The Snookerbacker Blog

Will it be back in the Chigwell trophy cabinet tomorrow night?

The culmination of the months and months of snooker we have seen this season is the World Championship Final and this year Ronnie O’Sullivan and Barry Hawkins take to the baize for what is now the only two day final left on the calendar, over the traditional 35 frames.

Back in the day this signalled the end of the season and a time when the potters could pack up their cues for a few months and head for sunny faraway places until the nights grew colder and the mornings darker and the new season started up again.

But that isn’t the case these days and the end of season break is now barely enough time for a long weekend in Skegness since Bazza waved his magic wand and made all these tournaments appear, to mixed receptions from the players.

The new season begins in earnest on the 27th May, yes May, this month, May. This is far too early in my opinion but it is then that the Wuxi Classic qualifiers kick off with surely a hugely depleted field and in between this time we have Q-School where amongst other hopefuls the 2013 Snookerbacker Classic Champion David Gray hopes to win through to the main tour. For anyone that thinks they can stomach any more snooker this month you can take a look at the new calendar here.

But before this post threatens to become another rant about there being too much snooker these days let’s instead concentrate on the matter in hand and that is, can Ronnie win his fifth world title to eclipse his lifelong rival John Higgins tally or will the unlikely finalist and huge underdog Hawkins shock the snooker world with a famous victory against all odds?

Well, the obvious answer is that it will take a shock of Joe Johnson-esque proportions, perhaps even greater, for Barry to do so. It was a huge deal when the dapper red-shoed Bradford potter and Joe Jogia lookalike made history by defeating Steve Davis way back in 1986 but there is that little matter of history having a tendency to sometimes repeat itself when you least expect it, but in layman’s terms this is not so much David against Goliath as David against Goliath and his Dad and big brother.

Hawkins reaction to winning last night was a joy to behold, he looked like a kid who had just been woken up in the middle of the night and told he was going to Disneyland as he struggled for words before finally saying ‘things like this don’t happen to me’ in one of the great Crucible quotes this year.

He is sure to have won people over on the strength of that line alone and his general demeanour after his victory over Ricky Walden, who may take a while getting over his final session performance. The fact that the name Barry Hawkins was briefly trending on Twitter as news of his victory came through is possibly one of the most unlikeliest tales to emerge from what has been an otherwise largely forgettable world championship so far.

Barry is more than aware how big his task is but is going in with the mentality that he can win. He said “Everybody loves an underdog and I was a massive outsider before the start of the tournament. Hopefully people will warm to me and the neutrals are on my side. Ronnie is an unbelievable player but I have to just try and concentrate on what I am doing. In the final I will just go out there in the frame of mind that I can win. If I don’t then there is no point in me even turning up. I have got nothing to lose, but there is still pressure. I don’t mind that – if there is pressure it shows that you care and that you want to win.”

To see what the less animated defending champion Ronnie had to say after beating Judd click here.

In terms of the betting, both semi-final recommended bets landed including the maximum one on last night’s match so I hope a few of you made a bit on those. For those who followed the outright staking plan it’s crunch time as the 4 points recommended on O’Sullivan a couple of months ago at 9/1 reaches it’s climax.

I will admit to laying a very small section of the possible winnings off before yesterday afternoon’s session against Judd and I will be keeping a very close eye on this match in running. If I detect that Joe Johnson’s spell has been weaved on Barry I will lay some more off, but for now I will sit tight and hope Ronnie takes the early initiative to allow me to lay a tiny part of it at silly odds this afternoon.

The Final:

Ronnie O’Sullivan (1) v Barry Hawkins (15)

Stunned

It’s five years since the two finalists have met and as you can see and would probably expect, Ronnie has a very good record in the head to heads. But take a look at the scores, three deciders and two close ones (one of which Hawkins won on the pairs first ever encounter), with only one demolition job which is possibly skewed by the fact it was Barry’s first ever final as a professional in 2007, after six years on the tour. But does this have any bearing on what will happen here?

Well, Hawkins will know that Ronnie is beatable as he’s done it before, he will take confidence from his semi-final performance which saw him gradually improve with every session, he might also know that despite the fact he appears to be in cruise control Ronnie is yet to be really tested in any match, Judd and Ali both got close to doing this but Ronnie, sensing the threat knuckled down and pulled away keeping his lead in both matches throughout with some incredible safety play and solid break building. It’s also interesting to note that nobody has ever won the world championship having never been behind in a match and I’d hazard a guess that nobody has done it winning the first frame of all their sessions either, Ronnie can achieve both if he keeps these records in tact here and once again add his name to the history books.

So what about a bet then? Well for the reasons I have stated above I won’t be having one at the start of the match, if Ronnie takes the first session 6-2 or better he’ll go close to 1/20 I reckon and at that point I will lay some off. But for those looking for a bit of interest in the match I would have pitched the handicap at -8.5 for this, but most bookies have pitched it at -6.5, indeed some have gone as low as -4.5. The bet I would recommend would be there to be less than 29.5 frames in the match at 10/11 with Skybet, this covers a comfortable win for Ronnie and an unlikely Joe Johnson romp job and ride to glory for Hawkins, in terms of a score it would be the one below.

Selection: O’Sullivan to win 18-9 (Best Price 10/1 at Apollobet)

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CONTINUED APPRECIATION AND THANKS GO TO MONIQUE LIMBOS FOR THE PHOTOGRAPHS THAT ACCOMPANY THIS BLOG. YOU CAN FIND HER ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE AND FOLLOW HER ON TWITTER BY CLICKING HERE.

She can spot a wanker a mile off.

Today is the day that we find out who will be contesting this years World Championship Final with Ronnie O’Sullivan currently leading Judd Trump 14-10 and Ricky Walden holding a narrow 9-7 lead over Barry Hawkins.

Last night saw Ronnie extend his lead to four frames in front of a right old Crucible rabble. It was clearly ‘Bring a Chav’ night last night as the shaved chimps in the audience continually shouted out phrases that only they themselves found highly amusing.

The behaviour clearly rubbed off on the easily led Rocket who also received a ticking off from Michaela for what she perceived to be an obscene gesture by snooker’s bad boy. He proclaimed his innocence in the matter claiming that when he has a sticky cue he always pretends to masturbate with it but tough girl Tabby was having none of it and gave Ronnie one of her steely looks, he won’t be doing that again.

You can see her bringing him down a peg or two during the marathon frame 23 here.

The crowd also appeared to have been infiltrated by the world farting champion who continued to let rip throughout the session, raising a titter from both players. You pity the poor unfortunates that were sitting nearby as this individual clearly has some real issues in the bowel department and god only knows what kind of stench purveyed the Crucible when he was at his rasping peak (I pray to god and all the apostles that it’s a he anyway). World Snooker may have to send Rentokil in to clear the arena of unwanted guests or failing that issue the knowledgeable Crucible crowd with gas masks for the rest of the championship.

While Ronnie was cue masturbating, Dennis finally got to see Cliff who he has been telling an uninterested audience for the duration of the event was being flown in ‘first class’ by Jason Francis of ‘Legends’ fame. The non-reaction of his co-commentators to this totally insignificant drivel is an indication of exactly how shit Dennis has become in the commentary box. If I hear him say ‘Watch out there’s a Rocket about’ one more time I will not be responsible for my actions. But as the BBC clearly favour halfwits over substance I’m sure he’ll cling onto his contract. If only Davis would have potted that black, we had no idea at the time what that ball meant.

Anyway, Ronnie played OK last night and Judd didn’t capitalise on his mistakes, plenty of which happened in the controversial frame 23, or the sponsors frame as I prefer to call it. Inexplicable misses from both of them and £125k matched at Betfair should satisfy the men in suits who signed the contract and got the World Championship at the eleventh hour for a lot less than it’s worth if the stories I have heard have any substance, come back Betfred, all is forgiven.

The lead Ronnie has going into this afternoon means he needs just three more frames to make the final. I still haven’t laid any off but I am considering it now although I do feel there is not so much a gulf as a canyon sized difference in class between him and the rest of the field, even when he isn’t at his best, the only thing that is a slight worry is his increasingly erratic behaviour and the potential for him to get a bit bored if he does make the final.

In the other match, Barry Hawkins did what he needed to do in the second session and it’s now all to play for in that one. It’s fair to say that the standard isn’t very high and that they are both feeling it. There is a decent payday at stake of course and you can understand the nerves and this may result in a real tense one tonight if it continues to be close after the morning session, but you have to fear for the victor in what might end up being a procession for the winner of the other encounter, on the other hand they may go into the final feeling they have nothing to lose. We shall see.

10am

Ricky Walden 9-7 Barry Hawkins

2.30pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan 17-11 Judd Trump* 

7pm

Ricky Walden 12-12 Barry Hawkins*

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Thanks as ever to Monique for use of the image, her Facebook album can be viewed here

The Boys are Back in Town.

It’s day two of the semi-finals today and a cracking day ahead which sees Judd and Ronnie slug it out this morning and this evening. Will we be any closer to knowing the winner later tonight?

I will admit that when Ronnie went 4-1 up I was fearing the worst for Trump who was beginning to look a bit jaded in his seat, but all credit to him for fighting back and they start the day level at 4-4. Ronnie has still not been behind in a match in this championship and has also won the first frame of every session he has played in, I wonder if that pattern will continue today?

In the other match Ricky Walden has started much the better of the two and leads Barry Hawkins 6-2 after the first session. There is a long way to go of course but Barry could do with winning the session this afternoon to finish the day no worse than 9-7 down, which wouldn’t be a disaster going into the concluding day of the semi-finals tomorrow, we shall see.

There has been a lot of talk about the overall standard of play in this event and for me it goes without saying that this has been one of the poorest World Championships that I can think of on that front. There have been some very good performances, Walden and Michael White in Round 1 spring to mind, Ding and Shaun Murphy showed flashes of quality and Ronnie and Judd have done the same, Ronnie’s first session display against Stuart Bingham for me being the stand out session of the championship, but otherwise I’d say it’s been pretty mediocre overall.

So why is that? Well, the new phrase that pays amongst the potters is ‘burn out’, with Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and others saying that they are simply too tired to perform over this end of season marathon after a long hard season in every corner of the globe. Now I’m not saying that burn out doesn’t exist but if you look at the calendar from last season there were breaks for players, particularly if they weren’t winning much or decided not to play in all the PTC events.

For John Higgins to claim he was tired is a bit hard to swallow, he started the season late and missed the first few events instead deciding to have a longer summer break and since winning the Shanghai Masters in September he’s only won 6 matches in the main events. Perhaps if he’d stuck to ranking events instead of chasing the cash merry-go-round of the non-ranking Championship League which for me is now surplus to requirements on the calendar he’d have faired better here. Or perhaps, just perhaps, he’s just not playing very well or not practicing as hard as he used to?

Higgins is just an example of course, but he also didn’t have to play in qualifiers which dominate some months in the calendar and you don’t tend to hear the players from the lower ranks moaning about burn out as they are usually too busy mustering up the cash to pay their hotel bills and living expenses on the miserly prize money floating around at the lower levels which to me is a much greater concern than a few of the top boys complaining about being knackered. Even Ronnie is claiming to be tired and that really takes the piss as he’s been by his own admission festering in bed until midday for half the year and basically living like a doleite.

Stuart Bingham and Dark Mavis are good examples of top players who play in everything but don’t come out the other end moaning and it shows in their results which continue to improve, qualifying regular Michael Holt who has played in everything this season including the Asian PTC’s has said that burn out isn’t an issue for him as he keeps himself fit.

As fit as a fiddle: You never heard Bill complain of feeling tired.

In the old days when a player didn’t perform on the big stage it was put down to pressure. The 1980′s saw loads of events on the TV, far more on the mainstream channels than we have now and the players seemed to thoroughly embrace it. I think that both Selby and Robertson felt a weight of expectation, some of which was possibly coming from themselves to make an impact here, same with Ding, though he also has the ridiculous and unrealistic level of expectation from China on his shoulders too.

Those who claim not to look at the draw are invariably lying and they all must have seen what a great chance they had to make it to at least the semi-finals and when it all opened up for them they simply couldn’t hack it and this was the most convenient excuse rather than they blew it.

So, I’m firmly with Bazza on this one, if some of the players are burnt out as a result of actually having a job which let’s face it isn’t even a full-time one then they probably need to have a good think about why that is, is it more a state of mind than a physical problem? I think it probably is.

Perhaps another factor is that the standard of the top players of today is simply not as high as it has been previously. I think anyone who claims that any of today’s top 4 or 5 could live with Hendry, Higgins, Williams and O’Sullivan at their peak or even dare I say it Steve Davis at his, might need to reassess their views on snooker and their life in general. The fact that O’Sullivan is still the best player out there and that Higgins and Williams are still in the top 16 bears this out, even the Nugget is moving up the ranking list and he’s about 3 million years old.

So that’s my rant for the day on that particular issue. Tomorrow I shall tackle the problem of third world poverty and perhaps touch on the miss rule.

It’s probably fairly obvious that I’m just killing time until 10am when the possible match of the championship recommences. For the first time yesterday I actually thought that Ronnie might not win this, in terms of the bank balance I hope I’m wrong. Can Judd ruin the snooker comeback of all time?

Feel free to post your views on anything in this post in the comments section, especially if you are killing time too, ranting is good for you and it won’t give you burn out.

10am
Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-4 Judd Trump (finished 9-7)

2.30pm
Ricky Walden 6-2 Barry Hawkins (finished 9-7)

7pm
Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 Judd Trump   

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Go on, admit it. You weren’t expecting to see him here where you?

The semi-finals kick off today and whilst the top half pits together the highest two seeded players from that section it’s fair to say that the bottom half has produced a semi-final which very few would have predicted without the help of time-machine and a crazy doctor with wild grey hair.

Before turning to the one that most people will consider to be the pick of the two ties let’s take a moment to congratulate Barry Hawkins and Ricky Walden on their massive achievements so far. Hawkins has beaten hot prospect Jack Lisowski, World Number 1 Mark Selby and many people’s pick for the title Ding Junhui to get here, so nobody can say he doesn’t deserve his place in the one table situation.

Ricky has on paper had the easier path of the two but the three unseeded players Michael Holt, Robert Milkins and Michael White all needed beating and that’s exactly what the Chester cueman has done to earn his semi-final spot.

You can see what Barry and Ricky had to say about their latest wins and how the tournament is going by clicking on the World Snooker video section here. I hope they produce a Crucible classic, which if they are both a bit edgy might be exactly what this match could be.

There is another semi-final too in case it’s escaped your notice and the enigmatic champion O’Sullivan embarks on Round 4 of his title defence against the man who would be king, Judd Trump.

Judd came through a Crucible epic yesterday against Shaun Murphy in this year’s match of the tournament so far without a doubt. Much has been made of the poor standard of play this year and the culprit being burn-out, but for the spectator I’d argue that two players bashing them around, missing pressure balls and being generally careless can be just as exciting as two players on the top of their game.

Let’s face it, Judd had some real form towards the end of the match, little snicks and kisses here and there did have an effect on the outcome of some crucial frames, but ultimately he held himself together the better of the two and Shaun was left to rue his poor run of the ball as so many have done before when beaten by the naughty potter.

Murphy said “I just never thought it was going to be my day. I was playing good safety and nothing looked like it was going my way. He had some lucky kisses that got him in behind colours. I thought I did my job as well as I possibly could have done it.”

He will obviously be very disappointed to leave the Crucible and the season behind potless, given the number of winners of events this season it’s odd that Shaun hasn’t won anything given his status in the game. Too often this season he has looked like winning titles and somehow collapsed or found a way to lose at the business end and the longer that goes on and people like me keep mentioning it the more the pressure to win builds.

You can see what Judd had to say about the match and his forthcoming semi-final here.

Ronnie in the meantime wrapped up a cosy victory over Stuart Bingham and then started to display some of his trademark erratic tendencies after the match. Despite claiming on coming back that he missed snooker in his year off he claimed last night that he didn’t miss snooker in his year off and that this might be his last event because he wasn’t enjoying it. He also claimed to be short of cash, so much so that he hasn’t paid his kids school fees for a few months. He also said that despite earlier saying that this might be his last event that he’ll play in ten events next season that are on his doorstep like the ermm ‘Regal’ Welsh and that if Bazza comes up with any new initiatives that he fancies then ‘Ronsy’ might play in them.

To watch him witter on and talk about how he doesn’t want to be a celebrity and that he might buy a house and put a new kitchen in it or do a bit of punditry for the telly click on the World Snooker website video section here.

Utterly bonkers.

So now it’s time to look ahead to the semi-finals. Ronnie is a strong favourite to grab his fifth world title now (odds on everywhere) and the 9/1 recommended on him looks pretty decent now. I haven’t laid any off yet, I know I should but I can’t bring myself to do it as I think he’ll go on and win it.

Semi Finals – click on match for the head to heads

The Big One

1pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan v Judd Trump

The first thing to say is that major event head to head history undoubtedly favours Judd. Before Ronnie beat him in the Welsh Open in 2012 and before he took the Crucible by storm last year Judd had walloped him in the Masters and beaten him in a decider on his way to winning the UK, a defeat which I think Ronnie took badly at the time having seen him afterwards. But you have to go on the form that both have been displaying so far in the tournament and for me Ronnie has been playing the better of the two by some distance. He has had 7 centuries which is more than any other player has had but Judd is only one behind on 6 so the obvious place to look for a bet first is the centuries market in a match between two players who will not crumble in the one-table situation and are very likely to want to put on a show in their first ever Crucible showdown. I have been impressed with Judd’s battling skills in this and he does increasingly seem to be acknowledging that he can’t pot them off the lampshades whenever the mood takes him, but I also think that he will have to substantially up his game to have any chance here as Ronnie doesn’t really seem in the mood to let errors off the hook at the moment and Judd is making plenty at times. I’ve looked at this match in almost every way and I can’t see Ronnie losing, I just think he’s playing on a different planet to the others and that’s why I’d be prepared to take a chance on the longer odds below in the various handicap markets that are available. The bookies are taking no chances with the centuries so there is no value there.

Selection: O’Sullivan 17-12

Recommended Bet: 3 points on O’Sullivan to win (-3.5 frames) at 6/4 with Ladbrokes 

7pm

Barry Hawkins v Ricky Walden

These two enter the biggest match of their lives with a pretty level head to head and one previous World Championship meeting behind them, in the qualifying rounds to the Embassy in 2005 which Walden won 10-9. Both are in unchartered territory here and it will be fascinating to see how they adapt to the different conditions and atmosphere that the bigger arena brings. One may thrive where the other may falter, both may thrive or both may falter and until we get to see how each adapts it makes this a tough call. Strangely, Barry has got here with a tournament high break of just 100, his only century, while Ricky has hit 3 with a highest of 140 on Day 1. In terms of the centuries market I would be pitching at the unders on this one as I expect it to be a bit edgy when frame winning chances present themselves early on. What often happens in matches like this is that the players tend to either drag each other down or both play to their best and either way this results in the match being close. On form I would take Ricky but if it goes to a decider I would probably favour Barry, I think it will go close and the bookies agree with both being favourite depending on where you look. The price below made me sit up and consider a fairly large bet  and it also means I don’t have to pick a player and can just enjoy it, so here goes.

Selection: Walden 17-15

Recommended Bet: 5 points on the winning margin being under 4.5 frames at 10/11 with Paddy Power 

If you like betting in-running blog partners Apollobet have launched a new live service that is well worth a look, click on their website here and click the live betting section.

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Locked in battle.

Day 12 at the Crucible is usually one of the best days of the Championship and has seen some dramatic twists and turns down the years, today we find out who will be the four players that will be competing in the reshuffled one table arena from tomorrow until the winner is crowned on Monday. 

Ronnie is now Evens favourite to land his fifth world crown and move ahead of John Higgins in the champions list and just one behind Ray Reardon and Steve Davis and two behind Hendry.

His display yesterday against Stuart Bingham should now have finally convinced those who thought he was only coming here to make up the numbers that they have made a huge error of judgement. He is here to win it and I think the price now reflects that. I reckon he has got better with every session and if that trend continues you can’t see him needing more than the session this morning to finish poor old Ballrun off.

As he was mincing out of the arena the BBC cameras panned to Hazel who proceeded to ask possibly the dumbest question of the week to Kendo and Stevie; ‘How long is it since we have seen Ronnie play as well as that?’ Ken, clearly uncomfortable then reminded Hazel that he hasn’t played since last season barring a hopeless display against Simon Bedford in a PTC, a match to which I am sure Hazel wasn’t referring, so the logical answer to this pointless poser given that he lifted the trophy last season in what he has since described as the best he has ever played at the Crucible was ‘a year’, which Steve duly delivered in his trademark deadpan style.

But our Hazey wasn’t done with yet, in an attempt to dig herself out of a canyonesque hole she asked ‘What I mean is, is this the best Ronnie has played (pause, shuffle in seat) EVER?’ Even Steve this time was knocked out of his stride completely and failed to deliver on the deadpan front with a cutting and crashingly obvious ‘No’, instead he quickly used diverting tactics to steer the hapless Haze away from this car crash of a conversation as they moved onto the subject of Fred Davis. A rare foray into Mike Smith territory for the BBC’s steely anchorwoman, I’m sure just a temporary blip, let’s just call it her blonde moment and leave it at that.

So who can stop Ronnie? Well the short answer is that on this form nobody will, perhaps as ever the only person that stands in his way is himself. But fans of his will be pleased to hear that he now reckons he’s got all that bonkeroony stuff under control and that ‘meltdown’ or what Ali Carter referred to as ‘his head falling off’ will not happen and it’s very much a case of carry on don’t lose your head for everyone’s favourite snooker fruitcake.

The work he is doing with Dr Steve Peters seems to have finally caged the inner beast and on the meltdown issue he said after the match with Ali “That won’t happen again, none of those meltdowns will happen, no matter how frustrated I may be with myself out there. In the last two years I have changed a lot. I’m able not to let my chimp out.”

Before World Snooker start getting the fines invoice book out, Ronnie’s ‘chimp’ refers to an integral part of his own personal guru’s mind management technique. He teaches his patients to keep the “chimp” which is what he calls the bearer of strong emotions, caged in order to direct focus to more important matters and priorities. It was obviously going to work on Ronnie all this as he’s so hairy and looks a bit like a monkey anyway.

Still in front

To say that the championship is a foregone conclusion however would be a little premature, as some will have been in writing off Judd Trump yesterday when he was cut adrift by a rampant Shaun Murphy and found himself 8-3 down and seemingly on the brink of going out. But last night saw him really knuckle down and battle away and he resumes this afternoon at 8-8, Shaun having to do it all over again after already perhaps feeling he had broken the naughtiest potter in snooker. That promises to be a real thriller to decide who will surely be lining up to play O’Sullivan in the semi-finals.

This morning might also produce a Crucible knee-trembler as Barry Hawkins resumes 9-7 ahead of Ding Junhui who kept in the match last night by taking the final frame of the session with a 72 break, perhaps a crucial frame when we look back on the result later. Again it is a match that Hawkins will perhaps feel he should be further ahead in, but he is ahead and he would have taken that yesterday from 3-2 down. That said, Ding is 5/4 at Betfred to win the match and I have seen many worse bets than that, he tends to be the more reliable of the two at the end of matches and has arguably had his poor patch in this one already.

The other quarter final saw Ricky Walden take a four frame lead against Michael White, who should really have won at least two of the frames he lost. He looked nervous for the first time in the tournament but now he has played a session with all those thoughts swirling around his young head hopefully he can relax a bit more and do the same to Ricky this afternoon to set up some drama for an evening session that they may have to themselves and currently looks like being something of a low key end to the Quarter Finals.

So there we go, a conclusion in all three sessions today which means that Ricky and Michael will play two consecutive this afternoon and tonight. The latest match odds with Apollobet can be found here and their outright prices are here.

Order of Play Today

10am

Ronnie O’Sullivan 7-1 Stuart Bingham
Ding Junhui 7-13 Barry Hawkins*

2.30pm

Shaun Murphy 12-13 Judd Trump*
Ricky Walden 6-2 Michael White 

7pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan 13-4 Stuart Bingham*
Ricky Walden 13-6 Michael White*

If you like betting in-running blog partners Apollobet have launched a new live service that is well worth a look, click on their website here and click the live betting section.

Click the banner below to open an account at blog partners Apollobet, your first bet up to a maximum of £20 will be matched with a free introductory bet to the same value. 

Thanks as ever to Monique for the use of her images, her Facebook album can be viewed here

We are down to the final eight.

As there is a pretty quick turnaround after the Monday evening session I thought it best to get the Quarter Final preview up for the first two matches that we know with the other two to follow in the morning.

The bets from the second round have gone extremely well with (as I write) the possibility that all eight recommended will land if Ricky Walden finishes the job and Ronnie and Ali can conjure up a century break between them tonight in the final session, but we’ll see.

EDIT: They did so all eight bets recommended in the R2 preview won.

As the debate rages on about toilet breaks and burn out it was great to hear that two decent new events are set to be launched next season, one in India and one in ermm, Coventry.

You can read everything that Bazza had to say on that here and I’m sure I’ll have something to say on the matter soon enough, I usually do after all.

But for now, the first two QF’s between Trump and Murphy and Ding and Hawkins are previewed briefly below with the other two to follow on the morrow.

I do like the price of the bet on the Ding match and I am not sure after this post goes up how long that price will last, so if you fancy it be quick, as the actress said to the bishop.

The best of luck if you are having a bet.

Quarter Finals (click on the match for head to head statistics):

Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Bingham

The Ronnie go-round is now well and truly spinning after a great display last night against Ali, who proclaimed afterwards that if the Rocket doesn’t lose his head he will win the tournament again. Indeed, in the balls last night Ronnie was as sharp as ever, even his long game began to improve towards the end of the match and that might be an ominous sign for the rest of the field. He plays Stuart Bingham who was another that pulled away towards the end of his match against Dark Mavis from being level coming into the latter stages. Unlike Ali, Stuart has beaten Ronnie and over a longer distance, in the 2010 UK Championship when he won 9-6. But Ronnie has won all four of their other encounters against his former practice partner. Bingham is a tough cookie these days and I don’t think this is a gimmee for Ronnie, who will need to be just as sharp if not sharper and can’t afford a dodgy first session today. I was going to flag up Stuart at +4.5 frames at around the 8/11 mark until I saw the bet below, which actually gives you both players at better odds.

Selection: O’Sullivan 13-9

Recommended Bet: 2 points on the winning margin being under 4.5 frames at 10/11 with Paddy Power

Judd Trump v Shaun Murphy

An absolute cracker is on the cards here between two players who have already shown glimpses of their best form, both coming here relatively fresh. They have met surprisingly few times in big events and that only adds to the intrigue of this encounter. Judd seems to have the bit between his teeth so far and also, as is often the case when he is in decent form he seems to be getting just that little bit of running here and there to help him along the way, he is a lot of people’s idea of the winner. Murphy will be determined to finish what has been a disappointing season for him on a high and you can almost smell his determination through the TV screen as he hammers those long pots home with his machine-like cue action. I’ll be honest here, I haven’t got a strong view on this one and can forsee any number of outcomes, most of them are of it being quite close so with that in mind just a small interest on the outsider is where I will be placing a small daft wager.

Selection: Murphy 13-10

Recommended Bet: 1 point on Murphy to win 13-10 at 14/1 with Apollobet.

Ricky Walden v Michael White

What a prize awaiting the winner of this one, a place in the semi-finals to play in the one-table situation for a player who won his first ever match here on Day 2 and a player who at 21 years old is making his Crucible debut. Ricky came through the mill last night and survived a comeback by Rob Milkins, he has been known to crumble under pressure at times in the past but didn’t last night even though he made no secret of the fact that he is trying his best and failing to not get carried away looking at the draw. Michael White for me has played some of the best snooker of the championship so far and is a player that I believe could even achieve the impossible this week. He is fearless, enjoying every minute and up to now has been clinical in putting matches to bed. OK, he had very little to do in the last round but his performance against MJW felt like the dawning of a new star in snooker. Jamie Jones, also from Neath got to this stage last year and lost, then had a terrible season this time, I’m going to take White to buck this trend and progress to the semi-finals and kick on next season aswell.

Selection: White 13-8

Recommended Bet: 4 points on over 1.5 centuries at 8/11 with Bet 365 

Ding Junhui v Barry Hawkins

Barry Hawkins has a decent record against Ding and after a win over Selby may approach this in very much a devil may care mood and that makes him a danger man. For me this is probably in reality Ding’s semi-final as I would be surprised if, having won this one he lost another real semi-final on the one table set up. There is little doubt that Ding is showing glimpses of brilliance but the bookies don’t seem that convinced that he’s such a sure thing against Hawkins and I have to say that I agree. His lapses of concentration are still apparent and were exposed by Mark King to some extent but King isn’t as strong a scorer as Barry and his safety is probably not quite as good these days either. Ding will probably win and the 1/2 at Hills will attract money I am sure, but the one thing you can usually rely on in his matches is centuries and Barry is no slouch in this area either so the early price that has been put up at Bet 365 below should be backed before it’s gone.

Selection: Ding 13-9

Recommended Bet: 4 points on more than 2.5 centuries at 10/11 with Bet 365. (This price went within minutes of the preview going up, I think 8/11 is best now) 

Recommended Accas: 1 point on O’Sullivan, Murphy, White and Ding pays just on 12/1 at Bet Victor. 3 points on Bingham (+5.5), Murphy (+3.5) and White (+3.5) pays over 11/4 at Ladbrokes.

Order of Play Today

10am

Shaun Murphy 2-6 Judd Trump
Ding Junhui 3-5 Barry Hawkins

2.30pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan 7-1 Stuart Bingham
Ricky Walden 6-2 Michael White

7pm

Shaun Murphy 8-8 Judd Trump
Ding Junhui v Barry Hawkins

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Likes: Shoes, Vegas and Hanging out. Dislikes: Education, Old Stuff.

What a cracking day we have in store today on Day 10 of the World Championship. There are only two sessions but each of them see two matches playing to a finish including tonight’s epic between O’Sullivan and Carter and by the end of today the full quarter final line-up will be known.

For those who thought that Sunday’s brief post was a result of me at last ‘seeing the light’ and attending church for the day, I have some disappointing news. I still don’t believe in the big man upstairs for the same reason as I don’t believe in the tooth fairy (those minor details called proof and science) and the lack of post was simply a result of the much discussed ‘burn out’ factor which seems to be affecting a lot of the snooker fraternity of late.

Yes, the weekend trip to the Crucible was enough to see off this particular blogger for a day and I felt in esteemed company as we have seen John Higgins, Mark Selby, Marco Fu and Neil Robertson all blame the heavy schedule this season for their under-par showing at the great championship. Selby in particular showing what all his efforts this season have done for his chances of being a world champion with a frankly turgid display against the much fresher looking Barry Hawkins.

The players next season will be in a position to pick and choose events and I am sure that the big players will do just that, which means two things. Firstly, there are bound to be new faces appearing on our screens more regularly in events like the Wuxi Classic and the Australian Open but secondly that it does mean some tournaments will be somewhat devalued, even for the winners. Winning an event in bongo-bongo land in front of one man and his dead cat with none of the top 16 competing won’t exactly launch a career however much the boys at Eurosport dress it up and for me this does risk snooker becoming spread too thinly and the calendar being 60% dirge and 40% proper tournaments.

However, it will at least I suppose lead to championships that are more established regaining some of the status they have perhaps lost since the beginning of the reign of King Bazza, so it’s very much a double edged sword. But I will say what I said when he first started banging on about 51 weeks of snooker a year again, it’s a mistake, saturation kills all sports eventually (I await with baited breath the death of football) and I think a healthy dose of as many as 10-12 big tournaments for decent prize money beats 30-odd little crappy ones every time, but it seems this is the way it’s heading. It will also mean that as a blogger, selectivity will be the order of the day here too.

My burn out seems to have recovered now though, I am a husband, a blogger, a tournament director and I spend far too much time on Twitter, oh yes and I also have a job, but it’s taken me a day to get over a late night which involved a great deal of snooker chat with some old friends and a chance to once again watch some action at the home of snooker.

I am beginning to get the feeling of a turn in the tide when it comes to moving this great championship out of Sheffield by the way, I don’t think it will happen in the foreseeable future, which is great news for all snooker fans who care about the traditions and history of the sport.

Which brings me to the subject of Judd, oh Judd. Judd Judd Judd……

At the end of the BBC coverage yesterday he seemed to take umbridge with a feature on the late great Joe Davis by his namesake Steve, questioning as only he can what a feature about things that happened and I quote ’3 million years ago’ offers to kids wanting to get into the sport. The feature was actually quite fascinating with lots of old footage and if I could have sat a little cherub down and given them a little history lesson I am certain they would have been asking questions about it all night. For those that want to know more about the godfather of snooker, this is a must watch maybe even show it to a kid and see what they think?

Florence, no Judd she’s not the one with the machine.

I hope that Judd was just hoping to provoke a reaction and continue to cultivate this ill-advised strategy of being snooker’s new bad boy. He’s about as bad as Florence Nightingale, who he’ll probably have to look up in one of those book things and is quickly coming across in the media at least as vacant, greedy, vulgar and as one-dimensional as a postcard. I think he needs to take his off-table career back into his own hands as he is a wonderful player but at this rate he could end up being a very unpopular world champion, perhaps even this week.

On the table he has been right back to form and if he’d just learn to do his talking there it would be quite an achievement. His verbal contributions seem manufactured and designed to shock, they don’t reflect the lad I have seen at close quarters one bit who at the risk of compromising ‘the brand’ seems thoroughly pleasant and quite humble.

This is in contrast to the likes of Ronnie or Mark Allen who, when they say things that grab the headlines are just being themselves, Judd seems too eager to create controversy and that won’t work for long. I even thought at one point that the tweet directed at the great JD was from a new spoof account that has materialised, but it appears he is turning into something of a parody of himself.

Anyway, I think today we might really see the championship take off. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed watching Ronnie and Ali and despite the BBC claiming that O’Sullivan was a little off-colour yesterday I actually think he’s getting better with every session he plays, his long game is still way off the standard of the likes of Judd and Ding but in the balls he remains the best of them all. Ali has also been extremely solid and tonight promises to be even better, he is disappointed not to be at least level but today is another day.

The match between Mark King and Ding Junhui turned around much as expected yesterday and the fancy prices that appeared after King took a 6-2 lead on Ding to win both the match and the tournament were snapped up by anyone with the first idea about snooker. I’m not saying that King can’t produce an unlikely win from behind, indeed he is usually more dangerous when nobody expects him to win but the first session deficit was overturned by his brilliant opponent in fairly predictable style yesterday.

Mavis and Ballrun are also having a right old tussle and start this afternoon’s session level in a match which to many seems more or less nailed on to go the distance. Also tonight Ricky Walden attempts to make the Quarter Finals for the first time as he re-enters the arena with a 10-6 advantage over Rob Milkins, Ricky will be keen to put away any thoughts of Clinchers Disease and finish that before the mid-session interval, if he does, the stage could be set for a grandstand finish on Table 1 for all to see.

In terms of betting, the four recommended bets on the second round so far have all landed and the final four resting on today are all in with a live chance, if there is another century in Ronnie’s match, Mavis and Bingham both win at least another frame each, Ding wins without conceding a further 3 frames and Walden wins in anything but a decider it will be a clean sweep of recommended bets. If any of you followed them to the letter I am sure you, like me, will be glued to the TV from 1pm.

If you like betting in-running and are looking to lay off today, blog partners Apollobet new in-running service is well worth a look, click on their website here and click the live betting section.

Fingers crossed and ankle clips fitted.

1pm

Stuart Bingham 13-10 Dark Mavis
Mark King 9-13 Ding Junhui

7pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 Ali Carter
Robert Milkins 6-10 Ricky Walden

(All matches play to a finish)

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Thanks as ever to Monique for the images, you can view her Facebook album from day seven here.

You can read my match by match second round betting preview here. 

10am

Stuart Bingham 4-4 Mark Davis
Robert Milkins 3-5 Ricky Walden

2.30pm

Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-7 Ali Carter
Mark King 7-9 Ding Junhui

7pm

Stuart Bingham 8-8 Mark Davis
Robert Milkins 6-10 Ricky Walden

Click the banner below to open an account at blog partners Apollobet, your first bet up to a maximum of £20 will be matched with a free introductory bet to the same value. 

Thanks as ever to Monique for the main image, you can view her Facebook album from day seven here.