German Masters begins tomorrow

After the weekend’s fun and games we are back to the snooker nitty gritty. The German Masters returns for its sixth instalment as a full ranking event taking place in the enormous Tempodrom in Berlin.

This unique event only lasts five days, with players playing across a number of tables in a packed auditorium. 22 players have already qualified and the top seeds will play their R64 matches at the venue. 

The return of snooker to Germany has been one of the great success stories of the last few years. The event has had excellent attendances in the last two years and some cracking matches. Last year, while staring at an exit from the top 16, Ronnie O’Sullivan played some excellent snooker to capture the title by defeating Stephen Maguire. 

Ronnie will obviously not be here to defend his title but who are the other contenders?

John Higgins

A two time winner of this event in the mid 90’s when it was first held in Frankfurt and Bingen am Rhein. John missed this event 24 months ago after his father was taken ill, so with no points to defend it’s a chance to close the gap at the top of the rankings. I’ve been impressed with John’s play this season and, although early exits in the UK and International Championship will have disappointed him, I feel another big event victory is just around the corner. 

Mark Allen

In the last few weeks Mark has shown some signs of great cueing and an increased confidence. With a comfortable first two rounds I can see Mark playing himself into the tournament before a possible Quarter final versus Ding/Selby. I fancy this will be Mark’s second ranking tournament victory this week.

Neil Robertson

Neil is a threat in every tournament he enters now. He seems to be consistently strong at big events and I can see at least a trip to the semi’s this week for the Thunder from Down Under.

Stephen Maguire

Like Mark Allen I feel Maguire is on the cusp of another tournament victory. He is usually pretty strong in the lead up to the Crucible and with a good showing last year at this event he will be up for going one better.

Snooker Shoot Out Starts Today

Sky's Snooker Shoot Out returns today for the 3rd time, with some interesting new rules. Blackpool's Circus Arena will continue to host the event, a shame as this has proven to be quite an impressive venue, which I feel is being wasted on this gimmick event.

Barry Hawkins will return to defend his crown along with 63 other players, this year however there is a few rule tweaks in order to eliminate time wasting and improve the spectacle. 

For the first 5 minutes of the ten minute frame, players will have 15 seconds a shot. After five minutes, players will only have 10 seconds a shot, which frankly sounds ridiculous. I assume the clock controller will be fair with allowing them to get to the table, even so any pot with a degree of difficulty is going to be missed a higher percentage of times than normal.

In previous years this event has been won by two "outsiders" in Hawkins and Nigel Bond. The event is set up to be exciting, fast and a chance to see so many great players in one day. However with it being such a lottery a lot of the top players tend to exit in the early rounds. The prize fund is high for 3 days work at £32,000 and can be a huge earner for some of the lower ranked players while the higher ranked players see it more as a bit of fun.

This event is a infinitely better than the terrible "Power Snooker", as this doesn’t change the rules of the Snooker. At the end of the day, this is still the old fashioned game just with a few bits of tacky tinsel and baubles added.

This event is a chance to find out more about the players, see the "characters" that are supposedly missing from the game. To have a bit of fun away from the major tournaments where it's all business.

To pick a winner is pure pot luck as unlike any other tournament, anyone can win. So with that in mind I'm going to put my money on Graeme Dott. After a great Masters, the quick playing Pocket Dynamo will be tough to beat.

Will Ronnie O'Sullivan defend his Snooker World Championship?

Ronnie O'Sullivan has until the 28th of February to decide.

The four times World Champion hasn't played since his first round loss at the PTC 3 in Gloucester. The Rocket was expected to make his full ranking return at the inaugural International Championship in October, which he pulled out of at the 11th hour citing on-going health problems. Shortly after he announced he would take no further part in the 2012/2013 season. 

Life without Ronnie? 

The game of snooker is bigger than any one player, that is for sure and in Ronnie's absence it has given plenty of player’s opportunities to shine. None more so than Stuart Bingham who lit up last year’s Premier League, a competition O'Sullivan has dominated for 10 years.

But the appeal is still there, while the game has lots of up and coming stars and established stars there a few marquee names. John Higgins and Mark Williams remain, but with the retirement of Stephen Hendry and Steve Davis and Jimmy Whites uncontrollable slide towards retirement the game lacks real A List players.

O'Sullivan is still the sports main attraction, but in his absence Judd Trump has become a fans favourite. Also young attacking players such as Luca Brecel and Jack Lisowski are on the cusp of breaking through at a major TV event. In the future I can see the burden of being the "Entertainer" being passed around more than it currently is. 

It would be strange having a World Championship without O'Sullivan, especially given he is the defending champion. But like every other tournament we've had over the years without him, the tournament will go on and will still be as enthralling. 

O'Sullivan in Numbers

4 World Championships

4 Masters

4 UK Championships

24 Ranking Titles

670+ Centuries

11 Maximum Breaks

Mark Selby wins 2013 Masters

Last night Mark Selby won his third Masters crown, defeating defending champion Neil Robertson. In doing so he became only the sixth person to win this illustrious invitational event three or more times, along with Stephen Hendry (6), Ronnie O'Sullivan (5), Cliff Thorburn (3), Steve Davis (3) and the late Paul Hunter (3).

A professional performance against an under par Neil Robertson saw an uneventful final end close to midnight. Having scraped his way through the first three matches, Selby was the underdog going into the final. Robertson on the other hand had played the best snooker all week, coming through nail biting deciding frames against Ding Junhui and Mark Allen.

However it was the Thunder from Down Under who looked tired and lacklustre in the final, missing in the balls several times and gifting frames to his opponent. Selby shot into a 3-0 lead and from there his oponent was never within 1 frame of the Jester from Leicester. 

The tournament as a whole was highly entertaining, with a handful of tense deciding frames and a number of shocks it all boiled up into a concoction of good entertainment. However I still think the finals sessions should start at 13:00 & 19:00 to counter such late finishes.

Next Live Snooker

The Championship League 2 starts today and the Snooker Shoot out starts on Friday.