Live sport returns to the UK on Monday and among the first to get up and running is snooker, which does so with the opening day of the Championship League, a swiftly arranged event taking place inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
There are a number of leading players on show in the tournament and it gets underway with the world champion headlining the afternoon on a day where there is going to be a lot of focus and attention on the action, which sees the first two groups being played out in full.
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.
Group 2
Fixtures
Judd Trump vs David Grace
Daniel Wells vs Elliot Slessor
Daniel Wells vs David Grace
Judd Trump vs Elliot Slessor
Elliot Slessor vs David Grace
Judd Trump vs Daniel Wells
Preview
The first group on show sees the world champion Judd Trump in action, in a section he will be expected to dominate, if indeed a group of four frames matches can be dominated. The next highest ranked player in the group after the world number one is Daniel Wells which probably highlights how relatively weak the section is. Elliot Slessor has taken some big name scalps throughout his career so far so he could be pretty dangerous if given the chance. His match with Trump looks like being the pick of the games on show in this group. The other member of the group is David Grace, a former UK Championship semi-finalist and a man who made the quarter final of the last tournament before lockdown in Gibraltar.
Group 13
Fixtures
Stuart Carrington vs Jak Jones
Dave Gilbert vs Jackson Page
Dave Gilbert vs Jak Jones
Stuart Carrington vs Jackson Page
Dave Gilbert vs Stuart Carrington
Jak Jones vs Jackson Page
Preview
World Championship semi-finalist Dave Gilbert is the headline name in this group. The silky cueist has a pretty decent history in former versions of the Championship League which will give him confidence going into this afternoon of action. He has natural talent too which should serve him well. Stuart Carrington rates as his biggest danger in terms of the world rankings. He has gone toe to toe with some big names in his time, and their clash in the penultimate match of the group could be the one which decides the winner. The other two players in action in this section both come from Wales as Jak Jones and Jackson Page will be out to show they are not here just to make up the numbers.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
It is not easy to bet on these groups. Firstly we don’t really know how the event is going to run from a logistics point of view as well as a playing standard one but even if we did we have odds on favourites in both sections that are hard to oppose. In Group 2 it is impossible to go against Judd Trump but quotes of 1/4 don’t interest me, especially in a quirky format like this has the potential to be. Elliot Slessor might be dangerous but I expect the world number one to be up for this.
In the other group Dave Gilbert is favourite and I think that is entirely justified as well. I’m well aware for the potential of upsets to come along but he is pretty well rehearsed in the behind closed doors and short distance nature that this tournament has been held under in the past. Jackson Page could be anything if he is on it while Stuart Carrington merits respect but it is Gilbert for me, however I’m already on him outright so I’m not smashing into him at 4/6 here. I’ll sit the group betting out on Monday.
Match Betting
My gut feeling is there are going to be a lot of draws in this competition so I am slightly wary of getting stuck in Monday until we can see for ourselves whether the event plays out like that. With that in mind my bet for the opening day of the tournament is going to be without the draw in play, as I suspect most will be as we go along in the competition, and it comes in the match between Daniel Wells and David Grace.
There is a lot of guesswork taking place here but the one thing we don’t need to guess about is whether David Grace has been on the practice table as his social media confirms that he has been. That may well give him an advantage over Daniel Wells in this one. It should be noted that Wells stays on to play this match but I’m not massively convinced that is going to have much of an impact. Grace was in good form in Gibraltar prior to lockdown and if the standard makes the frames scrappy, and it would be no surprise if that is the case, Grace may well be suited to that. At odds against on the draw no bet market I’ll side with the former UK semi-finalist here.
Tips
PUSH – Back D.Grace to beat D.Wells (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
