The Championship League Snooker continues on Tuesday with two more groups taking place inside the bio-secure bubble at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes where two more players will progress through to the second stage of the competition.
In the last two match days of this entertaining tournament we have seen big names on show in the form of the newly crowned Mark Selby and Neil Robertson and on Tuesday it is the turn of the former Masters champion Mark Allen to take centre stage.
The Format
The whole tour were invited into the tournament with it now getting ranking event status. The 128 man field have been split into 32 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 second stage where the 32 remaining players are split into four more groups of four over the same format. Those eight winners then go into two more groups where the winner of each will battle it out in a best of five frame final for the title. Two groups will be played on each day until the final day when the Championship group and final is played. The first stage of the tournament is on Free Sports.
Day 9 Recap
The big name on show on Monday was Neil Robertson and we couldn’t see a way where he wouldn’t qualify but you could tell from an early stage that his heart wasn’t in it and he was never really at the races. That opened the door for Ken Doherty to march through and take his place in the second stage courtesy of a couple of wins and a draw. In the other group Alexander Ursenbacher was the man who came through as we suspected he would but as we suggested in the preview for the day his price wasn’t enticing enough to back him.
In the end we only went with one bet over the course of the day. That was on Ken Doherty to see off the challenge of Andrew Higginson and he didn’t just win but he won 3-0 so there wasn’t even any scares for us along the way which is always nice. Once Doherty crawled over the line in the first frame he went from strength to strength and never looked back for a nice 11/10 winner.
Group 9
Fixtures
Mark Allen vs Jamie Wilson
Luo Honghao vs Billy Castle
Luo Honghao vs Jamie Wilson
Mark Allen vs Billy Castle
Billy Castle vs Jamie Wilson
Mark Allen vs Luo Honghao
Preview
All eyes will be on Mark Allen to see if he can do what Neil Robertson couldn’t and make it through to the next stage. When you look at the line up in this group you would think it is his to lose. The second seed is Luo Honghao who isn’t in the best of form and then you have Billy Castle who is more miss than hit and Jamie Wilson who is on his first year on tour and it will be interesting to see if the teenager can handle the conditions and the bright lights. He should be able to handle the pressure because he gained his tour card in the last of the Q-School events so he was in the last chance saloon there.
Group 19
Fixtures
Sunny Akani vs Peter Lines
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Lee Walker
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Peter Lines
Sunny Akani vs Lee Walker
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs Sunny Akani
Peter Lines vs Lee Walker
Preview
It is all about the entertaining Thai player Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in Group 19 over on table two. He will be expected to come through but he was an early casualty in the European Masters last week. In saying that, this format should be right up his street and the players opposing him are all pretty lowly ranked. Sunny Akani, the countryman of Un-Nooh is probably one of the nicer second seeds you could get while Peter Lines hasn’t really shown a great deal of form. Lee Walker spent two years being very average results wise but he did get his card back at Q-School.
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Group Betting
The group betting has been few and far between for me in this tournament and that isn’t going to change in that regard here. Seeing the demise of Neil Robertson makes me want to get involved but then I look at how Mark Allen scored last week in the European Masters and it just doesn’t feel right to get stuck into him, especially as nobody else in the group has shown much form in recent times. Allen should win the group but at the prices and based on what we saw happen to Robertson I’m happy to leave that alone.
In the other group there is more of a case to be taking on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh although again someone to take him on with isn’t immediately apparent. To be fair to Sunny Akani he was 3-1 up on Neil Robertson last week but couldn’t sustain his form. If he has that with him here then he is entitled to be dangerous but we’ve seen Un-Nooh go well in events like the Shootout and the Home Nations events so the format might just suit him more than anyone else. I’ll leave the groups alone here.
Match Betting
I will go with one bet in the matches though and we actually have to wait right until the end of the day over on table two for it to come along. That comes in the match between Peter Lines and Lee Walker where on recent form I’m a little surprised that Walker is the favourite. Take out his run at the English Open last season and he has barely won a match in two years and nothing changed in that regard last week in the European Masters.
Peter Lines might not have been making the latter stages of tournaments every week but he has been competitive and winning matches here and there, one of which came last week in the European Masters before he lost to a form horse Anthony McGill who played very well against him. Walker should be given credit for getting back on the tour but his results for the last two years show how limited he is. Lines has been getting a different perspective of things from the commentary box and that often improves a player and his outlook. I’ll bet without the draw but I’ll back Lines in this one.
Tips
PUSH – Back P.Lines to beat L.Walker (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
Back him here:
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