2013 World Snooker Championship

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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

(Seeded players are in brackets)

(1) Ronnie O'Sullivan v Marcus Campbell

(16) Ali Carter v Ben Woollaston

(9) Stuart Bingham v Sam Baird

(8) John Higgins v Mark Davis

(5) Shaun Murphy v Martin Gould

(12) Graeme Dott v Peter Ebdon

(13) Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu

(4) Judd Trump v Dominic Dale

(3) Neil Robertson v Robert Milkins

(14) Ricky Walden v Michael Holt

(11) Mark Williams v Michael White

(6) Stephen Maguire v Dechawat Poomjaeng

(7) Mark Allen v Mark King

(10) Ding Junhui v Alan McManus

(15) Barry Hawkins v Jack Lisowski

(2) Mark Selby v Matthew Selt

playing poorly ? you mean poor bounces and slow cloth ?

And a lot of kicks. Apparently the cushions were very bad as shots coming off more than one cushion weren't doing what they were supposed to do (i.e. the spin wasn't taking).

Dont give him an excuse already for tomorrow

Judd gets an excuse, he doesn't Although they had the kick stats up early on in the match and it was sitting at Judd 5-0 him so apparently he doesn't get kicks.

God I hope Judd gets stuffed today, just to see you lot whining about it

He might do actually, I don't think he's much of an early bird these days.

Last night's SF was better. Just sayin'

Great start Bring Ricky and Barry back.

All I see is Ronnie in the balls with a pretty straightforward chance to win the frame

That's the difference; Juddley has a great chance but doesn't take it and he has a great chance and does take it.

The Special Juan wrote:Judd gets an excuse, he doesn't Although they had the kick stats up early on in the match and it was sitting at Judd 5-0 him so apparently he doesn't get kicks.

I'm still not convinced that all or even most kicks are unlucky like they are made out to be. They mainly seem to happen when cueing down on the cueball. So mainly not unlucky, more a result of awkward (which might be due to a bad positional shot) or poor cueing

I think there are a lot of things which cause kicks (i.e. it's not one specific thing) but sometimes they just happen for no apparent reason. I think reasons include digging down on the cueball and not striking it cleanly but that one Judd had into the middle he hit it cleanly and wasn't digging down. Apparently they didn't have kicks in "the old days" so it must be something to do with the balls or the baize or both.

Yeah I agree - some are unlucky no doubt. Its just the commentators make out that every one is down to bad luck which does get irritating. And now having the stat up it is taken at face value e.g. 5 kicks to 0 means one player was a lot unluckier than the other.

That bugs me too. I think Hendry is the only one I've heard saying kicks weren't all caused by bad luck.

I saw Stuart Bingham get three kicks against Ronnie, and they were all when he was trying to force a shot in. I played snooker solidly for over 10 years and I can't remember a single kick on a shot played at 'normal' speed.

He hasn't really started this morning but then again Judd's not done much better. They both seem really nervous and I guess the more you miss, the more nervous you become. Bring Ricky and Barry on!!

If that was down your local club Azzy then surely their baize and balls are different to the ones the pros use? The kicks I see are normally on slow shots too.

Mmm that was a good safety shot. Even I'll admit that.

Kicks: Judd 9-0 Him

Well... Juddley's not had a good morning but somehow gets into the MSI at 6-6. He needs to start killing the frames off in 1 visit though.

The Special Juan wrote:If that was down your local club Azzy then surely their baize and balls are different to the ones the pros use? The kicks I see are normally on slow shots too.

Well they clearly would be different, though my club was definitely a lot closer to the Crucible in terms of quality than an East End slum club.

Gentleman's Club?

Nah, just a high-quality club with free tea and a plentiful supply of cheese & onion crisps (that you weren't allowed to eat at the table).

Sounds like a nice place. One of the better clubs in Dundee can offer you a free black eye and is located in the "stabby" part of the city.

He is playing the worst snooker I've seen him play in years but Juddley is barely hanging onto him. Is it pressure because he knows he has to take advantage or is it because he is playing badly so it's also bringing him down? I dunno.

Well it is clearly not nervous, because after all, it does have a better head-to-head record against Ronnie

"It". I love it. You-Know-Who goes 8-6 up.

Ronnie's going to win this isn't he? Then the final is pratically a bye to the trophy.

Not good for Snooker someone swanning back in, winning it whilst bad-mouthing the sport, then retiring again.

When did Ronnie bad-mouth snooker? Just because he said he doesn't enjoy it? Most people would actually agree with him

Ronnie looking sharp for a 9-6 lead

Ricky'll have him in the final. *cough*

Uh-oh. Judd falling behind.

Judd looks like a punchable Jenson Button in that photo.

Maybe if he stopped going on Twitter mid-match his mind would be on the game

Judd needs Terry in his corner, you know.

Everyone needs Terry, Dave.

Ding came out with the same pathetic excuse as well didn't he? "Oh I wish I had some old codger who was nowhere near as good as I am now to tell me what to do..."

Nonsense. Grow a pair and get your head down lad!

Azzy Mahmood wrote:When did Ronnie bad-mouth snooker? Just because he said he doesn't enjoy it? Most people would actually agree with him

Ronnie looking sharp for a 9-6 lead

I just wish he'd shut up. He doesn't realise how lucky he is to be very good at hitting balls with a stick. I doubt there's much else he can do to earn a living so he needs to get back on the tour. His kids aren't that old so if he needs the money to pay their school fees as he claims then he'd better resign himself to the torture of another ten years on the circuit.

Did he really say that?

Ooooh a bit tetchy there.

That's one of the reasons I'm not Juddley's biggest fan; he speaks nonsense for the sake of being controversial. At least he and Allen mean what they say when they say something controversial.

The Special Juan wrote:Did he really say that?

Yep, I was paraphrasing of course but he definitely said he came back for money and specifically that he needed money to pay school fees

Big chance for 10-6 now

This is the wrong time to get nostalgic but they need to bring back Ian McCulloch.

Oh Ronnie you plod, silly mistake, 9-7.

Wooooooo!!!! What an awful, awful session of snooker. Both deserved to lose it, but the player who played the less worse snooker won it in the end.

The Special Juan wrote:This is the wrong time to get nostalgic but they need to bring back Ian McCulloch.

Wash your mouth out. Was it 2005 when it looked at one stage like it was going to be a McCulloch vs Ebdon final? I suppose we only had to wait a year for the treat that was Dott vs Ebdon!

VTR wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:This is the wrong time to get nostalgic but they need to bring back Ian McCulloch.

Wash your mouth out. Was it 2005 when it looked at one stage like it was going to be a McCulloch vs Ebdon final? I suppose we only had to wait a year for the treat that was Dott vs Ebdon!

Nothing wrong with that!! He had fantastic waistcoats and bow ties. I was just watching a small highlights video from the 2004 Championship and there are a lot of heroes there that aren't really about any more such as David Gray, Anthony Hamilton and Barry Pinches.

That's true, McCulloch actually had a bit of charisma. He went through a purple patch around 2005 and then sank without a trace.

Those other names are blasts from the past with Hamilton and Pinches still plugging away.

Talking blasts from the past I got bored watching the match last night and found the review of the 1992 tournament on Youtube (it was the first one I followed, Jimmy White's 147 got me interested in snooker). Ebdon was going down a storm and they were comparing him to Alex Higgins and Jimmy White at that time!

Was that the ponytail era? Same happened with David Seaman, he cut it off and lost his magical powers.

Yeah that was it and I would say that is a good theory.

I had no recollection of the flamboyant Ebdon in terms of his play so I wonder why and when he became a grinder.

Ronnie could really rue losing that last leg , at 9-7 Judd is still very much in it but i couldn't of seen him comeback from 10-6

I can barely remember Ebdon with a ponytail. It's like one day he had it and the next day he was bald as an egg.

This is a pretty....... awful start.