The Masters

[owenclass]

This starts next week

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One player from each half for me on the outright market. First that I'm going with, from the top half, is Mark Allen. He faces Hawkins before taking on an in-form Judd Trump. However, he has a half decent record against Judd (5 each in the last 10) winner would take Neil Robertson in semi-finals if you go by ranking. The bottom half, I'm going to take a punt on Mark Williams. I think the bottom half largely depends on which Ronnie turns up and so I would rather take a  big priced punt then go for somebody around the 10/12 to 1. Williams got to the Semi Finals of this last year before going out in a deciding frame to eventual winner, Neil Robertson 

2pts e/w M.Allen to win The Masters 12/1 paddy
1pt e/w M.Williams to win The Masters 20/1 betfred

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I like the chances of 3 or more centuries in the first match of The Masters. You would think that there is going to be a good 10 frames in this match. Murphy won the last match between the two 5-4 and 3 of the last 4 have gone to a deciding frame. Recently in the English Open, Neil hit 1 century against Selby in the Semi Final. 3 against Mark Williams. 2 against Pagett and 1 against Peifan Lei. He does tend to go after the centuries. Murphy is always capable of centuries and if we get a 6-4 or 6-5 then there is every chance of getting 3.

2pts 3 or more centuries - Robertson Vs Murphy 6/4 paddypower

 

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98 break from Murphy 😒

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2 centuries and that 98 ugh! good to see Robbo go out though. Helps all outright bets. Selby takes on Vafaei in the later match. Vafaei is taking the place of the currently suspended Xintong. I think Selby showed enough in the Championship League to show he is going to come into this with form. I'm taking him to win on the handicap. I'm also going to bet on the highest break being 119+ 

2.5pts Selby (-2.5 frames) to beat Vafaei 11/10 paddypower
2.5pts Highest Break (119+) evens paddypower

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Got that completely wrong. Wow, Selby and Robbo both out 

[charliepie]

Who had the Murphy/Vafaei double? No-one probably! Robbo was poor but I guess he has been quite sick over the holidays. Selby was also strangely off his game as well tonight.

I also like Williams to win it this year.

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Yep, true that and again, can only be a good thing for the outright bet(s) losing such great players. Onto today, and Ronnie takes on Brecel at 1pm. Brecel is coming from a final in the English Open. He beat Trump, Allen, and pushed Selby in the final. He is playing some good solid Snooker. Ronnie hasn't won this since 2017 and he has gone out in the 2nd round (Quarter Finals) in both the last 2 years. Brecel hasn't really done that great here though and it will largely depend, as usual, as to what Ronnie O'Sullivan turns up. I think Brecel +2.5 on the handicap is the way to go. If he plays like he did at the English Open then he could push Ronnie all the way.

5.5pts Brecel +2.5 frames to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 8/11 bet365

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Oh Brecel, what are you doing in that second frame 🤦‍♂️ and the white going in on the third frame. Goes in 3-1 down and should be winning   

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absolute pants. Threw the 2nd frame away and then gave up. Even before the match he was saying I just want to play well and don't care if I win. In a Masters! why you there then? anyway, we keep going, Higgins takes on Lisowski next in the evening shift and it's about time I get a winner in this thread. I'm taking Higgins to come through it because I still don't feel like I can trust Lisowski on the one-table format. I just feel like (abit like Brecel looking on reflection) that there is a mistake waiting to happen and he will have a man in Higgins who knows how to limit chances.

5pts Higgins to beat Lisowski 9/10 paddypower

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Looks like they've let a couple amateurs on for a laugh in the first frame. 

They've replaced Higgins with somebody else I reckon. Never seen such shite. Long old season if he's going to play like this 

[charliepie]

Brecel blew it didn't he, 3-1 up your bet would likely have won. Then Higgins knocks in a 142! Crazy game, the first frame was funny though.

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Couldn't believe what I was watching. Things not really going my way but what can you do? Mark Allen takes on Hawkins in the 1pm match and Id like to think Allen will come through it and has won the last 2 head-to-heads. However, in these Maters "normally" they are quite close matches and Hawkins can easily cause an upset if he doesn't perform. I'm going with over 9.5 frames in this one.

5pts Over 9.5 frames (Allen Vs Hawkins) 11/10 paddypower

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Anybody watching this? what in the world is going on. I think I have a hex voodoo on my bets.

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Another poor performance. Allen should have won 2 of the first 4 and although Hawkins played well to starve him of chances, even when Allen got in, he never looked like making a decent break. So odd and a performance completely out of the blue. Perhaps I put a hex on him. I'll now point my hex at Mark Williams tonight so expect a 6-0 Gilbert rout tonight. 

5pts Williams (-1.5 frames) to beat Gilbert evens paddypower
2pts Williams to win 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 4/1 paddypower
1pt Williams to win and both players to hit a century 4/1 skybet

[charliepie]

Just one of those weird matches, nobody expected a 6-0 and I'm certain that Mark Allen wasn't guilty of any fixing:-) What were the odds for 6-0 to Barry I wonder?

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3 hours ago, charliepie said:

Just one of those weird matches, nobody expected a 6-0 and I'm certain that Mark Allen wasn't guilty of any fixing:-) What were the odds for 6-0 to Barry I wonder?

No idea but I reckon was around 66/1 +  before a ball was potted

[Fader]

4 hours ago, Fader said:

Another poor performance. Allen should have won 2 of the first 4 and although Hawkins played well to starve him of chances, even when Allen got in, he never looked like making a decent break. So odd and a performance completely out of the blue. Perhaps I put a hex on him. I'll now point my hex at Mark Williams tonight so expect a 6-0 Gilbert rout tonight. 

5pts Williams (-1.5 frames) to beat Gilbert evens paddypower
2pts Williams to win 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 4/1 paddypower
1pt Williams to win and both players to hit a century 4/1 skybet

Finally!! 4/1 winner and even shot winner, too. Mark Williams seals a 6-2 win for a 12pt profit and hopefully the start of a turnaround in the thread lol.

Ronnie up next for Mark. If he plays like he did for the first 4 frames then he has every chance.

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Today's afternoon games sees Judd Trump take on Ryan Day. Trump beat Day 6-0 the last time these two met, at the Champion of Champions back in 2021. Day looked in a good bit of form at the start of the season and won the British Open. Hitting 10 50+ breaks in the final against Mark Allen. Since then though, only a win over Kyren Wilson stands out in the following matches. He has had wins but that form that was there earlier in the season seems to have died down abit. Trump is still looking for that first trophy of the season after losing a final to Ronnie O'Sullivan at the Champion Of Champions and back-to-back Quarter Finals against Un-Nooh & Luca Brecel. He seems to playing good stuff but the doesn't seem to have that killer touch when it gets to the key frame.

We've seen centuries galore in this Masters. We've seen atleast one in every single match and in most cases 2 in each match. 12 centuries in 6 matches. The table seems to be playing lovely and fast and I think Judd is the perfect person to take advantage of that. I'm going with him to hit 2+ centuries this afternoon. In terms of the match-up, it's hard to know what Day turns up but I think he has enough about him to make it close. He has a good record at The Masters really and with Trump not being so clinical at the back end of matches, I think it could be a 6-4/6-5 job either way.

2pts Trump to hit 2+ centuries (Vs Day) 7/4 paddypower
3pts Day (+2.5 frames) to beat Trump 5/6 paddypower
2.5pts Day to beat Trump 12/5 paddypower
 

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Day found a way to lose there. Very impressive when he could have won 6-3 and also 6-4 but he finds a way to get over the line for the loss. Impressive determination to lose. 

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On my phone so can't go into too much detail after that rather sarcastic last post. Quite simply Bingham not the same player he was in my eyes and I think Wilson -1.5 is the way to go 

5pts Wilson (-1.5) to beat Bingham 4/5 paddypower 

[Torque]

1 minute ago, Fader said:

Day found a way to lose there. Very impressive when he could have won 6-3 and also 6-4 but he finds a way to get over the line for the loss. Impressive determination to lose. 

Yeah that was something to watch. I doubt Trump has ever played worse and won. Gave Day all the chances in the world through his poor play.

[Torque]

1 minute ago, Fader said:

On my phone so can't go into too much detail after that rather sarcastic last post. Quite simply Bingham not the same player he was in my eyes and I think Wilson -1.5 is the way to go 

5pts Wilson (-1.5) to beat Bingham 4/5 paddypower 

Bingham's got eye troubles so that's something else against him.

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2pts Wilson to win 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 7/2 paddypower 

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Just now, Torque said:

Yeah that was something to watch. I doubt Trump has ever played worse and won. Gave Day all the chances in the world through his poor play.

Just the same old crap. Makes you wonder how a player wins an event when he can't win with that many chances. Bonkers

[charliepie]

Threw that one away did Ryan, what a travesty! Got a lifeline with the free ball too but he was gone by then. I also like Kyren to win easily tonight.

Edited January 11 by charliepie

[Torque]

2 hours ago, Torque said:

Bingham's got eye troubles so that's something else against him.

Or not... 4-0 Bingham.

[charliepie]

Playing like he's had LASIK!

[amity]

That's the worst I've ever seen Wilson play. Absolutely shocking. Bingham was good in spells but also played dreadfully at times (moreso as he got closer to the finishing line), just less so than Wilson. His positional play wasn't great and his pots were often only sneaking in, I could see him losing in the next round tbh. 

Edited January 11 by amity

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There's been alot of centuries in the first round but I think in general, the quality has been abysmal. Some shocking performances. Hopefully now we're in the 2nd round there will be abit more composure and better play. All starts with a huge match as Williams takes on Ronnie. Winner of this has Lioswski or Vafaei so every chance the winner makes the final really. It's a great opportunity. I think the best way to go in this match is the centuries. Williams has a good chance today if he performs like he did for the first couple of frames against Gilbert but both players won easily and hit 2 centuries each and so 3+ centuries in this match has every chance at 5/2. 

4pts 3+ centuries (Williams Vs O'Sullivan) 5/2 paddypower