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The 'experts' will be predicting a QF line-up of something like:

O'Sullivan v Higgins
Murphy v Trump
Robertson v Williams
Ding v Selby

which means that half of them will get knocked out in the first round.......

Looking forward to it, usually take one from each half, but there seem to be more possibles than ever!!

Didn't we have a record number of seeds get knocked out in the first round last year? Or possibly the year before?

I think around half the seeds fell at the first hurdle last year, which was the most since the early 90s. Everyone seemed to have their say last year - Allen against the chinese players, Williams about not liking the Crucible, even Ding slagged off the table and got a fine, and of course Hendry left the scene.

This year, Ronnie's comeback will overshadow everything for the first few days.

Who do you fancy, RKW?

Not sure who to go for this year. Mark Selby has been performing in the recent tournaments screened by the BBC, I think his style of play is an advantage to last the full 17 days. However, he does put me to sleep at times and if he gets drawn against someone like Dott then I won't go out of my way to watch it.

Robertson is in with a chance, as is Ronnie if he performs well - but in all honestly I think it'll take a miracle for him to win it back-to-back.

It's a big tournament for Judd Trump. He's up there with the early favourites but has failed to produce recently so I think he'll be desperate for at least a place in the last four.

I think the bottom half of the draw looks that bit harder than the top, but that's just my opinion.

Looking at the draw the bottom half does look a bit 'tastier', which probably means a few seeds will go out after the first round!!!!

My gut feeling is that Trump won't have a 'big tournament' (which probably means he'll go and win it with my track record). Also have to go against Ronnie - it's great to have him back, but I'm not sure if it would be good if he missed the season and then came back to win it!

With my belief that Ding will be world champion at least once I will have to back him, maybe an outsider like Stevens, who has returned to some kind of form and with proven record here, can give a good run in the top half.

The form book points to Selby, but I'm just not a big fan of his.

Speaking of 'putting to sleep', Dott v Ebdon could benefit insomniacs.........

Just put the full first round schedule up on the thread.

By doing so just seen the Dott v Ebdon clash. One I'll be avoiding I reckon.

Who is Ding playing in the run up to the quarters?

Would have loved a Higgins vs Ronnie final but it isnt going to happen

Fantastic!

Didn't realise this started so soon! Can pick up a few tips as I've been playing snooker absolutely loads for the last few months.

GO ON RONNIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been playing a lot recently too.

Don't think Ronnie or Higgins will make the final. Selby v Murphy.

"Let's get the boys, on the baize"

Ronnie all the way for me, I love the fact that he's got character and breaks the mould. What tips can you get from watching pro's on the telly?

The best tips to help new comers to snooker is keep your head and body still, don't hit the ball to hard and until you know what your doing. Hit the white in the middle, adding side if you don't know what your doing is deadly!

Surprises me how many people think snooker is easy just because they themselves "aren't half bad" at pool.

Totally different game and like KLS said, and unwanted side is lethal and your shot is messed up.

Snooker is hard.

Snooker

Ronnie !!!

If you play snooker for a while, I actually think it makes playing pool a bit easier, because the pockets look like basketball nets. Unfortunately don't really get a chance to play either on a regular basis. About 15 years ago I use to play snooker and pool regularly, about 2 or 3 times a week, had a high break of 60 and usually got a twenty odd each frame.

But it's amazing how quickly you lose that ability once you stop playing regularly, I don't reckon I could pot more than 4 balls in a row now.

RKW - The seedings suggest a Ding - Selby QF, but ding would need to get past Allen first, and we all know how these predictions can work out

Agreed kinsang. You lose your angles once you stop playing snooker. Very hard to hit the ball on the right spot and get cuts into pockets accurately if you're out of touch

It's the little things I mess up after not playing for a bit, hitting the screw back wrong or over cutting balls

Well they're quite big things to me anyway Overcutting balls

I play snooker at least once a week but I'm still pretty crap I've noticed whenever I try and play a screw shot at least 70% of the time I end up missing the pot
I'm not sure who I want to win the world championship this year. For me it's a strange not seeing the great Hendry anymore I don't want to see that scu**y Leicester cheat Selby win that's one thing for sure.

Also as an 'enthusiastic amateur', it's funny how some shots feel more comfortable than others. I found no problem playing in and out of baulk from the green, always felt confident about potting pinks into the middle, but would miss too many blues and blacks off the spot for comfort. And most cutbacks become guesswork.

kinsang - I think it's best if we both don't predict. We don't have good track records and with the possibility of the seeds falling at the first hurdle it's near impossible to say who will make it even to the second week.

Arsenal_49 - what have you got against Selby? Other than he's boring!

RKW-white Eagle- I dislike Selby because of how unproffesional he can be. That final against Mark Williams at the Shangai Masters a few years ago. Williams was 9-7 up about 20 or 30 points infront and he got Mark in a snooker. Selby just basically slammed it off a cushion with pace and originally the referee called foul and a miss but it was difficult to tell whether it hit the pink first or a red and then the referee changed his mind after looking at the replays. Even though in the replay if you look at it carefully you could see the pink move before the red. It was also the referees fault no doubt about it but surely Selby could have just gone along and said well you called missed so first so let's get on with it. But he has no Sportsmanship whatsoever and is on par with Peter Ebdon as one of the most boring players in the game.

Selby's face annoys me.