It is the final day of the first phase of the Championship League Snooker on Monday when the final two spots in the second stage of the tournament will be taken by the two group winners inside the bio-secure bubble at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
This was a day where we were due to see the world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the tournament for the first time but he withdrew on Saturday which means it is a largely low-key affair to round off the opening round it must be said.
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 15 Recap
We had two top 16 players on show on Sunday but only one of them made it through to the next stage. That came on the main table where Joe Perry got the better of Elliot Slessor and Steven Hallworth on frame difference after all three had won two of their three matches. On the other table Yan Bingtao was not quite as fortunate as he couldn’t pick up the results that he needed to deny Jordan Brown a passage into the next phase as the group winner.
Betting wise it was a much better day for us. We had a feeling that taking Stuart Carrington on would be a profitable measure and that is exactly how it proved. We took him on with Michael White and the Welshman was rarely in any danger of picking up the win. Not only did he win the match but he won it 3-0 to give us one of our more comprehensive winners of the tournament so far and very much something to build on.
Group 31
Fixtures
Tian Pengfei vs Robbie Williams
Noppon Saengkham vs Oliver Lines
Noppon Saengkham vs Robbie Williams
Tian Pengfei vs Oliver Lines
Noppon Saengkham vs Tian Pengfei
Robbie Williams vs Oliver Lines
Preview
On table two we have a competitive looking group where all four players will feel they have a claim to come out on top here so we should see a lot of matches going the full four frames. It is the Thai player Noppon Saengkham who is the highest ranked player and will be looking to make it through but the Chinese ace Tian Pengfei is the man ranked as his biggest challenger. Robbie Williams and Oliver Lines are both starting out on a two year tour card but they are much better than that position so they are dangerous.
Group 32
Fixtures
Iulian Boiko vs John Astley
Li Hang vs Alex Borg
Li Hang vs Iulian Boiko
Alex Borg vs John Astley
Alex Borg vs Iulian Boiko
Li Hang vs John Astley
Preview
The final group of the first round on the main table has been broken up massively with the withdrawal of Ronnie O’Sullivan and it is Li Hang who is best placed to take advantage of that. He is now comfortably the highest ranked player in the section with Alex Borg a distant second. Much of the focus on this group was going to be the match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and the 15-year-old player from the Ukraine, Iulian Boiko but we’ll have to wait for another day to see that. John Astley is the player who replaced the world champion and will be eager to make the most of his opportunity.
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Group Betting
I haven’t been massively keen to get involved in the group betting in this tournament so far and that isn’t changing on Monday it has to be said. On the main table Li Hang should really come through but I always feel he is better in the more established tournaments but unless John Astley is up to speed, and that is probably unlikely given that he only knew he was in the tournament on Saturday, I don’t really see anyone to take him on with.
If I was going to bet on the groups then it would be the one on table two that would interest me but there is a very open and competitive look to it. I said in the preview bit above that I’m expecting a lot of fourth frames in this group and that might bring things like the highest break and stuff into play. That might see Oliver Lines as the one to be on, especially if a trip to Q-School has focused his mind, but again we’re not betting with clarity so I’ll sit the groups out.
Match Betting
I will take one match bet on table two through and it comes in the opening match of the day where Robbie Williams looks a little overpriced to get his day off to a good start when he meets Tian Pengfei. Williams is beginning a new two year tour card here but he is so much better than that. We saw a number of established players dropping off the tour who wouldn’t normally do so with a couple of key events cancelled due to Covid so I’m not holding that against Williams.
He is still on the tour and he made the most of that, and indeed showed how good he is, at the recent European Masters where he took care of Joe Perry in the first round. That form got franked on Sunday and although he lost in the second round he ran into a machine of a scoring day for Pang Junxu. Pengfei was beaten by Fraser Patrick in the first round of the European Masters and I’m not convinced this format is going to suit him. I think he needs to be taken on and first up against Williams is the time to do it.
Tips
PUSH – Back R.Williams to beat T.Pengfei (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back him here:
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