The first stint in the Championship League Snooker comes to an end on Sunday when eight more men make their way inside the bio-secure bubble at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes to play out for a place in the second stage of the competition.
There are a queue of big names waiting to come into the competition when it returns after the European Masters but there is one more on show to take us there as Mark Selby headlines the play on Sunday.
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 7 Recap
We had probably the biggest upset of the tournament so far on Saturday. That came away from the TV table where Jack Lisowski was dumped out of the tournament in emphatic style when Rory McLeod pulled off a huge shock to make it into the second stage. On the main table things went with the rankings as Graeme Dott came through but Liang Wenbo will be kicking himself as he was 50 ahead in the final frame which would have seen him progress had he won it. Despite that Dott held his nerve nicely to progress.
That meant it wasn’t the day we were looking for in a betting sense. We was on Wenbo to win that match and he should really have got us our money back, which would have been a result to be fair given that he was 2-0 down at one point. That also wasn’t good for our outright portfolio because we had Wenbo on that so we have lost one of our four outrights. A day to forget betting wise.
Group 15
Fixtures
Daniel Womersley vs Jamie O’Neill
Michael Holt vs Sean Maddocks
Michael Holt vs Jamie O’Neill
Daniel Womersley vs Sean Maddocks
Michael Holt vs Daniel Womersley
Jamie O’Neill vs Sean Maddocks
Preview
The action on table two sees Group 15 being played out when Michael Holt looks to have something of a free pass into the next stage of the competition if the rankings are anything to go by. That is because Anthony Hamilton withdrawing from the tournament has left a huge gap between him and the rest. Jamie O’Neill is the next highest seed in the group but he is way down the rankings. Sean Maddocks makes his tour debut over the course of the day while Daniel Womersley is the replacement for Hamilton but he is a Q-School top up and isn’t even on the tour.
Group 16
Fixtures
Mark Selby vs Fergal O’Brien
Lyu Haotian vs Brandon Sargeant
Lyu Haotian vs Fergal O’Brien
Mark Selby vs Brandon Sargeant
Brandon Sargeant vs Fergal O’Brien
Mark Selby vs Lyu Haotian
Preview
Mark Selby is the headline act across the course of the day though and he’ll be expected to dominate Group 16 on the main table. He wasn’t all that great in the previous Championship League though which might give the others in the group some encouragement. Lyu Haotian is the second highest ranked player on show and he’ll be out to start his season in a positive way while Fergal O’Brien remains capable of being a pest to anyone in the game. Brandon Sargeant completes what should be a group won by Mark Selby.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
I want to take Mark Selby on to be honest as I’m not sure that the format suits him nor would the six week or so break since he was last in action. He might also need a few days back on the baize to get over that agonising semi-final loss to Ronnie O’Sullivan in Sheffield but unfortunately there isn’t anyone to really take him on with. Lyu Haotian blows way too hot and cold for my liking and then there is Fergal O’Brien, who in theory should be able to handle this group but his consistency isn’t there and it is probably asking a lot of Brandon Sargeant to come through.
In the other group you’ve got to think that if he is anything like focused for this tournament then Michael Holt has a penalty kick to make it through to the next round but he is seriously restricted odds on to progress as you would expect. He probably won’t need to be at his best because the others are likely to take points off each other so Holt is impossible to oppose but at the odds there’s no point in backing him.
Match Betting
That leaves us with the match betting where I’m a little surprised that Sean Maddocks is the outsider to come through against the last man into the field in Daniel Womersley. Maddocks is on the tour this season and is a youngster touted for big things in the game whereas Womersley isn’t on the pro scene and in truth he didn’t really light up the Challenge Tour last season so he’s a little fortunate that he had a good enough run at Q-School to get in here.
It remains to be seen whether Womersley will look at this as a chance to prove himself or a free hit to win a few quid but either way Maddocks has won their last two meetings on the Challenge Tour which was a best of five although neither of them went 2-2 so he looks to have a bit in hand on his opponent here. Given the group stage nature of this tournament I’ll bet without the draw in play but I expect the youngster Maddocks to win this one if there is a winner.
Tips
PUSH – Back S.Maddocks to beat D.Womersley (DNB) for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
