The second year of Home Nations events begins on Monday when the English Open is back in the calendar. Liang Wenbo went away from this tournament 12 months ago dreaming of the £1 million bounty but failed to build on his success but the bonus is in operation again this year and that has attracted a stellar field to Barnsley for the competition.
Recent Winners
2016 – Liang Wenbo
The Format
The early stages of this tournament will be played over the best of seven frames from the preliminary round through to the last 16. The quarter finals of the event will be over the best of nine before two best of 11 semis. The tournament will then conclude over the best of 17 frames in the final on Sunday. The draw has been pre-determined and will be played as a knockout right from the beginning.
Top Quarter
Liang Wenbo is the number one seed this week as the defending champion. That immediately opens up this quarter and the likes of Neil Robertson, Barry Hawkins and Anthony McGill will be looking to take advantage of that. There are no shortage of dangerous players in this quarter though. Tom Ford, Jamie Jones, Yan Bingtao and Michael Holt are all more than capable of going the course and distance from this section.
Second Quarter
This part of the draw is like a tournament within itself. Some of the biggest names ever seen in the game are in this quarter with Judd Trump, Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins all situated in it. Only one of them can make the semi-final such is the brutality of this section of the draw. If that wasn’t enough then Luca Brecel, Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire are all in here as well as a few dangerous floaters. I would imagine we will see plenty of this quarter on the two main tables.
Third Quarter
With so many big names in that second quarter you could be forgiven for thinking there are none anywhere else. You would be wrong though as the World Open winner Ding Junhui is in this quarter. He is here along with Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy so this should be competitive too, especially when you add the likes of Dominic Dale, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Joe Perry, Ben Woollaston and Michael White into the mix.
Bottom Quarter
This one looks no walk in the park either with Marco Fu, Mark Selby, Stuart Bingham and Kyren Wilson the top 16 players in it. Some serious Chinese talent is in this quarter too headed by Zhou Yuelong and Xiao Guodong while Ricky Walden, Mark King, Martin Gould and Graeme Dott ensure the depth is everywhere you look in this part of the draw as well.
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Betting
As ever with these sort of events I like to play one in each quarter and this week I’m going to take a couple from the front of the market and then a couple of from way down it in the hope that they can negotiate a couple of rounds and get us into a position where we can work a profit.
In the top quarter I’ll have a nibble at Lu Haotian. I mentioned when I took him in Shanghai Masters qualifying that he is hitting the ball nicely and if that can continue for another week there is no reason why he can’t make a name for himself. We saw his compatriot Zhou Yuelong make the semi-finals in Belgium recently while Li Hang is also a tournament semi-finalist from that part of the world this year. This looks the weaker of the four quarters so it could open up for Lu and at a monster price I’m happy to pay to see how he goes.
Clearly the second quarter is going to take plenty of winning with the huge names that are in it and I would be surprised if one of Williams, Trump, O’Sullivan or Higgins doesn’t escape it but we shouldn’t forget the form of Jack Lisowski who can beat anyone over the best of seven and wouldn’t be too put out in a best of nine quarter final either. Lisowski was seen as the next big thing a couple of years ago when he was making quarter finals and semis of these type of events. He looks in good form now so I’ll see if he can grab a few scalps.
In the third quarter I remain convinced that Mark Allen is going to win a tournament soon. He made the semis in the World Open and was edged out in a deciding frame by eventual winner Judd Trump in Belgium recently but with a draw which is not the toughest until the deeper stages this week I think the 28/1 on him is a big price. Allen is capable of winning any tournament he enters and with a bit of luck in the latter stages he can definitely go all the way in this one.
Stuart Bingham looks to be back in form now and generally when he’s striking it well and is confidence he goes on lengthy streaks of winning matches so I would not be at all surprised if he goes deep in this tournament. He is another who looks to have a nice early draw and the longer he’s in a competition the more dangerous he becomes. This could be the week he claims a first title of the season after a couple of near misses.
Tips
Back L.Haotian to win English Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 501.00 with Betbright (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Lisowski to win English Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 301.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back M.Allen to win English Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back S.Bingham to win English Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
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