World Championship Discussion Page

February 17, 2012

Filed under: — snookerbacker @ 5:48 pm

Last year I dedicated a specific page to talking about the World Championship. Price changes, ante-post bets, thoughts on the main contenders, relevant snippits of news that kind of thing. So by popular demand, it’s back!

Feel free to chat away below in the weeks to come.

Possible Crucible 2nd Round Draw

(of course they have the small matter of beating a qualifier first!)

John Higgins (1) v Stuart Bingham (16)
Stephen Maguire (8) v Graeme Dott (9)
Shaun Murphy (5) v Stephen Lee (12)
Judd Trump (4) v Ali Carter (13)
Mark Williams (3) v Ronnie O’Sullivan (14)
Neil Robertson (6) v Martin Gould (11)
Ding Junhui (7) v Mark Allen (10)
Mark Selby (2) v Matthew Stevens (15)

Full qualifying draw available here

First Round Session Times:

The full line up in draw order is (all v qualifiers):

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).

Comments (25)

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25 Comments »

Ronnie’s long potting is too bad at this level

Comment by Ken — April 20, 2012 @ 7:28 am Reply
My favourite player is Robertson who has had a great season so far. So of course I’d say he could go all the way. Stephen Lee has been on top form this season and I could see him slotting into the final very easily.

Comment by JR Simpson — April 6, 2012 @ 12:04 pm Reply
@Rob: @Rob: He was 125/1 6 or 7 weeks ago!

Comment by onestep — April 5, 2012 @ 10:03 am Reply
Looking at recent form, Stephen Lee has won more ranking points this calendar year than any other player – and he’s 33/1 to win, which are incredible odds, considering his form.

Comment by Rob — April 5, 2012 @ 9:54 am Reply
@snookerbacker: Robbo and Trump my 2 main fancies for this with Mags and Allen from the other quarters probably as my darkhorses – only others I rate with chance of winnings are Selby (likely to get over negative and lose a close QF or SF), Ding (still think out of form despite some better results of late plus has tough draw with Allen r2 then Selby QF), Ronnie (will obviolsy beat MJW but still think over the longer format he had to be playing his best to win this as he pretty much was 3x previous and I dont think he is now so feel robbo will do him in QF). Am actually ruling out Higgins, Lee, Murphy, MJW. Question marks over everyone really though as Judd and Robertson form questionable in more recent time though they generally produce best for BBC events

Comment by venga1 — April 1, 2012 @ 10:07 am Reply
Just been in and backed Robertson, was going to hold off but the 9/1 will disappear I reckon. Ronnie won’t have competed for a while, think Robbo will take him out if they meet.

Comment by snookerbacker — March 18, 2012 @ 2:37 pm Reply
Here’s the draw and playing schedule: http://www.worldsnooker.com/page/BetfredcomWorldChampionshipTournamentsArticle/0,,13165~2621294,00.html

Not a good schedule for Selby (who I feel pushes himself harder mentally than he needs to, and burns himself out after a few days play at a time): he starts on Tuesday 24th, two days on, three days off, then doesn’t have a day off after he starts his second round match, and has the morning and evening session of his quarter final’s first day, followed by another morning session. You could say it’s the same for both players in that quarter, but his opponent will have two days rest between second round and quarter final.

Compare that to Martin Gould, who starts on Day 1, has two days on, three days off, two days on, then another three days off between his second round game and his quarter final.

Graeme Dott probably has the best schedule of all. Never has to play consecutive sessions, and doesn’t have more than one session a day before the quarter finals (when all players have two a day), and that comes after two days off. It might not make him champion, but it might make a difference, and as a former World Champion, and three times finalist, who showed nothing in terms of form coming into the tournament (he’d made one last sixteen appearance all season before making the 2010 final), he’s got to be worth an e/w punt at 33/1.

Comment by Rob — March 6, 2012 @ 12:41 pm Reply
Draw + Form = Trump

Comment by IanWhite — February 27, 2012 @ 1:34 pm Reply
Which bookie has the best prices for John Parrott to win the competition. I feel he’ll do it again…

Comment by bluelagoon — February 24, 2012 @ 6:32 am Reply
You would have to say that of the 16 seeds 15 of them have shown good form fairly recently bar Ali who apart from the health problems that haven’t been helped by all the tournaments nowadays has also been hinting at retirement. His head is not in the right place and he is blatantly not happy with his game.

Comment by Thorpy — February 20, 2012 @ 10:57 am Reply
Not studied the draw too much yet and with a high standard of potential qualifiers and round 1 stumbling block to overcome it’s not a huge help so far in pinpointing a winner but my first thought is who plays Carter. Answer TRUMP. Game over.

Comment by Thorpy — February 20, 2012 @ 10:48 am Reply
So then: can… Ronnie win another world’s title?

Say he uses indian sign power over MJW and reaches QF.
Then, it’s Robbo [magic pot Gould], later – Selby / Ding / [Allen] hurdles…
Before German Masters I would have said – no way on earth in that length of matches, so much patience and at least average discipline with safeties required.
Then, final he’d want to do, no problems there no more

Comment by lolo — February 20, 2012 @ 1:16 am Reply
Thanks, onestep!

Comment by lolo — February 19, 2012 @ 11:21 pm Reply
Here is the final second round draw,played out as if all the seeds progress from round 1.

Higgins v Bingham
Mag v Dott
Murphy v Lee
Trump v Carter
MJW V ROS
Robbo v Gould
Ding v Allen
Selby v Stevens

Comment by onestep — February 19, 2012 @ 9:51 pm Reply
A replay of Robertson v Gould would be a good match to watch.

Comment by Bolly — February 19, 2012 @ 9:32 am Reply
Anon is deco by the way one step

Comment by Anonymous — February 18, 2012 @ 11:54 pm Reply
Great work one step I like that bottom quarter – not least for getting stuck into some serious value bets for laying at semis

Comment by Anonymous — February 18, 2012 @ 11:53 pm Reply
Here is the draw in order now I’ve worked it out

Higgins v Bingham
Mag/Ding v Dott
Murphy v Lee
Trump v Carter
MJW V ROS
Robbo v Gould
Mag/Ding v Allen
Selby v Stevens

There you go I think that’s correct. Hope this helps.

Comment by onestep — February 18, 2012 @ 11:52 pm Reply
Just to add this draw is not in order for quarter betting purposes. It is just in order of seeds from top to bottom.Higgins will be at the top of the draw and Selby at the bottom, so on….

Comment by onestep — February 18, 2012 @ 11:25 pm Reply
So here is the 2nd round draw for the worlds if all the seeds were to win their first round matches.If Ding wins the Welsh Open he will play Allen and Mags will play Dott. Other way around if Selby wins.

Higgins v Bingham
Selby v Stevens
MJW V ROS
Trump v Carter
Murphy v Lee
Robbo v Gould
Mag/Ding v Allen
Mag/Ding v Dott

Comment by onestep — February 18, 2012 @ 11:11 pm Reply
The order of seeds for reference is 1,16,9,8,5,12,13,4,3,14,11,6,7,10,15,2.

Comment by snookerbacker — February 18, 2012 @ 6:33 pm Reply
Hm… I don’t know. A couple of players look solid- Trump, O’Sullivan, Maguire and Robertson among them. I could probably add Ding and Selby ( yes- he rarely performs below a certain standard- all of which we’re seeing in Welsh Open now). But to be honest, I’ll be keeping all my fingers ( and toes) crossed for HIGGINS. Good luck John!

Comment by olga — February 18, 2012 @ 4:26 pm Reply
If Ronnie wins today he’ll be seeded 12 and not 14 – if this happens to me this makes 9/1 Robertson a must bet given his 2nd round opponent would be seeded to be Gould and his quarter final seeded to be against MJW. A semi final against Selby/Allen/Maguire(unless Ding wins this tourney) would obviously be tough but over the longer format I’d take Robbo if he’s on form. I’ll also defo be getting on Robbo for the 3rd quarter if this is the case and when the odds become avaiable. My other strong fancy should Ding be seeded 8 is him to win the top quarter which would feature Dott and then Higgins in all likelihood. Quaters 2 and 4 looks tougher calls right now.

Comment by venga1 — February 18, 2012 @ 11:10 am Reply
If this World Championship is anything like 2011 then we’re in for an absolute treat. – The ‘seeded draw watch’ over at Snooker Island shows you how tasty the line up can get, – include that some big names from outside reaching the second round and it could be one of the best ever.

Comment by PL — February 17, 2012 @ 6:58 pm Reply
Trump, Ding, Ding, Trump
Trump
Ding
Trump
Ding
Ding
T
R
U
M
P

Comment by noci — February 17, 2012 @ 6:38 pm Reply