Saga Insurance Masters-Snooker

Pighead

The 2nd biggest tournament of the Snooker season gets under way this weekend in what should be an emotionally charged week what with Paul Hunters death and his affinity with the Masters.

The Formats slightly different this year in that there are 3 wildcards as well as the top 16(Used to be 2). The wildcards are Bingham Ding and White.

I think this could be Dings year and I'm taking E/W at 11/2 to win the title. He is on the easier side of the draw and by my reckoning his path to the final will be- Hamilton, Ebdon, Dott and Hendry.

Beating Hamilton will be a breeze as he has been horribly out of sorts for over a year now, Ebdon will be tougher but old Domehead doesn't usually do well here and with Ding playing Hamilton he'll have an advantage over Ebdon.

Also Ebdon spent 6 weeks away from his family in Dubai to prepare for the last tournament(which he won), he's been back in Dubai since that victory and his preparations won't have been nearly as good.

Dott and Hendry are both beatable for someone of Dings calibre especially the way Hendry played in last months Final against Ebdon.

The other side of the draw sees a possible Higgins V Williams and onnie AV Ken quarter final match up( Although Robertson has every chance of beating Williams in the last 16). I reckon Ronnie could do well this tournament as it would be just like him to turn up and show everyone what hes really made of. His side of the draw is tough though so I'm gonna take Ding.

Opening Round Matches: Bingham bet Carter last month in the UK Champs and He should do so again here. He got a 147 when qualifying for this event so is obviously in decent form at present. 8/11 looks decent.

Stevens(2/7) and Ding(1/6) look nailed on against hopelessly out of form White and Hamilton. The low priced double should appeal to Joebhoy and his fat wallet.

Looking forward to a good tournament. Usually get a decent final here so lets hope for another one.

Verdict:
25 Points E/W: Ding Junhui to win the Masters.
35 Points: Bingham to bt Carter in Rd 1 @ 8/11
3 Points: Higgins V Ding in Final @ 16/1
2 Points: Ding V Robertson in Final @ 33/1

johnnysmurfman

Pighead wrote:

The 2nd biggest tournament of the Snooker season gets under way this weekend

Since when? The UK has always been the second biggest after the Crucible. The Masters isn't even a ranking event.

Pighead

Pighead wrote:

The 2nd biggest tournament of the Snooker season gets under way this weekend

johnnysmurfman wrote:

Since when? The UK has always been the second biggest after the Crucible. The Masters isn't even a ranking event.

The Masters is the 2nd most valuable event on the snooker circuit in terms of prize money, only the World Championships offers bigger money. Also most of the players regard the Masters as a more prestigious title than the UK.

Anyway magnificent start from Ding claiming only the 2nd 147 in the events history. That maximum has prompted Paddys to cut Ding from 11/2 into 4/1.

Slight surprise today in the Robertson Williams match with Williams being destroyed 6-0. The scoreline rather than the result was the surprising thing. Haven't seen the match but Williams must have been muck.

Taken Higgins(-1.5) today against Maguire @4/6

Tush

Higgins seems to be struggling Pighead,played some terrible shots for a man of his ability.

Pighead

Tush wrote:

Higgins seems to be struggling Pighead,played some terrible shots for a man of his ability.

And Higgins loses 6-5. Didn't see the match Tush but was following it on the live scoreboard. Thought when Higgins got it back to 3-3 he'd race away with it but alas no. Was Maguire any use? He had a shocker of a season last year, interesting to see if hes back to his form of a couple of years back.

Tush

I would say Higgins was bad rather than Mc being good,higgins made some terrible mistakes and seem to throw the towel at it,

Tush

Ronnie looks to have himself sorted for this competition,very relaxed looking for a change and is playing well.

eirebhoy

Ken was unlucky not to knock Ronnie out. He was hampered for what really was match ball at 5-4 up and got a kick to throw the ball off path. Ronnie won in the end and is looking good.

RichieLawlor

Pighead wrote:

Verdict:
25 Points E/W: Ding Junhui to win the Masters.
35 Points: Bingham to bt Carter in Rd 1 @ 8/11
3 Points: Higgins V Ding in Final @ 16/1
2 Points: Ding V Robertson in Final @ 33/1

think u need some help here;) but ding is a future world champ imo

PIMPHO

I'd fancy Ding if he came up against O'sullivan. Doherty troubled him in their match and should have beat him, no one yet has troubled Ding and he should beat Lee later. Another 6-3 score line!

Almost right, 6-2 but I'm not complaining! he is one savage player! Nearly got another 147, very unlucky!

Bring on Hendry/Murphy!!

MrJoeSoap

PIMPHO wrote:

I'd fancy Ding if he came up against O'sullivan.

It would take a very brave man to bet against Ronnie O'Sullivan!

PIMPHO

MrJoeSoap wrote:

It would take a very brave man to bet against Ronnie O'Sullivan!

Says you after the final is over??!!

MrJoeSoap

Erm... no. I backed him from the start (even though this post was after the Carter match).

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=52650106&postcount=6

PIMPHO

Yes but your post above was only posted today!

MrJoeSoap

PIMPHO wrote:

Yes but your post above was only posted today!

Fair enough, but only because I read this thread today. It wasn't a dig at you, it was just admiration of Ronnie's talents...

PIMPHO

Cool, no probs! Ronnie is unbeatable in that kind of form.

I still think that Ding will become the youngest ever world champion. He has 3 years to achieve this feat!