The Championship League Snooker competition, the opening event of the new season, continues inside the Morningside Arena on Tuesday as another eight players take to the baize to get their 2023/24 campaign started.
Once again we will have two groups being played out across the two tables with four players in each battling it out to win their section and make it through to the next stage of the competition which takes place next month.
Group 11
Fixtures
Hossein Vafaei vs Fergal Quinn
Aaron Hill vs Martin O’Donnell
Hossein Vafaei vs Martin O’Donnell
Aaron Hill vs Fergal Quinn
Martin O’Donnell vs Fergal Quinn
Hossein Vafaei vs Aaron Hill
Preview
The action on Table One on Tuesday will be headlined by a Hossein Vafaei who was last seen making a name for himself with his comments at the World Championship before being taught a lesson by Ronnie O’Sullivan. He will be expected to come through this group with Aaron Hill one of the weaker second seeds that he could have draw. Hill might have something to prove having been informed that a match he was involved in was the subject of the Chinese player bans which marred the sport earlier this month which he admitted he was disgusted with even though he did nothing wrong. The other two players in the group sees Martin O’Donnell starting out on a two-year tour card after getting his place in the elite back, and the amateur Fergal Quinn completing the quartet.
Group 21
Fixtures
Chris Wakelin vs Liam Pullen
Oliver Lines vs Anton Kazakov
Chris Wakelin vs Anton Kazakov
Oliver Lines vs Liam Pullen
Anton Kazakov vs Liam Pullen
Chris Wakelin vs Oliver Lines
Preview
Over on Table Two it looks like we have a much more competitive section to be played out. It is headlined by the Shootout champion Chris Wakelin, who will be hoping to start what is a big season for him with an appearance at the Champion of Champions to come in it in good style. He hasn’t had the luxury of an easy draw though because Oliver Lines is one of the more talented second seeds that he could have come up against and he has already admitted in an interview that he has been hitting the practice table hard so he is entitled to start his season well. We saw throughout the coverage of the opening day that Anton Kazakov has been on the practice table on the eve of this group while the teenager Liam Pullen is a rising star of the sport who begins his professional career here.
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Group Betting
As ever we have two group markets to get stuck into and unlike the opening day we have had no late withdrawals so the markets for both are live. In Group 11 on the main table Hossein Vafaei is odds on to come through but that feels a little on the short side to me at this stage of the season bearing in mind he won’t have played a competitive match for a couple of months. The issue I have though is finding someone to oppose him with. Aaron Hill is talented but doesn’t really get top level results and I’m not convinced this is a format for Martin O’Donnell. Fergal Quinn could be out of his depth at this level.
Moving over to the other group and Chris Wakelin is also odds on to come through this section. I wouldn’t want to be on that anyway but I don’t really need to get involved in the group winner market here because I’m already on Oliver Lines outright in the tournament so it doesn’t make a huge amount of sense to back him here when he’s two days away from winning the event should he come through this section. There is talk that Liam Pullen could be special and he might interest some at the prices but I’ve pinned my colours to the Lines mast and that makes me leave the group betting alone.
Match Betting
We saw Graeme Dott caught cold on the opening day of the tournament and I wonder if we will see the same thing happen to Chris Wakelin on Tuesday. In terms of money that this tournament provides this probably isn’t high up on his list of priorities, particularly when you consider he is already at the Champion of Champions which is the big reward they are all playing for, courtesy of his win in the Shootout last season.
Wakelin will open up Table Two against Liam Pullen who even at 17 came through Q-School and saw off a couple of experienced names to win his tour card, not least Craig Steadman who has been a professional for years. He did that just over three weeks ago so he should have a competitive edge on Wakelin who won’t have played a meaningful match for a couple of months. That was something else which was apparent on the opening day on Monday so I’ll pay to see if the teenager can start his pro life with a big upset at a huge 4/1 without the draw in play.
Tips
Back L.Pullen to beat C.Wakelin (DNB) for a 2/10 stake at 5.00 with Coral
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