SNOOKER LOOPY: John Parrott says O’Sullivan is playing ‘God-like snooker’ in this tournament

By Josh Powell | Snooker World Championship

‘The Rocket’ Ronnie O’Sullivan has returned with a bang. Six months after announcing he was pulling out of every competition for the remainder of the season Ronnie has returned to the table to defend his World Championship. So far, it looks like he has never been away.

Some punters didn’t go near the pre-tournament odds of 8/1 on Ronnie fearing that a lack of time on the baize would have hampered him. A forgivable misjudgement. A handful of punters also avoided the 6/1, 11/2, 4/1, 9/4 and everything on the way down to evens. The Rocket is now 4/5 and the price is only going south.

Not practising makes perfect according to O’Sullivan who sailed through the early rounds and now has Stuart Bingham pretty much beat in the quarter-finals. The four-time World Champion hasn’t lost the ability to smash in long pots and build frame-winning breaks.

Ronnie would be the first man to retain the World Championship crown since Stephen Hendry in 1996 and you would be crazy not to back him. Since his debut in the World Championship two decades ago O’Sullivan has won more than 75 per cent of his matches and it will take something special for any of these men to stop him this year.

Shaun Murphy ELIMINATED

• Seven-time major finalist
• Four-time major winner including the 2005 World Championships
• Lost all three head-to-heads against Ronnie O’Sullivan
• Played O’Sullivan in the 2011 World Championship second round and was narrowly beaten 13-10

Judd Trump ELIMINATED

• Three-time major winner
• 2011 World Championship finalist
• The only man left in the competition with a positive record against O’Sullivan – beating him four times in seven meetings

Ricky Walden ELIMINATED

• Shanghai Masters winner in 2008
• Beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final that year
• Lost his only other meeting with The Rocket 9-5 in the 2006 UK Championship

Michael White ELIMINATED

• Never previously made it past the last 32 in a ranking event
• World number 50
• Has never previously faced O’Sullivan

Barry Hawkins

• World number 14
• He has never reached the final of a major tournament
• Has face Ronnie on three occasions and never won
• Has never been beaten by more than two frames against The Rocket

Can anyone stop the Rocket at the Crucible? It would take a brave man to say no and there will be queues of ‘snooker experts’ down the pub waiting to tell you that 4/5 is still plenty of value. The Showman is prone to the occasional breakdown at the table but with every frame he plays that seems less and less likely to happen this week.

The Rocket’s fuse has been lit.

• Find out what price Ronnie currently is and take a punt here
  

World Snooker Championships, Sunday, 10am. Live on BBC, Eurosport

Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott

This could be an absolute grueller of a match for a Sunday morning. We know that Peter Ebdon (6/4) has a relentless, grinding style of play and Graeme Dott is similar.

I expect Dott – who’s in slightly better form – to come through at 8/15. But it won’t be easy. This will be a very hard game. It’s going to be a 10-8 or 10-9.

• Betting: Peter Ebdon v Graeme Dott

John Higgins v Mark Davis

Mark Davis is a 5/2 shot to beat John Higgins – but he’s no mug. Even those he’s a top 16 player he had to qualify this year because Higgins is seeded No 1.

While I expect Higgins to come through – this will be a good test for him and I’m looking at a 10-7 /10-8 match.

• Betting: John Higgins v Mark Davis 

Will there be a 147 at the Crucible?

I’m sure there’ll be a maximum and at 11/10 it’s a fair bet as you will have an interest for 17 days. They’re long sessions here. The first round are best of 19 frames and then they go to best of 25 for the second round so there’s plenty of time to get the cueing action going.

With the game’s best players at Sheffield and the tournament set up for them to shine – I’m convinced we’ll see a maximum break.

• Betting: World Championship Snooker coupon 

We’re in for one of the most open and exciting World Snooker Championships in a long time says John Parrott and he wasn’t even being sarcastic. In an exclusive column, the 1991 World Champion looks ahead to fascinating fortnight at the Crucible.

This is the most open World Championships I’ve ever seen. There’s a dozen players who could win it and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

The changes to the tour schedule have made it more difficult to predict because everyone is getting the chance to play themselves into form. When there were less events, players were getting knocked out early on and not playing much competitive snooker. It was easier to look at the form book and see who was playing well and who wasn’t. But now, week in week out, we’ve got different winners. It’s making picking a winner more difficult, but it’s great for the entertainment.

Not for the first time in his career, Ronnie O’Sullivan (5/1) is going to the centre of attention. I’ve been told he’s been practicing very hard and is in good shape. But practice and matchplay are two very different things. He’s going to be very rusty when it comes to performing in the glare of the spotlight and that’s got to be a concern for anyone backing him to win world title number five.

A lot will depend on his first round match and how much pressure he’ll be under. All he needs to do is get himself over the line by winning the first game and his confidence will grow. There’s no easy draws in the World Championship, but he’s done alright by landing Marcus Campbell, particularly when you look at some of the names he might have got. Marcus is a very good player, but his highest break in qualifying was just 52 and he hasn’t shined very often in front of the TV cameras.

RUSTY ROCKET? Is four time world champion battle hardened enough to win title number five? (pic: Inpho)

If Ronnie gets past that first game, who knows, but it’s asking a hell of a lot to be out for that long and to go and win. There’s been some issues away from the table for Ronnie and that’s entirely his business, but the bottom line is he’s coming back to the Crucible, the place will sell out and it will be buzzing whenever he’s playing. That can only be good for snooker. If he wins without having had his cue out of the case in a competitive match for the best part of 12 months, it will be one of the all-time great achievements in the history of the World Championships.

When it comes to picking a winner, I’m finding it very tough. Even looking beyond Ronnie as some people will be tempted to do, you’ve got the nucleus of ten or so who could easily do it. Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, John Higgins, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy and a whole host of other experienced players who know how to win tournaments. They all seem to take turns beating each other so it’s hard to pick one name out of the bunch and say ‘yeah, he’s definitely the one to beat’.

The one I’m going for is Neil Robertson. He’s in the bottom half of the draw and there’s a reason that’s called the ‘half of doom’. It’ll be tough, but after Adam Scott winning the Masters, Australian sport might be on a bit of a roll. He’s in the harder section of the two, but if he gets through that, he’ll be battle-hardened for the latter stages and then it’ll be hard to stop him.

My more speculative bet is Shaun Murphy. It’s strange saying it about a guy who has already won a World Championship, but it’s about time he started playing properly here. The draw hasn’t been too unkind to him He’s got O’Sullivan, Trump and Higgins on his side of the draw and each of them could be vulnerable. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him reach a final and maybe even win it.

• Betting: World Championship Snooker coupon

ACE IN THE PACK: Judd Trump is favourite for the Masters title (pic: Getty)

By Andrew Robinson

The Masters is hotting up as the competition has reached the quarter-final stages, with some of the world’s top players set to go head-to-head in the run in to the final at Alexandra Palace.

Today sees the first two quarter finals taking place, with Neil Robertson playing Mark Allen and John Higgins going up against Shaun Murphy.

Robertson has been in great form in the tournament so far, but was put under huge pressure by Ding Junhui in the first round, having to come back from 5-3 down to take a tense 6-5 victory.

The Aussie really wants to pick up the title as screamed “You beauty!” after sinking the clinching red.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods when he rolls in a 12-footer to win a major, they all show emotion. It’s good to see passion.

The Aussie is the defending champion at The Masters, and is on offer at 9/2 with Paddy Power to retain his title.

He’ll be taking on Allen in the quarter-final, with the Northern Irishman in fine form after a 6-2 win over Mark Davis. He’s 6/5 to knock out the champion and 8/1 to go all the way and lift the trophy.

Snooker’s hottest property, Judd Trump also made it through to the quarter-final stage, despite a huge scare against Barry Dawkins. The Ace was 5-3 down, even though he was wearing £2,000 shoes, but he got his potting together and claimed a tight 6-5 win.

Barry scored pretty heavily today and I don’t know how I have turned it around. I kept breaking down and the nudges were not happening for me today but I am glad to get through.

He’s 3/1 favourite to win outright but to do so he’s got to get past Graeme Dott, the former world champion. The Pocket Dynamo struggled against fellow Scot Steven Maguire, but scraped through 6-5 and is looking to get his career back on track after some lean years.

Mark Selby is into the quarters and looking for his third triumph at The Masters. He takes on Mark Williams, who is still doing it at the top of the game and looking for his third win in the prestigious event.

The pair came through tough opening matches and will be confident heading into the quarter-final. Williams is one of the outsiders to win the event, priced at 9/1, but his experience means he can never be counted out.

Selby came back against Stuart Bingham in the first round and is second favourite to reclaim the title at 4/1 – alongside John Higgins.

The tournament has been an exciting one so far and looks like it will get better as the top players in the world go head-to-head. You can even have a flutter on the players providing a 147 in the matches between 12 and 14/1.

• Betting: Masters Snooker 

Football

Today is not just a normal Tuesday because it is getting a healthy sprinkling of FA Cup magic. There are nine fixtures in all tonight as 18 teams look to progress to the fourth round of the cup via a replay. Six Premier League teams are in action including an all top-flight affair as West Brom host QPR.

Wigan avoided a shock defeat in their first game with Bournemouth at the DW Stadium. Now back at Deans Court Bournemouth look great value to surprise the Latics who are struggling for wins. Stoke and Sunderland are both odds on to beat Crystal Palace and Bolton respectively whereas Fulham have a tricky test away to Blackpool, with the winner facing either West Ham or Manchester United in round four.

Man City are the 4/1 favourites to lift old ‘big ears’ with defending champions Chelsea 9/2 to retain their crown. Brighton and Leicester are the biggest priced sides outside of the top-flight at 80/1.

• FA Cup replays: Banana skins galore for the Premier League teams
• Betting: FA Cup coupon
• Betting: FA Cup outright

Tennis

Andy Murray has laid down his marker for the Australian Open in Melbourne taking little over an hour and a half to beat Robin Haase in straight sets. The British number one won 6-3 6-1 603 in a one-sided affair as he took apart his Dutch opponent. The US Open and Olympic champ will now face Joao Sousa in round two.

You can watch and bet on all the games down under live on PPtv.

Murray is the 11/4 second favourite to win another Grand Slam with Novak Djokovic the clear favourite at 10/11 in the market. 

• Betting: Men’s Australian Open
• Betting: Ladies: Australian Open  

Snooker

World number two Judd Trump takes to the baize this afternoon in the Masters Snooker as he takes on Barry Hawkins at the Alexandra Palace. The 2011 UK Championship winner is aiming for another successful year as he attempts to take back the number one ranking spot off Mark Selby.

Later on this evening Shaun Murphy is a red-hot odds-on favourite to progress to the next round by beating world number 13 Ricky Walden.

If there is a century break scored in the final frame of any match, Paddy Power will refund losing single bets on that game.

• Betting: Masters snooker coupon

Racing

Today’s racing comes from Lingfield Park, Ffos Las and Wolverhampton.

George Baker’s Double Dash won on his only previous run at Lingfield. Which means he could be unbeatable on this track or, like Prince William, he may just have struck it lucky on his first try. In which case we suggest he enjoys the trophy he has and doesn’t push his luck. Maybe suggesting the trophies sister might want to join them on his birthday. Double Dash can make it two for two in the 3.35pm and crown off a successful days racing.

• Betting: All Monday’s cards, form and odds
• Betting: Future Racing & Cheltenham 2013

Football

Andy Gray and a whole host of punters crashed in on the 4/1 Manchester double yesterday as the top two teams continued to rack up the points. League leaders United beat Liverpool 2-1 at Old Trafford with Robin Van Persie scoring his 21st goal in all competitions this season. City kept the gap at seven points by beating Arsenal 2-0 thanks to goals from James Milner and Edin Dzeko.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s side are the clear 2/7 favourites to lift the title with City 10/3 to retain their crown. Roberto Mancini believes if they are within four or five points of their closest rivals come the Manchester Derby on April 6th then they can still win the league.

Three goals in the last nine minutes meant Reading came back from 2-0 down to beat West Brom 3-2 at home and move within three points of safety. Aston Villa’s 1-0 defeat against Southampton drops them into the bottom three and Paul Lambert’s side are now odds-on for relegation at 10/11.   

• Betting: Premier League outright
• Betting: Premier League relegation
• Betting: Premier League coupon

Tennis

Defending champion and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic has established himself as the best player in the world and is even money with Paddy Power to win his third Australian Open on the bounce – his fourth in total. Serena Williams is back to her brilliant best and is Paddy Power’s 5/6 favourite to win her sixth Australian Open title in Melbourne in an event you can watch and bet live on PPtv. 

• Betting: Men’s Australian Open
• Betting: Ladies: Australian Open  

Snooker

Reigning Masters champ Neil Robertson survived an early scare to get through to round two of the tournament. The Thunder from Down Under trailed Ding Junhui 5-3 but recovered to rack up some healthy breaks of 100, 62 and 90 to win 6-5.

The action from the Alexandra Palace continues today from 1.00pm with John Higgins facing Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire taking on Graeme Dott.

If there is a century break scored in the final frame of any match, Paddy Power will refund losing single bets on that game.

• Betting: Masters snooker coupon

Racing

Paddy smashed through the half-a-million euro barrier on Saturday and has refunded  €575k to punters with his Money-Back madness on all losers in two races every Saturday in January.

The boss must have been on another sugar rush at the weekend as he emptied his pockets to punters and refunded the 12.50pm at Lingfield and the 2.25pm at Warwick in another Saturday bonanza.

Somehow Paddy is still getting away with it and has promised to refund two more races on the last two Saturdays of January. With more than half-a-million already given back to punters Paddy is doing a sterling job of curing those January blues.

Today’s racing comes from Lingfield Park, Plumpton and Wolverhampton.

Marco Botti has been banging in the winners of late and has three runners at Wolverhampton today. The Newmarket trainer has saddled five winners from 15 runners for a 33 per cent strike rate in the last fortnight and will look to add to that tally with First Sargeant in the 3.20pm, Cheektocheek in the 3.50pm and Shockingdancer in the 4.20pm.

• Betting: All Monday’s cards, form and odds
• Betting: Future Racing & Cheltenham 2013

Football

It may have lacked the glamour and wow-factor of that win over Barcelona, but last night Celtic Park celebrated the hard-earned win over Spartak Moscow with similar jubilation. The Celts’ 2-1 victory over the Russian side combined with Benfica’s admittedly rather unfortunate draw with a disinterested Barcelona at the Camp Nou ensured that the Glasgow club will be in the knockout stages of the Champions League for the first time since 2008.

Gary Hooper put them in the lead before the visitors equalised through Ari, but a Kris Commons penalty that got uncomfortably familiar with the crossbar saw them through to the Last 16. Having been given little chance of qualification when the groups were drawn, Celtic are now 100/1 for the Champions League, substantially shorter than the 500/1 on offer back in September.

Elsewhere, the champions are out. Chelsea upheld their end of the bargain by giving Nordsjaelland a solid 6-1 tonking, but Shahktar never looked like beating Juventus and providing the other part of the equation necessary for Chelsea’s unlikely progress. The good news is that Fernando Torres scored twice, but the bad news is people are taking it as a sign that things are about to change, which kind of tells you the level of straws we’re clutching at. The Pensioners get the mixed blessing of a place in the Europa League, a competition they last graced with their presence when it was in the UEFA Cup in the pre-Abramovich days of the 2002/03 season.

Manchester United lost at home to CFR Cluj of Romania. This is the bit when you expect talk of a weakened side, but it really wasn’t too weakened. Eight of United’s starting XI are first team regulars and will be hoping for a game in the Manchester derby on Sunday.

Tonight, it’s the last matchday in the group stages of the Champions League poorer, younger and less attractive little brother. Liverpool need to win in Udinese to progress, but a draw could suffice if Young Boys fail to beat Anzhi Makhachkala. The Reds are 19/20 to get that win.

Newcastle already know they’ll be in the Round of 32, but their game against Bordeaux will decide who goes through as group winners. The Magpies are 7/2 to pull off a surprise win in France.

Tottenham have passage to the knockout stage in their own hands. A win over Panathinaikos at White Hart Lane would see them through and at odds of 1/3, they’re expected to deliver.

• Europa League match betting
• Champions League outright betting

Horse Racing

Frankie Dettori has been handed a six month worldwide ban for failing a drugs test as Longchamp last September. It means he’ll be unavailable to ride in, amongst plenty of other things, the Dubai World Cup, the Guineas meeting at Newmarket, the Chester Cup meeting and the Dante Stakes meeting at York. He will return in time for the Derby meeting at Epsom.

The Italian jockey has accepted is punishment and a statement released via his solicitor, Christopher Stewart-Moore, speaks about the regret caused by his actions. “He accepts that he has let down the sport he loves and all those involved with it, as well as the wider public, But most of all – and this is his greatest regret – he has let down his wife and children,” explained Stewart-Moore.

The Frankie-less world of racing continues today with meetings from Leicester, Wincanton, Lingfield, Clonmel, Vaal, Meydan, & Pau.

• Betting: All Thursday’s cards, form and odds
• Betting: Ante-post prices on the Tingle Creek, King George and Cheltenham 2013 

Snooker

The shocks continue to come at the UK Championship. Last night three time world champion, John Higgins was knocked out at the hands of Mark Davis. The Celtic supporting Wishaw native could have been forgiven for having other things on his mind for the night, but he was hardly distracted, racking up the seventh 147 break of his career en route to a narrow 6-5 loss.

Elsewhere, 17 year olds Belgian prodigy, Luca Brecel secured his first appearance in the quarter-final of a ranking event. He overcame Mark King by a scoreline of 6-4 and will face former world champions, Shaun Murphy in the last eight. He’s 12/5 to pull off an upset when that make begins at around 7pm this evening. Neil Robertson is the 7/4 favourite to win the event outright with Murphy a 9/2 chance and Stuart Bingham third favourite at 11/2.

• UK Championship Outright Betting
• UK Championship match betting

You can never rule out fans’ favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan but you can never really trust him either. That’s the view from snooker legend John Parrott as he gives his tips for the 2012 World Snooker Championship at the Crucible which kicks off on Saturday.

Three-time champion O’Sullivan has a particularly tricky opener against his old foe Peter Ebdon. If he wins that, O’Sullivan could face two-time champion Mark Williams in the second round.

BBC analyst and pal of Paddy Power punters John Parrott reckons the title will go to again to John Higgins – ahead of Mark Allen, last year’s beaten finalist Judd Trump, or O’Sullivan

Click on our exclusive tip cheat sheet below for Parrott’s Picks on the SWC and why he thinks Higgins will emerge on top.

The 17-day event concludes with a final held over two days on Sunday, May 6 and Monday May 7. Paddy Power will be streaming all 31 matches from the World Championships – see our home page for more.

• Download Parrot’s Tip Sheet Here
• Crucible Money-Back Special

World championship first-round draw in full

John Higgins (Sco) v Liang Wenbo (Chn)
Mark Selby (Eng) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)
Mark Williams (Wal) v Liu Chuang (Chn)
Judd Trump (Eng) v Dominic Dale (Wal)
Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Jamie Jones (Wal)
Neil Robertson (Aus) v Ken Doherty (Ire)
Ding Junhui (Chn) v Ryan Day (Wal)
Stephen Maguire (Sco) v Luca Brecel (Bel)
Graeme Dott (Sco) v Joe Perry (Eng)
Mark Allen (NI) v Cao Yupeng (Chn)
Martin Gould (Eng) v David Gilbert (Eng)
Stephen Lee (Eng) v Andrew Higginson (Eng)
Ali Carter (Eng) v Mark Davis (Eng)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Peter Ebdon (Eng)
Matthew Stevens (Wal) v Marco Fu (HK)
Stuart Bingham (Eng) v Stephen Hendry (Sco)

“Barry’s just there to make money for himself; it doesn’t really matter about the players. The whole tradition of the game is going to pot. ”

“I’m far too busy to worry about silly little boys making silly little comments.”

Jaysus, snooker’s getting a little bit hairy, isn’t it? All too often fans of the sport are too reliant on sound bites or knob jokes from Ronnie O’Sullivan in order to make snooker a little more interesting. Right Ronnie, we get it, you’re going to retire sometime in the next 50 years. However, at the UK Championships Mark Allen and Barry Hearn certainly made people sit up and pay attention to the sport again. Their rather public tête-à-tête about the direction of the game led to many column inches and raised the profile of the sport above even Balotelli’s antics or tiddlywinks.

Those who regard Hearn as some kind of business genius may even suggest that he engineered the whole fiasco as a PR stunt. It’s not that far-fetched. We’re going to payout on the world ending in 2012 shortly. In December Hearn also patted himself on the back when he told the BBC; “I’ve done an amazing job with snooker.”

Allen’s point is one that should be rightly dismissed; perhaps not in such a belittling manner. Trying to retain the “tradition” of the game is the anchor that will keep it weighted in the past. The sport needs to evolve. While the good old days meant we could stay up till 2am on a school night, time is precious to people and they seek to be entertained. Whether that’s walk-on girls or someone semi-naked walking around the table holding up a card with the frame number, we don’t know. [plug] What does add to the experience is that you can now watch snooker live streaming during this year’s Masters on PaddyPower.com. Whether you’re at work or the latest episode of Glee is occupying your primary TV, drop on by to Paddy and you won’t miss a second of the action. [unplug]

Getting in on the ‘I’m so bored to tears, I’m going to hang up my waistcoat’ buzz, Ali Carter has admitted this season could be his last. Mark Williams and Ronnie O’Sullivan have been thrown in Twitter jail by the governing body. And John Virgo is still repeating himself during commentary. So, while most things that are happening off the baize is interesting, is it the same old sh*t on it?

With no one player dominating the game akin to the Davis or Hendry epochs, the Masters opens with four players vying for favouritism in sport’s elite competition. Ronnie’s inconsistency and ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude suggests supporting the now world number 16 would be a fruitless endeavour. He faces Ding Junhui in the opening round. Despite the psychological gamesmanship of the past between the two, the 24 year old claims to be mentally stronger and capable of beating the Englishman. In the opening match at the Ally Pally, Ding at 6/4 is definitely worth backing.

Judd Trump is the game’s shining light. His victory in the UK Championship capped of a highly successful 2011 and his meteoric rise through the rankings has seen him heralded, along with Mark Allen, as the ‘Future of the Game’. So, no more Jimmy White Wild Cards into events then. If Allen and Trump get over their first round matches, a repeat of the UK Championship final is on the cards in the quarter-final. That’s certainly a match to look forward to [plug] and it will be live on Paddypower.com. Did we mention that? [unplug]

As for the tournament outright; arguably, John Higgins is on the easier side of the draw. With three of the joint 6/1 favourites in the top half of the draw, the Scot is 13/5 to reach the final. For patriotic reasons and to strengthen the case for Scottish independence, Alex Salmond could be tempted by that. So long as Higgins hasn’t been to the Ukraine lately.