2020 World Snooker Championship

Joe_ Public

Funny thing: people suggest he bored and ground robertson out of their qf, just playing safety and winnng the tactical exchanges. Yet most of the frames that went the distance in that match were actually won by Robertson. I think people tend to paint peak selby as this one dimensional character who can only win one way. Always thought he was at his imperious best when he mixed it up, attacked or defended at the right times, brilliant shot selection that rarely got it wrong. When his long game is on song, it makes him difficult to beat.

Also, noticing a few comments regarding tables playing a bit heavy. Robbo mentioned it yesterday and that probably helps selby a little if that continues on one table set up. Selby noticeably has always done well in china where those kind of conditions generally prevail.

Loafing Oaf

Have stuck a tenner on McGill for the title @ 14/1, surely a decent price in any four-horse race.
Had considered backing him for his quarter @ 18s and don't want to be kicking myself again if he does the unthinkable.:p

Joe_ Public

I think Wilson must win this well, but there's nothing wrong with 14/1. He's surprised a few already.

zuutroy

Renewed weirdness with the single table empty arena.

mdwexford

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

Ronnie all day long for me, but i won't watch the bore that is Mark Selby.
All this he's a grinder and granite ect, his talent is limited in relation to the great players, the great breakbuilders.
So he basically plays in slow motion and will play safe, safe safe safe until a ball is basically hanging over a pocket where
he'll scrape over the line in a frame/match.
Worst snooker player to watch ever, imo.

He’s arguably the best player of the last 10 years and also is 6th in the all time centuries list, more than many of the “fancier” players like Ding, Murphy, Allen etc.

Loafing Oaf

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I think Wilson must win this well, but there's nothing wrong with 14/1. He's surprised a few already.

18s with Boyles. I think he has shot against Wilson. Tbh I wouldn't give him a prayer in the final but if he got that far I'd likely cash out if he took the lead at any stage.:P

Joe_ Public

Positive start anyway.

Chalk McHugh

Love to see McGill win this. I'm sure he'd rather be pllaying Wilson than the likes of John Higgins. He wont fear Wilson and why should he? Wilson was 1/4 to win this match which is too skinny for me. I would make Wilson favourite but around 8/11 sounds more accurate.

walshb

ThewhiteJesus wrote: »

Ronnie all day long for me, but i won't watch the bore that is Mark Selby.
All this he's a grinder and granite ect, his talent is limited in relation to the great players, the great breakbuilders.
So he basically plays in slow motion and will play safe, safe safe safe until a ball is basically hanging over a pocket where
he'll scrape over the line in a frame/match.
Worst snooker player to watch ever, imo.

Selby is a lot more than what you are describing.

Excellent everywhere. Similar to Higgins.

Break builder, potter, tactics, temperament, safety, stamina, concentration

He can beat you at any game...

He is top 5 or 6 all-time when all at peak

BorneTobyWilde

Can't believe ronnie is favourite to win title. Both Wilson 10/3 and Selby 3-1 , grand on both and you still win 2k

Pighead

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Can't believe ronnie is favourite to win title. Both Wilson 10/3 and Selby 3-1 , grand on both and you still win 2k

Neither of whom may be in the final!

BorneTobyWilde

Pighead wrote: »

Neither of whom may be in the final!

Come on, both will be ... mostly likely, but odds suggest it's not most likely. Weird

DelBoy Trotter

Hoping Wilson wins this one. I'm surprised to see McGill get into a 3-0 lead straight out of the blocks

At last, reds have opened up a bit. Looked like it was going to a re-rack.

Chalk McHugh

Because of the magnitude and importance of this semi final i expect to see Ronnie play close to the best of his ability. He will know if he can beat Selby he will deep down fancy winning the final. No Trump. No Higgins. No Robertson. If you told him he'd reach the final v McGill or Wilson he'd be licking his lips.

He's definately nowhere near his peak and a bad miss is never far away but if he plays to his strengths and keeps knocking in heavy breaks when in the balls well then he is well capable of beating Selby.

Before when they played i think he didn't really respect Selby's game and thought his natural talent would be good enough and it used to kill him to lose to a player he felt was inferior. As the years have gone on Ronnie now accepts Selby's greatness and instead of fearing losing to him i think he now embraces the challenge of an equal. Thats a much better frame of mind to have.

Selby is a brilliant player but hasn't been as imperious over the last couple of years and Ronnie knows this. No doubt at times Selby's hard match play will grind away at Ronnie's gears and the relentless safety play, soul sapping roll ups and energy sapping wasting of time and studying shots for what seems an age is all coming Ronnie's way again. Selby's game face is a frightening sight on tv. Imagine having to look at him two feet away for four sessions of hard snooker? Good luck in that one Rocket.

Ronnie may laugh and joke about it now but i think he can handle Selbys torturous game a little better than before and because this is one more (and possibly last) great chance to get to another final it will ensure Ronnie gives 100% maximum attention and won't lose focus. Ronnie will be desperate to beat Selby in a big match at Sheffield. He has never forgotten his most painful defeat in that final loss and if he could somehow beat him in this huge semi final it would go a little way to soothing the agony of that defeat.

A really fascinating match as much in the psychological side as on the table itself. I'm letting my heart rule my head a little and think Ronnie will get one over on his old nemesis and go on to win the final.

Joe_ Public

That was actually a decent half chance for mcgill to get right back into, or even steal that frame. Surprised he missed the red way he'd been going. Decent start regardless though he probably needed it.

Joe_ Public

Wilson has looked very edgy, some very nervy and loose shots. Plenty of experience so I'm more inclined to attribute it to the burden of expectation. Sometimes easier when you're not the very warm favourite.

Federer is the Ronnie of tennis

Just caught the last bit of Ron on about a few tennis players :pac:

Passenger

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Because of the magnitude and importance of this semi final i expect to see Ronnie play close to the best of his ability. He will know if he can beat Selby he will deep down fancy winning the final. No Trump. No Higgins. No Robertson. If you told him he'd reach the final v McGill or Wilson he'd be licking his lips.

He's definately nowhere near his peak and a bad miss is never far away but if he plays to his strengths and keeps knocking in heavy breaks when in the balls well then he is well capable of beating Selby.

Yeah, if Ronnie is in the frame-of-mind for it, the Semi could arguably be a bigger test for him.

Happy4all

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Can't believe ronnie is favourite to win title. Both Wilson 10/3 and Selby 3-1 , grand on both and you still win 2k

More likely you will be 2 grand poorer

Chalk McHugh

Thats two frames now where McGill messed up a not so difficult pot or positional shot which would have won the frame. Not a good trait to be doing this as it just prolongs frames and saps away at your mental energy instead of making your opponent suffer. And surprisingly McGill has no century at all this championship. It's not all bad though as he's looking good for 4-1.

TheHopeful

He's building a nice early lead again!

mdwexford

After struggling against Clarke I thought Maflin would dispose of McGill.
I certainly thought with his experience Wilson would would handle him, proving me wrong so far with this start.

Chalk McHugh

Current odds

Wilson Evens
McGill 8/11

Joe_ Public

mdwexford wrote: »

After struggling against Clarke I thought Maflin would dispose of McGill.
I certainly thought with his experience Wilson would would handle him, proving me wrong so far with this start.

I'd pretty much read it the same way. Wilson isnt settling at all and could face a sizeable early deficit here. McGill not having to do all that much, just keeps to his own steady level and it's getting the job done.

lawrencesummers

For a guy on debut at this stage of the competition I’m very impressed with McGill, he has a lot of the characteristics that are needed to be successful, he’s methodical patient, very focused and lookS to be someone that could win the competition at some stage.

He’s playing the percentages very well. He’s had a purple patch and things have gone well for him in the first 6 frames, be interesting to see how he plays when things aren’t going well for him and the are falling better for Wilson.

lawrencesummers

6-1 is a lead that nobody seen coming in this one if he finishes up.

Chalk McHugh

Another example of missing the killer ball by McGill. Sloppy position on the blue and didn't even.get close to potting it. Massive mistake and i expect Wilson to win this match.

radiata

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Another example of missing the killer ball by McGill. Sloppy position on the blue and didn't even.get close. Massive mistake and i exlect Wilson to win this match.

Brutal miss on the blue. Can't see him winning it either

TheHopeful

Huge miss by McGill. Should be 6-1. He'll be kicking himself.

radiata

BorneTobyWilde wrote: »

Can't believe ronnie is favourite to win title. Both Wilson 10/3 and Selby 3-1 , grand on both and you still win 2k

Wilson 11/2 with PP now

mdwexford

That was a big big let off.

If Wilson can win this last frame he will have had a result and be delighted overnight.

Joe_ Public

That's just the type of thing to do to help your opponent settle. Should have been wilsons frame earlier anyway, but he broke down again. 3-5 would be excellent for him.

Chalk McHugh

Wilson gone into 4/5 favourite after that last frame.

TheHopeful

Great shot by McGill off the brown to open the pack

Chalk McHugh

Brilliant shot from Mcgill. If he can go on to lead 6-2 he'll forget about the last frame blunder and get a good nights sleep.

TheHopeful

6-2 surely

DelBoy Trotter

6-2 to McGill after the first session, I can't believe it, I thought Wilson would have McGill's number

Joe_ Public

Yeah decent response. 6-2 feels like just about right though 7-1 wouldn't have been outlandish on the balance of play. Wilson just not turned up really.

lawrencesummers

Chalk McHugh wrote: »

Another example of missing the killer ball by McGill. Sloppy position on the blue and didn't even.get close to potting it. Massive mistake and i expect Wilson to win this match.

If he keeps missing the killer ball and Wilson keeps missing the ball somewhere along the way to a 30 break then it’s McGill that will be around until the weekend, but he will be in for a torrid time in a final playing like that.

Arthur Daley

Very surprising alright. Trump will really rue some of those frames he let slip away to Wilson on Monday. It was a great chance to get back to the final if he was 80% of the player he has been over the last 24 months.

sligeach

What a sorry state snooker is in. Just look at that semi-final lineup. Ronnie wasn't wrong in his post match interview against Ding. I really hope Ronnie doesn’t win, there's been years where he's won playing average stuff or got close to the final. If Selby has his act together, he should win. I almost hope McGill wins for a laugh, it would be a rude awakening for the game, and it would say a lot. There's not one player you can say has played brilliantly. Trump fully deserved his title last year, he played great. It's a pity he couldn't carry his form through after a great season. O'Sullivan and Selby must be thinking their match is the final.

radiata

Selby looking a bit shaky at the moment. Some good long ball potting by O'Sullivan

Genghis

Off to a good start for Ronnie. Looks focussed and relaxed, and in control. Selby yet to get going really.

Andrew00

Selby isn't at the races tonight

Mervyn Skidmore

Anyone have any info about pocket sizes down through the years? I was watching some snooker from the 80s on YouTube and the pockets looked massive. These pockets this year look a little bit more generous too compared to a few years ago.

StevenToast

Long way to go....hard for Ronnie to stay focused for all these sessions....

Selby will grind this out

Augme

Selby is playing very poorly. The worry is he will drag Ronnie down to his level with the stop start nature of it.

Mysterypunter

Sultan of Bling wrote: »

Wouldnt be so sure. A lot including me wrote him off after the clarke game which finished after midnight and then he had to return the next day to face maflin who had a couple of days off.

He won that session 7-1.

He has shown real guts in deciders in this tournament. The pot on the blue v lisoskwi. The snooker behind the browmn and the comeback v clarke when his opponent was taking the pi$$.

A strong matchplayer.

You could be right, he has made a strong start, added to the fact that I have just backed Wilson at 6-5, McGill should be well in it:). Also could have been 7-1, I saw the easy blue he missed. Best of 33 is a long slog

melon_collie

They may get the dehumidifiers out.