Draw and Betting odds for the outright tournament... 1) J. Higgins............... (8/1) v L. Wengbo............ (150/1) 2) S. Bingham............ (66/1) v S. Hendry........... (100/1) 3) G. Dott................. (40/1) v J. Perry.............. (125/1 4) S. Maguire............. (14/1) v L. Brecel............ (150/1) 5) S. Murphy.............. (12/1) v J. Jones............. (150/1) 6) S. Lee................... (25/1) v A. Higginson....... (100/1) 7) A. Carter............... (66/1) v M. Davis............. (150/1) 8) J. Trump................ (5/1) v D. Dale............... (150/1) 9) M. Williams............. (20/1) v L. Chang............ (175/1) 10) R. O'Sullivan........... (7/1) v P. Ebdon............ (66/1) 11) M. Gould............... (100/1) v D. Gilbert........... (125/1) 12) N. Robertson......... (15/2) v K. Doherty......... (150/1) 13) D. Junhui............... (11/1) v R. Day............... (100/1) 14) M. Allen................. (14/1) v C. Yupeng.......... (175/1) 15) M. Stevens............ (66/1) v M. Fu................. (80/1) 16) M. Selby................ (9/1) v B. Hawkins.......... (100/1) Some new faces make their debut at the Crucible this year and it promises to be another open Championships... I will post some reports as the tournament progresses...
Slightly later than i expected...The first round matches and my predictions to the result... Today's matches only have the retaining champions match actually playing to a concluding today... Day 1... Higgins to beat Wenbo... 10-7... Gould to beat Gilbert... 10-8... Bingham to beat Hendry... 10-8... Robertson to beat Doherty... 10-5... Allen to beat Yupeng... 10-6...
Backed Hendry at evens to beat Bingham,like taking candy from a baby.Gonna put it on Ebbers to do Ronnie's brain in again!
Day 2... After a great start to the tournament here are todays matches... Gould v Gilbert (3-6) to a finish Maguire to beat Brecel... 10-5... Allen v Yupeng (4-5) to a finish... Murphy to beat Jones... 10-5... Hendry v Bingham (8-1) to a finish... Robertson v Doherty (7-2) to a finish... Hope we get some action tonight as it could be all over in a hour...
To be honest Hammer i do think this will be a big match and result... They dont like each other and i think this will play a bit into Ebdons hands more than Ronnies... Cant wait for this one...
Day 3... Already we've had a few upsets, so lets see how today's matches will pan out... Maguire v Brecel (6-3) to a finish... Stevens v Fu... Fu to win 8-10... i coudlnt be more far from the correct result... 8-1 at the 1st break to Stevens...!!! O'Sullivan v Ebdon... Ronnie to win 10-8... Murphy v Jones (5-4) to a finish... Lee v Higginson... Lee to win a close one 10-8... Obviously its the match up of the 1st round between O'Sullivan and Ebdon... Let the antics begin...
I know there is bad blood so to speak between Ronnie and Ebdon and Ebdon's tactics will be to slow everything down and keep it tight to annoy O'Sullivan but i believe Ronnie has had time to prepare for it and will be in a good place mentally. I'm not even going to give Ebdon a sniff in this match and will stick my neck out by going for a comfortable Ronnie win. 10-4 O'Sullivan. Although i have Murphy backed, i can see Jones pushing it all the way, the lad has been in decent form over the season and now will feel more comfortable in a big arena having had more experience. Murphy 10-8.
Day 4... And so a past Champion has been felled... Shaun Murphy, whom many have tipped myself included, is out...!!! Well done to Jamie Jones you enjoy your time in the limelight... What drama can be coming our way today...? Trump to beat Dale... 10-5... Ding to beat Day... 10-6... Perry to beat Dott... 10-8... O'Sullivan to finish off Ebdon with a 147 break to earn me a pay day... (7-2) Lee v Higginson to a finish... (4-5) Selby to beat Hawkins 10-7...
Day 5... So past champions are having a tough time this year... Out with the old in with the new...!!! Higgins struggled through to the next round, Ebdon got stuffed, Dott looks like he hasnt seen a snooker table before and Hendry... Well Hendry has turned up with one of the sessions of the Championships so far... Todays action sees another past Champion in Mark Williams in his opening match. Lets hope the occasion inspires him as the venue dosnt... Dott v Perry to a finish... (1-8) Ding v Day to a finish... (4-5) Trump v Day to a finish... (5-4) Williams to beat Chuang... 10-6... Selby v Hakins to a finish... (3-6) Carter to beat M. Davis... 10-8
Day 6... Not a week into this years Championships and we already lost half of the seeded players...!!! Whats going on. Well maybe the qualifiers are just a bit more match sharp after only making sure of their place at Sheffield last week and have caught out the seeded players because of that. They have the momentum of playing a best of 19 match so near to their next one may have given them an advantage. I can make excuses for Selby with lack of practice because of a neck injury. But Ding, Murphy, Dott dont have that excuse, especially the two ex-champions who you would have thought would be raring to go. Mark Allen got caught out by the better player, as did Martin Gould. So where dos that leave us with the rest of todays matches. Today see us with the last of the first round match ups and a couple of the 2nd round matches, which are now a best of 25... Carter v Davis to a finish... (8-1) Robertson to beat Gilbert... (13-6) Williams v Chuang to a finish... (6-3) Maguire to beat Perry... (13-8) Bring on the second week and let the battles begin...
