The first snooker title of the new season will be won on Friday when the last two groups and then the final of the Championship League Snooker will be played out inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
Eight men have the chance to win the title and five of them have the opportunity to qualify for the Champion of Champions in doing so, as two groups take place with the winners going into the final of the competition later in the day.
Day 20 Recap
There was a major shock on the main table on Thursday when the world number one Judd Trump was dumped out of the tournament. Fortunately for us it was our pre-tournament outright bet Tom Ford that did it to ensure we have representation at the final day. He lost his opening match 3-0 but won the next two by the same scoreline, including the win over Trump, to secure his place in the action on Friday. Over on the other table things went much more to plan with Mark Allen breezing through his group for the loss of just the one frame.
We didn’t do a preview for Thursday as we had Ford running for us throughout the day but unfortunately Wednesday was another bad day for us betting wise as annoyingly despite a draw and a win in his opening two matches, Noppon Saengkham had no answer to Mark Davis who had a draw and a defeat from his two matches heading into that contest. That just shows the lottery format of this tournament a little but hopefully we can finish the event with a flourish on Friday.
Group 1
Fixtures
Kyren Wilson vs Bai Langning
Mark Allen vs Tom Ford
Mark Allen vs Bai Langning
Kyren Wilson vs Tom Ford
Tom Ford vs Bai Langning
Kyren Wilson vs Mark Allen
Preview
The action on the main table looks very tasty as the two highest ranked players left in the competition will battle it out for a place in the final. One of those is Kyren Wilson, the defending champion who is looking to win a third Championship League title in a row in its various guises. The other is the reigning Champion of Champions winner Mark Allen who has looked very strong so far in the competition. Our outright bet Tom Ford is in this group as well so hopefully he has another big day in him. The huge outsider in the section is Bai Langning but the other three would be well served not to sleep on him.
Group 2
Fixtures
Ali Carter vs Ryan Day
David Gilbert vs Cao Yupeng
David Gilbert vs Ryan Day
Ali Carter vs Cao Yupeng
David Gilbert vs Ali Carter
Ryan Day vs Cao Yupeng
Preview
It might well be that the more competitive of the two groups is the one over on Table Two where all four players will have their eyes on the place in the final that comes from this section. Dave Gilbert is the leading light in terms of the rankings in this section. He had a nice route to this group when Ronnie O’Sullivan withdrew to basically gift him a place in this group. Ali Carter and Ryan Day both had to work harder to make it through to this stage and will want to capitalise on it now they are here. Just like the other group we have a Chinese player who is the outsider in this section but Cao Yupeng certainly shouldn’t be underestimated as he has come past the likes of Gary Wilson, Barry Hawkins and Yan Bingtao so he won’t fear anyone.
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Group Betting
Both groups have favourites that are odds against in them which highlights the competitive nature of them so betting on them is quite difficult. I’m going to leave the group on the main table alone because I’m hoping that Ford is the one to win that group and give me a look at the full pay out from the outright bet, even though he is up against it a little. He did beat Trump 3-0 on Thursday though so he certainly isn’t without a chance.
If I was going to bet on the groups then it would certainly come from the one on Table Two but the problem with that group is that you can make a case for all four players in it which is never ideal. The big problem is that fact hasn’t been lost on the bookmakers and the prices are all pretty cramped too. If I was going to bet on a competitive section then I would certainly want a standout price but as we’re not getting that I’ll leave it alone.
Match Betting
It is equally as tough to bet on the matches on Friday but there is one which I am happy to take because I sense that if Dave Gilbert falls behind in the group he might lose a bit of interest and therefore Ali Carter might be the one to get the better of him in the final match that the two will play. I think Carter will be right up for this anyway. He knows he needs the ranking points to get back where he belongs and he’s been playing some decent snooker.
Gilbert has played well in this tournament too, dropping just one frame in the six matches he has played to get to this stage but he hasn’t played anyone of note really and that might be something that catches him out over the course of the day. Carter has battled through two testing groups and getting his season off to a winning start and enjoying all the benefits that come of it will certainly motivate him. Gilbert is yet to win a title and one of the reasons for that is he struggles to produce his best snooker when the finishing line is in sight. That might well be the case here so I’ll take Carter in this one.
Tips
Back A.Carter to beat D.Gilbert (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back him here:
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