Premier League Snooker Betting: Ronnie on the verge of making history

Snooker / David Hendon / 26 November 2009 / Leave a Comment

"O’Sullivan – 34 next week – isn’t getting any younger and will, as all players do, start to decline at some point. The difference, though, between him and most other players is that he has a much greater distance to fall."

Will the Rocket's bid to be a record-breaker be trumped by a young pretender? Meanwhile, John Higgins will need to be at his best to see off the challenge of Shaun Murphy. David Hendon selects the best bets.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is poised to create a piece of snooker history if he wins the Premier League title this weekend. It would be the ninth time he had captured the trophy. The current record for most wins in a single event in the modern era is eight, shared by Steve Davis in the Irish Masters and O'Sullivan in the league.

Can anyone stop him? Well, Judd Trump will do his best in the semi-finals and either John Higgins or Shaun Murphy await in the final; but you get the feeling the silverware will have to be prized from O'Sullivan's hand if he is to surrender it.

The Premier League is perfect event for Ronnie. He has a very low boredom threshold and does not enjoy hanging around at week long tournaments but the league is played on successive Thursday nights so he can pitch up, play, and go home. The Rocket also has no problems with the unique 25 second per shot time limit the event uses and as a big occasion player he revels in the atmosphere. The league nights are almost always packed out and most of the crowd cheer for O'Sullivan, which spurs him on even more.

Given all of this, not to mention the obvious gulf in experience, young Trump will have his work cut out on Saturday night but the 20 year-old, who has just moved from his native Bristol to live and practise in Sheffield, is actually ahead on past career meetings with O'Sullivan. He lost the first time they played in the 2008 Welsh Open but beat the world no.1 in last season's Glasgow Grand Prix and again in the league this year.

Trump has certainly impressed on his league debut, reaching the semi-finals after finishing second in the table ahead of O'Sullivan, Murphy and non qualifiers Stephen Hendry, Neil Robertson and Marco Fu. He is audaciously talented if a little raw. He'll take the game to O'Sullivan but simply going on the attack brings no guarantee of success.

O'Sullivan has been a little inconsistent so far this season. He didn't play at his imperious best but still won the Shanghai Masters. He clearly felt the pressure in losing 5-4 to Higgins in the second round of the Grand Prix. His long potting, usually so good, has been erratic and he isn't entirely happy with his game. So what else is new, you may ask? He is, after all, a notorious perfectionist. This being the case, it doesn't detract from the fact that O'Sullivan - 34 next week - isn't getting any younger and will, as all players do, start to decline at some point. The difference, though, between him and most other players is that he has a much greater distance to fall.

The simple fact remains that O'Sullivan can win titles playing to about 70% of his ability and this, coupled with his love of the Premier League, means Trump will have to play some of his best ever snooker to cause an upset in the semis. Put bluntly, if he goes for everything, everything will have to go in.

Higgins against Murphy is harder to call because these two players are more evenly matched. Higgins has limbered up for the match by recording an edition of the BBC's Celebrity Mastermind, answering questions, believe it or not, on the US soap Dallas and he may find himself spending rather a lot of time in his chair, black or not, if Murphy hits form.

The Englishman, who defends his UK Championship title next month, has now been around long enough in the upper echelons of the game not to be intimidated by playing snooker's big guns. He was outplayed and outthought in last season's World Championship final by the wily Higgins, whose tactical game remains rock solid. However, the shot clock format discourages safety play and, in an all out potting contest, Murphy can more than hold his own.

O'Sullivan v Higgins would certainly be a mouth watering contest in the penultimate final of the decade, given that they have been the best two players of the last ten years. I think O'Sullivan will make it but Higgins will need to find some of the world beating form he has shown during the 2000s to prevent Murphy spoiling the party.