Who will win this years World Championship ?

First topic message reminder :

Who's your favourite for this years title ?

One of the seeds ? Or will it be a qualifier ?

Great days snooker today , its really wet my appetite

CaledonianCraig wrote:Great first days play. It had everything. Did I hear right as in if Hendry wins through (looks highly likely now) he plays John Higgins in the Second Round? That being the case and going purely on their performances today Hendry will fancy his chances.

Agree. Higgins form hasnt been great of late and the extra 'practice' in the qualifiers has hendry hitting the ground running. 147...amazing.
Wenbo nearly took Higgins. Saw the scores but missed what happened at 52 to let Higgins in.

I know this may sound weird but i am suprised Higgins won yesterday, he has been in some poor form and Wenbo has been in some good form.

The Higgins - Hendry 2nd round match poses to be a cracker now but i cant see Higgins loosing that one either.

eirebilly wrote:I know this may sound weird but i am suprised Higgins won yesterday, he has been in some poor form and Wenbo has been in some good form.

The Higgins - Hendry 2nd round match poses to be a cracker now but i cant see Higgins loosing that one either.

I would normally agree there. Higgins is the top all-round match player in the world and Hendry is just far too inconsistent now but he found some tremendous consistency yesterday and it was sustained and if he could keep that up against Higgins I'd take him to win. A lot of ifs about that scenario though and I am sure Higgins will only improve as the tournament goes on.

CC, its been a while mate. Hows you?

I just feel that Hendry wont be able to keep up the momentum against Higgins. I would have backed him to beat Wenbo because Wenbo is the type of player that Hendry likes to play. Higgins will grind Hendry out of any form he has.

Yes that is what I fear. Fantastic to watch Hendry yesterday though - it was just like turning the clock back 15 years. I am not bad at all and you?

Surviving here mate

Hendry was awesome yesterday. I was a little shocked to read some of the comments made about him online today though. Some people will just never respect the guy
It was Hendry of old yesterday and i enjoyed every second of it.

What comments?

Just the usual comments mate. You know the ones, Hendry only got the lead because Bigham was dire. The tables are really easy which is the only reason Hendry got a 147. Hendry is sill not as good as Ronnie because Ronnie did it faster. Ronnie is still a much better breakbuilder than Hendry.

All a bit tiresome really. Never understood why some people just cant enjoy the snooker.

Exactly. To be honest I never thought he had that sustained kind of form left in him so that will be a boost to his confidence. The maximum was superb as there were a few tricky shots in there to hold it all together. A lot was made of the fact that he came into the match jet-lagged which helped. I can't see that myself.

Yeah, he just flew back in from China the evening before. I do still believe thefact that he had to qualify has helped him more than anything else.

Ha, I bet Maguire is loving this. I see Gouldie is getting schooled on the other table

Gould is an odd one isnt he. He seems to have all the talent but is so hot and cold.

Yeah definitely. Must be because he ditched the leopard skin waistcoat.

Like Luca's cue action. Very Shaun Murphy-esque.

Where's Willie Thorne ? Have they pensioned him off ?

No he's there. I've heard somone asking what "Stand by your beds" means.

I really thought that Gould was going to win there. Man i have been off with my predos this year.

I know Allen is only 4 - 6 down but he looks well out of sorts.

Uh oh, Mark just hasn't turned up. Cao looks to be a good player though.

Oh. My. Word. That was.... the strangest thing I've ever seen. Potted the black, was away to walk out the arena and the white went in. Shocking. Unlucky Mark as I feel if he'd won that frame he could have well comeback.

It was all rather odd wasnt it. I cant believe the shocks so far this year and its only day 2

Mark Allen going out to Cao was a massive shock. From what I saw of the unknown young Chinese player - he looks impressive.

I have only seen Cao once before and didnt look to be anything special but he played very well against Allen today.

5 minutes until Hendry

eirebilly wrote:I have only seen Cao once before and didnt look to be anything special but he played very well against Allen today.

I agree. He did more than enough to beat Allen but he looks nothing special.

Ha, what is Doherty's walk-on music all about? Mind you, it's much better than Big Robbo's.

I think Hendry will throw this away

Not a chance TSC

He is playing shockingly though

You never know... Did you know Peter Ebdon released a single (available on iTunes today!!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvYV_AHjc5Q

BIG frame there from Stephen. Only Stephen Hendry could make a 147 on the first day of the World Championships... And only Stephen Hendry could threaten to throw away an 8-1 lead the next day.

Stephen Hendry safely through to play another multiple world champion John Higgins. Should be a cracker.

I don't know. Higgins hasn't played well for a year now and Hendry is as inconsistent as they come. Might be an incredibly scrappy affair.

TSC wrote:I don't know. Higgins hasn't played well for a year now and Hendry is as inconsistent as they come. Might be an incredibly scrappy affair.

Fact is they are two renowned Titans of the game - irrespective of recent form. That is why it is a mouth-watering clash. Two of the most successful players in the modern era coming head-to-head. They may not be in the form they were when dominant but that pales into insignificance in my opinion.

Morning all, very happy to see Hendry get through, could be a cracking match against Higgins.

A little bit disappointed in Mark Allens comments that Cao cheated. At the time i thought that it was a foul but gave the benefit of the doubt as the referee also took no action. He is fast turning into Snookers biggest complainer.

He's turning into the panto villain - The person the crowd love to hate. I like him though. The casual snooker fan thinks he's a (insert expletive here) but the people that know snooker well know he's a decent bloke. Regardless of what he said, it's helping him in a way. He won in the place he hated. Just "sour grapes" yesterday, I imagine.

Mathew Stevens is storming through his match. 8-1

the only player i can see dominateing to a certian degree is trump not brecel.

Brecel is out so he'll be lucky to dominate anything....

We will see. They will have many good battles over the years when Brecel is up to standard. I think, when you compare how they play at their respective ages, it's very even.

Brecel is a very good talent and he has all the makings of a player that will do well throughout his career. I still cant see any player being a dominant force in the game any more, certainly not for an extended periode of time.

Jamie Jones has played very well so far. Most improved player of the season. Hoping for a shock there.

Listening eagerly for the Ronnie fanboys!

I really know next to nothing about Jamie Jones TSC. I saw him play in the qualifiers and he looked very handy though.

Ronnie fanboy here!

Ronnie still has to beat Ebdon and we know how much Ronnie loves playing Peter

I can see it being 1-1 after 4 gruelling hours and Ronnie just deciding it's not worth it and leaving.

Ronnie is a lot more relaxed this year but Peter will find a way to wind him up

I know who I'll be shouting on this afternoon and it ain't the Romford Rocket.

Probably by sobbing uncontrollably after a drunk Mark Allen barges in holding a bag of chinese food and asking for directions to Barry Hearn's house whilst Ebdon was attempting his 415th safety shot of the match.

I like Peter Ebdon. Ok the guy plays matchplay snooker to the extreme, especially against Ronnie but you cant deny that the guy takes on some outrageous shots. I love his unpredictability