Walden back from the brink

Well it was looking a bit bleak earlier in the day when both my snooker picks were 4-1 down in the Shanghai Masters but luckily Ricky Walden found his feet eventually and came through strongly to beat Neil Robertson 5-4, taking the final frame in fine style with a single visit, as indeed he had done in the last round against Stephen Hendry.
Its starting to look a bit exciting on the outright front with Ricky, priced at 125/1 now up against veteran Steve Davis and in with a great chance of reaching the semis, so would be only one match away from landing the each way part of the bet at high odds.
Unfortunately some of my bet was struck at 1/3 odds 100/1 (Stan James / Bet Direct) though before Ladbrokes came in with the higher price later on at 1/2 odds; hope the former practice doesnt become the norm in snooker as does seem a rather retrograde step for the punter in such a big field, for most of the week though they were top price about Walden.
Looking at the match odds 4/6 also looked a decent price too to keep the winning run going against the old stager tomorrow; certainly Davis has had little luck or joy in previous meetings between the two.
In 2005's China Open, the Nugget banged his head very hard on a metal door frame and had to concede half way through the match with Ricky already leading 3-0. A year later the qualifiers for the same competition were being played at Prestatyn and Davis didnt realise he had to play a preliminary round so ended up forfeiting the match - by the time he found out it was of course too late.
Plus in this year's Paul Hunter Classic in Germany Walden scored a 3-1 win.
Another outright bet Mark Selby also made it through in the second quarter with a 5-0 win over Mark King. He could yet face Walden in the semis though has a tough match with Marco Fu first. I've actually taken some of the 15/8 available about the Hong Kong man who beat Andy Hicks today 5-2 and usually raises his game against the better players too.
In the other half of the draw, my first casualty on the outright market was Joe Perry, he lost 5-3 to Ronnie O Sullivan but was maybe a little unlucky in that there was a controversial decision in frame three after the Rocket had failed to escape from a very difficult snooker but didnt leave any chance of potting the yellow either.
Most referees would surely have had the balls replaced there after giving a miss and just wondering if Brendan Moore's decision was influenced by the fact he had warned Ronnie for swearing a few minutes earlier and didnt want to be seen to be penalising him unduly.
Anyway Ronnie ended up winning the frame and going 3-0 up when 2-1 would have made it so different, in the end Perry did have chances later on though which he failed to capitalise on.
The Rocket now takes on rejuvenated Mark Williams who saw off Jamie Cope despite the latter knocking in a 147 in the early stages of their match.
Stephen Maguire made it three outright bets into the quarters with a 5-3 win over Stuart Bingham and I've had a bit on at 8/11 for his match with Ryan Day. You could argue Day has been the more impressive of the two in this event so far but the last time they met I was on Mag at 8/13 when he won 6-5 in the China Open semis last year so strictly on the prices then and now it looks worth a bet.
P.S. Late news just in, captured a new signing for the forthcoming snooker season, a bit of a young Alex Higgins type who went off the rails a couple of years ago but is now back on the straight and narrow with lots of potential ... oh dear, hope I'm doing the right thing here lol.
All the best,
Rick