SSCam Season 4/2011 Playoffs A

We're once again at this point of the season again and after sscam's biggest version of div A we also have div A's biggest ever playoff bracket with 30 players. 5 wins required by everyone not named Pas or Jon to take the title this season. Good luck to everyone. Preds were done by myself, Mike and Ben

2 trny games must be played before your playoff set if you want to avoid disqualification.

Finals

#24 fhm_champion vs #2 leafed_leafs - Ben had one of the worst seeds in Playoffs. He only played 3 of his sets ending with a record of 2-1; without playing DJ or Ant. Who knows what the outcome would have been, who knows, maybe he wouldn't have made playoffs at all. But, he did, and now he's in the Finals. Getting a DQ win in Round 1, Ben steamed through adambuddy's game with a score of 7-1. He then moved to round 3 and faced Steve to win at a score of 7-4. In the semis he defeated Irfan in a race to 9 with the score being 9-6. So, I'd say it was a pretty easy bracket here for Ben who know finds himself at the Finals table facing the #2 seed in SS Cam, Jon

Jon is coming off an impressive 4-1 in the group stage; with his only loss being to Nick. After receiving a bye the first round, Jon blew by rounds 2, 3 and 4 not giving up more than 5 wins against his opponents in each race. Jon now sits at the finals table ready for his chance to win his 2nd SS Cam Cup.

This is going to be a great finals race. Ben is more of a patient player. He's a player with a good safe game and can run when the coast is clear. Yeah, you won't see any 'luck' shots here with Ben; he's more of the type who has to 'know for sure' before he attempts to run a table. Jon on the other hand is more of a predator. He seems to just wait for his opponents to slip up and take advantage by clearing a hard table. If I were Jon, I wouldn't want to play slow with Ben at all.

This is a hard one to call. But, I feel Jon's road to the Finals table has been much more work than Ben's. That is the determining factor in this prediction.

9-5 Jon

Semi-Finals

#24 fhm_champion vs #21 master - First off it's important to welcome both of these guys back to the semi-finals of sscam as they've both been here one time before. As you might have heard in earlier predictions Irfan's trip managed to go a little further while Ben's ended at this stage. We see them both several seasons removed from that previous success so let's see what they've done so far. Ben took advantage of a Dq in the first round to escape his most serious threat of defeat against Trav, was able to coast through round 2 vs Adam, and was able to knock off the hot shooting Steve in the previous round. Irfan's journey starts all the way back with a lackluster group stage where he went 2-3 but he was in a very challenging group and he woke up on time for the playoffs as he's cruised through Andy, Matt and put in an impressive shooting performance against Dante in the previous round. The good news for Ben is that Irfan does play a lot like his last two opponents and his safe approach could be effective. The bad news is that while Ben will take Irfan away from what he does best in some games, there will still be some games where Irfan can play wide open and run tables with his creative shooting. I think Ben has the stronger game but the key for Irfan to have a chance will be to have patience through slow games and avoid giving away anything easy. Should be a great one to watch but we're racing to 9 and Ben's style is more efficient.

9-7 Ben

#2 leafed_leafs vs #19 dwaechte - In this matchup, its no surprise to see Jon get this far, a well rounded player, and a 2nd seed in this playoff bracket. He did not play until round 2, but demolished Ken 7-1 and then beat a solid stephen 7-4 respectively. On the other hand, Dan has done very well beating a great shooter in Scotty 8-6, and an improved mike_the_champ 7-4, before taking out Brent 7-4 as well. This win Vs Brent was also impressive due to the fact Brent beat out the great mr_camtasia Chris in the previous round. This should turn out to be a decent matchup because Dan must of improved since our first encounter, and Jon has always been a strategic player. Dan is more of a run type player, with a little snooker game but I think if its about an even table Jon well snooker better than Dan and this will be the ultimate factor in deciding this semi final. I think Jon Pulls this off in close fashion.

9-6 Jon

Quarter-Finals

#17 mvp.n00b vs #24 fhm_champion - Well none of the higher seeds got through in this portion of the bracket and yet we're still left with a pretty interesting matchup here in the final 8. Steve had a bit of a wait on this set as he raced out of the gates with two pretty big wins over Safdar and top seed Pascal to start off his playoffs. Ben has had a bit of a different route with a DQ win in rd 1 followed by barely getting his next set in the following round. The set he did play was a pretty good one with games being given with a 4-1 lead over Adam. Ben presents a completely different challenge to Steve as opposed to his last two opponents mainly because Ben will definitely slow things down and force Steve into mistakes. Steve probably prefers to play a more free flowing set where mistakes get traded and he hopes to make less of them. Even though Ben has the tools to win this decisively, Steve does get half of the breaks, and it's been a little time since we've seen him play well enough to go this deep into playoffs. Ben should win but Steve will definitely fight.

7-5 Ben Result - 7-4 Ben

#4 Skills_ vs #21 master - Another player who had a bit of a wait here was Irfan who had one of the great wins of the first round against Andy and he really showed his class when he wasn't tested in round 2. Not really too sure that I've seen Irfan making a run of this kind in a while obviously he's been away but still. Dante managed to break out of the second round this season with a pretty good win against Kazi to go along with his DQ win from the first round. Hard to tell how impressive that win against Kazi was but I think it's safe to say some great play will be required to pass this next test. Irfan is a former champ from last year in this competition and he's no stranger to being in this situation. Dante can definitely bother Irfan a little with safeties but you really don't want to give the guy too many extra shots. A win here would validate Dante's season but I think Irfan is more likely to add to his own resume.

8-6 Irfan Result - 7-4 Irfan

#2 leafed_leafs vs #23 l1_stephen_1 - Good looking 3rd round match here, Jon coming through a bye and a 7-1 win vs kenny which is very impressive and stephen coming through a dq and 7-1 win vs Sid who isnt easy to beat , on there day there both very good players, can run and snook with the best of them. Stephen dont play tha much and that will allow Jon to take the advantage in this evenly matched set, it will be close up until 4-4 i think then Jon will run away with it and book a semi-final place.

7-4 Jon (by Steve) Result - 7-4 Jon

#19 dwaechte vs #11 sykology - Well after the drama unfolded that allowed Brent to escape round 1 there was a bit of a delay in the next match being played and Dan has been waiting for a little while to see who the next opponent would be. Brent pulled off the biggest upset of the competition so far handing Chris his first playoff defeat through 3 different sscam competitions. Brent was definitely lucky to be alive but he took advantage of the opportunity and took out probably the best player remaining in the playoffs. While this is still a tough matchup for Dan, he'll be glad to see that it's not Chris as his next opponent as Brent is probably more likely to give Dan chances to win. Dan has been very impressive so far in these playoffs with great wins over Scotty and Mike in the first two rounds and it's impossible to ignore that he's probably having his best cam comp to date. Last season both of these players had their best performances reaching the 3rd round and for one of them a semi-final birth will mean a new personal best. Brent is probably the hotter player of the moment but we've seen that he can go cold fast so he'll need to avoid a letdown against an opponent that he might not take as seriously. Dan is getting some great experience playing in these big time sets against big time players but I don't think he's ready for a final 4 birth just yet.

7-5 Brent Result - 7-4 Dan

Rd 2 Matchups

#1 p.ascal vs #17 mvp.n00b - no pred

Result - 7-3 Steve

#25 adambuddy vs #24 fhm_champion - Here we go with one of the later matches to be set up for the second round with Adam against Ben. Adam so far has been pretty impressive in avenging his group stage loss to Pita to advance to this round while his opponent here Ben advanced via easy street with one of the many first round dq's. While the seedings look a little high to still even be around anymore we could definitely see some top notch pool from both of these players. Adam plays one of the more aggressive styles around and when he's really on top of his game and most importantly his cue control there isn't really too much you can do. Adam is the kind of guy who will impress you at least once or twice with a run he'll finish during a set but doesn't necessarily maintain that same level the whole way through. On the other side we have Ben who does happen to have a semi-finals appearance on his resume in his only other time in the competition. His skill lies in his patience and ability to safety for sure. He likes to challenge guys to pull off runs that are very low percentage opportunities and clean up the rest. What I like about Ben's game is that while he's primarily playing defense when I've seen him he knows when to pick his spots and change up rhythm so as to not keep things too predictable. Both good players here but Ben's style wins out in the long run.

7-4 Ben Result - 7-1 Ben

#4 Skills_ vs #20 TOyBOy2Die4u - Well both of these players had to put in a little work to advance past round 1. On one hand Kazi managed to upset Ant to put him out of the competition earlier than ever before while Dante managed to provide archives to advance past Brian for his win. Ok well maybe Dante didn't really work that hard but his high seeding here was definitely the result of some good work in the group stage. This is a pretty tough set to call mostly because Kazi is coming back from a really long layoff and it remains to be seen where he'll peak and how he fits in with the top players going right now. Dante has definitely established himself as a top level player as he's been competing against top guys in 8brcam's div A without too much success but practice makes perfect and his wins in this competitions group stage were pretty impressive. Pretty good opportunity for the winner of this to go even further beyond round 2 as this section of the bracket is a little wide open with top seeds falling like flies. Kazi must have played great to beat Ant and credit is definitely due but he needs to carry that momentum past this round until he's officially back.

7-5 Dante Result - 7-4 Dante

#28 ImThatGood vs #21 potting_machine010 - no pred

Result -7-2 Irfan

#2 leafed_leafs vs #18 the_pool_professor - A pretty high quality match here considering we're only in round 2. Jon had another great group stage, going 4-1 and earning the #2 seed. Kenny's season was less then spectacular, going 3-2 with an archive win to sqeak into the playoffs. Many of you will remember Kenny from way back in the day, and from what I've seen of his play lately, he hasnt lost much of his touch. Kenny's coming off a win vs Jon in 8brcam, and whoever wins this match is on pace for a semi-final showdown with mr_camtasia, so look for both players to bring their A game. Both are past champions, both have made runs in other cam comps, and both are equally skilled, so it will just come down to who has a good day and who doesnt. I think Kenny winning last time they played will put a chip on Jon's shoulder, so I'll take Jon to win but it could go either way.

7-5 Jon (mr_camtasia in the 3rd person) Result - 7-1 Jon

#7 overachieving vs #23 l1_stephen_1 - A very big pat on the back to these two for fighting and clawing their way out of round one just to be here. Or wait.. they actually both received free passes to get here.. but that's nobody's fault really so we shouldn't hold it against them. These guys are in familiar territory as both have been around for a long long time and have each had a fair amount of success. While Sid is more known for having won an 8brcam title he's also been a finalist and semi-finalist in this competition on his only other two times in which is a pretty solid track record. He's back from a long layoff and while it's clear that he can still get it done at a high level we're still waiting to see if he's going to reach that elite level from around a year ago. Stephen makes the playoffs in this competition usually when he plays all his sets which is around every second season or so. Hasn't had any noteworthy success in this competition yet but he's pulled off some wins against top notch opponents in other competitions. Stephen has proven that he does have it in him sometimes but Sid's game is too much even with rust.

7-4 Sid Result - 7-1 Stephen

#3 mike_the_champion vs #19 dwaechte - Mike and Dan both entered sscam and in general started playing cam comps around the same time during sscam's first season of the year. They've both taken fairly different paths since that point as Dan has been a playoff player in every season and has been in the second round or quarter-finals even while Mike only made it in his first season and sort of hasn't been as relevant for a few months. That being said it looks like Mike is primed for a breakthrough season as he put together a very strong group stage and took care of business in his first round match. Mike always had a really strong game but it seems like he's putting it together and using it to get set wins. Dan has been in the quarter-finals the last two seasons but there weren't actually many set wins to get there as he was helped out with byes and disqualifications. No such luck here for Dan as this set will definitely get played. Dan will be trying to hold onto his place on the imaginary ladder of pool while Mike has a good opportunity to grab a quarter-finals spot of his own. Dan has been here before and will be really anxious to go further yet again. After his win against Scotty in the last round I think he'll manage to hold off Mike too.

8-6 Dan Result - 7-5 Dan

#6 mr_camtasia vs #11 sykology - What is there really to say about this matchup besides the obvious fact that it would have been more appropriate as one of the later round matches. I guess there's a little more to say like how did we even get here. Brent was actually defeated in round 1... well at least until the tapes were reviewed. Disqualification wins seemed to be the theme of the first round so why not add another. These two met up last season in the quarter-finals and the viewers were treated to a great, close set where Chris came out on top as usual. I'd definitely have a lot more confidence in Brent's chances to upset here had he actually won his last set but this is a brand new day and it's always possible that he can find that zone of success at any time. What is there really to say about Chris... he always wins in this competition. This season was supposed to be a bigger test with the stronger field but the bracket worked out nicely for him where this could be the only serious challenge before the finals. Picking Chris to win doesn't really take any guts but it's been an ok policy up until now.

7-5 Chris Result - 7-5 Brent

Rd 1 Matchups

#16 safdarbandali vs #17 mvp.n00b - Here we have two guys who have both been in the playoffs in this competition before with opposite results. Safdar is coming off a fairly successful season where he picked up 3 wins with only one loss while winning almost twice as many games as he lost. Safdar has always had some pretty good success once making it into the playoffs in the competition with a run all the way to semi finals in his last appearance. Steve had another fairly inactive season but he made the most of his 3 sets played winning all 3. Could have had a much better seed had he played the rest out but instead he's stuck in this tough match against Safdar. Steve definitely has the potential to make a big run in the playoffs but we really haven't seen anything from him at this stage in any competition period for a while. Steve needs to get into this set early on to have any chance but either way Safdar should come out on top.

7-4 Safdar Result - 7-3 Steve

#8 AzN_PrIdE_LuVa vs #25 adambuddy - Somehow in the mix of forming the playoff seedings the stars have aligned again and these two who met up in the group stage are going to face off again. Last time Pita was in a must win situation and was able to deliver by knocking off Adam 6-3 with a little room to spare. Pita is looking to improve upon his previous season where he only made it as far as the 3rd round. Pita is definitely a player with potential to make a deep run in this tournament but he needs to have a certain level of focus to be effective. Adam will definitely like his chances in this set as he's always a contender no matter who the opponent is. Last season Adam's good season was wasted when he was dq'ed in the playoffs. Now that both players backs are up against the wall its time to see who performs in the clutch. Should be a close set but can't see Pita losing this early.

7-5 Pita Result - 8-6 Adam

#9 trav_the_king vs #24 fhm_champion - Trav has once again been matched up in one of the most exciting first round sets once again this time around facing off with Ben. Both of these players weren't really all that memorable in the group stage mostly because they only completed 3 sets each. Only real difference is that Ben got caught on an off night and Trav's 3 wins happened to be enough for first place in his inactive group. Trav is definitely the favourite in this matchup based on his continued success in almost every sscam competition he plays most notably from the prize trny and his first two wins from the playoffs last season. Ben is definitely a player of similar quality but we don't really see him as often in these situations because he's not in as many competitions. In his two wins from this season he did put up great results against good players so hopefully we'll see both players show up with solid performances here.

8-6 Trav Result - DQ win for Ben

#4 Skills_ vs #29 joosed_up - Nice match up here. I have played both many times and I know this could be a close set. Dante and Brian played in the group Stage and it was relatively close at 6-3 which doesn’t surprise me. Dante has a versatile game and is skilled in all facets with great cue control and I think overall he is the better player in this matchup. If Dante lets his guard down, Brian can easily take this set as well as he is not a slacker. Good luck to both.

7-5 Dante (Mike) Result - DQ win for Dante

#13 manutd_ vs #20 TOyBOy2Die4u - I wonder if Ant actually reads predictions on his matches because I’m sure he knows what they’re gonna say, maybe he just enjoys gloating :). Anyways Kazi is a decent player from what I have personally seen and had a pretty easy time getting to playoffs with only winning one actual set. Considering this and the fact that Ant has won this competition in the past, it’s hard to say that Ant won’t win this with ease, as usual. Good luck Kazi maybe you could pull an upset, you never know but its doubtful.

7-4 Ant (Mike) Result - 7-5 Kazi

#5 x_i_am_me_x vs #28 ImThatGood - Most people don’t know Alex who is gaining a good reputation making 8br Div A playoffs on his first try and such. He’s a rookie to cam comps but don’t underestimate his game. He is possibly one of the best bankers I have seen play – it is rare to see him miss anything. I don’t think he gets enough credit because not many know him but he is a trooper. Matt on the other hand I always thought was a noob (LOL) until I saw him win some good sets such as vs Nish and Brent. However, Matt made it to playsoff merely on WC and I think Alex is too strong here. Matt may be able to keep up, we will have to wait and see.

7-4 Alex (Mike) Result - 13-11 Matt

#12 HawkeyeStriker vs #21 potting_machine010 - This should be one of the more interesting Round 1 matchups to watch. I’m not too sure how Irfan’s game will stand against Andy’s notorious snookers. However, Irfan will get half the breaks and from what I’ve seen he usually goes for the run and finishes most of the time. Irfan does have a tendency to choke when he has the game in his hand. Andy on the other hand also has a decent run game and will be able to finish off Irfan’s mistakes, if not he will snook until Irfan makes a mistake. I think this will be close but Andy’s snook game will overpower Irfan.

7-5 Andy (Mike) Result - 7-3 Irfan

#15 oh.tyson vs #18 the_pool_professor - Years ago this would have been an easy call as Kenny has been a top player for a long time and is still relevant today. Tyson made his first appearance in sscam last season with not the most success although this season he raced out to a 3-0 start in the first week of the competition to secure his playoff spot. Kenny once again had to win his two final sets to make it in with one of those being an archive win so its not the dominante Kenny we're used to seeing. Pretty interesting matchup this time around as both players are around the same seeding looking to advance to the next round in one of the tougher sections of the bracket. Tyson is a student and hasn't been around as much with school starting so he hasn't really been playing much lately. Kenny is just about as active as I've seen him in a while. Both guys know how to play but Kenny definitely has the better all around game and he should move on here.

7-4 Kenny Result - DQ win for Kenny

#7 overachieving vs #26 x_majik.shots_x - Sid overall consistent runner and snook player, prolly will have an edge in this match. Cal has reappeared and has not been on often lately. This should also benefit Sid more, although Sid would probably be a probable favorite in this match anyways.

7-3 Sid Result - DQ win for Sid

#10 pro.craig vs #23 l1_stephen_1 - Craig and Stephen are two established players here. Craig is a flat our runner who snookers only when that is the only shot available. Stephen tends to run more often, but probably will snook more often than craig. However, I think craig is just a little more consistent with his game than Stephen is.

7-4 Craig Result - DQ win for Stephen

#3 mike_the_champion vs #30 british_pool_wizard - Mike finished well and freaking got all the breaks vs me haha. I won't go there. But mike has improved somewhat. Jason is an old school player, but does not play often. He has not really never got back in form. Mike should have somewhat of an advantage playing more often than Jason. But this match can go either way, but I think Mikes more active play will help Mike win a close battle.

7-5 Mike Result - 7-4 Mike

#14 xlx_s_p_g_xlx vs dwaechte - Scotty finished with a 3-1 record, and Dan finished 3-2 respectively. Both played well enough to get this far, but this is when the real season starts folks. Scotty has been one of the better runners for a while and Dan has been uprising for the past couple months. Scotty is a great runner and banker and probably has the upper hand in this match. Dan is improving but needs to play the best he can to stop Scotty from running all over the table.

7-3 Scotty Result - 8-6 Dan

#6 mr_camtasia vs #27 TlNO_NICA - These two players can't seem to escape each other in sscam and that's probably not the best thing for Tino. Chris is coming off another perfect season where he had a 4-0 record missing just his final set. He's still a strong favourite to make a run to semi finals without many huge finals. Tino is back into the playoffs for the first time since sscam switched to two divs with a huge asterisk next to his name. He happened to be one of 3 players to have points in his group to make it here and advanced with only 1 win. This is a huge mismatch to say the least and Tino is going to need to play over his head just to keep it close. I'm pretty sure Tino is happy to get the opportunity but this will be the shortest set in the playoffs possibly.

7-2 Chris Result - 7-2 Chris

#11 l3anger vs #22 redrose_and_a_glassofwine - Well Brent can relax for at least one round this season. Or can he... hard to say his opponent is definitely keen if nothing else. Rocky managed to get all his sets played in about 4-5 days as he was a late late entrant into the competition. Among those sets were wins against two other playoff players in Dante and Brian. Last season Brent finally broke through and had his strongest sscam playoff appearance making it to the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual champion Chris. Brent is still looking like one of the stronger players in the game lately while Rocky still has quite a bit to prove before being considered at that level. Making sscam playoffs is a great start but there's definitely a gap in talent here. Brent should take advantage as you don't see him take folks lightly all that often.

7-4 Brent Result - DQ win for Brent