It is the penultimate day in the first stage of the Championship League Snooker tournament on Thursday when two more groups are played out inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester as eight players get their season up and running.
There are just four spots remaining in the second stage of the opening event of the season and two of those will be earned over the course of what looks like another tasty day of action throughout Thursday.
Group 13
Fixtures
David Gilbert vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Yuan SiJun vs Sean O’Sullivan
David Gilbert vs Sean O’Sullivan
Yuan SiJun vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
Sean O’Sullivan vs Ishpreet Singh Chadha
David Gilbert vs Yuan SiJun
Preview
The action on Table One on Thursday comes from Group 13 where the former champion Dave Gilbert is the top seed as he goes about looking to follow up his 2021 win with another. He can be hit or miss though so the second seed Yuan Sijun will fancy his chances of coming out on top in this group. The Chinese player is improving all the time and has the opportunity to further show that here. Sean O’Sullivan is one of the weaker third seeds that the higher ranked duo could have drawn while Ishpreet Singh Chadha begins life on the tour here and you would imagine could be overwhelmed by the prospect.
Group 31
Fixtures
Cao Yupeng vs Steven Hallworth
Lyu Haotian vs Ian Burns
Cao Yupeng vs Ian Burns
Lyu Haotian vs Steven Hallworth
Ian Burns vs Steven Hallworth
Cao Yupeng vs Lyu Haotian
Preview
It might be that the more competitive action on Thursday comes over on Table Two where Group 31 will be played out. That sees Cao Yupeng as the top seed with the Chinese player looking to have a good chance ranking wise of making progress. He is joined in this group by his fellow Chinese player Lyu Haotian who had a good first half to last season but then seemed to fall away the longer it went on. Ian Burns just about kept his tour card last year and will be looking to make the most of it in this group while Steven Hallworth gets in as an amateur but a very dangerous one at that.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
Group 13 is another of the many groups that we have had in this opening stage where the top seed is an odds on favourite but I’m not so sure Dave Gilbert represents value at that price. He has spoken openly about how he falls in and out of love with the game and if he doesn’t fancy the job here he could get found out. I don’t see Sean O’Sullivan or the Indian debutant being that competitive over the course of the three matches but the 7/4 on Yuan Sijun certainly interests me. If the top two dominate this group like there is the potential for them to then it could come down to the match between Dave Gilbert and Yuan Sijun. Given that Sijun has won their two previous meetings the 7/4 on him for this group just looks too big.
Over in Group 31 there is a much more competitive market. Cao Yupeng does feel like a favourite who could be taken on but whereas there have been some groups in this stage of the competition where there have been nobody to take the favourite on with, in this one there are a couple of players in Lyu Haotian and Steven Hallworth. I see this as a group where the main three are likely to all take points off each other and while I’m tempted to take Yupeng on I don’t really want to get done up with frame difference or highest breaks.
Match Betting
You would have thought with the competitive action that we have on Thursday that we would get one of those matches I look for in this tournament in a vulnerable favourite first up but actually the four higher seeds look fairly solid in their opening games so it might be that we don’t see the groups break up until later in the day where I don’t really like to be involved betting wise because the dynamics change with frame scores and breaks.
If I was going to take one of the top four seeds on I would probably chance a player I rate quite highly in Steven Hallworth to get the better of Cao Yupeng. In fairness though, Yupeng is a solid sort so it might be that Hallworth sees his success come later in the day. I don’t like either third seed so taking on a second seed isn’t really an option so in terms of the match betting I think the Thursday action is best left alone.
Tips
Back Y.Sijun to win Group 13 for a 2/10 stake at 2.75 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
