Apologie des Dechawat

Anlässlich des aktuellen Blogs des geschätzten Kollegen Gunnar Beuth (@sportal_gunnar), in dem er etwas provokativ fragt “[ist das] Noch Snooker oder schon Zirkus?”, möchte ich in diesem Rahmen eine Verteidigungsrede für Jack Poomy (aka Dechawat Poomjaeng) schreiben.

Beuth schreibt, völlig korrekt, dass Snooker seit jeher ein Sport ist, indem nicht alles erlaubt ist, was den Regeln nach nicht verboten ist - oftmals zusammengefasst unter dem Begriff “Gentlemen’s sport”. Gerade Dechawat hat aber, so finde ich, zumindest in den Frames, die ich bisher von ihm gesehen hab, nicht dagegen verstoßen. Sicherlich: er macht hin und wieder Faxen und zeigt seine Emotionen wohl deutlicher als jeder andere Spieler auf der Tour - und ist damit gewissermaßen die Antithese zu den meisten anderen Asiatischen Spielern.

Und doch ist er ein fairer Spieler. Er entschuldigt sich sofort für Flukes (z.T. sogar, wenn man streiten kann ob es sich um Flukes handelt - z.B. in einer Situationen, in der eine günstige Carambolage eine etwas bessere Stellung hervorbrachte). Er hat ein Foul gegen M. White angezeigt, bei dem Schiedsrichterin Michaela Tabb nicht sicher war, ob es denn eines war (rot und pink wurden fast gleichzeitig berührt). Und: all seine Faxen macht er nur, wenn er selbst am Tisch ist, zumindest habe ich nie gesehen, dass er den Gegner bei der Stoßvorbereitung oder gar beim Stoß irritiert. Selbst den obligatorischen Hand-shake hat er stets 1-2 Portionen herzlicher ausgeführt, als das bei anderen Spielern der Fall ist. Daher finde ich: der Gegner muss das abkönnen.

Was man bei der ganzen Sache nicht vergessen darf: Poomy ist ein solider Spieler, aber kein Weltstar. Seine Schwächen im Positionsspiel und im “Decision-making” sind unübersehbar und es würde mich nicht wundern, wenn er es nie wieder ins Crucible schafft (im Gegensatz zu M. White). Das ganze ist eine “Once in a lifetime”-Chance für ihn und es ist nur verständlich, dass er in gewissem Maße Aufmerksamkeit auf sich ziehen will. Spieler außerhalb der Weltspitze müssen auch immer sehen, wie sie mit ihrem Geld auskommen und das ganze ist eine gute Gelegenheit für ihn sich für mögliche Sponsoren interessant zu machen. Zumal er bei der WM auch ein Land repräsentiert, dass seit James Wattana keinen Achtelfinalisten mehr hatte und das auch außerhalb des Snookers nur wenige international bekannte Spitzensportler aufweisen kann (mir fällt spontan zumindest keiner ein).

Er begeistert die Zuschauer und selbst Spieler wie Mike Dunn und Judd Trump haben sich positiv über ihn geäußert. Gegen Maguire hat er vielleicht das beste Spiel seiner Karriere hingelegt, gegen White in der ersten Session übermotiviert gewirkt - ist Bälle angegeangen, die er besser nicht angegangen wäre und gegen Maguire auch nicht angegangen ist - und hat hier und da auch etwas Pech gehabt. Ich glaube nicht, dass er das Spiel wird drehen können und das Phänomen Jack Poomy wird damit von begrenzter Dauer sein. Trotzdem hat es einen Heidenspaß gemacht ihm zuzusehen und ich freu mich auf die beiden ausstehenden Sessions mit ihm. Er hat die WM um eine besondere Note bereichert.

Hendry's Crucible records - made for eternity?

Alright mates, this wont be another "Hendry is such a legend and he will be missed article" (although it's true), you can read that almost everywhere these days. I am going to focus on something else: on his Crucible records plus some speculations if his records can ever be beaten. 

I got that idea to write about this, after I read Steve Davis saying the BBC, that his 7 world titles will never be beaten. And who am I to say Steve Davis is wrong? 

But, to be honest, I'm not totally convinced, to be honest. 7 world titles seem possible to me (although it takes another legend to actually do this), but snooker players have a careertime of 20-25 years, which means they'd have to win one championship out of three in their entire career to equal Hendry. Not easy, but also not impossible. 

We have Higgins with 4 and O'Sullivan with the chance for his forth title. I think both are already too old to attack the 7. But maybe someone of the young players will be able to do so in future. Maybe Robbo who already has one or Judd Trump? Time will tell. But lets take a look at other records:

most matches played at the Crucible:

Hendry leads here with 90, followed by Steve Davis (84) and Jimmy White (75). I dont think those both will beat that, although Davis maybe can qualify for another world championship or two. But 6 games - I doubt it. But, if you consider Hendry retired relatively early in his career, maybe somewhen someone.... but as I said: time will tell. Not impossible, but unlikely to be beaten any time soon.

By the way one thing in general: You have to take into consideration, that its possible that Barry Hearn or someone else in the future changes the way of competition, e.g. with more games/frames at the Crucible stages, which could disort things a little, as its always the same for about 35 years now.

most matches won at the Crucible:

Its pretty similar to matches played. Hendry leads with 70, followed by Davis (60) and White (50). If Ronnie O'Sullivan wins this year he will be forth with 48. O'Sullivan would need to continue to play for a long time (which seems not very likely), the rest of the established players are too far away. So this record won't be beaten soon I think.

most prize money at the Crucible: 

With 2.25 milion pounds (before 2012) Hendry leads this statistic too, in front of Ronnie (1.68) and Higgins (1.47). This category is very likely to be beaten in my opinion, as the prize money will go upwards and inflation will do its job as well.

most frames played/won at the Crucible:

you may already guessed it: Hendry (1043/1800) > Davis (966/1680) > White (847/1558). 

Davis and White wont be able to beat those numbers, and I think they are very likely to remain eternal.

most maximum breaks at the Crucible:

Hendry made his third maximum this year to tie O'Sullivan. I can easily imagine O'Sullivan doing his forth or even other players to make 3 or more in future. So this probably wont be an eternal record.

most century breaks at the Crucible:

Hendry leads with 124, but Higgins (109) and O'Sullivan (106) are coming closer and closer. (all numbers pre 2012) - I'd say this wont be forever.

most century breaks in one year at the Crucible:

Hendry is first in this ranking with 16 century breaks in 2002. Higgins (14; 1998) and O'Sullivan (13; 2004) follow. This is tough, but not impossible to beat.

youngest player at the Crucible:

Luca Brecel broke this record this year, being approx. one and a half month younger than Hendry at his first appearance in 1986.

youngest champion at the Crucible:

21 years and 106 days are to be beaten. Possible. Judd Trump in 2011 was a little older (he lost the final anyways as you probably know), but it shows, that this record is not impossible to reach.

Does the game of Snooker need Judd Trump?

Hi folks,

First, I have to admit, the headline "Does the game of Snooker needs Judd Trump?" is a little provocative.So whats this all about?

Recently I read this article in a huge German newspaper called Süddeutsche Zeitung. For those who are not familiar with German newspapers, its known as a quality paper, maybe comparable to The Guardian in UK.

While it is in general a very nice signal, that non-sport-newspapers write about snooker in Germany, I was sad about the content itself. For two reasons: 

First: it was poorly investigated in some points (e.g. mashing up "Championship League" with "Champions League" or saying "Barry Hearn made major changed in the game" [which is correct], but then only focus on Power Snooker and leave out all the much more important changes like PTC, Q School, move towards China and Europe etc.). 

But okay, snooker is a "Randgruppensportart" (sport for a margin group) here and although Eurosport attracts up to 1 million German viewers, I understand that the market is comparatively small and not every newspaper can have its expert.

But what made me even more think, and what is the reason for writing this article: The media starts to search for another figurehead, after Ronnie seems to become less interesting.

The headline of the article is "Männlich, ledig, jung - und hochbegabt" (male, single, young - and highly gifted) It's about Judd Trump, the so-called "Retter" (saivor) of snooker and that he is the topfavorite of this years championship (beside Mark Selby). Well you can discuss hard about favorites (most of them are out already, lol), but I seriously hope that the sport of snooker is not dependent on a single player. 

Later in the article it is written that successful players nowadays act "fehlerfrei, mechanisch und roboterhaft" (flawless, mechanic and botlike), which is, according to the article, sometimes fascinating but more often terribly boring. 

While I still wonder which player on the tour has 100% stats in pots and safeties (thats what "flawless" means to me), I hardly disagree, that the status quo is boring. I like snooker, because its not screaming for attention, not about gossip, not that much show. Maybe thats old-fashioned.

Okay, Germany neither has a rising star like countries like Belgium or a tradition of famous players in the past like Canada or maybe Australia. So the author probably wanted a story about the world championship and needed an interesting story to build around to generate clicks. But its frustrating nevertheless. 

Snooker does not need saivors or figureheads. The beauty of the game is the game itself. And while Judd Trump is a brilliant player, I could not care less if he is a "playboy", about his hair or if he is dating with so-called celeberties. And if the only way for snooker to grow, is attracting people who do care about that, then please stop growing, snooker.

nuff said.

a trophy, a place in history books, and 250.000 pounds. (1)

today we saw the draws for this years world snooker championship take place, and this blogpost should be a little candidate check. remember: the action starts at 21st april - 4 days away from the moment i am writing this.

first of all i should mention, that its much harder to predict the winner of the world championship nowadays, than it was until 2000, when Reardon (70s), Davis (80s) and Hendry (90s) dominated their decades. Since Hendry, noone was able to defend his title, so now we have a handful of players, that would be no surprise, if they'd win the title this year.

1 JOHN HIGGINS

He is the most successful player of the recent years, winning four titles, the last two in 2009 and 2011, but I give him little chances this year. Through the season his game wasnt at its best, and it seems to me, that there are "more hungry" players out there. Still he is a hard to beat and very experienced of course.

prediction: quarterfinals

2 MARK SELBY

He is the current World No. 1 in the rankings, but he never has been the type of player, that wins lots of tournaments, and to be honest I still wonder why. Without doubt he is one of the most gifted players of our days (I saw him playing live at the German Masters 2011), but when its about winning a tournament, he seems to struggle under pressure; you may even call him underachiever with just two ranking titles yet. In my prediction I see him progressing to the final, but there he will lose against... oh well you can read that somewhere below. ;)

prediction: runner up

3 MARK WILLIAMS

The Welsh Potting Machine is a two time world champion already (2000 and 2003) but he had'nt had his best season so far, just like Higgins. I'll give him a win over Liu Chuang and the winner of Ebdon/O'Sullivan, but in the quarters I predict a loss.

prediction: quarterfinals

4 JUDD TRUMP

The youngster had his breakthrough a year ago with the China Open trophy and the 2nd place at the crucible. This season his story of success went on, he won the UK Championship and made good progress in a couple of other tournaments. He is a great player, and he will be a world champion probably, but not in 2012 I'd say. Why? because it's boring to bet on the favorite (thats what he is, you according to most betting sites)

prediction: quarterfinals

  

5 SHAUN MURPHY

Shaun played a Mark-Selby-resque season so far, with lots of semifinals and quartersfinals, but without a title (just one first round defeat too though). I give him a win over Jones, but in the clash of the giants against Stephen Lee, I see him lose. Sure he is not a player you want to play against, because, as almost all high seeded players, his game is pretty complete, but his recent games didnt convinced me, that he can repeat his 2005 title.

prediction: 2nd round

6 NEIL ROBERTSON

Robbo is one of my favorite players out of the current snooker elite and so maybe I am not that neutral, but I give him a semifinal spot. His season was decent, besides the Masters title, but he is a player that shows no nerves under pressure. Although he lost his first ranking final recently (PTC Grand Finals) he is a monster in finals too.

prediction: halffinals

7 DING JUNHUI

I hate to predict him. If he is in the mood, he is unstopable, if not, then he is not. Just a bit like Ronnie, you never know what you can expect. This season he had lots of negative first round defeats, but also won Welsh Open and Championship League. I see him out in round 2 (against Allen), but it wouldnt be a huge surprise if he wins the tournament as well.

prediction: 2nd round

8 STEPHEN MAGUIRE

Ladies and gentlemen: my winner. He may not be the big favorite, but Maguire's game looked very solid this season, and he wasnt rewarded with a tournament victory yet (two ranking finals though), so that I choose him. Moreover he avoids very strong opponents in the first two rounds (well everyone is strong etc. pp., but Brecel and then Dott/Perry seems doable)

prediction: winner

9 GRAEME DOTT

No offense, but somehow I dont like Dott. I dont know him as a person, he may be a nice guy, but as a television viewer I cant really enjoy his games. I know he reached the final of the WC three times, and I'm not saying he is no good player, but somehow I cant give him more than a first round win over Perry before he will be knocked out by Maguire.

prediction: 2nd round

10 MARK ALLEN

The most diplomatic player on the tour, always humble and friendly. Well not really, but with the win at the city of dead cats, he became on of the extended favorites. In my draw he collides with Selby in the quarters, and thats a game that is hard to predict. I could easily imagine Allen winning, I just see it 51:49 in favour of Selby and someone has to lose.

prediction: quarterfinals

11 MARTIN GOULD

Gould is new in the Top16 and the highest ranked player I wouldnt give a true chance to win the title. Sure his game improved and he played a great season, but I'm not convinced that this will be his breakthrough tournament. Its up to him to prove me wrong now.

prediction: 2nd round

12 STEPHEN LEE

Lee played an extraordiary season. According to interviews, he really benefited by the enlarged number of tournaments and won his first major title since 2006. In my draw he knocks out Trump, but loses against Maguire in the semifinals.

prediction: halffinals

13 ALLISTER CARTER

I am not sure about the status of his injuries, but his season wasnt good and he'll fall out of the Top16 after the season, if he cant start a very good run. Moreover he will meet Mark Davis, one of the hardest qualifiers to beat in the first round. I see him losing this, although I really like to see him playing. Hard to believe he can repeat his performance of 2008, when he went to the final, only losing to a brilliant Ronnie O'Sullivan back then.

prediction: 1st round

14 RONNIE O'SULLIVAN

Dark Horse. You never know what you get. His starting game against Ebdon will be a clash of playing styles. In my draw I gave him a win against Ebdon (65:35 I'd say), but against his very close friend (attention: sarcasm) Mark Williams he will suffer a narrow lose.

prediction: 2nd round

15 MATTHEW STEVENS

Havent watched him play enough to really judge. Fu seems beatable, but further progress would be a surprise to me.

prediction: 2nd round

16 STUART BINGHAM

The veteran, who won the Australian Masters recently, got one of the hardest qualifiers. Stephen Hendry. Feels kind of odd to wrote that. Bingham is a solid player, but not solid enough to come to the second round.

prediction: 1st round

Agree? Disagree? I dont care? tmv has no idea about whatsoever? 
Let me know what you think. 

And/or prove it at http://event-prediction.com you find me as
"a. stoffers" (country: Germany) there!

*beep beep*. i'm still alive

Hi folks, glad you found your way here,

it has been a while since my last blogpost. Basically it has to do with a busy real life + my work at wikipedia etc pp.. Moreover, I am running out of countries to continue my "Focus on...."-series. There are a few left (Belgium/Netherlands e.g.) but somehow I cant find the right motivation right now. Maybe somewhen else, but this blog shall not become totally inactive, so I'll just write some random stuff going through my mind.

While I am writing this, the Snooker WC qualifiers are underway and all those guys battle hard to make their way to the Crucible. Most impressive for me was Scotsman Anthony McGill, who whitewashed Adam Wicheard. 

But lots of other players showed good performances too so far, including Luca Brecel, Yu Delu and Justin Astley. Besides that, Igor Figueiredo still has all chances to be the first Brazilian player at the Crucible, after he won a thrilling match today against Liu Song (sad, that it wasnt streamed though).

If you take a look at the last years, some of the lower ranked outsiders always made it through to the Crucible. Recent examples are Zhang Anda 2010 and Andrew Paggett 2011. Both made it through all 4 qualification matches.

The most extreme example still is John Giles, who qualified as #497 of the world rankings in 1993. Spencer Dunn follows at #460; also in 1993. It was the time when the game went open and the main tour wasnt limited to 96 (or 99 or 128) players as it is now.

In the same year, Ronnie O'Sullivan played his first World Championship as #415 of the world by the way. (all stats from Chris Downer's Crucible Almanach. God, I love this book.)

The lowest ranked quarterfinalists were Peter Ebdon (unranked in his debut season 1992) and Lee Walker (1997 as #189). If we go further to half/semifinals, either Shaun Murphy, the world champion of 2005 as #48 or Terry Griffiths as an unranked player in 1979 are winning, both are hard to compare though.

Well, I "stole" enough content of the Almanach for today I guess. I'm looking forward to a great WC and a short snookerless time afterwards (Q-School, new season begins in June already). So I'll finish here for the moment.

P.S. Just noticed, that I just had my 666th visitor (well, I guess ~ 100 out of those were my, myself and I, but however...), so we end this with a classic song. ;)

P.P.S. Stephen Maguire is still my under the radar favorite for the WC (because its boring to bet on Trump, O'Sullivan or Higgins ;)