The Championship League Snooker event continues on Saturday when two more groups are played out inside the bio-secure bubble that is the Marshall Arena these days, with another two spots in the second stage up for grabs.
We’ve seen a number of big names make it through their initial group already and on Saturday we have a former world champion and a couple of the most talented players in the game looking to join them on a decent looking day.
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 6 Recap
It was a day where the favourites prevailed on Friday although both were made to wait until their final matches to make it through. On the main table Stuart Bingham went into his last game needing to draw with Yuan Sijun to progress but he won 3-0 to complete a rare perfect day in this tournament. The Masters champion won all three of his matches 3-0. On the other table Hossein Vafaei only needed a draw against Xiao Guodong in the big match there to go through but a 3-0 defeat saw him tumble out at the expense of the Chinese player.
It was a much more positive day for us betting wise on Friday. As we suspected could be the case Yuan SIjun was incredibly rusty first up and that played right into the hands of James Cahill, who although he made hard work of it came out on top in their match 3-1 to give us a winner to move into another day of action with.
Group 13
Fixtures
Ian Burns vs Fraser Patrick
Jack Lisowski vs Rory McLeod
Jack Lisowski vs Fraser Patrick
Ian Burns vs Rory McLeod
Jack Lisowski vs Ian Burns
Fraser Patrick vs Rory McLeod
Preview
Surprisingly given that it has the highest ranked player on the day involved in it, the group on table two on Saturday sees Jack Lisowski looking to progress. You would think this sort of gig is right up the street of a player as naturally talented as he is and he will be strongly expected to come through. The reason for that is not only is his talent obvious but Ian Burns is one of the lower ranked second seeded players too. Fraser Patrick will be looking to make a real breakthrough this season having threatened it in the past without following it through. Rory McLeod got back on the tour at Q-School and his latest stint starts here.
Group 14
Fixtures
Graeme Dott vs Zak Surety
Liang Wenbo vs Soheil Vahedi
Liang Wenbo vs Zak Surety
Graeme Dott vs Soheil Vahedi
Soheil Vahedi vs Zak Surety
Graeme Dott vs Liang Wenbo
Preview
The more competitive looking group of the two on show on Saturday gets the TV treatment as the former world champion Graeme Dott looks to come through on what is his debut in this format after he didn’t play the previous Championship League. Liang Wenbo did though and scored like a machine in his first group. He’ll be looking for something similar here I’m sure but there is a potential spoiler in the group in the experienced Soheil Vahedi who could be a thorn in the side of the big two over this format. The lesser known Zak Surety completes the section but will be hoping he isn’t just making up the numbers.
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Group Betting
We definitely have two different groups in terms of profile here. Betting on the group on table two isn’t easy although the way the favourites are going in this week I’m sure Jack Lisowski will be popular even at 4/7. I can’t bring myself to back anyone at a price that short in a format as relatively tight as this one though but we should acknowledge it would be the biggest shock of the tournament so far if he doesn’t progress and take his place in the second round.
On the other table things are a lot more interesting. Something tells me that the 10/1 on Soheil Vahedi is value in what might be a more open group than what the betting suggests it is but the fact that he didn’t play in the previous Championship League is a concern. In fact only Liang Wenbo played this competition when it brought the sport out of lockdown so it might be that he has an advantage although it isn’t enough of one to reel me in.
Match Betting
Instead I’ll leave my betting for the day for the matches where I will side with Liang Wenbo as he just looks too big to see off Graeme Dott in the final match of Group 14. I’ll bet without the draw as ever and especially this late in the day as it might be that a draw is enough for Wenbo but I can’t avoid having a punt on him particularly after he played so well in the Championship League first group stage the last time.
On that day he was shoved in a group with Mark Selby but that didn’t deter him as he won all three matches and only dropped one frame in the process. You wouldn’t think this format is one which suits Graeme Dott the best and it might be that he is here mainly to feel out the venue ahead of the European Masters next week in which case he might not be as focused on progressing as he might otherwise be. Dott didn’t make the World Championship so he’ll have gone more than two months without a competitive hit so there is enough in this and the price to take Wenbo without the draw.
Tips
Back L.Wenbo to beat G.Dott (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Betfair
Back him here:
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