The Championship League snooker tournament continues on Thursday, after which we will be halfway through the first round of a competition which is not only delivering a return of live sport, but some compelling action along the way.
There were doubts over what the format would throw up when we entered the competition but we’ve had groups going down to the very last frame of the day all over the place, which has made it a really good watch so far. Hopefully that continues in the two groups to be played out on Thursday.
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
We saw a couple of shocks on Wednesday as both odds on favourites got turned over in their groups. On the main table Kyren Wilson needed to win the final frame of the day to edge through but Ryan Day pinched it to progress while on the other table there was an even bigger shock has the unheralded Harvey Chandler defied the rankings to overcome Joe Perry, Mark King and Sam Baird to top the group on what was another decent day of snooker overall.
It was a profitable day of snooker once again for us on Wednesday as our match bet on Sam Baird to beat Mark King landed at a juicy price. We didn’t collect on the group bet on Alfie Burden though. To be fair he looked like a world beater for 10 minutes but then he feathered the white and it was went Pete Tong, although it should be said the amount of luck the other three players had against him beggared belief. Still, we’ll take the Baird win and move on.
Group 5
Fixtures
Mark Selby vs Lee Walker
Liang Wenbo vs Joe O’Connor
Liang Wenbo vs Lee Walker
Mark Selby vs Joe O’Connor
Joe O’Connor vs Lee Walker
Mark Selby vs Liang Wenbo
Preview
The three time champion of the world Mark Selby is the headline act on show on Thursday and his group is on the main table. He is odds on to progress from a section that has a couple of live dangers in it in the form of Liang Wenbo and Joe O’Connor, both of whom have gone deep in Home Nations events in the past to show that they can come out of the blocks quickly. I’m not sure Lee Walker does anything quickly but he’s solid enough to take advantage of any rustiness in his opponents which turn the frames scrappy and plays to his strengths.
Group 14
Fixtures
Gerard Greene vs John Astley
Gary Wilson vs Mitchell Mann
Gary Wilson vs John Astley
Gerard Greene vs Mitchell Mann
Gary Wilson vs Gerard Greene
John Astley vs Mitchell Mann
Preview
World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson is the star man in Group 14 of the competition and he has his chances of going through boosted earlier in the week when Matthew Stevens withdraw from the tournament. He was due to be in this group and has been replaced by Gerard Greene. That makes John Astley the second highest ranked player in the section with Mitchell Mann the third member of the group. Wilson will be expected to dominate this group from start to finish but favourites haven’t fared too well since the opening day of the event.
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Group Betting
We have odds on favourites in both groups and this isn’t the format to be taking them in my opinion. We saw two turned over on Wednesday and there is just no point chasing short prices in this format. As it goes I find it very hard to believe that Wilson will have any issues coming through on table two, but everyone is likely to be rusty so you can’t be certain of anything in this tournament. He looks to have a plum draw though it has to be said.
There might be more value in opposing Mark Selby in Group 5 but even then picking the player to do it with isn’t all that easy. I saw an interview with Selby that suggested he only entered this because he doesn’t want to go to Sheffield without having had any match practice at all. That was a surprise as the Tour Championship is still scheduled before then but it highlights that he needs time on the table. I’m not convinced Selby’s chances reflect his skinny price but it is dangerous to oppose him over the course of the day.
Match Betting
I am going to oppose the top seed in one of his matches though. We have seen in the last couple of seasons that when Selby hasn’t practiced much and is a bit rusty that he takes a bit of a while to find his game and that could well be the case here. We can’t say the format doesn’t suit him because he’s won a couple of Home Nations events this season but if he has to build his way into the day his competition might be over before he gets going.
I’ve been keen to have natural talent on my side in this tournament so far and not many have more of it than Liang Wenbo and although the Chinese ace doesn’t meet Selby until the final game in the group, I can’t ignore the large odds on Wenbo to win without the draw. It is hard to see this match not meaning anything for Wenbo but if Selby has been rusty earlier in the day he might be punching against the tide. I’ll back Wenbo’s natural talent to come through and take him to win the final match of the day without the draw at 9/4 which is just too big.
Tips
WON – Back L.Wenbo to beat M.Selby (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 3.25 with Coral
Back him here:
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