There is another day of action at the Championship League Snooker competition on Tuesday as the first day of the tournament continues with another eight players getting their season underway at the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
We saw Ronnie O’Sullivan move into the second stage on Monday and while there are no marquee names on show on Tuesday we have a couple of potentially competitive looking groups on show to keep us entertained.
Group 15
Fixtures
Ricky Walden vs Andy Lee
Jackson Page vs Gerard Greene
Jackson Page vs Andy Lee
Ricky Walden vs Gerard Greene
Gerard Greene vs Andy Lee
Ricky Walden vs Jackson Page
Preview
The group on Table One sees one of the best players of last season on show in the form of Ricky Walden. He did pretty much everything but win a title last term and is surely going to crack the top 16 at some point in this campaign. His season ended in the World Championship qualifiers though so he will be eager to start this term positively. Jackson Page ended his campaign in the opposite fashion, reaching the last 16 at the Crucible Theatre. He is the biggest danger to Walden in terms of the world rankings. Gerard Greene is the third seed in this group and he needs a huge season. Andy Lee returns to the tour after securing his card at Q-School and he’ll be looking for a positive start.
Group 32
Fixtures
Xiao Guodong vs Rod Lawler
Scott Donaldson vs Nutcharut Wongharuthai
Scott Donaldson vs Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong vs Nutcharut Wongharuthai
Nutcharut Wongharuthai vs Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong vs Scott Donaldson
Preview
Xiao Guodong is the top seed in Group 32 on Tuesday. This group will be played out on Table Two with the Chinese player the lowest of the top seeds in the competition. Scott Donaldson is a previous winner of the invitation part of this tournament and will be looking to add the ranking version of it to his name. Rod Lawler went back to Q-School and came out on top and he begins a new term as a professional here. The other player in the field is the first female that we’ve seen in action as Nutcharut Wongharuthai starts her life on the professional circuit.
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Group Betting
This is another day where I don’t really fancy anything in the group betting department. If we look at Table One first I find it hard to believe that it won’t be a match between Ricky Walden and Jackson Page. They look a mile clear of Gerard Greene and Andy Lee, although I guess the latter has at least got the positive vibes from Q-School in his favour. I think he’s going to need a lot more than what he showed there to be competitive here though.
Over on Table Two I would actually have got involved in Scott Donaldson for the group had it not been for the fact that he is the odds on favourite to take it. I was hoping that the betting might reflect a more open heat than I think it will be. I think Xiao Guodong will be his closest challenger but he finished last season with just three wins in eight matches after the Shootout. Nutcharut Wongharuthai and Rod Lawler are starting out on new tour cards. All eyes will be on the former to see how she goes on debut but the latter showed he doesn’t offer much at the top level anymore.
Match Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that stands out in the match betting on Tuesday either if I’m being truthful. Jackson Page has a pretty ordinary record against Ricky Walden and it is recent enough to mean something but at the same time the Welsh player is improving all the time and there might be a chance that he takes inspiration from his run to the final stages of the World Championship and kicks on from there. The format should certainly be to his liking here as well.
Walden is going to have another good season I believe but whether he’ll be massively fussed about going deep in this I’m less sure. I would imagine this might be a day to get rid of the summer rust ahead of the qualifiers for the bigger tournaments which take place next weekend. I guess there is a chance of it being the same for Page but I would imagine this group will be decided in this final match and Page is just too big a price to ignore on the draw no bet market, particularly if he is more serious about this with ranking points at stake.
Tips
Back J.Page to beat R.Walden (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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