Tour champ 2019

No fans of snooker here around? Ronnie vs. Trump match had more drama than Titanic episode. Brilliant to watch and great Ronnie takes it in the end, even loosing 2 to 6. The best snooker tonight!

Cracking match. Ronnie can return to world #1 for the first time since 2010, if he wins the final this weekend.

Just John wrote:Cracking match. Ronnie can return to world #1 for the first time since 2010, if he wins the final this weekend.

That would be fantastic, it would be a huge boost before world champ and he would absolutely deserve it. Absolutely brilliant player with enormous talent, just a snooker genius. Despite that even such a genius has some weak spots, the world of snooker should be hugely grateful to him for all what he brings to the snooker fans.

O’Sullivan 13-11 Robertson

Ronnie wins and returns to being the world number 1.

Just John wrote:O’Sullivan 13-11 Robertson

Ronnie wins and returns to being the world number 1.

In my mind he has been the defacto world number one for all those years, if not for having such a light schedule.
On the other hand had he had a fuller schedule all of these years he might have already stopped playing because I'm not sure he would have been mentally up to it.

I think it's a little unfair on Selby to say that O'Sullivan has been the de fact number one for years. Since O'Sullivan last won the world championship, Selby's record at the Crucible piddles all over his. Selby beat O'Sullivan in the 2014 final and then added back-to-back wins in 2016 and 2017.

Compare that to Ronnie, who hasn't been any further than the quarter finals since 2014. Difficult to call someone the de facto number one over a time span of a few years when their record at the biggest and most important event of all has been so average. Selby also beat O'Sullivan in the 2016 UK final, so has proved he's the man for the big occasion and didn't need to avoid O'Sullivan to life the biggies, as other players probably do.

Of course, Selby had a poor 2018 Crucible campaign and hasn't been as consistent these past eighteen months as we've previously seen, so no doubting he's lost his position as the man to beat now. But he was a deserving number one from 2014-18, particularly the second half of that span. He was the most consistent big-game player in the world by a country mile.

Looking at how this season has gone, it's easy to be seduced by O'Sullivan's form and say he's a strong favourite for the world title...But I thought that going in to the 2014 and 2018 championships as well.

I'd expect it to be one of him, Selby or Trump. For whatever reason, I just don't think Robertson quite has it in him to lift the big one again. I'd love Ding to finally pull it off (once O'Sullivan went out last year and after seeing Ding in his first couple of matches, I was absolutely convinced that it was going to be his turn in 2018 - but then he threw in that absolutely awful performance against Hawkins in the quarters). But he seems to flitter in between looking like a sure-fire world champion and merely a solid top tenner who lacks that extra bit of stuff to be great, and right now he's residing in that second bracket.

I don't think Higgins is scoring heavily enough these days, Williams has dropped off (understandably) and guys like Allen and Wilson just don't strike me as being quite good enough to be world champions. I'll be surprised if it's not O'Sullivan, Selby or Trump, and if I had a preference, I guess it would be Ronnie or Judd. Nothing against Selby, mind you.

Always been a firm believer that Judd doesn't have the mental ability to win a World Title, and nothing has changed. Whilst he excels in the shorter races, the longer game means his mistakes are punished, and i think he's too reckless.

He's in with a shot at the Worlds, but personally he would need Selby or Ronnie to fall early doors.

Selby might be hot and cold at the moment but, in a longer format,he’s still a class above most of the field. I’ll be having some of the 15/2 on offer.