I wasn't able to watch a lot of the games so far, but just looking at the draw and reading through the thread here, a few thoughts came to my mind:
First, even a mediocre playing Gorst is still strong enough to beat most of the players out there. And eventhough snooker comparisons often don't fit very well with pool, this reminds me of Ronnie, who often had slow starts into a WC, a few scares on the way and in the end still played the best when it most mattered.
Second, eventhough guys like Albin, SVB or Filler went out early. There are three world champions still left in the tournament, which shows that there is something special about this typ of players when it most matters.
Third, after the Philipines Poland might be the country with the highest density of pool talent today. And still...somehow they always fall short on the biggest stage.
And last but not least, every WC in the past years has this one player like Ameer this year, relatively unknown but plays great and with a lot of heart but sadly in the end it is one of the big names who takes the trophy home. I wonder if we will see the new Daryl Peach this year.