Michael Holt has always possessed genuine talent but no one thought he could beat the Rocket.

His 5-3 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round of the Malta Cup at the Portomaso Hilton Conference Centre embarrassed 888 who at the same time concluded a new deal to sign him up.

O’Sullivan was not the player he showed us, only 11 days ago, he hit the heights to thrash Chinese teenager Ding Junhui 10-3 in the final of the Saga Insurance Masters – a victory that no doubt had 888 execs desperate to sign him up. 

In Malta the troubled, unpredictable former world champion gave the overwhelming impression of being disinterested and committed a sequence of glaring errors.  O'Sullivan has set his sights on the 888.com World Snooker Championship title having signed a new deal with the sponsor of snooker's biggest tournament but many wonder if this is at all a realistic goal.