The second part of week two of the Championship League Snooker takes place inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester on Thursday when two more first round groups are played out as another eight players start their 2024-25 campaign.
We have had a couple of days without the elite names taking to the baize but that all changes on Thursday as the new world champion competes for the first time since lifting the title which immediately adds an extra element to the day.
Day 9 Recap
It was an eventful group on the main table on Wednesday when incredibly five of the six matches were played out as 2-2 draws. That meant that the first person to win a match was likely to progress to the next stage and that was Alexander Ursenbacher and it will be him rather than top seed Matt Selt who will be back for round two. Things were much more straightforward over on the other table where David Lilley won all three of his matches for the loss of just one frame to go through at the expense of top seed Yuan Sijun.
It wasn’t a day to remember for us betting wise. We only took the one bet which was for Graeme Dott to get the better of the Austrian amateur Florian Nuessle but the former world champion never really got going at any stage of the day really but certainly not in that match where he twice came back from a frame down to get a draw but that was of no use to us as we needed a victory for the Scot. We’ve got some work to do on Thursday as a result.
Group 1
Fixtures
Kyren Wilson vs Daniel Womersley
Scott Donaldson vs Baipat Siripaporn
Scott Donaldson vs Daniel Womersley
Kyren Wilson vs Baipat Siripaporn
Baipat Siripaporn vs Daniel Womersley
Kyren Wilson vs Scott Donaldson
Preview
The action on table one on Thursday is where Kyren Wilson will compete as a world champion for the first time. All eyes will be on him to see how he copes with the new status but as a top seed in the group he will be expected to make it through. That is especially the case because Scott Donaldson is a little hit or miss as a second seed in the section. The female star Baipat Siripaporn is the third seed in this group with the completed by the amateur Daniel Womersley so the world champion couldn’t really have asked for a better opening section than the one he has been given.
Group 14
Fixtures
Hossein Vafaei vs Josh Mulholland
Louis Heathcote vs Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Louis Heathcote vs Josh Mulholland
Hossein Vafaei vs Manasawin Phetmalaikul
Manasawin Phetmalaikul vs Josh Mulholland
Hossein Vafaei vs Louis Heathcote
Preview
We have another recognisable name leading the action over on table two on Thursday when Hossein Vafaei takes to the baize. This is the season that the Iranian will be looking to cement himself in the top 16 of the game and a big start to the campaign would do no harm. He is the top seed in Group 14 with the second seed being Louis Heathcote, who hasn’t been this high up in the standings too often. The third seed is Manasawin Phetmaliakul who really hasn’t offered too much in his time on the tour while the amateur Josh Mulholland completes a weak looking group.
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Group Betting
I always like to look to see if we can get the favourites in these groups beaten given the quirky nature of the format. If we look at the main table first it is nearly impossible to oppose Kyren Wilson given the weakness of the trio against him. Scott Donaldson is still a good player when he is on it but we never know when that is going to be the case while I just don’t see Baipat Siripaporn being consistent enough over the three games while amateurs don’t really interest me over three matches either.
Given that he is the lower ranked player of the two top seeds I guess it would be easier to take on Hossein Vafaei and that is what I’m going to do. He has only come through his group once in four attempts in this tournament and I always like that as it suggests he isn’t always best prepared for the new season. The question would be who to take him on with and I can’t really go it with Manasawin Phetmaliakul or the amateur Josh Mulholland so that leaves the home player Louis Heathcote. Heathcote ended last season with a run to the final round of World Championship qualifying which will have eased a bit of ranking pressure for this term. He was unlucky in his group last year as he won two of the three matches, one of which was against Mulholland, but couldn’t get the better of Kyren Wilson. With Wilson on the other table I’ll pay to see if Heathcote can win this group at a tidy price.
Match Betting
It is a little harder to find some value in the match betting. I certainly can’t find any in the action on the main table where in truth I would be surprised if Kyren Wilson doesn’t win all three matches. I thought about getting him onside in the last game but it might be that he doesn’t need to win that match to go through and I never like betting in a situation where winning isn’t the target. I can’t really see any value anywhere else in truth.
Given that we have the draw in play in this tournament I was hoping that we would be able to get Louis Heathcote at a backable price to beat Josh Mulholland as he beat him in this tournament last year but bookmakers are wise to that and that hasn’t happened. The only other bet I could get into would be Heathcote to beat Hossein Vafaei but it might be that it is the match that decides the group and I’m already on Heathcote in that regard so I don’t need to bet again.
Tips
Back L.Heathcote to win Group 14 for a 2/10 stake at 3.40 with Bet365
