The first main draw of the new BetVictor series begins on Wednesday when 32 men head to Austria for the European Masters, where we are guaranteed a new winner after defending champion Jimmy Robertson was knocked out in qualifying.
This is the first of four events along with the German Masters, Snooker Shootout and Gibraltar Open which carries a £150,000 bonus to the man who wins the most money on those events so this opener is likely to be extremely competitive.
Recent Winners
2018 – Jimmy Robertson
2017 – Judd Trump
2016 – Judd Trump
The Format
With the added value in the tournament this year we have a change of format. The first two rounds and the quarter final are now the best of nine rather than seven with the semi-finals both being the best of 11 and then the champion is crowned over two sessions of play on Sunday in a race to nine for the title. Given the quick nature of the tournament there are some instances where players have to play twice in a single day.
Top Quarter
Given that the defending champion Jimmy Robertson has already bitten the dust the highest ranked player in the top quarter is now Kyren Wilson. That doesn’t mean he is going to have things all his own way though because the UK Championship winner Ding Junhui is in here as is The Masters finalist Ali Carter. The other five men in this quarter of the draw will all fancy their chances this week. They are Scott Donaldson, Robert Milkins, Tian Pengfei, Michael Holt and Daniel Wells.
Second Quarter
This is the section of the draw that is absolutely loaded with the big names in it all making it through qualifying. Neil Robertson is the highest seed in the quarter just ahead of John Higgins and then we have the former world champion Graeme Dott here and the Snooker Shootout champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who has already made one major final this term. Two Chinese stars will be out to do some damage from this section as well as Lu Haotian and Liang Wenbo are situated in this quarter. Robbie Williams and Fergal O’Brien complete those in it.
Third Quarter
Two men who have been no strangers to winning titles throughout their careers are the headline acts in this quarter of the draw as Mark Williams and Mark Selby both reside here. Barry Hawkins looked completely out of form at The Masters but he’ll look to find some touch in this section, which was due to have the Riga Masters champion in it but Yan Bingtao has pulled out with a back injury. That has sent Jackson Page through to the last 16 with the other three men looking to join him there being Zhou Yuelong, David Lilley and Jak Jones.
Bottom Quarter
Judd Trump and Mark Allen were expected to be the two main rivals in this bottom quarter of the draw but both have lost early in the qualifying campaign which has left a really open section of proceedings. The highest ranked player is Gary Wilson but some competent players are in the quarter. Luca Brecel is one of them while Zhao Xintong and Michael White have both had their moments this season already. Marco Fu and Xiao Guodong are both class acts with Lu Ning and Alfie Burden here to prove they are not just making up the numbers.
Betting
I’ll take a couple of outright bets this week in the hope of starting off the BetVictor Series in style and in the bottom half Marco Fu looks good to me at 33/1. I’ve got him down as one of my players to watch in 2020 with him back to scoring well and still underrated by the odds compilers because of his injury. Fu hasn’t had that breakout performance in a tournament yet but I always stress when he scores well he is a match for anyone and in the last six weeks or so of 2019 that was the case. This quarter he is in is as wide open as any you’ll see with no top 16 player in sight. If Fu brings his best to the table he should go very deep.
In the top half of the draw I’ll take a little punt on Michael Holt who has a nice early draw and while things could get more complicated the longer it goes on, I just wonder how up for this the bigger names will be because it surely has to be a comedown playing in the bright lights and the centre of attention of huge crowds at Ally Pally last week to here in Austria where crowds just won’t be as good. The might give Holt every chance although he might not need the leg up. Holt made the quarter finals of the World Open where Luca Brecel, Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui were his victims. He also has a win over Mark Williams this season so at 100/1 there is enough juice in a ‘pay to see’ punt on Holt.
Tips
Back M.Fu to win European Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
Back M.Holt to win European Masters (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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