The winner’s week continues at the Championship League Snooker on Tuesday when two more second phase groups are played out as we get ever nearer to crowning the winner of the tournament inside the bio-secure behind closed doors setup at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
We have two of the leading lights in the game looking to make it through to the final day on Tuesday but there are some very talented players out to stop them so we should be in for another decent day of action on the green baize.
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 second stage of the tournament is on Free Sports.
Day 17 Recap
We had a routine qualifier and a surprise one on Monday. The world number one Judd Trump was in a group of death but he still managed to come out of his group safely and he’ll line up in one of the final two groups on Friday. Things did not go to form on the other table though where Stuart Bingham didn’t justify the seeding and instead of progressing he actually finished bottom of a group which was eventually won by Zhao Xintong.
It was a poor and frustrating betting day for us as Ryan Day somehow lost the first frame against Barry Hawkins and never really got into the match from there. That was a deserved loss so the last thing we needed was for Alexander Ursenbacher to only deliver a push on the second bet of the day even though he won the opening two frames and had countless scoring chances in the third and fourth frames to secure us a win.
Group B
Fixtures
Shaun Murphy vs Dominic Dale
Zhou Yuelong vs Matthew Selt
Zhou Yuelong vs Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy vs Matthew Selt
Matthew Selt vs Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy vs Zhou Yuelong
Preview
Shaun Murphy will be looking to become the next big star name to make it through to the final day of the competition when he headlines the action on the main table. He might have his work cut out though because he is in a group which contains the holder of the Indian Open in Matt Selt, the man who had the final of the first of the two European Masters this year in Zhou Yuelong and the veteran ace Dominic Dale. This looks like an appealing group.
Group D
Fixtures
Graeme Dott vs Jamie O’Neill
Mark Selby vs Rory McLeod
Mark Selby vs Jamie O’Neill
Graeme Dott vs Rory McLeod
Mark Selby vs Graeme Dott
Jamie O’Neill vs Rory McLeod
Preview
Over on the other table there are a couple of former world champions who will be looking to join Trump, Xintong and the winner from table one in the first of the final groups on Friday. Mark Selby will be the man expected to make it through but Graeme Dott is a canny enough operator to give him a strong challenge. On paper at least Jamie O’Neill and Rory McLeod look to be making up the numbers and it will be up to them to show that is not actually the case.
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Group Betting
I said on Monday that I don’t see myself getting involved in the group betting for this tournament too much from here on in and that is the case here on Tuesday as well. In the group on the main table I’ve no need to get involved as one of my remaining outright picks is in action in it in Zhou Yuelong so I’m hoping he can be the one to usurp Shaun Murphy from that section. I don’t think he is without a chance of doing that either so I’m happy to let that one ride.
Over on the other table you’ve got to think that the group is between the main two and it might be that the match between the two is pivotal so I would rather just bet on that rather than take one of them to win the group and then watch them miss out on top spot because they don’t win a match 3-0 or something daft like that. I really can’t see how Jamie O’Neill or Rory McLeod win this group but they’ve already won a group to make it this far so they deserve a bit of respect.
Match Betting
So my match betting on Tuesday will come in that big showdown over on table two where I’m happy to take Graeme Dott at the prices. This is probably a bigger match for him than it is for Mark Selby. Selby is in the Champion of Champions next week and he’s obviously already in The Masters whereas Dott isn’t in the field next week and he’s on the fringes of the top 16 ahead of the cut off for Alexandra Palace or wherever The Masters ends up being held.
The reason I like Dott in this match is because it will be the second straight game that he plays and given that this is the only match Selby plays in the session he might well have gone a little cold by then. Dott will be fully up to speed so you would think he is most likely to make a fast start and if he does that then the format is so short that he’ll be in control of the match. He feels a huge price without the draw in play at 7/4.
Tips
PUSH – Back G.Dott to beat M.Selby (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Betfair
Back him here:
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