The second stage of the Championship League Snooker tournament concludes inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Thursday when the last two groups will be played out ahead of the finale on Friday.
Two spots remain at finals day on Friday and they will be earned by the winners of two competitive looking groups that take place on Thursday. We have a bit of star quality sprinkled in on top so we are set for another exciting day.
Group B
Fixtures
Judd Trump vs Matthew Stevens
Joe Perry vs Cao Yupeng
Judd Trump vs Cao Yupeng
Joe Perry vs Matthew Stevens
Cao Yupeng vs Matthew Stevens
Judd Trump vs Joe Perry
Preview
On Table One on Thursday we have Group B being played out where Judd Trump will continue his quest for a first title since he opened up 2023 by winning The Masters. He is in a trappy little group though because Joe Perry can beat anyone on his day and doesn’t really have a lot to lose at this stage of his career. Where this group becomes really competitive is with Cao Yupeng as the third seed. He was one of the most impressive group winners in the first stage, while Matthew Stevens is looking to get a big season for him off to a very strong start as the fourth seed.
Group G
Fixtures
Jak Jones vs Zehuang Long
Sam Craigie vs Michael White
Jak Jones vs Michael White
Sam Craigie vs Zehuang Long
Michael White vs Zehuang Long
Jak Jones vs Sam Craigie
Preview
Over on Table Two we will have Group G playing out and while it might lack the star quality of the group which is taking place on Table One, it might have just as much competitiveness and three players look to go closer to a first ranking event title and the other aims to continue his return to where he should be. Jak Jones is the top seed as he goes about backing up his positive World Championship run while the talented Sam Craigie is the second seed. Michael White is the only man in this group to have won a ranking event before and he’ll hope that experience serves him well here. Zehuang Long continues his first professional event as the fourth seed in this group.
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Group Betting
As you would imagine, Judd Trump is a warm favourite to win Group B on the main table. He is an odds on favourite and we have already seen favourites deliver this week in the form of Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Robert Milkins and Noppon Saengkham but we have also seen an odds on shot bomb out when Kyren Wilson failed to deliver the goods. I think this group has the potential to be very competitive. Trump kind of had it easy in that first section but won’t have it all his own way here. My instinct is to take him on but at the same time if he turns up he probably is the most likely winner so I’ll leave this group alone.
Group G looked competitive on paper and that is reflected in the odds for is where it is 7/4 the field in a four runner race. Jak Jones is the favourite. He went unbeaten in his first group but it wasn’t as tough a section as this one looks. Sam Craigie was equally as impressive in coming out of a tougher section and he’ll fancy his chances here while Michael White was actually the only player in this group who won all three matches in the first stage. He would be my pick if I was betting on this group but this feels like the one we saw on Table Two on Wednesday where the first four matches were draws and the highest break decided top spot. I don’t need to be betting on that.
Match Betting
It is the match betting which gets my attention on Thursday. I’ve already suggested that Group G could be full of draws and competitive matches and that is acknowledged with the odds where the match between Sam Craigie and Michael White is a pick em. I wouldn’t want to take on Jak Jones and while I don’t want to take on Judd Trump, even though Matthew Stevens is more than capable of getting a result against him, I think the better bet comes in the form of Cao Yupeng to beat Joe Perry.
In truth, nobody truly knows what we are going to get from Perry on any given day but Cao was brilliant in the first stage, dropping just one frame and making breaks of 145, 133 and 122 along the way. He has made ranking event finals before so the chance to reach the final day of this event isn’t going to faze him at all and handily he thrashed Perry in qualifying for the English Open last year so the man in the opposite chair won’t be too daunting. If the Chinese player has anything like the level he had in the first stage he is entitled to be a clear favourite in this match. As he isn’t I’m happy to invest.
Tips
Back C.Yupeng to beat J.Perry (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
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