The new snooker season begins on Monday and for those of us who love our action on the green baize ten months of refreshing the live scoring apps and opening various tabs for live streaming gets underway with the qualifying event for the Riga Masters.
This is the first ranking event of the new campaign but with much bigger fish to fry later in it a number of the very leading players are keeping their cues in their case until the heavy action begins so there is a chance of a decent tournament for a few who often sail under the radar. We have four sessions of action on Monday to get the campaign underway.
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Morning Session
There are five matches in the first session of the day. The two matches that will be available on the live streams are the ones featuring Michael Georgiou against Zhou Yuelong in what is a brutal draw for both, and Ricky Walden against John Astley. The other three matches on the outside tables are Jamie Jones against Simon Lichtenberg, Rod Lawler facing Martin O’Donnell and Kuldesh Johal up against Chris Wakelin.
Early Afternoon Session
Mark King is on one of the streamed tables in the four matches on show in this session. He takes on Peter Ebdon in a draw neither will have wanted while Liang Wenbo plays Adam Duffy on the other streamed table. Alan McManus begins his season against Robbie Williams on an outside table while Lukas Kleckers meets Alexander Ursenbacher.
Late Afternoon Session
Four more matches take place in the later afternoon session with Ali Carter the headline draw in it. He is on a streamed table when he takes on Billy Joe Castle while Matt Selt meets Xu Si on the other one. Away from the spotlight we have Soheil Vahedi going up against Mei Xiwen and Stuart Carrington faces Mitchell Mann to open up their seasons.
Evening Session
It is all about Shaun Murphy in the evening session. The former world champion takes on Sanderson Lam to get his season underway and that is one of the streamed offerings with Barry Hawkins on the other main table when he takes on Andy Lee. Nigel Bond plays Mark Joyce on one of the outside tables while Hammad Miah meets David Lilley on the other one.
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Betting
At this stage of the season betting is likely to be minimal and at a premium but there is one that I like the look of on Monday which comes in what is probably the biggest match of the day when Mark King takes on Peter Ebdon.
King will know that he has a decent chance in this tournament. He is the second highest ranked player in his quarter and he showed when he won the Northern Ireland Open in 2016 that the best of seven format suits him. I’ve never been convinced that Ebdon is suited to this format and that has to give King a real advantage here. I’m not saying Ebdon won’t be motivated here but I think King definitely will. Even at 4/5 he looks a good bet to open his campaign with a win.
Tips
WON – Back M.King to beat P.Ebdon for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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