10 days of action have been and gone in the Championship League and on Thursday the winner will be crowned when the four remaining men battle it out in the Final Group of the competition inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
The standard has gone up a few notches over the last few days and with a spot in the Champion of Champions and £30,000 on the line the four players will know they need to be at their very best to get hold of the riches on offer.
The Format
The whole tour were invited into the tournament with the highest ranked 64 players getting into the draw. The 64 man field have been split into 16 groups of four in the first round. Each group is a round robin with everyone playing everyone else over the best of four frames with two points for a win and one for a draw. The player who tops the group goes through to the group winner stage where the 16 remaining players are split into four more groups of four over the same format. Those four winners then go into the Championship group which is once again played out over the same format. Whoever tops that group is the champion. Two groups will be played on each day until the final day when the Championship group is played. The entire tournament is live on ITV4 in the UK.
Wednesday Recap
There was the promise of some great snooker on Wednesday and we were not left disappointed in that regard. The group on the main table was loaded with quality and the four men delivered a barrage of centuries and other big breaks with Ryan Day coming out on top, getting the better of Judd Trump, Dave Gilbert and Barry Hawkins to claim his place in the final. On the other table it was Luca Brecel who came through when he picked up a draw against Gary Wilson to force Ashley Carty to beat Mark Joyce in the final game to deny him. Carty lost 3-1 so Brecel is the man to progress.
It was another profitable day for us on Wednesday as we suspected the form line of Brecel would hold up on table two and it duly did even though he lost a frame in his first match to the three miss rule. It wasn’t a perfect day because Ryan Day could only draw 2-2 with Barry Hawkins but we was on the Welshman on the draw no bet market so we lost nothing with that one.
Final Group
Fixtures
Stuart Bingham vs Luca Brecel
Ryan Day vs Ben Woollaston
Ryan Day vs Luca Brecel
Stuart Bingham vs Ben Woollaston
Luca Brecel vs Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham vs Ryan Day
Preview
The four men remaining in the competition have all come through two groups of action to make it this far. Stuart Bingham is the most established player on show. He is a former winner of this event, coming out on top in 2015 prior to winning the World Championship. In terms of the world rankings Ryan Day is the second best player in the group. He might not be the top seed but for my money he has played the best snooker of anyone on show on Thursday.
Luca Brecel had to sit and wait out the last match of his group on Wednesday to see if he had done enough to make this final but he was rewarded when Mark Joyce beat Ashley Carty. Earlier in the tournament Brecel played on the main table and edged a group including Jack Lisowski so he’s going along nicely. Ben Woollaston is the only man yet to win a ranking title to make it through to the final group and he hasn’t played as much on the main table as the other three. His last semi-final group match was moved to that table though so he does have some experience of the conditions but he feels like the outsider of the quartet.
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Group Betting
In terms of the group betting on Thursday it is the outright market that we need to attack but it is worth attacking as even though we are down to the final four, you can still get 7/4 the field. That shows two things. First of all it highlights how competitive this group could be and secondly it represents that the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson have all been sent packing from the event.
The man I like is Ryan Day. I get that Stuart Bingham took care of Ronnie O’Sullivan to make it through but O’Sullivan flattered to deceive a little bit. Ryan Day has taken on Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Dave Gilbert and Judd Trump in this tournament and hasn’t lost to any of them. Moreover he has filled his boots scoring wise and looks to be cueing an absolute dream at the minute. Ben Woollaston probably has nothing to lose so he could be dangerous while Luca Brecel keeps finding ways to draw. You can get 11/4 on Day winning the title and that is where I think the trophy will be heading.
Match Betting
I’ll go with one in the match betting in this final group and it comes midway through proceedings when Stuart Bingham takes on Ben Woollaston. The rankings suggest that Bingham should be a favourite, and the bookmakers agree, but I’m not sure we’ve seen enough from the former world champion this week to suggest he should be as short as he is and with that in mind I’m inclined to take a chance on the outsider without the draw.
Woollaston might not have impressed throughout the competition in the way some have but he had that insane scoring show against Tom Ford in the semi-final when he banged in three tons in as many frames and he has generally scored well over the course of the tournament. Bingham is yet to make a century in the event and that is a clear sign that although he has made it through, he has been doing just enough to get by. These two actually met in Gibraltar in the final event before lockdown and Woollaston won 4-0. There are enough factors to make me think the outsider is too big and the 2/1 on him draw no bet should be taken.
Tips
Back R.Day to win Final Group for a 3/10 stake at 3.75 with Betfred
Back B.Woollaston to beat S.Bingham (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Coral
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