After a wonderful week at the International Championship, the rankings get put to one side for the next seven days as the Champion of Champions takes place in what is usually an excellent tournament in Bolton.
It was excellent for Ronnie O’Sullivan last year when he won the title and that got him back into the competition to attempt to make a successful defence of the event. 15 other tournament winners will look to stop him.
Recent Winners
2022 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2021 – Judd Trump
2020 – Mark Allen
2019 – Neil Robertson
2018 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2017 – Shaun Murphy
2016 – John Higgins
2015 – Neil Robertson
2014 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2013 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Format
16 players have qualified for the tournament and they will all be placed into one of the four groups of four players. One group is played out on each of the first four days of the tournament with the semi-finals in the afternoon over the best of seven frames before the final of each group takes place in the evening session on the same day. That is over the best of 11 frames. The winners of each group go through to the overall semi-finals which take place over 11 frames on Friday evening and Saturday night before the winner is determined in a best of 19 frame final on Sunday.
Group 1
As the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will be the number one seed this week and as a result of that he is the top draw in Group 1 which will be played out across the day on Wednesday. The Championship League invitational winner John Higgins is the next seed in this group and it would be quite some group final were the two ‘Class of 92’ graduates to meet in it. Shootout winner Chris Wakelin and the last man into the field in International Championship champion Zhang Anda will be out to be the party poopers.
Group 2
The world champion Luca Brecel is always the number two seed whenever he isn’t defending a title and he heads up Group 2 which will be played out on Tuesday. This is a particularly tasty group as it also contains the British Open champion Mark Williams, who could meet Brecel in what would be a wonderful group final. The European Masters winner Barry Hawkins has been in excellent touch this season and he’ll be a danger while the Welsh Open champion Robert Milkins makes up the ‘Group of Death’.
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Group 3
The last of the groups to be played out in this tournament will be Group 3 where the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open champion Judd Trump will be the main player. Players Championship and Tour Championship winner Shaun Murphy is the next best in what would be a competitive section were they to compete in the final of it. Scottish Open champion Gary Wilson is also in this group as is the women’s world champion Baipat Siripaporn.
Group 4
The player of last season, Mark Allen, heads up Group 4 which will actually kick the tournament off on Monday. Allen could have qualified for this tournament twice having won the UK Championship and the World Grand Prix but once got the job done. His potential quarter final opponent is the WST Classic winner Mark Selby. The German Masters champion Ali Carter was one of the earlier qualifiers for this event and he is in this group while World Seniors winner Jimmy White concludes this particular section of the field.
Betting
I’ve taken Ali Carter to win a couple of tournaments this season and he keeps on playing well but running into Ronnie O’Sullivan. There is a chance he could do that again here but at least were he to do that in this event he would be completely fresh given that his group is on Monday and that semi-final would be on Friday. That is assuming that O’Sullivan comes out of a group where there are a couple of legitimate challengers in his group.
Carter has been playing well throughout 2023 and while it is a slight concern that he was only knocked out of the International Championship on Thursday but he only has to get through Monday and then he’ll get four days to get any jet lag out of his system and things. He is the form man in his group though and I would expect him to win that section of the draw and then from this when he get down to the final four anyone can win. Carter feels a big price at 22/1.
Tips
Back A.Carter to win Champion of Champions (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 23.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
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