Open look to snookers main event

Well its been a pretty busy week but best to get it all out of the way before the onset of the fortnight of the World Snooker Championships which get underway at Sheffield on Saturday.
It's one of those years where nobody has been totally convincing so you could say it has an open look to it but if Ronnie O Sullivan is anywhere near his best you'd think that might be good enough unless someone can hit their very best form for this particular fortnight.
Anyhow at odds of around 9/4 I'm leaving him alone this year as you could get 4/1 last time around with perhaps a slightly easier run overall.
In the Rocket's quarter most of the players are in the attacking vein which should suit him but Ryan Day ran him close a few seasons back here and I backed him e/w at 40/1 for this earlier in the season, and thankfully he did return to some kind of form in China when he reached the semi finals before losing to John Higgins. If he gets past the dogged Stephen Lee, he would probably face Peter Ebdon and despite the latter's shock success in the Far East, I would expect the Welshman to have too much for him on this occasion.
As ever I'm picking AT LEAST one from each quarter lol, though have played five in this one, once again perhaps overdoing it slightly stakes wise but the odds are on offer for a long time so perhaps understandable in the circumstances!!
The second quarter was another one where I went in early, this time on Mark Selby again e/w at 8/1 and was not particularly happy to see him come out of the hat against Ricky Walden, who has won a ranking event already in Shanghai I seem to recall for some reason!! Selby has mainly flattered to deceive this season so its time for him to put some meat on the bones if he's to salvage something from it - as one of the supposed elite players he perhaps should avoid getting too bogged down in some of his matches and take it to the opposition.
I was undecided for a long while about quarter three, so suppose this must have been the most difficult to pick from. Eventually came down on the side of Mark Williams at 33s, who has shown slight improvement this year to probably rejoin the top 16, but he then put in a disappointing show in China, losing to the hitherto out of form Mark King 5-2. So I changed tack and decided to wade in on Ding Junhui too despite him trading at 16s after being 22/1 only a few days earlier without picking up his cue in the meantime.
When he did pick up his cue he produced one of his worst performances of the year in a very disjointed loss to young wildcard Xaio Guodong, a century break in one of the early frames being his only saving grace. He now goes into the event with his top 16 place in jeapardy, and at the end of the day I'd give him two pieces of advice.
One is to try to get that twitch sorted in his eyelid, it must be distracting for a professional snooker player and I'd be doing my utmost to eradicate it at all cost - apologies to him if he has tried and failed but there is a nifty trick with some sellotape that can help - I know cos I've done it myself!! The second is that at the end of the day you have to play without thinking of the consequences, its no good playing under extreme pressure, if you dont relax you wont produce your best so stay calm at all times and concentrate on this first and foremost. Its not always easy but its also something I want to try and bring into my game next season after throwing away a few matches near the end purely by being so tensed up, and that's just in the local league!!
The final quarter is surely set up for Stephen Maguire, who however has rarely shown his best form this term, which is a worry but does mean he is fairly fresh. He needs to click into gear but the draw gives him every chance of doing so up against the likes of his practice partner Jamie Burnett and the winner of Mark King and Rory McLeod.
In the match betting, I've plumped for outsiders Gould, Higginson, Walden, Hendry and McLeod at the odds available and also taken Perry and Ding (again before his China loss) to oust potting machines Cope and Wenbo.
One of the best value bets seem to be the McLeod highest break against King which is currently trading at 11/8. He's had at least nine centuries this season to King's one (in fact some quote him as having scored eleven though cant see where the other two are coming from myself!) and even if the Crucible nerves get to him he has plenty of time to get used to the surroundings over the long matches here.
Also took the earlier 6/1 about there being six or seven first round qualifiers progressing to round two, this has obliged in three of the last five years - as a safeguard I've had a saver on four or five too at 13/8 - according to published stats in the Racing Post there has never been less than four make it through in the last twelve years so hopefully there will be no damage done and the prospect of a big payout.
Some rather more speculative bets were in the "qualifier to go the furthest" and "tournament top break" markets, in the former I'm siding with Lee, Walden, Higginson and Greene and in the latter Selby, Maguire and Fu. I'm never afraid of backing a player in one market and opposing him in another depending on prices but I realise its not everybody's cup of tea.
Some of the first frame odds also looked a bit generous on the outsiders to me so have played these on McLeod 5/4, Gould 6/4, Higginson 6/4 and Greene 13/8, again hoping first time nerves dont scupper some of those.
And to round it off (though it was actually my first bet of the round) had an accumulator on O Sullivan, Higgins, Carter, Robbo and Maguire to oblige in round one which pays 2/1.
So as you can see plenty to go at over the next few days.
Elsewhere its been an up and down sort of week. My gaelic football treble came up last weekend though the handicap bet on Laois looked silly when Monaghan ran riot against them in the final league game, though at least I have backed them in the outright Division 2 market at 5/1, and they now meet Cork in the final. I've also got Derry at 8/1 taking on Kerry in the Division 1 decider and Antrim (who I added after the first set of games) up against Sligo in Division 4 at 3/1.
Nothing much appeals on the match betting front this week but have added a few outright bets for the summer. In the All Ireland Championship, I've sided with four who I hope will give a run for the money - Dublin 8/1, Cork 11/1, Derry 20/1 and Monaghan 33/1. The latter two meet early doors in Ulster so one of them will have to go the scenic route via the qualifiers but feel they might be capable of doing so nevertheless.
In the provincial championships I think Dublin at 6/4 ought to have just too much for the likes of Meath and Kildare now they have their full quota of players back and Galway with Joe Bergin back in the fold look reasonable even money shouts to oust their likely rivals Mayo. Ulster as ever looks very competitive but would just give Derry the edge - Vics lengthened their price to 11/2 last week on the back of Monaghan's big win but then only allowed bets of up to £4 on their website!! Not sure what the idea of that was but they are my main picks from the North with an outside bet on Antrim at 125/1 (now 80/1) which I admit is highly unlikely but they dont meet the real big guns in the section until the final - pity there was no each way available!!
My aussie rules treble bit the dust when Carlton lost their discipline near the end of their match with Essendon, resulting in a narrow defeat by just four points. A free right in front of the posts was crucial for the visitors at the end of the third quarter, following what looked a harsh decision against the home team resulting in a goal. So in the space of a few seconds there was a 12-point turnaround just as the Blues were getting into gear. This week I'm chancing my arm a bit and taking on the mighty Geelong with Adelaide at almost 11/4 on the exchanges - although the Cats have been winning they havent been totally destroying the opposition as they did for much of last year so this time I'm hoping they might be edged out of it.
Things have been pretty even steven on the dogs this week, have pulled most of it back after a tardy start to the week. Despite getting the ante post bet of Cabra Cool at 14/1 up in the Scottish Derby, a few other bets in that event rather whittled down the payout and the news that the vanquished favourite Thurlesbeg Joker was unlikely to go for the English Derby means another few bob down the Swannee unless theres a change of heart.
In the Easter Cup at Shelbourne, Oran Classic (8/1) and Tip and Tin (50/1) made it through to the final for me and have added Advantage Johnny (3/1) who looks to have a good makeup on Saturday night though will obviously be mainly cheering on my other ones.
The Blue Riband at Hall Green has seen my fancies Jogadusc Ace and Blonde Fern (both 16s) make it through to the last six - that will be live on Sky next Tuesday - while the semi finals of the Golden Sprint are held at Romford tonight where I have five in contention at present, but not the favourite this time for once!!
And the staying event that is the Regency kicked off at Hove yesterday with my four selections all making it through to the semi finals, would personally be surprised if the prize didnt go to one of the two at the head of the market here - Capel Wilson or Lorrys Options.
As I stated at the head of my post, its been rather hectic this week, started out on Monday with a trip to Pride Park to see the Rams play all the good football and somehow contrive to lose 3-2 to league leaders Wolves, it really was a travesty of a scoreline but symptomatic of the recent quality of defending, we now have just a five point buffer over the relegation places but hopefully can eek out another couple of points which should be enough for safety. There is an incredibly long list of injuries at present so it may not be easy getting over the last hurdle but Charlton Athletic the bottom team are still to visit us so that looks the one we should possibly be earmarking for success.
Went to the local point to point at Flagg Moor, reputedly the country's highest course, on Easter Tuesday and was good fun to be back at the races again after a bit of a hiatus.
The first race was a members event over the stone walls, the only event of its kind in the country, and very unusually featuring a pure Arabian bred amongst the contenders. I didnt play on that one but it went to Twist and Shout, who carried no less than 13st 7lb to victory and still had time to miss out a fence, turn back and jump it, and still overtake the others. That said, there seemed to be three different opinions as to which way they got onto the racecourse proper (they start out in the hills!) so you needed about six pairs of eyes even for as many runners!!
One of the best bets of the day looked to be Indian Rising in the next, so on seeing the price lengthen to 6/4, leapt in with my wedge of notes only to see it continue to drift right out to 9/4!! All the money was for the Classic Cliche horse Lake Baikal, who had a formline of PPP but that didnt seem to be deterring those in the know. As it happens my fancy led coming into the second last where the market rival was beginning a challenge but unfortunately went lame on landing so an unfortunate way to end what looked like being an epic battle up the run in.
I lost a bit on the next when favourite Noble Persian was turned over by Test of Friendship, who relished making all and grinding the opposition into the ground over this stiff 3m 4f course which really does test the stamina of those that take part with a few very sharp inclines along the way.
I had to wait until the fifth race for my next winner when previous course victor Opio obliged in a hack canter, admittedly at odds of only 1/2, but there was never really a moments worry as he toyed with the opposition and never came off the bridle under Tom Greenall.
As I was a few quid up on the last race and enjoying the day so much, decided to have one final flutter, again I couldnt really see past the favourite, which was the Pistolet Bleu gelding Aldea but after a sticky jump on one of the steep climbs leading up to the straight he had a little too much ground to make up and could only finish a length second to the six year old Father Owen.
But all in all great to be out and about at such a scenic venue, it might not quite be on a par with Hexham for beauty but when its less than half an hour home as the crow flies it will do for me!
Wednesday saw a trip to Sheffield to see 80s group Ultravox give their anniversary show an outing, by the end of the night everyone went home well satisfied after hearing their old favourites given an airing.
But on the Thursday one or two were not so happy after attending the "Legends of Snooker" event at Derby Assembly Rooms. The event started with Jimmy White taking on a "seventeen year old from the Milton Keynes area" and suffering an embarrassing drubbing in the one frame they played.
This was followed by what turned out to be the high point of the night but that wasnt saying a great deal when John Virgo came out and set up a few trick shots for the spectators to come out and play. These worked for the most part, but when Virgo himself took on some of the more testing ones near the end he hardly managed any of them!! That said he did provide a mildly entertaining commentary, though even this was hampered by a dodgy microphone which brought back memories of Norman Collier in his heyday (who by chance I am also going to see at Buxton later in the year as part of the Best of British Variety show!)
And of course we did get some bona fide impersonations of some of the stars of yesteryear like Terry Griffiths, Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins as well as a few humorous Tony Knowles references "I'll do an impression of him if one of the calendar girls in attendance wants to lie on the table".
There then followed an advertised break of 20 minutes which turned out to be more like 45 minutes, which seemed quite long after only just under an hour of the proceedings. One wondered whether some of them were finding difficulty getting out of the bar but eventually Jimmy re-appeared to take on the other legend no less than Alex Higgins, who received a tumultuous welcome as he came out into the arena looking surprisingly sprightly.
Unfortunately, it soon became apparent it was a bit of a mismatch nowadays, with Jimmy going for practically everything and Alex only mustering breaks of 20-odd at best and doing a surprisingly good impersonation of Griffiths himself when pontificating over some of the shots as if it was the World Championships. The referee looked frightened to death in case he upset Alex in some way and would mostly freeze as if caught in a time capsule no matter how ungainly the pose every time Higgins took to the table.
There was one particularly over exuberant spectator who repeatedly shouted "come on Alex" time and again and Higgins began to get more upset with this, eventually asking the referee to remove the spectator from the audience, with four or five in the crowd shouting "get him out" too. Personally thought this was a bit over the top for shouting encouragment at an exhibition (he was after all only yelling out between shots), and the referee just settled on a firm rebuke. In fact it might have become more entertaining if we saw a few shenanigans from Higgins, as I'm sure thats what brought alot of the paying customers in on the night anyway!!
Anyhow someone apparently got out of their seat to have words with the "heckler", but although I didnt see it myself, he instead tripped up and hurtled head first down the stairs into the railings that overhang the balcony which saved him from dropping down on the table below!
While this was very nasty, it also meant another long break in play while he was attended to by the medics (the time was already about 10.20pm and they had only gotten through three frames) plus people were getting restless, especially as one or other of the players was tending to leave the arena for five minutes at the end of the frame.
Eventually with no real prospect of Higgins putting up a meaningful fight and both of them producing some pretty low quality snooker in the main, we upped sticks and left with a few frames scheduled still to play. To me the night was far too stop-start and never really took off at all, plus thought the match between the undoubted legends desperately needed to be taken a bit more light-heartedly by the competitors than it was.
I suppose its difficult given Higgins' fiery temperament and frail voice after his battle with illness, but perhaps White should have been a bit more interactive with the audience himself to somehow get it going. As it was as one punter commented to me on the way out "that was the worst £17.50 I've ever spent, we should ask for our money back". And in truth it was hard to disagree, better to remember these legends as they were then I feel rather than tarnish the memory nowadays. Virgo I understand doesnt often appear on the bill with these two, but he at least was a bit of a saving grace on the day, but even then a bit like watching a comedian reeling off old material you already knew, and the whole event seemed uninspired and lacking in urgency.
Anyhow hope I haven't put you all off Saturday lol
All the best
Rick