Snooker: World Championships

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Onto tomorrow. S.Maguire vs B.Hawkins, highest break over 116.5, 5pts @ 5/6 Skybet So far in 7 matches, this line has been covered in 4 of them. The 3 that have failed to deliver are Cope/Pagett, not surprising really as this was already going to be a low scoring affair; Carter/Harold, one sided and Ali is someone who doesn't score too heavily too often; Murphy/Campbell, a completely one sided affair. This will be different. Both these lads like to get in amongst the balls and both, especially Maguire, are heavy scorers when in. In the recent China Open, Hawkins scored a 128 whilst Mags covered this line in the Welsh and he also covered it in each of 3 matches at the UK. Should be a very open affair with plenty of chances to score. Depends which Hawkins comes out as to how close the game will be but I'll side with them to produce a few big breaks and at least one of 117 or more.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships +11.5pts for me after Harold trebled his frame tally. Two for me tomorrow. 4pts S.Maguire (-2.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins Evs Blue Square I like Maguire coming in this week and I think he could be a bit of a dark horse in this. The only thing that puts me off him is he'll have Williams then Quarter 4 winner as a QF and SF opponent but I certainly see him having no worries getting to the QF's even if Mark Allen is a last 16 opponent. Maguire's run to the Welsh Open final will have restored confidence in his ability and I think it can flourish here. Hawkins has only won a match at one televised event this season and even that was only the quirky World Open. He's definitely not the player he was a couple of years ago when he was a danger to anyone and was often upsetting the top 16. Maguire's won the last 5 meetings between these two and the way he scored so heavily in the UK's shows me he'll relish this match length and I don't see him winning this any worse than 10-7. 3pts R.O'Sullivan (-3.5 frames) to beat D.Dale 10/11 Blue Square I've got to pay to see what Ronnie turns up here I think. Having taken him on against Ryan Day in the last two tournaments successfully I think I've got something of an idea about Ronnie and to be honest, even if he does turn up a bit iffy here I just don't see Dominic Dale having the weapons to take 7 frames off him. As bad as Ronnie's been this season, when he's been left in the balls he hasn't left many on the table when he's finished and there's no reason why that will have changed now. This psychologist dude has got his hands full with Ronnie but in the same way Ray Reardon inspired him to one of his previous world titles, this guy could do as well. We know when Ronnie's on he'll still blow this lot away. I believe but for the headlines written about O'Sullivan that this handicap would be at least 2 frames higher. Dale can be ok but he's done nothing this season and unless he's the Dale who won the Shanghai Masters in 2007 in this match, and there's nothing at all to suggest he will be, then I think Ronnie wins this no worse than 10-6 whatever state he turns up in.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships That was vintage stuff from Ronnie. Sadly not so from Maguire but I still think he's in this match, unfortunately he's left too much to do on the handicap. 2pts S.Maguire to beat B.Hawkins 9/4 Sportingbet 4pts S.Maguire (+2.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins Evs Betfred Stephen Maguire goes into the 2nd session of this match trailing 6-3 after this morning's session. It was a strange session as well. Maguire didn't get a whole lot of luck in the opening 4-5 frames, got annoyed with himself to the extent he slung his cue through a relatively simple escape from a snooker and ended up winning the rest of the session 3-2. Hawkins for the last 5 frames was bloody terrible and having not won a match at the Crucible in 5 visits you've got to believe as the winning line approaches his arm will start the pendulum impressions. Maguire was pretty poor in the opening session but I refuse to believe he'll be that bad again. He came into the event in decent touch, unlike Hawkins who hasn't won many matches recently which is another reason why Maguire will be well in this match if he can start well, but just couldn't get going. He lacked a bit of aggression in the balls which is normally taken as given with Maguire. As bad as he was this morning, but for a missed green off it's spot when he tried to get too cute with position it would've been 5-4 tonight. It isn't it's 6-3 but we still only need Maguire to win the opening 8 frames 5-3 to bring the new handicap in and that's well within his remit having beaten Hawkins in each of their last 5 previous meetings. If he does win 5-3 he'll be no worse than 9-8 behind and he can win the match outright from there. I think there's a lot of mileage left in this one tonight so I'll take 'On Fire' to live up to his nickname and come out all guns blazing this evening.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Bit unfortunate with Maguire last night. +9.5pts overall now with Ronnie looking good for me. First one for today. 4pts M.Gould to beat M.Fu 5/4 Skybet I think Gould is quite big here. The recent form of these two are poles apart. Fu had a good January where he made the final of the Masters and looked good along the way. He then made the semis of the German Masters but has lost in the first round of every tournament since. Martin Gould made it into the final of the PTC Finals where Shaun Murphy was a bit too good for him. However he beat Selby and the recent China winner Judd Trump along the way. Really and truly I don't see a lot between these two players but I am happy to take the more aggressive Gould to build up a lead and get the job done here.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships And one for tonight. 4pts M.Stevens to beat M.Allen 5/4 Boylesports On paper this looks like a cracking match but as with Fu/Gould, the form comparisons between these two are quite different. Stevens has qualified for next season's revamped Premier League and made the semis of the PTC Finals where Shaun Murphy was unstoppable really. Mark Allen bar a tilt to the semis in the UK and the Masters has been pretty poor this season. It should be said to combat that, that he's generally better over the longer distances but Matthew Stevens looks to be cueing like he was back in the early 2000's when he made the final of this event twice and where he should've won it in 2000. He's one of my favourite players so I'm delighted he's back to playing so well and I'll take the Welshman to progress to take on Hawkins here.

[Possmann]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Great work in here, kevshat. I wish you all the luck with today's bets. Got a question for you: Who of Fu/Gould would be the better competitor for Trump in the next rounds? I like Trump and I think he has a chance to get his way in this tournament and so I don't know, who would be the "easier" opponent for him as Gould seems to be the better guy and beat him lately while Fu is bookie favorite... Thanks.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships I think Trump will beat either of them but Gould would probably be the easier as he's unlikely to tie Trump down with safety which Fu can do.

[PerryPFC]

Re: Snooker: World Championships

I think Trump will beat either of them but Gould would probably be the easier as he's unlikely to tie Trump down with safety which Fu can do.

Fu Manchu's brother :unsure

[Spooner]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Good call WS on the 10-9 Hendry comment, well spotted. 4pts P.Ebdon to beat S.Bingham @ 6/5 Sportingbet I won't be watching this match this evening as likely it will be zzzzzzz but it currently stands at 5-4 to Bingham with last session starting at 7pm tonight, Bingham took the last 3 frames to lead at the break. I don't really like Ebdon but we do know that he grinds out results, there is nothing in this match at 5-4. This will likely be a late finish and Peter normally finds a way, at odds against I think you have to have a little on.

[western skies]

Re: Snooker: World Championships

Good call WS on the 10-9 Hendry comment, well spotted.

Cheers mate. Got a bit TOO close for comfort when Perry was on the colours mind. One for me this afternoon. May have an interest in the Allen/Stevens match later, but want to have another look at that before I decide. 2pts - Graeme Dott (-2.5 frames) to beat Mark King @ 2.1 with Betfair On the face of it, this is a bit of a risky bet as encounters between these two in the past have been pretty tight affairs, but I really like Dott here. He's played the best snooker of his career at the Crucible, reaching 3 finals and winning in 2006, and he comes into this year's championship firmly established in the top 16 and with a decent, if unspectacular, season behind him. Mark King on the other hand started the season in the top 16, but has slid down the rankings to provisional world no. 26. He's shown flashes of form, and his break building has improved noticeably since the Masters in January, but there's been little consistency in his game since reaching the quarter finals in the season opener in Shanghai. Dott meanwhile has made a semi-final and 2 quarter-finals in the ranking events, and has lost to the likes of Higgins, Selby (twice), Ding, & Robertson -all of whom are ranked above him. I fancy Graeme will just have too much for Mark here and, even if the 1st session is tight, I fancy him to pull away and come through no worse than 10-7.

[western skies]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Decent first session from Dott there. Fingers crossed he can finish it off tomorrow for the loss of no more than 7 frames. :hope Right, I've had another look at tonight's match and I'm with Kev. 2pts - Matthew Stevens to beat Mark Allen @ 2.32 with Betfair As Kev pointed out, this one really comes down to form. Both players have performed to their best at the Crucible in the past, but whereas Stevens comes into the tournament revitalised having regained his top 16 place after 4 years in the wilderness, Allen's place amongst the elite is at risk after a string of poor performances in ranking tournaments. Add to this Mark's much publicised off-table problems and you have to wonder what state of mind he'll be in for this match. My only slight concern is how Stevens will react to being back at the Crucible after a 3 year absence, but in the end the price has swayed me here. 11/8 is just too good to turn down on a man who's bang in form and currently sits 5 places above his opponent on the provisional ranking list.

[owenclass]

Re: Snooker: World Championships John Higgins vs Stephen Lee Higgins to beat Lee (-4-5 frames) 2/1 skybet Higgins to beat Lee 10-2 22/1 skybet 10-3 11/1 i think Higgins has an easy match here he has had great season so he in form so i think he will be too much for Lee

[western skies]

Re: Snooker: World Championships 4pts - John Higgins v Stephen Lee - over 15.5 frames @ 1.73 with Betfair I think this price is generous and would personally have it nearer the 1.5 mark. There's no doubt that John Higgins has been in awesome form since his return from suspension and there's no way I'll back against him here, but he's landed one of the toughest draws of the first round. Stephen Lee has played his best snooker for nigh on a decade this season and has pulled himself back up to the cusp of the top 16. These two produced a match of phenomenal quality at the UK Championship in December, with Higgins running out a 9-6 winner despite Lee maintaining a pot success rate of over 95% and I wouldn't be surprised if this match turned out to be another cracker. Of course Higgins has the ability to run out a comfortable winner against most, but Lee has faced up to players on the top of their form this season and hasn't been outclassed by anyone. Astonishingly he beat Mark Williams 5-4 in the China Open in a match where Williams knocked in 4 centuries, so he won't be phased by anything Higgins throws at him here. I think 8/11 represents cracking value on this match going 10-6 or closer (probably to Higgins, but you never know).

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships +16.23 overall for me now with the Stevens bet still running after Ronnie and Gould did the bizzo but Ebbo lost. One for tonight. 4pts M.Selby (-5.5 frames) to beat J.Robertson 11/10 Boylesports I quite like Mark Selby in this. He's in pretty decent nick right now and was part of a very high quality China final against Trump only 2 weeks ago. Trump's done the bizzo over Robertson since then. Selby's opponent is making his Crucible debut here and any snooker lover who has been to the Crucible even just to watch will know it's pretty intimidating on your first time there. I fully expect some nerves and stage fright from Robertson who had a small taste of the bigtime at the Shootout in Blackpool but didn't fare too well. The bare fact is Robertson has had to play 3 qualifying matches to get here which shows the class gap there is between the two players on show. Selby is one of the best there is right now and he's at home in this environment. I can see him leading 7-2 overnight and finishing the job off. I'll take him to win this no worse than 10-4.

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Great stuff so far Kev:clap. Terrible tournament for me, will add up the deficit later but 30/40pts back, I'm sure:(. Sorry I've not been on for a few days but been pretty ill so hopefully tonights bets will pep me up a little:hope M.Selby vs J.Robertson, over 1.5 centuries, 5pts @ 5/6 Paddy Power Robertson is a decent scorer but this bet revolves around Selby for me. Shouldn't be placed under too much pressure so should be able to relax & score heavily like we know he likes to do. As Kev says, was involved in a high quality match in China and hit 8 centuries on his run there. Last year at the Crucible, he hit 2 tons in round 1, 3 tons in 2009 and 1 the year before when losing 10-8. If he can start & settle well, I think Selby will actually cover this line in the 1st session. A pretty confident bet. M.Allen vs M.Stevens, over 17.5 frames, 5pts @ 5/6 Betfred I think this one is going all the way. Finely poised at 4-5 overnight, neither of these looked totally comfortable yesterday and I can't see either running away with it. Allen is the better player and goes well here at Sheffield but is low on confidence, whilst Stevens is in the better form but is still nowhere near the player he was. Surprising that 2 players of this calibre could only muster 5 50+ breaks in their first 9, with no one bossing the match. Providing Allen can grab 2 of the first 4 frames tonight and we go in 7-6 either way at the interval, I'd be confident that a close match will ensue and 10-8 or 10-9 either way will be the final result.

[dave5perth]

Normally I will have a punt on big tournaments, I cant say I have watched snooker for a few years only the odd highlights. If I was just going by my own judgement I would have went for O Sullivan only because he is the real deal when his head is together. After reading a few early posts from Perry PFC, Kevshat, Western Skies, Russ P... I decided to take a chance on Gould, someone I have never seen before in action before I took him @ 170 and 180 a few days ago, so thanks for the early write up boys, he is now trading about 80. Only watched a few clips of him yesterday for the first time when Fu was leading 6-3, never bothered to watch any snooker today, so was surprised he got through when checking my account. Whats the opinion of the snooker experts here, is he still a good shout against next opponent, as the frames I seen yesterday was only really Fu playing, the few shots I seen of him his safety play looked not to be up to the top standards, may just have been a bad session. I have just had a look through the other posts I missed, will look at the highlights tonight and make my mind up if I should trade now or go for the greed bet, considering I had never heard of him in the first place. cheers again lads.

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Looks like 1 bet up, 1 bet down tonight for me:lol. Onto tomorrow and taking 3. M.Selby (-8.5 frames) to beat J.Robertson, 4pt @ 6/5 Bet365 Selby, quite frankly, was p1ss poor tonight and still won the session 8-1 so how the hell he's odds against to win 2-0 tomorrow is beyond me. Yes, Robbo won the first frame but he had many, many chances but just couldn't capitalise. Looked like a fish out of water and I can't see him getting a chance tomorrow. The Jester will want to put this to bed early doors and his superior all round play will ensure this is over with quickly. I expected the odds to be the other way round so, at 6/5, I'll take Selby here. M.Williams (-4.5 frames) to beat J.Cope, 5pts @ Evs BlueSq Despite both being in the top 16, this is a mismatch and I'm confident the Welshman can polish off Cope for the loss of no more than 8 frames. Breaking this down into sessions, if Williams can win the first 2 sessions which I think he will, we'd need him to win the final session a maximum of 3-2. Looked in pretty decent nick against a rejuvenated Ryan Day, winning 10-5 including 7 50+ breaks, one of which was a 137. Has been the form player of the season and is more than comfortable in the Crucible arena. Jamie Cope, meanwhile, ain't a player for the big occasion and will struggle when his game is put under pressure by the excellent potting of MJW. Struggled in round 1 to overcome Andrew Pagett, 10-7 is nowhere near as convincing as it should have been. Even more worrying was that Pagett scored at 20 points in all but 3 frames, indicating how many chances he got. If Cope gives Williams the same number of chances, this handicap should be pretty safe. M.Gould to beat J.Trump, 3pts @ 9/4 Bet365 This will be over with in a flash with 2 very attacking players and I think it's a 'pick em' match. No way, in my eyes, is Martin Gould a 9/4 shot. I admit Trump had a cracking win over Neil Robertson in round 1, prevailing 10-8 in a decent encounter but I do feel Robbo was off his game. The build up to that was so intense that I feel this is a come down for Trump and I question how focused he'll be, of course he should be with it being the 2nd round of the Worlds. The other thing that worries me is his absence from the table. He last played on Saturday whilst Gould only won through today and that may have a big bearing on this match. Gould will be buoyed by his comeback from 6-3 down against Marco Fu and I think that, in this longer format, Martin Gould may just have too much for young Juddy.

[MARTINLAURSEN]

Re: Snooker: World Championships

Normally I will have a punt on big tournaments' date=' I cant say I have watched snooker for a few years only the odd highlights. If I was just going by my own judgement I would have went for O Sullivan only because he is the real deal when his head is together. After reading a few early posts from Perry PFC, Kevshat, Western Skies, Russ P... I decided to take a chance on Gould, someone I have never seen before in action before I took him @ 170 and 180 a few days ago, so thanks for the early write up boys, he is now trading about 80. Only watched a few clips of him yesterday for the first time when Fu was leading 6-3, never bothered to watch any snooker today, so was surprised he got through when checking my account. Whats the opinion of the snooker experts here, is he still a good shout against next opponent, as the frames I seen yesterday was only really Fu playing, the few shots I seen of him his safety play looked not to be up to the top standards, may just have been a bad session. I have just had a look through the other posts I missed, will look at the highlights tonight and make my mind up if I should trade now or go for the greed bet, considering I had never heard of him in the first place. cheers again lads.[/quote'] I think gould has reached his potential here mate. He's done brilliantly recently getting to the quarter finals of the world open and the final of the PTC's. And i admire the way hes shot up the rankings, he's getting the recognition and respect he deserves. However, he faces the form player at the moment in Judd Trump. Im not saying Gould wont win here, but there is no way id bet against trump. He won the china open, beat the defending champion here, and i predict a very good run in this tournament for him.

[western skies]

Re: Snooker: World Championships

Normally I will have a punt on big tournaments' date=' I cant say I have watched snooker for a few years only the odd highlights. If I was just going by my own judgement I would have went for O Sullivan only because he is the real deal when his head is together. After reading a few early posts from Perry PFC, Kevshat, Western Skies, Russ P... I decided to take a chance on Gould, someone I have never seen before in action before I took him @ 170 and 180 a few days ago, so thanks for the early write up boys, he is now trading about 80. Only watched a few clips of him yesterday for the first time when Fu was leading 6-3, never bothered to watch any snooker today, so was surprised he got through when checking my account. Whats the opinion of the snooker experts here, is he still a good shout against next opponent, as the frames I seen yesterday was only really Fu playing, the few shots I seen of him his safety play looked not to be up to the top standards, may just have been a bad session. I have just had a look through the other posts I missed, will look at the highlights tonight and make my mind up if I should trade now or go for the greed bet, considering I had never heard of him in the first place. cheers again lads.[/quote'] It's a hard one to pick mate and Russ has made a great case for sticking with Gould. I agree with him in that a lot depends on Judd Trump's mindset coming into this match. If he rests on his laurels having beaten the defending champion, then Gould could well wipe him off the table in the first two sessions. On the other hand, if Trump brings his China Open game to the table, then I can only see one winner. For me, there's two reasons why I would trade out now. First off, Fu played really badly this morning and allowed Gould to get on a roll and turn the match around. If Marco had kept up the standard he showed in the first session, then I think he would have won the match. Secondly, Gould still has the memories of a great first round win over Fu last year, followed by a complete collapse against Robbo in the 2nd round. That sort of Crucible experience can play on your mind - as we saw with Matthew Stevens tonight. :sad Like I said, it's a tough call and comes down to whether your happy with the profit you've already made and can live with missing out on a potentially bigger payday.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Down to +12.23 now after Stevens' harsh loss but that should be boosted by Selby at some point tomorrow afternoon. First bet of the 2nd round and it's my biggest bet of the tournament so far. 7pts M.Williams (-4.5 frames) to beat J.Cope Evs Blue Square I'm 100% in agreement with Russ here. I've run this match through my mind and I just can't see where Cope is getting 9 frames from. Mark J is playing some lovely snooker at the minute. Since the UK Championship he's been in sublime form, winning in Germany, runner up in Telford, hitting 4 tons and somehow losing in China and walking into an inspired Maguire in Wales having previously looked all over the winner of that event too. Interestingly, in the last 16 of that tournament Williams beat Cope 4-0. I really don't see Cope staying close to Williams over 25 frames. His safety is nowhere near good enough and although he was on something of a hiding to nothing against Andrew Pagett in the opening round he still didn't win it like a top 16 and full of confidence play should or indeed would. Pagett got so many chances in that match and if Williams gets that many Cope's in trouble. Williams is playing superb snooker at the minute and one of the early two sessions he could win and win big. It wouldn't surprise me if this is 11-5 or bigger going into Friday night's final session but when the final ball is potted in this match I don't think there will be 9 or more frames alongside the 'Shotgun's' name. Williams to win 13-8 or better with a strong confidence for me.

[western skies]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Matthew Stevens' loss leaves me with a small profit of +3.99pts for the tournament so far, with the Higgins/Lee bet outstanding. Onto today, and I'm with the world and his wife on this one: 4pts - Mark Williams (-4.5 frames) to beat Jamie Cope @ 2.0 with Betfair. Try as I might, I can't come up with a scenario where Cope could take 9 frames off MJW on current form. We all know how well Williams has been playing lately, while Jamie struggled to an unconvincing 10-7 victory over Crucible debutant Pagett in round one. Cope's top 16 status has come on the back of entering just about every tournament going this season (and fair play to him for that), rather than any purple patch of form. He did well in the season-opener in Shanghai, reaching the semi-finals, but since then he hasn't been beyond the last 16 of a major ranking tournament and fell at the first hurdle in the UK, China Open, & German Masters. He's never been beyond the 2nd round at the Crucible and, for me, he's gone backwards since losing a 13-12 thriller to John Higgins here in 2009. He doesn't have the consistency of scoring, tactical game, or temperament to trouble Williams at his best and, even if the first session is tight, I can see MJW running away with this match in the end.

[Possmann]

Re: Snooker: World Championships What do you all think of Ali Carter to beat Graeme Dott @1.93? I think that Carter is better in breakbuilding and Dott did not impress me much, way too offensive and with too many errors, seemed more like he is playing for fun here. Would be pleased to hear opinions :) Thanks

[dave5perth]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Having watched the highlights last night, dont feel Gould has the all round package to win this tournament as a dark horse, he can certainly pot and looks to have a good temperament, his safety looks dodgy along with his white ball control with what I seen yesterday. Looking at his next opponent someone else I have no idea about, so reading through the later posts think I will let this bet run for this match, as I get the impression from the posts this might be a potting competition, which I think would suit Gould better than a player with a bit of nous with safety. O Sullivan Murphy looks a heavyweight clash for being so early in competition.

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Just an update after a disastrous Round 1. With a max bet narrowly losing, Hendry failing the cap by 1, Selby only getting 1 ton and so on (I'm just making excuses:lol), I stand at a terrible -31.64pts:sad On the outrights, I still have Gould as best qualifier and EW bet on Smurf. Whilst in Round 2, I'm on Williams 'cap which looks very good indeed and Gould to beat Trump:ok Target has to be to get that deficit down, still over a week to go:hope

[owenclass]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Mark Williams to win quarter 1/3 skybet he is really looking good at the moment i can see him winning this tournament i maybe should have had a bet at the start but was not sure about him but looks impressive and a player has to play at the top of his game to beat him Ding Junhui to win quarter 5/6 skybet i think he could go far in the tournament maybe even one of the favourites

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Up to +16.63 now after the Selby win. Williams should boost that tally as well. 2 more for me tomorrow. 4pts G.Dott vs A.Carter - Over 22.5 frames 11/10 Skybet I think this is a very big price on a line we're effectively looking at this match finishing 13-10 or closer to cover. Whichever way I look at this match I have it as close. Both know how to play these 3 session matches and both generally go well in this event. I didn't think much of Carter in the opening round but he has got a 3-1 H2H record on Dott. I thought Dott played quite well against a dangerous if not good enough King. Dott put in a ton in that match and generally scored as well as you'd expect. I think this is easily the sort of match which will be 4-4 at the first break, 8-8 or 9-7 either way overnight and then 13-11 or even 13-12 on Saturday afternoon. The match itself could go either way, I'm hopeful Dott comes through it but whoever does I don't think it will be before we break off for a 23rd frame. 6pts M.Allen (-2.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins 17/20 Sportingbet Both these men came through cliffhanging deciding frame matches in the first round but I've still no idea how either got through, especially Hawkins. I thought he was crap against Maguire bar for four frames at the start and one at the end. He had the best run of the ball I've ever seen and still couldn't put a 20 break together. He's playing the 25 frame length for the first time and while the 3 sessions will mean he can relax a bit more to begin with he's got a problem in that his opponent is becoming a bit of a master of these long matches. Allen will know he's a lucky boy to be through but I fully expect him to kick on from that win over Stevens and I just don't see how Hawkins keeps this close. Maguire was given a sackload of chances but for one reason or another be it trouble splitting the pack, kicks or iffy bounces he never capitalised until he was 6-3 down. Allen will and that's why I see him winning this easily. To cover the handicap Allen has to win this 13-10 which I think he'll do even if he has a bad session in the 3. If he doesn't he could win this 13-6 or 13-7 so the handicap should be quite safe here.

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Great stuff mate:clap A.Carter vs G.Dott, over 22.5 frames, 4pts @ 11/10 Coral A.Carter vs G.Dott, match to go to deciding frame, 1pt @ 9/2 Skybet I'm with Kev here. Should be an absolute cracker and one which will see the crowd get full value for money. Carter won easily in round 1 but was pretty poor and, if I'm honest, I'm never totally convinced by him. However, he's hard to beat here and for that reason alone, I think he'll take some beating. A similar comment, though, can be applied to last years runner up Graeme Dott. Efficient rather than breathtaking in the 1st round, Dott came through comfortably. Both of these will fancy their chances of going deep in this event with the draw opening up and Robbo being out so that's an added bit of pressure. If we can come out of today at 8-8 or 9-7, I'd be very confident on the handicap and the 9/2 on a final frame will become a very real possibility so I'll chuck that in for good measure. M.Allen (-3.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins, 4pts @ 5/4 Coral Again, I'm agreeing with Kev but this time I'm taking a slightly riskier line. However, the fact still remains I think the Irishman is a good thing here. Never a fan of Mark Allen over a short format, he's a totally different proposition over the longer matches and particularly when he plays here. He will have taken huge amounts of confidence from his final frame win over Matt Stevens and will really look to kick on now and set up a quarter final with MJW. Hawkins too won a final frame but I don't see brimming with confidence after almost throwing it away. Maguire was crap, so was Hawkins. Was 6-2 and 8-4 up but was still taken to 10-9. He won't get such an easy lead here and provided Allen has his scoring boots on today, then 13-9 should be achieved with the minimum of fuss.

[Fizruhas]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Mark Allen - Barry Hawkins | Hawkins to win 3.05@triobet! 5/10! Have a different wiev to Allen Hawkins match-up. Allen won that epic encounter vs Mathew, that he easily could be out of the tournament. Of course a huge boost for him going into this one, we all know that he had some psichological problems nowadays that he talked to media. So this win probably will lift him up, and i'm very happy too, to see Mark that happy after theese problems. But ... i don't want to oppose other write-ups here, just my subjective oppinion about this match. Barry Started strong vs Maguire, where he left Scot behind 3:0 early on, but let Stephen to climb back into the match, where they fought till the end. (10-8). I don't know about you, but Barry looks very brigthly at the table and might cost some serious problems to anyone. + Allen isn't that good that he was back in 2008 when he was in the WC semys i think... Anyway concluding all the things togther and looking to theese odds, i think it's a value odd on Barry to take it on. I have just 2.5 frames in my local bookie, elswhere it's a 3.5 like i see, so i dcided better to go for a straight win with little bit less money on it :dude

[Fizruhas]

Re: Snooker: World Championships Another match Graeme Dott and Ali Carter will watch on and i think will go on Ali Carter, i hope he looses the first one or two to get the odd up and then will go on him :D Have a nice, profitable day all! :dude

[RedDevil92]

Re: Snooker: World Championships What do you think about Hendry+4,5 frames.He should cover this although Selby is better imo.