World Snooker Championship 2015

[Spurger King]

So any thoughts so far?

Ding-bat forgetting he was on a 147 is probably the stand out moment so far. O'Sullivan looking solid. Would love to see Trump win.

 

[AW?]

Not seen any of it except a Ding clip which was funny, just can't make the time right now, but i'd love to see a long closely fought out match between Ronnie and Trump. Don't think it could get any better than that in terms of Snooker.

And that note i'm going to watch a bit of Trump before i go to bed

 

[Spurger King]

Impressive win for McGill this evening.

Bye bye Selby

 

[AW?]

Looks like a really good player.

Just watched a bit of Ding this morning and enjoying watching HIggins lose the beachball headed twat! Can't believe he's the same age as me, he looks about 50. Maybe it's the guilt of being a cheating scumbag.

 

[Spurger King]

Looks like it's just me and @AW? watching!

I think this is shaping up to be a great tournament.

Trump is looking good, Robinson is looking very good (I have him as my favourite to win), Murphy is playing some superb snooker (as much as I dislike him), and O'Sullivan is wavering between good and great play.

I reckon those four will be in the semi-finals. I'd love to see either O'Sullivan or Trump win, but wouldn't begrudge either Murphy or Robinson. At this stage I think Robinson looks in the best form. Just seems far more clinical and focused.

 

[Montasura]

Looks like it's just me and @AW? watching!

I think this is shaping up to be a great tournament.

Trump is looking good, Robinson is looking very good (I have him as my favourite to win), Murphy is playing some superb snooker (as much as I dislike him), and O'Sullivan is wavering between good and great play.

I reckon those four will be in the semi-finals. I'd love to see either O'Sullivan or Trump win, but wouldn't begrudge either Murphy or Robinson. At this stage I think Robinson looks in the best form. Just seems far more clinical and focused.

No way is Robinson going to do well, but I do think Neil Robertson will do very well and be very hard to beat given the form he is in!

Seriously though, regardless of how his name is spelled, he has to be a certainty for the final. Shame really as I'm not a huge fan of the guy, but he has all the hallmarks of Stephen Hendry in his prime.

Last night was a bit of a waste, there was a total of 40 minutes of snooker between the two matches. Robertson had one frame to play, while Ronnie obviously had Matthew Stevens in a neck lock before coming out to play.

 

[mpickard2087]

I've been catching up when I can the last week, and will be watching today. Robertson has looked impressive but Trump looks the man to beat so far in my opinion, again this morning is potting superbly.

And just as I type that he misses an absolute regulation red

 

[AW?]

Jim Robinson is like a machine, great player but his face is annoying. Smarmy looking. Good comparison to Hendry. Murphy is annoying looking too, in fact Matthew Stevens used to annoy me the most with his weird facial expressions but we don't see him as much these days. Lee used to make me feel ill. So to summarise. Snooker players are generally quite weird looking but most creatures are that spend the majority of their lives in dark environments. Not enough vitamin K probably or whichever it is.

Great standard though these days. Highest it's ever been I'd say for the top ten players in the world. I'd like to see Trump win I think though as he's local and has the swagger to match Ronnie.

 

[AW?]

Wow looks like Ronnie is on his way.

 

[hughy]

Bingham's been great this afternoon/evening. Gutted he fluffed that 147 attempt 4 or 5 frames back. He deserves this.

 

[Spurger King]

I think it's going to be Trump or Jim Robinson (yeah I'm sticking with that) this year. Ronnie was looking off his game even against Stevens so not too surprised to see him going out.

 

[mpickard2087]

Bingham has been superb getting over the line and deserves the win. Don't think Ronnie has looked 100% focused all tournament, but he was beaten by the better player today.

 

[dagraham]

Bingham has been superb getting over the line and deserves the win. Don't think Ronnie has looked 100% focused all tournament, but he was beaten by the better player today.

Agree. Ronnie has only been playing well in patches up until now. Still expected him to beat Bingham, but fair play he totally deserved to beat him.

Hope Trump wins it now, although I'm still not sure he has the temperament for it yet.

Can't stand the smug Aussie and Murphy annoys me as well.

 

[hughy]

Stormer of a match between Robertson and Hawkins here. Hoping Hawkins pulls through, as I truly can't stand that arrogant tosser Robertson.

 

[Spurger King]

I thought this was interesting from Bingham on Ronnie:

"You could see he was struggling a little bit, the referee was annoying him a little bit. The ref was fine to me. He seemed to have a few distractions."

I noticed yesterday that the ref's positioning seemed really poor, and he also seemed quite slow to place the balls. In terms of positioning, I noticed that he seemed to be unusually close to the table, and at several points Ronnie go to move into position only for the ref to have to move out of the way. It was at those points that Ronnie seemed to look a bit twitchy, and would go back and forth around the table much more than he would normally.

I thought that maybe it was just my imagination, but I reckon this is part of what Bingham was alluding to. Ronnie's whole game is about getting into a rhythm, and that ref was constantly in the way or taking forever to replace potted balls.

 

[dagraham]

Come on Barry!

 

[hughy]

I thought this was interesting from Bingham on Ronnie:

"You could see he was struggling a little bit, the referee was annoying him a little bit. The ref was fine to me. He seemed to have a few distractions."

I noticed yesterday that the ref's positioning seemed really poor, and he also seemed quite slow to place the balls. In terms of positioning, I noticed that he seemed to be unusually close to the table, and at several points Ronnie go to move into position only for the ref to have to move out of the way. It was at those points that Ronnie seemed to look a bit twitchy, and would go back and forth around the table much more than he would normally.

I thought that maybe it was just my imagination, but I reckon this is part of what Bingham was alluding to. Ronnie's whole game is about getting into a rhythm, and that ref was constantly in the way or taking forever to replace potted balls.

Anyone who even plays snooker/pool at a club level knows one of the easiest ways to irritate your opponent is to get in his way between shots. But why would a referee intentionally do this?


Nice one Barry! I'd take him or Trump to win this now, looking forward to the semi's.

 

[Spurger King]

Amazing from Hawkins. Didn't think he had it in him.

 

[mpickard2087]

I thought this was interesting from Bingham on Ronnie:

"You could see he was struggling a little bit, the referee was annoying him a little bit. The ref was fine to me. He seemed to have a few distractions."

I noticed yesterday that the ref's positioning seemed really poor, and he also seemed quite slow to place the balls. In terms of positioning, I noticed that he seemed to be unusually close to the table, and at several points Ronnie go to move into position only for the ref to have to move out of the way. It was at those points that Ronnie seemed to look a bit twitchy, and would go back and forth around the table much more than he would normally.

I thought that maybe it was just my imagination, but I reckon this is part of what Bingham was alluding to. Ronnie's whole game is about getting into a rhythm, and that ref was constantly in the way or taking forever to replace potted balls.

Yes I think the ref didn't help in some of the things he did, but Ronnie hasn't looked comfortable all tournament... We all know what he can be like but as I said earlier, he hasn't seemed focused. He seems more interested in pulling faces for the camera at times, he's been really 'fidgety' and been displaying a no. of quirks and to me has been constantly uptight and uncomfortable with things. Even his shoes gave him a problem at one point! The referee was just another thing to exacerbate it all.

 

[Spurger King]

Yes I think the ref didn't help in some of the things he did, but Ronnie hasn't looked comfortable all tournament... We all know what he can be like but as I said earlier, he hasn't seemed focused. He seems more interested in pulling faces for the camera at times, he's been really 'fidgety' and been displaying a no. of quirks and to me has been constantly uptight and uncomfortable with things. Even his shoes gave him a problem at one point! The referee was just another thing to exacerbate it all.

I agree that he's looked fidgety throughout the tournament. It's just that I rarely if ever notice the ref, but throughout the game against Bingham the ref seemed far too visible, and clearly agitating Ronnie.

At other times I thought it looked like Ronnie was 'on' something, but that's just speculation based on people I know who have displayed similar mannerisms. Whatever it was, he was clearly not focused.

Out of the players remaining, I'd like to see Trump win (and it would please the locals in this area), but really I'd be happy to see anyone win it other than Murphy.