2019 World Snooker Championship

[snookerball]

To be honest I think Higgins future game would be best served by going out in this match.

If we wins the final he equals Ronnie's record, and you can be damn sure Ronnie would want to get that 6th title more than perhaps he has in the past few years since he really wanted to win back in 2012/2013 to join Davis and Hendry and leave Higgins slightly behind. (not personally at Higgins, but record books speak). It would make the next few years getting to the final tougher with a Ronnie who really cares about the worlds again.

If he loses in the final I can genuinely see him retiring. He's already talked about how he's had much more respect for Jimmy White now he's lost two finals in a row and can't understand how he didn't quit the game having lost 6. The difference between Jimmy and John is that John already has a decent record of winning the worlds, having won 4 finals. Whilst I'm sure players don't care about this stuff as much as us, going from 4 time winner to 4 time winner and potentially 4 time runner up would be a bit of a knock.

Losing in the semis probably wouldn't hurt so much in the long run, it would give him enough confidence to know he can still compete with the best without falling at the final hurdle again and all the conflated issues.

[Billy]

You wanna be right or you wanna be Mystic Meg?

Neither, especially the former.

More like Septic Peg

You're not wrong.

[travisbickle]

To be honest I think Higgins future game would be best served by going out in this match.

If we wins the final he equals Ronnie's record, and you can be damn sure Ronnie would want to get that 6th title more than perhaps he has in the past few years since he really wanted to win back in 2012/2013 to join Davis and Hendry and leave Higgins slightly behind. (not personally at Higgins, but record books speak). It would make the next few years getting to the final tougher with a Ronnie who really cares about the worlds again.

If he loses in the final I can genuinely see him retiring. He's already talked about how he's had much more respect for Jimmy White now he's lost two finals in a row and can't understand how he didn't quit the game having lost 6. The difference between Jimmy and John is that John already has a decent record of winning the worlds, having won 4 finals. Whilst I'm sure players don't care about this stuff as much as us, going from 4 time winner to 4 time winner and potentially 4 time runner up would be a bit of a knock.

Losing in the semis probably wouldn't hurt so much in the long run, it would give him enough confidence to know he can still compete with the best without falling at the final hurdle again and all the conflated issues.

You might as well be talking Japanese to me mate :biggrin-new:

[Odrl]

It's weird that losing three finals in a row could have a such a psychological effect on a player, especially someone who wasn't even one of the big favourites in any of the last three Championships. We talk about Hawkins' great record at the Crucible in recent years, which is basically a series of SF defeats, but somehow losing in the final on a consistent basis isn't seen in the same kind of positive light, especially by the player himself.

Even if Higgins does go on to lose the final, which is just one of several possibilities at this point, he has to remember the circumstances in which this has happened. He wasn't the favourite who threw good opportunities to win the title away, he actually exceeded the expectations of most snooker fans by putting together three good runs, while most of his rivals underperformed. For me, the players who should be way more devastated by their performances at the Crucible over the last three years are O'Sullivan, Robertson, Murphy and Allen. Not a single SF between them. :wink:

[peterpackage]

If Gilbert was leading 14-10 i would say it would be 50/50. At 13-11 behind, Higgins is favourite

Hopefully Gilbert can get some good advice overnight, but it's still a lot of pressure on him and if he does inch close to the finishing line, he will find it hard to get over it

Judd needs to step it up and go into the final session with a commanding lead

[Billy]

I'll be truly gutted if at least one of these underdogs fails to reach the final.

[peterpackage]

Overall, would you say as a tournament whole, this is the worst standard of snooker seen at the Worlds for a while ?

Very very few one visit kills

Hendry could have come out of retirement and won this year !

[arsalanjami]

what do you guys think of this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYP655z1ryo

[Mark187187]

Overall, would you say as a tournament whole, this is the worst standard of snooker seen at the Worlds for a while ?

Very very few one visit kills

Hendry could have come out of retirement and won this year !

No. On course to smash the centuries record this year. There was some real quality in the early rounds which there often isn't, especially from the qualifiers and underdogs.

[Mark187187]

To be honest I think Higgins future game would be best served by going out in this match.

If we wins the final he equals Ronnie's record, and you can be damn sure Ronnie would want to get that 6th title more than perhaps he has in the past few years since he really wanted to win back in 2012/2013 to join Davis and Hendry and leave Higgins slightly behind. (not personally at Higgins, but record books speak). It would make the next few years getting to the final tougher with a Ronnie who really cares about the worlds again.

If he loses in the final I can genuinely see him retiring. He's already talked about how he's had much more respect for Jimmy White now he's lost two finals in a row and can't understand how he didn't quit the game having lost 6. The difference between Jimmy and John is that John already has a decent record of winning the worlds, having won 4 finals. Whilst I'm sure players don't care about this stuff as much as us, going from 4 time winner to 4 time winner and potentially 4 time runner up would be a bit of a knock.

Losing in the semis probably wouldn't hurt so much in the long run, it would give him enough confidence to know he can still compete with the best without falling at the final hurdle again and all the conflated issues.

That's nonsense. This could feasibly be Higgins last chance to win his 5th title. There's no way a loss in the semis is better than that.

Ronnie wants to win every year, whatever he says. What Ronnie wants or does has no impact whatsoever on Higgins record. If Higgins gets 5, that's better than having 4, how can that make his record look worse?

[snookerball]

No. On course to smash the centuries record this year. There was some real quality in the early rounds which there often isn't, especially from the qualifiers and underdogs.

I'd take Selby out in favour of White but apart from that spot on.

[Mark187187]

I'd take Selby out in favour of White but apart from that spot on.

I don't even know what that means. What does White (Jimmy, Michael?) have to do with the standard of play in this years tournament?

[snookerball]

That's nonsense. This could feasibly be Higgins last chance to win his 5th title. There's no way a loss in the semis is better than that.

Ronnie wants to win every year, whatever he says. What Ronnie wants or does has no impact whatsoever on Higgins record. If Higgins gets 5, that's better than having 4, how can that make his record look worse?

I said losing another one would make Higgins recorded look worse.

I'm also not convinced it' his last chance to win, how many of us thought we could (potentially) see him in 3 back to back finals in his early 40s?

[Mark187187]

I said losing another one would make Higgins recorded look worse.

I'm also not convinced it' his last chance to win, how many of us thought we could (potentially) see him in 3 back to back finals in his early 40s?

Losing in the Semis is worse on his record than losing in the final though. And it means he has zero chance of lifting the title. I can't think of any reason Higgins losing today is better than him winning.

Higgins has said he has considered retiring this season. It could be his last season win or lose. His last world title was 2011. In all likelyhood this is his best chance to lift another title. His game has been in steady decline and his form has been poor all season.

[kayen147]

Morning all, everyone seems running out of gas at this stage of the tournament. i dont think trump will have another shot like this to finally become world champion.