2013 Masters

First topic message reminder :

Here's the draw: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Masters_%28snooker%29

I thought I'd do something different and go through the contenders and rate their chances. I'll fail spectacularly but it'll be fun!!

Name: Neil Robertson
World Ranking: 5
Seeding: 1
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Hard-hitting
Chance of winning: High. Robbo's looking somewhat back to his best and as defending champion I fancy his chances of defending the title. He knows how to win this event, which is probably the second hardest event on tour to win, and has taken to the Ally Pally well since the event moved from the Wembley Arena. He faces Ding in the first round who may or may not turn up. Robbo will have a good run here and will top the year-end rankings (not the end of season rankings).

Name: Ding Junhui
World Ranking: 11
Seeding: 10
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Streaky
Chance of winning: Medium. Ding is undoubtedly one of the best players on the tour but can sometimes go walkabout mentally. He is as good as any other player but is fragile under pressure and is not in good form at the moment. Against Robertson in the first round I don't fancy his chances and think it will be another first round exit on the BBC this season for him.

Name: Mark Allen
World Ranking: 8
Seeding: 8
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Controversial
Chance of winning: Low. Whilst no one doubts Mark Allen's ability, it's his off-the-table comments which have gathered more media attention than his on-the-table work. He's been at loggerheads with nearly everyone in the game (fellow players, Barry Hearn, China) and I think this has hampered his game. I'm a big fan of Mark but until he gets his head back in the game I can't see him winning one of the big prizes.

Name: Mark Davis
World Ranking: 16
Seeding: 16:
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Dangerous
Chance of winning: Low. For years Mark Davis was a journeyman; close but no cigar when it came to the Top 16. However, with the introduction of more tournaments, crucially those of a shorter format, Mark has been punching above his weight and is now inside that elusive Top 16. Whilst he is a danger man over the shorter format as he proved at the UK Championship, he normally is found out over the longer format. Although up until the final is first to 6, the final is first to 10 so even if he does make the final, he will not win. I think he will get past Mark Allen in the first round though.

Name: Shaun Murphy
World Ranking: 4
Seeding: 5
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Fluid
Chance of winning: High. This is the title Shaun wants above all. The chance to join those 7 players who have won the World Championship, the UK Championship and the Masters. Murphy's potting is excellent, his safety is up there with the best, he can win scrappy frames which has made him one of the elite players on the circuit and is simply awesome when in full fluid, especially with that wonderful, wonderful cue action. He may not be the most popular person with the snooker audiences but he is a dangerous player and one who I think will do very well in this tournament. Will he win it? He's definitely in the mix.

Name: Ricky Walden
World Ranking: 12
Seeding: 11
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Nervous
Chance of winning: Low. Poor Ricky, he always looks so nervous!! Despite being a two-time ranking event winner (in China at the start of the season), he's underperformed in the big events in Britain; both of his major wins have come in China. He faces Murphy in the first round and although Ricky can beat anyone on his day, Shaun's in form after reaching the final of the UK Championship last month and although I'm a fan of Ricky and want him to do well, I can't see him winning.

Name: John Higgins
World Ranking: 4
Seeding: 4
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Great
Chance of winning: Medium. John's chances are lower in this event compared to all other events because simply, for some unknown reason, he either reaches the finals or loses in the first round. This was perhaps due to the old arena which John admitted he didn't like, but there is something about the tournament which makes him susceptible to early losses. Make no mistake; if John Higgins brings his A game, he wins, but I can only judge him on his past record and despite being a 2 time winner, I don't see him winning, unfortunately for myself.

Name: Ali Carter
World Ranking: 15
Seeding: 14
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Steady
Chance of winning: Medium. Ali's a dark horse for this tournament. A fully fit Ali Carter is a dangerous man. He's a former World Number 2, two time Crucible Finalist and two time major winner. When he plays at his best he's very difficult to beat. He tried to grind Ronnie in the World Final which was never going to work against a focused Rocket and would have had more of a chance playing his normal game I think. He faces Higgins in the first round which is winnable but a potential QF final match v Murphy might have Ali thinking about their last meeting...

Name: Mark Selby
World Ranking: 1
Seeding: 3
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Consistent
Chance of winning: High. Despite being a two time winner of this event in 2007 and 2009 (with another final appearance in between), his recent UK Championship will let both Selby and his opponents know he can win on the big stage. Selby's won PTC events this year (including the last one in Munich) and has now, in my opinion, evolved into the complete all round player, second only to Higgins. People might complain about Selby's "slow play" but through sheer consistency he is rightfully the current world number 1 and I think he will make the final v Robertson.

Name: Stuart Bingham
World Ranking: 10
Seeding: 9
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: "Purple"
Chance of winning: Low. At the UK Championship there was a lot talk about Bingham being the most in-form player in the land. It was true then but not now I feel. Despite having some good results on the BBC over the past 18 months I think Bingham's purple patch is over. He'll be in the Top 16 for a while longer I'm sure but do I see him as a major contender for this title? No and I reckon Selby will send him home in the first round, although if he beats Selby he'll have a run...

Name: Mark J Williams
World Ranking: 6
Seeding: 6
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Enigmatic
Chance of winning: Low. Is there a snooker player in such a rut as MJW? He's in arguably the worst form of his career; falling down the rankings every update (he was World Number 1 not that long ago!!) and hasn't won anything for nearly a year now. Of course MJW on top form is a dangerous opponent for anyone but the fact is he's not and his first round opponent, Matthew Stevens, will know this and will look to capitalise on this. I think he will and a first round exit looms for one of the game's greats.

Name: Matthew Stevens
World Ranking: 13
Seeding: 13
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Rejuvenated
Chance of winning: Medium. Matthew is one of the game's great underachievers, despite being an ex-UK and Masters Champion. If he hadn't gone walkabout during the middle of his career who knows how many titles he'd have ended up with? The introduction of the PTC's and the general increase in matches has helped Matthew tremendously in getting back to near his best. In this tournament, I think he will beat Williams in the first round and will have a good chance of reaching the semi-finals. He's a dark horse for this title.

Name: Stephen Maguire
World Ranking: 7
Seeding: 7
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Underachiever
Chance of winning: Low. People make talk about Ronnie, for all his talent, being the game's biggest underachiever but I think that title goes to Stephen. For such a brilliant player, all he has to really show for his career is a solitary UK Championship victory many years ago. He's shown signs of making a comeback, especially this year with some PTC finals, but I don't see him threatening the top players this time around and with a fellow countryman who's returning to form in this first round, Stephen might be lucky to escape first round defeat.

Name: Graeme Dott
World Ranking: 14
Seeding: 12
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Dogged
Chance of winning: Low. One of my favourite quotes about Graeme Dott is this: "Dogged Scot. Once forgot to don pants for match." No word sums up Graeme Dott like "dogged"; this man has reached 3 World Finals (winning 1) with sheer grit and determination. He's been in such poor form recently that I wouldn't have given him a hope v Maguire but he reached a PTC final a few days ago (losing in the final against Selby) which makes me think he can win his first round tie. He's not great over a short format but this match is 50-50 and either player can win it.

Name: Judd Trump
World Ranking: 2
Seeding: 2
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Flair (is flair an adjective? I don't care)
Chance of winning: High. Judd Trump. The ex-World Number 1. The current World Number 2. Last year's UK Champion. This year's Shanghai Masters finalist. I can throw as many sentence fragments as I want in this paragraph but in short, Judd Trump is dangerous no matter what the format, no matter what the tournament, no matter what the opponent. Can he win this title? Yes. Will he win this title? Possibly. He's not my favourite to do so but he could quite easily blitz everyone in his way. I think he'll reach the semi-finals at least.

Name: Barry Hawkins
World Ranking: 17
Seeding: 15
Adjective I'd use to describe this player: Journeyman
Chance of winning: Low. For years Barry was hovering about the Top 16, much the same as Mark Davis, but never really made it in. He's been in and out over the past 2/3 years and is in this event due to the circumstances surrounding Stephen Lee. Therefore, there is no pressure on him but unfortunately for Barry he's drawn Trump in the first round. He can win against Trump but on TV at the Masters? I don't see it and I think the current Australian Open Champion leaves us in the first round.

My prediction: Robertson beats Selby in the final 10-8 (although it could just as easily be the other way around).

What are those shoes about?????

Come on Jimmy!

Jimmy? I've not got the sound on so I really hope you don't mean people are cheering for Jimmy White

Nah it's just the default thing to say if you support both players or don't support either. I picked the wrong match to go out; looks like a cracker.

Well done Judd, good comeback and great break. I'm surprised to hear he's the favourite though. What more does Mark Selby need to do to be favourite?

Evening all.

Finally, some snooker on TV!

Managed to catch Trump's comeback - very good effort, two frames won at one visit, including the last one (Hawkins messed up his break and that was that, Judd really held himself together well). Hawkins could and maybe should have won 6-4 though, Trump had an almighty unlucky run of the ball and Hawkins missed a few very makeable pots (one black to middle perhaps unlucky as he indicated the ball went off line, but no excuse for the final blue), the pressure got to him you'd have to say.

I think Trump is a bit like O'Sullivan in that he's (bookie) favourite for more or less all tournaments because of popularity and how he can play. He'll need to improve his safety for sure.

What's up with the tables though? Quite a few complaints about balls drifting off...

That's Judd's weakness. Players will always get chances because of his style. I think it will bring him more success than not and I wouldn't want to take away from his attacking nature but it would be interesting to see the results should be become slightly more "safe".

Dott or Mags and Robbo were also complaining about the table rolling off, specifically into the top left pocket (as we see it) on TV. Get the spirit level out!!

Come on Ricky!! Not because I don't like Murphy (he's alright but not favourite at all), but because I'm a Walden fan.

Shaun into his stride already. Ricky can't afford to lose this mini-session.

Ricky just can't control this cueball.

Ohh, yes, I love the Masterpieces they do. Yesterday's was brilliant, 1998 Masters final. Don't ever remember a better match than that, wild crowd, re-spotted black......the game that got me into Snooker!!!!!

So do I, especially the ones featuring Paul Hunter. What a player he was

Ricky Walden always looks as though he's ready to burst into tears. Has anyone ever seen him smile during a match ? I don't think I have.

As I said at the top, he always looks so nervous!!

Wonderful from Murray at the end telling the guy the press will have to wait for an interview as he's signing autographs. My respect for him has gone up loads.

Paul Hunter and his Plan B, those were the days I used to really love snooker. Now it's just a passing interest really, I haven't played since my stag do in 2009!

Great tournament so far! The WC may be more important, arguably the UK as well, but The Masters is the best to watch in my opinion.

I've honestly never seen any difference in the tournaments. They're all good, all watchable, and I couldn't care less about the venue or atmosphere. I just want to watch the table, and they all look the same on TV anyway.

Scrappy frame!!

Great to see Williams losing, also great to see Stevens winning!

Not a fan of MJW?

I'm not a fan of anyone who refers to themselves using initials. Tolkien, Rowling, Lehto, Lewis...hate them all! Use your name you ponces!

I found out the reason why he does that. When he won the Masters years ago, his £150k prize was sent to another snooker player called Mark Williams, therefore he calls himself Mark J. Williams. The other guy must have wondered what had happened!!

Hardly a reason to humiliate yourself with the 'J' distinction though. Gutted Stevens threw it away, how many times is he going to give games away? I think if we did a GOAT for sporting bottlers, he'd he right up there!

Jimmy White takes that award over anyone!!

I'm watching a bit of the Selby match. Mark's one of my favourite players to watch because he always plays the right shot and his whole game is just wonderfully professional (as I say that he misses the black ).

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Anyone who refers to themselves with an initial - JJ Abrams, Mark J Williams etc - deserves nothing except public scorn.

Mark added the 'J' as there was another professional called Mark Williams at the time. In the same way Harry H Corbett added the 'H' to avoid being confused with the old bloke who did Sooty & Sweep.

Ahh Paul Hunter, there's a guy who is sorely missed. Now he would have won the Worlds.

Mind you, snooker is getting back to what it was, if not already there.

Barry Hearn is a genius.

You think Some Dave? I don't see any difference myself, besides the lowering of quality that has occurred over the last 2/3 years. I don't see that he's done anything.

It's the more tournaments for me. And he's turned darts around. I'll agree he isn't prefect, I have an issue with the PDC PL crowds...but more good than bad.

I don't see a drop off in quality. Maybe it's lower than say five years ago now that Ronnie, MJW and Higgins are coming to the end of their careers (and Hendry has gone) but the standard of play and more importantly the depth of players is better than ever.

That sentence contradicts itself; I meant that it's a bit lower than it was but because the 4 mentioned players were some of the greatest ever, the standard now is higher than ever because there are a lot of very good players and not just 4/5 great players.

Pffff Bingham, you're ruining me here................

You said it - there's less quality, as there's no top top players now - just a collection of good players. People won't get into the sport without any superstars to watch.

I think what the game really needs is a rivalry. There's no Ronnie at the moment so we can't have the ol' Ronnie-Higgins-Williams rivalries of a few years back. Before that Hendry was included too. The 90s was mostly Hendry-White, 80s was Steve v a few people. I think there's a bit of needle between Robbo and Judd but that's about it. Everyone's too nice!!

Come on Stuart, make a 147 to finish the match.

Selby showed why he is World Number 1 and, aside from one very careless miss in the decider, missed next to nothing from 5-1 down.

So i see that Williams is still on for his 3rd win here

Just about!!

There's Paul

Not a snooker tournament goes by when I don't think "Paul Hunter could have won this". Imagine the top of the game with Ronnie-Williams-Hunter-Higgins. That would have been the sport's greatest era.

Getting on to today's match, it's 2-2 and the standard is pretty good. I expect Robbo to win it still but Allen's playing as good as I've seen him on the BBC for a good while.

That was quite an epic collapse last night...snooker really can be gripping when it wants to be!

Hope Allen can get through, Robertson fancies himself as a pretty boy, and no-one can hold a candle to Paul Hunter in the pretty boy stakes.

This is a really good match and is probably the best one of the tournament. Still, Robbo has a great chance here to win the match.

Wow, a final frame decider - and it's a gripping one too!

I had to pop out at the worst moment so I didn't get to see the final frame

eirebilly wrote:So i see that Williams is still on for his 3rd win here

Hey up eirebilly, it's RKW off the old BBC 606!

Do you still go on JA606? I'm a more active member on there now & have this thread going on the snooker board.

Would be good to see you back over there discussing the snooker!

I didn't even realise JA606 was still going! Well done.

Is there a better word out there than "careless"? I love it!

Yes still going. Anyone else a member? Fancy popping over?

A long frame.....

And whilst I mention long frames..........where's Terry? I miss his dulcet tones, you know.

Scrappy stuff from Higgins & Murphy

I don't need this!!

Well done Shaun. What a clearance under pressure.

That was one jacksy fluke snooker from Higgins. 5-4