Two more groups are played out in the Championship League snooker competition on Wednesday, as the sport and the players within it continue to play out a return from the coronavirus lockdown at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We’ve seen a mixture of decent action and some scrappy stuff so far in the opening two days of action and we would probably be wise to expect more of the same over the course of Wednesday, despite the names on show.
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.
Tuesday Recap
After the tournament played to form on Monday, the shocks arrived on Tuesday with both group favourites knocked out. Jack Lisowski came a cropper on the main table when Luca Brecel edged him out courtesy of a higher break on the day while on table two it was Mark Joyce who came through at the expense of Michael Holt, the Shootout winner who was the favourite for his section. Holt couldn’t even come second in the group, that spot belonged to Mark Davis. Louis Heathcote brought up the rear in that group while in the main one Oliver Lines finished third and Robbie Williams fourth.
It was our first winning day of action since the sport returned from lockdown on Tuesday. The profit came courtesy of Mark Joyce, who beat Michael Holt 3-1 on his way to claiming top spot in that group. He led 2-0 so our money was safe from early on but he won the final frame to add the winnings on top. Unfortunately he then went on to win the group which put paid to the bet on Mark Davis to top the section but we still came away with a 2.5pt profit.
Group 4
Fixtures
Mark King vs Sam Baird
Joe Perry vs Harvey Chandler
Joe Perry vs Sam Baird
Mark King vs Harvey Chandler
Joe Perry vs Mark King
Sam Baird vs Harvey Chandler
Preview
Joe Perry has had a couple of days in the commentary box for ITV Sport to begin the tournament but it is his turn to take to the green baize and hopefully justify our outright bet on him and go on to win the group. I always think players play better after they have had the TV perspective on things. If Perry is to come through he will need to get past the former Northern Ireland Open winner Mark King, while Sam Baird and Harvey Chandler have shown at different times that they could be more than just making up the numbers if they are allowed to be.
Group 12
Fixtures
Kyren Wilson vs Chen Feilong
Ryan Day vs Alfie Burden
Ryan Day vs Chen Feilong
Kyren Wilson vs Alfie Burden
Alfie Burden vs Chen Feilong
Kyren Wilson vs Ryan Day
Preview
The action on the main table will centre round Group 12 where the recent Gibraltar Open finalist Kyren Wilson is the star attraction on the day. He is a hard worker but is also a family man so it will be interesting to see if he has done much practice and if he hasn’t, how he will play as a result. Ryan Day is the next highest ranked player in the group but his form has been awful all season. There is no doubt the shutdown came at a good time for him so it will be interesting to see if he can return with some sort of game with him. Alfie Burden and Chen Feilong make up the group and must quietly fancy their chances of coming out on top.
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Group Betting
There are two groups on show on Wednesday but there is only one I am interested in from a betting point of view. That is because the other one has Joe Perry in it as an odds on favourite and I’m already on him outright so I don’t need to go in on him again especially at a price that short. I don’t think he gets beat and think he has a very nice draw indeed, if one exists over matches of four frames. The other group is a very different story however.
Like the Perry group, Group 12 has an odds on favourite in the form of Kyren Wilson but I’m not so sure he is as worthy of that tag because he’s in with a couple of capable challengers. Ryan Day is the second favourite but his form has been terrible for too long. Chen Feilong is one of the few Chinese players in the tournament but he’s 16/1 and it is difficult to argue against that with his lack of TV table experience. Alfie Burden at 8/1 is harder to oppose though. We’ve seen three of the four group winners so far be the naturally talented players and Burden probably has more natural talent than any of this quartet. He’s a decent break builder and we saw that come into play on Tuesday and a win here would do his career no harm. Wilson just feels too short to me here. I’ll take him on with Burden at the prices.
Match Betting
I’ll go with one in the matches as well. I get that Mark King should be the favourite to beat Sam Baird because the latter can be a little hit and miss at the best of times but nobody is really going to be hit in this tournament so the odds should be a little closer between the two than they are in my opinion. I have read that King has had access to practice facilities which might help him out a little but he is hardly the most fluent scorer at the best of times anyway.
Baird is more than capable of stringing a few breaks together. Often he struggles to deliver his best on the big stages, with his better performances tending to come in qualifying matches, where the setup and the lack of atmosphere is very much reminiscent of this tournament, so Baird might well feel more comfortable here. He hasn’t got a whole lot to lose while King is a favourite and expected to win. At 13/8 Baird is too big to ignore without the draw as a runner.
Tips
Back A.Burden to win Group 12 for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with 888sport
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Baird to beat M.King (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back him here:
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