It's that time of year again! Lets all lose each other some money with our ill informed and second rate opinions of snooker players. I'll start.

Judd Trump.

Terrible long distance match player in my humble opinion. Over aggro, very emotionally unstable, regularly turns off and disintegrates in fine fashion. OK in the new events where the whole tounrnament is settled over half a frame, but not one to back in the Worlds. He can easily win this tournament, but he has to stay together for weeks, which is a huge if.

Add to all of this how distorted the market becomes due to punters loving hyper aggro players and piling in non stop, and this looks a massive lay at 6.8ish.

Ronnie.

See above plus a long run of bad form and what appears to be a lack of hours on the practice table. Lay at 8s.

John Higgins.

Never ever right him off in this format. Looks a little short at 8.8ish but I would avoid.

Mark Selby.

Another solid runner who is certainly on the backing side, but seems too short at 9.2ish to my eyes. One to probably avoid, but back if you are going to do anything.

Neil Robertson.

Looks like the complete article to my eyes at this point in his career. His long potting is exceptional, he is winning very dirty often, and has become a truly top class, long format match player. Add the fact he has already taken this tournament down and clearly loves the place, and he looks great value at 11s. Back.

Ding Junhui.

Far too inconsistent. 12.5 is either way too shot or way too long, but would avoid him.

Mark Williams.

One of the hardest ones. I honestly believe he may have another big tournament in him, but he is still looking far from the form needed. My heart says avoid at 15ish, although my head sees this as a pretty big lay.

Shaun Murphy.

Way overpriced considering his ability and composure over long formats, and the fact he has won this before. Back at 18s.

Mark Allen.

22 seems a big price but would lay. Really has yet to show himself in majors - and particularly the longer formats.

Stephen Maguire.

Another to add to the massively inconsistent pile. Lay it if you are feeling brave.

Graham Dott.

Massive each way value, and in my opinion some value in the outright markets at 42s. Guy loves the world championship, never gives up, is very skilled long distance match player and generally well suited to the worlds. Back.

Can't see much else in way of value in remainding field. Liang Wenbo is one for the lottery fans at 200.

Shaun Murphy - probably playing the best snooker of his life right now, which is quite an accomplishment for a former world champion and world number one. If I ever did gambling, that's where my money would be.

Watched the welsh open final on Sunday and Ding played some amazing snooker in the final session. Short match though compared to the WC.

Been a long time since I've watched the gas though so I know exactly fak all.

+1. Top 3 match player with Selby and Higgins at the moment.
His form in the Welsh Open was pretty good, and think the odds are probably about right at the moment.
+1 - Good form at the masters, and on a fitness kick at the moment. Good value.

He's been in excellent form in the UK, Masters and lost 5-4 to Murphy in the Welsh Open quarters. Probably the best value imho.

Matthew Stevens was showing a glimmer of form in the Welsh Open too @ 50/1

how the hell has martin gould got to number 11 in the world

dunno when the seedings cutoff was, but the top half is higgins-bingham-dott-maguire-murphy-lee-carter-trump, bottom half is williams-ronnie-gould-robertson-ding-allen-stevens-selby. bottom half seems an awful, awful lot more exciting and better and as such i'd probably be backing a few in the top half to lay later (murphy and higgins look like good choices, and much as i like him i'll be laying the **** out of trump). +1 in ronnie looking like a really easy lay

I watch a lot of snooker. Martin Gould seems very good at it.

I think you're completely wrong here. I think the longer matches will actually suit Trump as he showed last year. Yes he's a little streaky, and can get emotional, but the longer matches give him some time to recover from that.
Okay.

I think Higgins looks weak this year so I doubt I'd bet on him.

This guy's your winner in my opinion.

After spending time playing in the US, I find it funny that people think Robertson plays dirty and/or slow. God, watch Glenn Atwell run a rack of 8-ball and then tell me that Neil Robertson plays slow.

Anyways, I agree that he's the whole package and could very easily win. It's between him and Selby I think.


As for the rest I don't disagree with any of your thinking, though I do think Ding is looking to do something big here soon. Murphy is a perplexing case to me as he seems to be just amazingly skilled, but he keeps losing! No idea what's going on there but at his price he's a good pick. Dott I wouldn't bet on with your money. The best longshot is probably Martin Gould.

Just to clarify, by 'dirty' I meant good old fashioned tough match/safety play, and not just trying to over aggro everything when difficult choices come up. Robertson is never very slow imo.

I think if you ask any expert (me), they would say the majority of players today are very aggressive, looking to get in and win in one visit and taking on shots that a few year back wouldn't be contemplated, so how anyone can rule Judd Trump out in that environment is beyond me. If he goes 4 or 5 down he could rattle off 4 or 5 in an hour to level, i think he proved that last year and has improved 10 fold since last year so he has to be treated with respect here again. Simples.

Ronnie , ok, huge talent and huge enigma, if he brings his A game (mental included) again has to be respected hugley.

Higgins will be there abouts once again and robertson also.

It's very hard to predict who will win as any one is capable of beating anyone nowadays on their day but i'll be backing Trump and Robertson and hoping for the best.

Graeme Dott as a bit of an outsider maybe.

Goodluck to everyone.

So the draw is done. Who's your money on now?

Lay Trump at 6.6 and Ronnie at 10s

Avoid Selby at 9.6

Higgins and Robertsons at 10ish both look like backs.

Back Dott e/w at 40ish

lol ronnie vs ebdon, that'll be hilarious

Due to a bad National (2nd by a nose!!!!!!!!) I've only got cash on Paddy Power now, and I'm taking these guys.

Higgins @ 9.0
Robertson @ 8.5
Selby @ 10.0
Murphy @ 13.0

gogogogogogo

PS anyone up for doing a sweep?

i feel dirty passing on ronnie @8 such a legend

I read that Ladbrokes will pay out on bets for the championship if your player hits a 147 at some point, got to add value to ronnie/ding and some others

Betting on number of centuries per match looks interesting.

I'm in for a pool if there's interest. I'm a micro baller though and can escrow if needed.

Ups.

lol glad the rocket smashed ebdon, karma for wasting 20 sec of my life per shot

Minute claim to fame - Neil Robertson is my very good friends cousin, so for the last few years have watched him play on regular occasions. Been a snooker fan since a child, and he is definitely one of the better players I've seen over the last 2 decades. IIRC he is occasionally prone to showboating shots at times when its not appropriate, but I think there has been less of that in the last few years.

Good luck anyone who is betting!