Starting to find a good bit of rhythm with this Crucible Countdown now.
Yesterday, OnCue dissected the chances of reigning champion Neil Robertson defeating the Crucible Curse.
Keeping in line with that theme, today it's time to look at the chances of the tournament's favourite John Higgins.
The Wizard of Wishaw has had a turbulent 12 months, being suspended from the sport on an allegation of match-fixing during last year's Betfred.com World Championship, fighting hard to clear his name and then returning to the baize earlier this season to try to win trophies again.
And in the midst of all that, he had to deal with the loss of his father.
It's been quite remarkable story but Higgins being the fighter he is, has somehow come out the other side. It's a credit to his determination.
Higgins has faced the kind of adversity which would have rocked close to all of us, but despite this, he's become even stronger and been playing arguably the best snooker of his career.
Since returning to the sport, he's won an EPTC title, the UK Championship and the Welsh Open. Maybe feeling he has something still to prove, has brought out the very best of him.
Because of this tremendous turnaround, he arrives at the Crucible as the tournament's red-ht favourite. You have to go back a fair few years in the snooker archive to a tournament where it hasn't been Ronnie O'Sullivan top of the bookmakers' list.
The Rocket has been woefully off form of course, but it's still a great testament to Higgins. Despite missing the first 12 tournament of this season through suspension, good form since his return means he's still at number four in the provisional world rankings and could move higher in Sheffield.
I already regard Higgins as one of the game's all-time greats. He's in the elite band of players to have won multiple world titles, as lifting the trophy twice in the last four years means he's had his hands on the trophy on three occasions in total.
If he can win the tournament again this year, he'll become the third most successful Crucible player. And he'll also join a great list of four names to have won both the UK and World Championships in the same season.
So far, only Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams and O'Sullivan boast that impressive record. Higgins certainly wouldn't be out of place among that band of players.
He's playing well enough to win the world title this year, there's no doubt about it. I'd say he'll be the hardest player to beat in Sheffield, and whoever does conquer him, will have an almighty shout to be world champion themselves.
Higgins has always been a great break-builder. He's made more than 400 first-class centuries, with only Hendry and O'Sullivan having made more than him professionally. And then there's the argument that break-building isn't even his strongest asset. He's got an incredible snooker brain and is regarded by many as the best tactician since Davis. He's the complete package.
Like Robertson though, Higgins will have to hit the ground running as he's been handed another of the toughest possible draws in the tournament.
He faces Stephen Lee, who beat current world number one Mark Williams in the China Open last week, and is up to 14th in the provisional rankings himself. This is a re-match of UK Championship first round, where Higgins emerged a 10-6 winner despite Lee boasting a 96 per cent pot success rate in the match. That tells you how well he's playing, and why he's the man to beat.
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