World Snooker Championships

[Fella]

A tournament that becomes more open every year IMO & therefore both more difficult and more fun to punt on.

O'Sullivan is the best right now but is very temperamental. If he had a strong personality he'd be unbeatable. But he hasn't. Anyway, I've had me free TGT £50 on O'Sullivan & won't be backing him any more than that.

The next 5 in the betting are all capable: Selby, Maguire & the much-improved Ali Carter have all been v good for the last year or two. Higgins & Murphy have both won it before & could do so again. All capable but none of them particularly scream out to be backed at the odds IMO.

It's a sunny afternoon & I fancy more of a long-odds punt, so I've had a nibble on these:

Ryan Day 34.0
Future champion IMO

Ricky Walden 95.0
Horrible draw (Selby in round one) but he's improving all the time & has already won a ranking tournament this year (beat O'Sullivan 10-8 in the final). I expect him to give Selby plenty to think about in R1 & if he beats him then 95 will look huge.

Michael Holt 510.0 (!)
Known as "Hitman Holt", not, unfortunately, because of his ability to knock out his opponents, rather it's because of his regrettable tendency to punch the table after a bad shot. This is a real longshot punt-in-the-dark as the price suggests & is based purely on the fact that he's a decent 25th in the rankings (& improving) &.......well at 510 all I'm risking is the price of a Racing Post for the chance of a grand. Stranger things have happened, after all, Joe Johnson won it once.

[Fella]

So far:

Ryan Day through in reasonable fashion & now trading @ 22

Ricky Walden eliminated. Showed against Selby that he had the ability but made too many costly mistakes & Selby is too good to do that against.

Michael Holt actually led John Higgins 4-2 at one point yesterday. He lost the last 3 frames to trail 4-5 going into today's deciding session. His odds would tumble if he managed to win but he may have blown his chance.

I've done a string of no-loss bets with PaddyP hoping to gain a £200 refund if any of them loses in a decider but no joy yet & in fact not one match has gone to a decider yet (very unusual). Have bet O'Sullivan & Ding Junhui on the same basis for the games that start today so am hoping for some close matches....

Edit: Holt now out too after a shocking display against a not-at-his-best Higgins who was there for the taking. Just Day left now then.

[Andy]

Day won his 2nd-round nicely & is now trading @ 12.5
.

Were you going to lay some off yet? Or try to trade it as the match goes on? Or just let it ride even? (but i assume since you are monitoring the odds you intend to trade it)

[Fella]

Were you going to lay some off yet? Or try to trade it as the match goes on? Or just let it ride even? (but i assume since you are monitoring the odds you intend to trade it)

To be honest I'll probably just let it ride unless he makes the semis (or possibly even the final).

Give's me an interest