The crazy snooker schedule continues this week when the stars of the green baize head to Belfast for the second staging of the Northern Ireland Open, the second Home Nations event of the campaign.
All eyes will be on Ronnie O’Sullivan this week as he is the only man who can pocket the £1 million bonus put up for winning all four Home Nations events. He can go halfway there if he wins the title this week, a title which Mark King will defend after his emotional win 12 months ago.
Recent Winners
2016 – Mark King
The Format
The Home Nations tournaments have been around for a while now so the format should be second nature but for newcomers the first round to the last 16 are the best of seven frames with the quarter finals moving to the best of nine. The semi-finals are the best of 11 and the tournament will be decided with a two-session, best of 17 frames final next Sunday.
The quirk to these events come on the Thursday where the third and fourth rounds of the tournament is played on one crazy day. The draw has been pre-determined and the event is knockout throughout.
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Top Quarter
Mark King is the number one seed as the defending champion and he is in this quarter. Neil Robertson desperately needs some big pay days and he’ll be looking to get one from here while Barry Hawkins and the man Robertson is chasing down for a Masters spot in Ryan Day are the other top level players in this part of the draw.
There are some tasty lower ranked men opposing them here. Ricky Walden is one of them while Jack Lisowski is in fantastic form right now. Li Hang, Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong are Chinese players all in this section while Michael White could be a genuine dark horse from this part of the draw.
Second Quarter
The local hero Mark Allen is the main attraction in this section of the draw while the Champion of Champions Shaun Murphy is also housed in this quarter. Liang Wenbo will also take his chance from this section which was made easier on the eve of the tournament when Luca Brecel pulled out of it.
Jimmy White is sure to be a popular player who the crowds will want to come through this part of the draw while the other big Northern Ireland player Joe Swail will have plenty of support too. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh could be a wildcard in this quarter.
Third Quarter
This is a cracking quarter and possibly the toughest one. John Higgins is the highest ranked player in it but Ronnie O’Sullivan is without doubt the form horse having won the first of the Home Nations and just recently the Shanghai Masters. Kyren Wilson was the runner up in the first Home Nations event while Anthony McGill was a semi-finalist so this is a tough section.
That is further highlighted when you throw the other semi-finalist from Barnsley into this quarter in Alexander Ursenbacher. Stephen Maguire is pushing for the Masters from here while Ben Woollaston, Peter Ebdon and Andrew Higginson are all dangerous.
Bottom Quarter
Marco Fu has withdrawn from the tournament from this quarter which has left the path clear for the likes of Judd Trump, Mark Williams and Ali Carter in terms of high ranked players. Joe Perry is another in or around the top 20 who is here.
There are a few dangers in this section of the draw as well with Michael Holt one of them. Xiao Guodong is perfectly talented while Gerard Greene won’t lack for support. Matt Selt, Tom Ford and Dave Gilbert will be looking for big weeks to push their ranking up going into the UK Championship.
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Betting
As ever I’ll go with one in each quarter this week in the hope of getting at least a couple through to the latter stages of the event. In the top half I have to stick with Jack Lisowski. He was a semi-finalist for me last week and quarter finalist in Barnsley before that so he is in good form and with Mark King the main seed in his quarter there is an open element to it even with Neil Robertson around. The Aussie is in no form whatsoever so I’m happy to go with Lisowski.
In the second quarter the player I like is Shaun Murphy. Having won the Champion of Champions he will be full of confidence and not qualifying for the Shanghai Masters last week will have done him no harm at all. He might have to negotiate the home favourite Mark Allen but we saw the pressure he carried in this last year. Murphy sets the standard not just in this quarter but in this half of the draw.
The third quarter looks a really tasty one but Kyren Wilson looks overpriced in it. Ronnie O’Sullivan has been playing plenty of snooker recently in different continents which is not ideal and John Higgins was still in the Chinese event as late as Friday. Wilson never went to Shanghai last week so he should be nice and fresh which should give him an advantage. I’ll pay to see if he can go deep at 40/1.
Given that Judd Trump was still competing in China on Saturday evening he has to be taken on here in my eyes. Mark Williams has posted some messages on twitter about his wife being in hospital so I don’t really want to get involved with him. Joe Perry has a nice draw this week and given that he banged in a couple of centuries in his first round win in the Shanghai Masters last week he could be coming into form so at a three figure price I’ll chance him.
Tips
Back J.Lisowski to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Ladbrokes (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back S.Murphy to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 15.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back K.Wilson to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 41.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back J.Perry to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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