional when talking about his late father who died last year. I hope he gets to a happier place very soon as he is clearly still grieving.

You can see Ronnie’s conference here and Peter’s here.

As we all know, when I start banging on about something you can’t shut me up. My wife however, the Sainted First Lady/Queen of the Baize is more a lady of fewer words, preferring quality over quantity every time.

She also enjoys making things and being creative so this year, rather than talk about the World Championships she has decided to put her thoughts into a piece of artwork. Which you can admire below.

She has also decided that we should instill a bit of culture into the blog this year and that is why today we are launching the ‘Snooker’s Next Top Artist’ Contest. The details to which you can find here.

In the meantime, here is Mrs Snookerbacker’s preview, she has, as she always does and despite my protests, totally discounted the chances of any of the qualifiers, so it starts at the Last 16 stage.

Previews appearing everywhere at the moment as the Snoopies finally break their silence on the World Championships here. Be warned, it is not for the faint-hearted. I must also give a mention to the newest member of the snooker blogging community who I think you will agree definitely gives his own unque take on the big one. His first blog can be read here, with the promise of more to come. Who says this blog is dumbing down?

First Round – Best of 19 Frames

John Higgins v Liang Wenbo
Stuart Bingham v Stephen Hendry
Stephen Maguire v Luca Brecel
Graeme Dott v Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy v Jamie Jones
Stephen Lee v Andrew Higginson
Ali Carter v Mark Davis 
Judd Trump v Dominic Dale
Mark Williams v Liu Chuang
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Peter Ebdon
Martin Gould v Dave Gilbert
Neil Robertson v Ken Doherty
Ding Junhui v Ryan Day
Mark Allen v Cao Yupeng
Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu
Mark Selby v Barry Hawkins

Match Times

John Higgins (Saturday, April 21 10am and 7pm), Stuart Bingham (April 21 2.30pm and April 22 7pm), Graeme Dott (April 24 2.30pm and April 25 10am), Stephen Maguire (April 22 10am and April 23 10am), Shaun Murphy (April 22 2.30pm and April 23 2.30pm), Stephen Lee (April 23 7pm and April 24 7pm), Ali Carter (April 25 7pm and April 26 1pm).

Judd Trump (April 24 10am and April 25 2.30pm), Mark Williams (April 25 2.30pm and April 26 7pm), Ronnie O’Sullivan (April 23 2.30pm and April 24 2.30pm), Martin Gould (April 21 10am and April 22 10am), Neil Robertson (April 21 2.30pm and April 22 7pm), Ding Junhui v (April 24 10am and April 25 10am), Mark Allen (April 21 7pm and April 22 2.30pm), Matthew Stevens (April 23 10am and 7pm), Mark Selby (April 24 7pm and April 25 7pm).

Regular readers will know that occasionally between flights Captain Carter likes to tell us what he’s been up to and today he tells us all about his preparations for the World Championship as well as revealing why his dinners with Peter Ebdon have become more sober affairs. He also tells us about the health problems that have plagued him all season and reveals the exclusive truth about that retirement talk.

Hello again Ali, it’s been a while since you logged on here and I have a few searching questions that I want to ask you. First off, the one that everyone has been talking about, I might as well get this out of the way before we move on, what did you really think of Mrs SB’s cake display at the SB Classic? 

The cake display was splendid and was an asset to the SB Classic. I would imagine that next year, once word gets around about the probability of Mrs SB’s amazing cakes and cake stand display being present at all future SB Classic competitions then the events will be sold out in no time! 

She is upset with you by the way because you criticised my choice of footwear, what do you have to say for yourself? 

With all the cash you make speculating on the outcome of us boys knocking them silly balls around I would have expected you to be able to cancel your ShoeZone store card by now and upgrade. But I guess it’s true what they say – you can’t buy style. I wouldn’t consider turning up with them on at the Cruicble - there is no way you will pass big Frank’s ‘appropriate footwear inspection’ on the stage door…..You will be ejected Mr SB! 

Anyway, it’s been well documented that you’ve had some health problems this season which has no doubt affected you both on and off the table, would you like to tell us how it’s been? 

Awful! In all honesty I’ve really suffered with my illness a lot this season. One thing about the condition is that you never know when it will choose to rear up. There really does seem to be no rhyme nor reason to it. I’m constantly trying different things to try and control it and identify anything that might bring it on – diet changes and things I can try to control, but with no real conclusive results. When it kicks in its painful but also makes you feel very lethargic and lacking in energy. Concentration is hard and you just feel generally flat and unwell. Even going about your day to day tasks is difficult, let alone trying to play competitive snooker for your life! 

You tweeted straight after a match earlier this season that you are going to retire after the World Championship. Did you mean it and do you still intend to? 

I was not having a good time of it around then and perhaps, in hindsight, it would have been better to have kept my feelings to myself at that time.  However, it was pretty much how I was feeling at the time and there was certainly an element of underlying seriousness to my comments. In any competitive sport the highs can be very high but there are generally more lows which are very hard to absorb. Poor results and performances, whatever the reason behind them, can be very hard to deal with and the pressure builds easily. Trying to deal with those whilst generally feeling unwell and unhealthy is not a good combination and I don’t want to put myself through that too often  – for my own sanity! I want to continue to play snooker but as I’ve always said, my health must come first and if it gets to a situation where the two aren’t mixing well then I will seriously consider what alternative options I have. For now, I’m still committed to being a snooker player.  

You got a couple of solid wins under your belt in China, has that given you a bit more confidence for the Crucible? How far do you think you can go? 

I definitely needed a couple of wins or so in China. In all honesty I don’t feel like I’ve played terribly throughout the season and my confidence, generally has been fine. There have been one or two suspect performances in the season but I also feel I’ve had my fair share of good form along the way and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory a few times. I’ve been working hard recently since Beijing and I will be heading to Sheffield feeling confident that there is no reason at all that I can’t go deep there. 

If you don’t win the World Championship, who would be your favourite to do so? 

I really don’t have a clue to be honest! There are so many great players now and everyone is hungry for it. I do think that it will be a proven winner that picks up the trophy again this year – easy to say I know, but this tournament really does sort the wheat from the chaff. 

One straw for Peter and one for Ali

So tell us what you’ll be doing to prepare for Sheffield. 

Getting the right balance on and off the table is key to me so that I go up to Sheffield feeling relaxed and stress free but pumped and tuned up in my game. So plenty of practice and a good regular routine on the table. Off the table I’ll be continuing to hit the gym regularly, enjoy plenty of time with my boy, Max, and catching up with my mates for a couple meals out and the odd beer.   

Finally, I get told so much stuff I don’t know if it’s true or false so maybe you can help me out here….

Fire away SB, I’ll clear them up for you. 

Ronnie O’Sullivan didn’t go to Ireland because he couldn’t sit on the pilot’s knee and wear his hat before take-off 

Highly likely to be true I would say! 

Since turning vegan Peter Ebdon won’t return your calls when you ask him out for a drink 

False – you can’t get Peter off the subject! – I know all about Dr Max Gerson, Dr Caldwell B Esselstyn Jnr (legend!), Dr T Colin Campbell (of ‘The China Study’ fame), ’30 bananas a day’  etc …..  We used to like sharing a bottle of red or two over dinner.  Now its rabbit food and two straws in an organic coconut. 

Your manager Steve Daintry became addicted to Grandmother Drunk Fish in Beijing and was stopped at Customs trying to smuggle some back to Essex 

Again, highly likely! I understand that that dish was put on at breakfast in the hotel. However, I never actually made it down for breakfast once. That boy has an odd palette anyway - you won’t catch him eating a standard cheese and tomato sandwich but chuck any salami his way and he’s all over it!  

4.      You are only considering retiring from professional snooker because you want a goody bag for playing in next year’s Snookerbacker Classic 

True (you’ve blown my cover now!). 

5.      Secretly, you liked my shoes. 

FALSE !!!!

Sorry about this Ali but Mrs SB has just come in from the garden (she’s been tending to the marigolds) and spotted what I was doing and now she wants to ask you a few questions is that ok? 

Of course Mr SB, anything for Mrs Snookerbacker, you know that. 

Ali can't compete with Shaun

Hi Ali  I am coming up to The Crucible for my birthday and Shaun Murphy has promised me afternoon tea (and I am hoping that will include a glass of bubbly) – can you go one better and give me a ride in your plane?

The Smurf is so smooth. Ultimate professional, ultimate gentleman. Sorry, can’t possibly compete.  

I am thinking of opening my own scone and cake business – you have tasted them – do you think they will sell? 

Yes – you will make zillions – if you open a shop right next door to Smurf’s home. 

I am addicted to Take Me Out on the TV have you seen it – it’s kind of a better Blind Date, well at the end the men have to show a talent to impress the ladies – what would your talent be ?  

I’m very good at making money disappear. 

Me and Mr SB are thinking of staying in the UK for our summer holidays and we are looking for a place to camp with our whippet and hopefully our new rescue lurcher – have you got a big back garden we can camp in? Mr SB can play snooker with you all day and I can go for BBQ’s with manager Steve and his horses and dogs?  

Nice. Actually I’ve just had my garden landscaped quite recently and its all spick and span and Max loves playing out there in his sand pit and in his cars etc. I’m sure your whippet is lovely but if my garden is going to get trashed in any way I’d rather it be by Max than a dog! Have a word with Manager Steve – he’s much more at home messing around with lurchers and horses at the weekends than I am!

All that was left was to wish the Captain good luck for the Worlds, I’m sure he’d appreciate your good luck messages in the comments section.

Just a quick post for anyone interested, the blog made it into Snooker Scene this month. I wrote a piece all about my experience of organising the Snookerbacker Classic and you can see a photograph of the article here. Thanks to Matt at Pro Snooker Blog for the photo.   

The season-long tipster contest ended in dramatic fashion yesterday as it went down to the final frame of the China Open. Peter Ebdon’s 10-9 win over Stephen Maguire meaning that Odds-n-Sods, also known as Richard Preen pipped season-long leader Deco800 at the very end.

As I reported recently, sadly Rich’s battle with a long term illness ended last month and so I have been in touch with both Boylesports, who kindly donated the prize and with Rich’s wife Amy and I am pleased to say that Boylesports will be converting the £300 free bets into a cash donation to the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Amy is thrilled that Rich won and is delighted with this very kind gesture by the contest sponsors.

Another person in charitable mood is Spice Boy Ben Harrison, who is one of those running the Sheffield Half-Marathon in aid of the Paul Hunter Foundation next month. You can sponsor Ben for as little or as much as you wish by going to his donation page here. I’m sure he’d appreciate anything you can spare for this great charity in honour of Paul.