As ever no sooner does one snooker tournament end another one gets set to begin and after the drama and excitement of the Champion of Champions the circuit heads to Belfast for the Northern Ireland Open, the second Home Nations event of the campaign.
Stuart Bingham won the opening Home Nations tournament of the season in the English Open so all eyes will be on him to see if he can go a step closer to the £1 million bonus. Mark Williams is the man defending the title in Belfast.
Recent Winners
2017 – Mark Williams
2016 – Mark King
The Format
I would imagine the format of these tournaments are fairly well known by now but for newcomers the 128 man field have been placed into a pre-determined draw bracket for what is a straight knockout event. The first round through to the quarter final is the best of seven frames with the third and fourth rounds played on one day on Thursday. The quarter finals are the best of nine frames with the semis moving up to the best of 11 and the champion is determined on Sunday over the best of 17 frames.
Top Quarter
As the defending champion it is Mark Williams who is the number one seed and with that he is the top seed in the first quarter of the draw. Champion of Champions finalist Kyren Wilson and International Championship finalist Neil Robertson are the other members of the top 16 in this section of the bracket.
Ali Carter, Xiao Guodong, European Masters finalist Joe Perry, Michael White, Sam Craigie, English Open finalist Mark Davis, Noppon Saengkham, Luo Honghao and Peter Ebdon are just some of the players who are having good seasons or who are extremely talented who could go well and do some damage from this part of the draw.
Second Quarter
Judd Trump and John Higgins are the main attractions in the second quarter of the draw this week but with neither being in the most amazing form that has ever been known this could turn into something of an open section. Luca Brecel and Ryan Day come from the top 16 and will be looking to take advantage of the draw opening up.
There are a number of players outside the top 16 who are in that boat too. Graeme Dott and Jack Lisowski are probably the two most likely but Liang Wenbo has already won one of these Home Nations events in the past and could be dangerous. Andrew Higginson, the 2017 runner up here Yan Bingtao, Gary Wilson and Stuart Carrington are just some of the players who make up this talented section.
Third Quarter
The newly crowned Champion of Champions, Ronnie O’Sullivan, will be looking for successive titles from this section of the draw when he lines up in this third quarter. This is a bit of a loaded quarter as it has the recent International Championship winner Mark Allen and the Shanghai Masters finalist Barry Hawkins in it.
The former winner of this tournament Mark King is also in this quarter for this week while the likes of Matthew Stevens, Ricky Walden, Tom Ford, Stephen Maguire and Michael Holt are all dangerous in a tournament of this kind. Zhou Yuelong and David Gilbert are quality players in this quarter as well.
Bottom Quarter
The world number one Mark Selby headlines the challenge in the bottom quarter of the draw this week. Shaun Murphy will be looking to build on his run to the semi-final in Coventry when he competes in this section as well while English Open champion Stuart Bingham will be looking to continue his quest for a shot at the £1 million bonus from here. Marco Fu is the other top 16 player in this quarter.
Anthony McGill is entitled to think he has got something to offer from this part of the draw. European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson can think likewise. Anthony Hamilton is another who is a danger in this section while Jimmy White, Robert Milkins and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh will all be looking to showcase their talent too.
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Betting
As ever I’m going to take a player from each quarter of the draw with Ali Carter the centre of my attention in the top quarter. He has made the quarter final of the last two tournaments and lost out to the eventual champion on both occasions but his game looks in good order and he doesn’t have the hardest part of the draw with the exception of Mark Williams but the defending champion isn’t exactly cooking on gas. This is a big week for Carter as he pushes for a place at The Masters. He only has this tournament and the UK Championship to force his way in. That is ideal motivation so I’m happy to take him.
Liang Wenbo is having a quiet season but he often has one good tournament in a year and if he is going to have it in his current form then it is probably going to be one like this where the draw can open up and he only has to play in bursts. He has won one of these Home Nations events before when he took down the English Open a couple of years ago and at a monster three figure price I’ll pay to see what he’s got here.
Barry Hawkins is a former finalist here and I think he’s in the right shape to go well again this week. He didn’t do a whole lot wrong in the Champion of Champions last week other than run into Mark Allen in insane form. Hawkins is a class act and if the draw does open up and he gets to avoid Ronnie O’Sullivan then happy days. If not he is one of few who can challenge him. Hawkins will be gearing up for the big tournaments to come and can use this week to have an extended run once again.
Martin O’Donnell has already made the quarter final of the China Championship and the International Championship and so if this tournament opens up like so many of these Home Nations events do then he could hang around until the business end. His quarter is fairly tough but Selby’s record in the UK is getting worse and I’m not convinced Murphy is playing to his best. We know anything can happen in seven frame sprints so I’m happy to back a man who has made two quarter finals at a monster price.
Tips
Back A.Carter to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
VOID – Back L.Wenbo to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back B.Hawkins to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Skybet (1/2 1-2)
Back M.O’Donnell to win Northern Ireland Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 501.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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