Selby after Hunter's record

Mark Selby hopes to match Paul Hunter’s achievement by winning the Masters three times in four years.

The Jester from Leicester defends his title in snooker’s most prestigious invitation tournament next month.

Selby has an amazing record in the Masters, winning it on his debut in 2008 and again last year, and reaching the final in 2009.

In all, he has won 11 of the 12 matches he has played in the event.

This season’s tournament runs from January 9 to 16 at Wembley Arena and Leicester’s Selby hopes to get level with the late Hunter, who lifted the trophy in 2001, 2002 and 2004.

“To win it for a third time in four years and match Paul’s achievement would be brilliant,” said Selby.

“I’ve got a very good record in the event, I love playing at Wembley and it tends to bring the best out of me.

“The atmosphere in the last two finals against Ronnie O’Sullivan is the best I’ve ever played in.

“Ronnie beat me in 2009 then I beat him last year, so it would be great to meet him in the final for a third time.

“The public might start to get bored of seeing us in the final every year, but I wouldn’t mind!”

Selby believes that the strength of the field makes the Masters harder than ever to win.

“The players are so sharp now because we’ve had a lot more tournaments, so the standard is higher than ever,” said the 27-year-old.

“Plus you’ve got the likes of John Higgins and Mark Williams right back in form, as they showed at the UK Championship.

“John has proved time and time again what a class player he is, and I never doubted that he would be back winning tournaments.

“There’s a very strong group of younger players like myself, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy who are all well capable of winning the big tournaments.

“I’ve been consistent this season and won a couple of smaller events, but I would love to go all the way at the Masters.”

Selby faces Mark King in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday, January 9 at 1.30pm.

Shock exit

Ronnie O'sullivan crashes out, of this years UK Championships in Telford. Ronnie who played Stuart Bingham, who is ranked at 23 in World, shouldn't have stood a chance against Ronnie.
   Ronnie however never looked at though he was truly in the match, just looking at him sat in the chair showed his mind was anywhere but on the match and the shots he took showed that. Stuart Bingham was two frames up as soon as the match started and though Ronnie clawed it back to 6-6 by the mid session interval, he didn't return to the table any clearer is mind on potting skill. Leaving Staurt to a relatively easy win at 9-6 to see him safely into the second round.

Holt Ends Higgins winning streak

Michael Holt won the biggest title of his career so far by beating John Higgins 4-3 in the final of Euro Players Tour Championship event six in Prague.

The World No 42 from Nottingham, a pro for 14 years, ended a run of 13 consecutive victories for Higgins, who returned to competitive snooker in style last week by winning EPTC5 in Germany.

Holt, age 32, became the 12th different winner in 12 events on the PTC series and leapt from 96th place on the Order of Merit into the top 24, thereby qualifying for the Grand Finals in March. He goes home with 10,000 Euros and is 2,000 ranking points better off.

"I've always said that I can play the game and I'm good enough to win things. In fact I stopped saying it because people thought I was lying," said Holt, who has never been beyond the quarter-finals of a full ranking event. "I just needed some confidence and to be able to handle the situation when it mattered.

"I did that today - I didn't get nervous or twitch a ball in the final, I felt great. I couldn't have had a tougher draw as I had to beat Stephen Maguire, Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy to get to the final. It's definitely the best moment of my career and hopefully I can kick on now and get up the rankings."

Holt dedicated victory to his dad Mick, who is recovering from a stroke he suffered two months ago. "He's very poorly and it's going to take him a long time to get better," said Holt. "He'll dig in like I did today. I can't wait to take the trophy home and show it to him."

Murphy finished top of the Order of Merit despite losing 4-3 in the semi-finals to Holt, from 3-1 up.

The full list of the 24 qualifiers for the PTC Grand Finals will be announced shortly.

The Hitman Floors Murphy

Michael Holt the Hitman, made a powerful come back in his match against Shaun Murphy he was 3-1 down and looked as though once again he had come so far but was to fail reaching a place in the final. Michael Came back hard and ended up winning 4-3 to book his place in the final against John Higgins. If the Hitman beats John Higgins he will earn himself a place in the top 24 in the order of merit.  

Hotline to cut Bribes

The John Higgins case is still a bleeding wound for the WPBSA, his future is now forever tarnished with doubts of his game play and whether or not he has thrown a game for money.  As Higgins returned the professional game play in Hamm at the EPTC 5 event, the WPBSA launched its anti- corruption hotline. This means that players can report any suspicious activity that could damage the snooker business, its credibility and transparency or even the honesty of a certain snooker player.
The WPBSA disciplinary chief David Douglas said: "It is a hotline and email service for the players that is anonymous or otherwise. The players can use it to report suspicious activities or to inquire about information about the rules and regulations. It is a case of the WPBSA being pro-active and making sure we are not arrogant to think that corruption is not a part, or could not be a part, of the sport."
 The integrity unit sounds like a great idea and will hopefully bring back the well respected name of the gentlemans sport, but there will always be the shadow of dout and with two players still being under suspicion but being aloowed to play, can th egame be fully cleaned up?

Higgins beats Murphy

 

The EPTC in Hamm welcomed John Higgings back to form as though the last 6 or so months haven't happened. Though fans are less than impressed at his return to the game, after casing it into disrepute, due to taking pay offs to throw games. Higgins returned to take the EPTC number one as he beat Shaun Murphy 4-2, looking throughout his seven matches as a pure winner, he really does have the fighting winning spirit back but does he still have the fans? That's an unknown at the moment.

Power Snooker - Ali Carter V's Mark Selby

Two equally matched players, face each in the new battle which is Power snooker, after watching Ronnie O'Sullivan see off Luca Brecel, the crowd began to realise that the tides had changed and that now, noise is more than accepted. So on came the on slaught of crowd interaction and abuse. Ali Carter took a healthy lead  from the start, as a clearly tired Mark Selby seemed to struggle to get into the balls. As the half an hour ticked down Mark slowly but surely started to catch up on Ali, it then became a battle of wits. Ali didn't turn to saftey play to waste his time on the table, he instead decided to waste some of his 20 second shot time to walk round the table before having to run back to the balk, to take a shot which was basically a shot to nothing, putting Mark Selby back in the balls, not that he had any time to fix the deficit in scores, this lead to the crowd chanting cheat at Ali when he came back to the table, to finsih the winner. 

Power Snooker

The tension is building as Barry Hearn's Power Snooker takes place at Indigo London 02 arena and TV rights belong to ITV4. Eight specially chosen players will take part in the revolution, which is set to interest younger viewers with a quick game of snooker something like crickets 20 20 matches.
  There will be 9 red balls set in a diamond formation, with the middle ball being the power ball, when the first player breaks off two or more balls must hit the cushion or the next player take turn. Points are what count not frames, when the power ball is potted, every ball in a two minute, power play are worth double. Double points can also be won if the cue ball is in the power zone when it is struck to hit a ball.
   The eight chosen players are all well known and from all sectors for the world rankings, players include World Number one Neil Robertson, Allister Carter, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui, Jimmy White and Belgium's wonder kid fifteen year old Luca Brecel. Favourites have to be Ronnie O'sullivan and Mark Selby, with strong competition from Ali Carter and Neil Robertson. 
   Ronnie is re known for his power play so this game should him down to the ground, with a half an hour match there is little time for the Rocket to become bored.  Mark is the also a nine ball pool player, so he is used to having less balls on the table, he is also quick and powerful around the table.  Ali Carter is an unknown contender, he is strong and has recently won the Shanghai Masters, but he isn't always a completer on the table, hopefully the shorter games will appeal to his mind frame.  Luca, Jimmy, Shaun and Neil are all unknowns on how they will play as they are all known for playing fast and furious from time to time, but steady and cautious at others.
  Another counterpart to be dealt with by both players and a TV audience is the noise factor, for power snooker the audience are not expected to stay quiet, it is all about shouting out and interacting with the players, whether or not this will be off putting is yet to be seen.

Ali Carter pulls out of the EPTC 3

Ali Carter the World Number 2, has announced today that he will not be taking part in this weekends EPTC 3 event in Russelsheim, Germany.  Allister has stated that he wants to prepare for next weeks power snooker event and for the EPTC4 in Gloucester.

Carter told 110sport tv:
“The last week in October is going to be extremely busy so I’ve decided to withdraw from this weekend’s event, I hope it will give me the chance to prepare properly for what I consider to be two important events as well as giving me a chance to spend a bit more time with my family.”

Ali Carter officially named world number 2

Ali Carter has been officially named World Snooker number 2, the rankinsg which update now more often than they used too, means that rankings are based on game on game performance rather than yearly performance. But after a flying start to Captain Carter's seasons after he won the Rowe Shanghai Masters, have scored him enough ranking points to safely root him close to the top, even though his performance at the world open meant that he failed to make it in the last 32.

“Being ranked as second in the world is great. I don’t feel that the rankings mean as much as they used to with the three cut-off points during the season however you always aspire to reach the top of your sport and I have almost been able to do that,” Carter went on to discuss, his dissapointment at missing out on the world open top spot.

“It was also bit of a rush between the two tournaments. I wasn’t back from China until late on the Monday and then wasn’t really back in the land of the living until the Wednesday then flew to Glasgow on Friday for my match on the Saturday.” Now with a time space of two months between the next championship matches, which will see Telford hold the UK Championships sponsored by Pukka Pies.  While waiting for the Uk Championship however the long awaited arrival of Power Snooker will keep Ali Carter on his toes and keep his sharpness at its best.

“Between now and the UK Championship we have the PTC events and these will help the players to keep up practice in a match situation. I missed out on playing in Bruges at the weekend as it was my sons first birthday – it was too special a moment to miss.”

When asked for his views on the Power Snooker format, Carter added: “I really like it and I am pleased to be involved in the Power Snooker. I think we all will enjoy having a bit of everything in the snooker calendar."