The newly formed Coral Snooker Series concludes this week when the leading eight money earners in ranking tournaments over the last year head to Llandudno for the very first staging of the Tour Championship which begins on Tuesday.
It is long distance matches all the way this week with eight superstars competing for a huge first prize and the boost of a significant title leading into the World Championship in Sheffield next month.
The Format
There are only seven matches in this tournament with the quarter finals being played over two sessions of action and the best-of-17 frames and the semi-finals over two more frames. The final is the only match of the season outside of the World Championship to be the best-of-25 frames with the winner being crowned over three sessions played on Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening.
Top Four Seeds
Mark Allen is the top seed for the tournament this week. The International Championship and Scottish Open champion hasn’t been in the best of form since the turn of the year but there were signs at the Players Championship recently that his best might be coming back again. You’ve got to think Allen will be targeting a real tilt at the World Championship and a win here would do him no harm ahead of that quest.
The Players Championship winner Ronnie O’Sullivan is the second seed here. He added that title to the Champion of Champions, Shanghai Masters and UK Championship for titles that he has won this term and if he wins this tournament he could return to the top of the world rankings. O’Sullivan looked at his best in Preston last time out, passing the iconic mark of 1,000 centuries. It is no surprise he is the 6/4 favourite here.
Judd Trump took the first of the Coral Snooker Series events when he powered to the World Grand Prix title to follow up his successes in Northern Ireland and in The Masters and he is the third seed in this tournament. Trump didn’t look at his best in the Players Championship but he had played a lot of snooker. He wants to win the World Championship so looking good over the distances of this tournament would serve him well.
Players Championship finalist Neil Robertson continued his fine form having won the Welsh Open prior to that and he is the fourth seed here. The Australian has also won the Riga Masters this term so it has been a good campaign for him thus far. He will hope it gets better with victory in this tournament and then the World Championship and he is 15/2 to claim the crown this week.
Bottom Four Seeds
World number one Mark Selby is only the fifth seed this week with the seedings being based on money for the year but he will still expect to contend here. Selby won the China Championship earlier in the campaign but it has been something of a write off either side of that for him. He has a good reputation over the longer formats though which might serve him well at 7/1 here.
World champion Mark Williams is the sixth seed here. He is the only Welshman in the field so he isn’t going to lack for support across the week. Williams won the World Open but hasn’t done much since then although he has sacked much of the campaign off. He is preparing to defend the world title next month though and will be practicing hard ahead of that so we might well see his best form here.
Stuart Bingham won the Gibraltar Open last weekend to go alongside his English Open success from earlier in the season and he starts out as the seventh seed this week. Given that he plays Ronnie O’Sullivan in the first round winning on the Rock might not have done him any favours it has to be said. Bingham hasn’t really featured in these Coral events yet but will be desperate to do so here.
Kyren Wilson is the last man into the tournament. The Paul Hunter Classic and German Masters winner is certainly here on merit and he will be looking to deliver the goods now he is here. He is many people’s dark horse for the World Championship so shouldn’t be ruled out, especially with not the toughest draw in the world. He could be more than just a sleeper at 14/1.
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Betting
Only eight men this week so finding value is going to be pretty difficult so I’m just after the winner here. In attempting to find that it helps that Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump are in the same half of the draw so we can whittle our possible outright bet down to four men because I wouldn’t want to call the winner of that semi-final, should they meet at that stage.
That leaves us with Mark Allen, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson and I’m going to take a chance that the longer format brings out the best in the world number one. We’ve seen in the past that he is so good from behind and unlike most of the season a fast start isn’t imperative here. Selby will be defending a bunch of points in Sheffield next month so needs to build up a head of steam going there. I’ve a feeling we might see the best of him here.
Tips
Back M.Selby to win Tour Championshp (e/w) for a 2/10 stake at 8.00 with Coral (1/3 1-2)
Back him here:
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