Day 3 of the Championship League Snooker takes place inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Wednesday when another eight players grace the green baize to open up their season in one of two groups on show.
The star attraction on Wednesday is the British Open champion Ryan Day and his group will be the centre of attention on the TV table. We’ve seen a couple of competitive days of snooker so far and that is unlikely to change on day three.
Group 10
Fixtures
Ryan Day vs Jun Jiang
Michael White vs Himanshu Jain
Ryan Day vs Himanshu Jain
Michael White vs Jun Jiang
Himanshu Jain vs Jun Jiang
Ryan Day vs Michael White
Preview
Ryan Day won the first full event of last season and he’ll begin his quest to replicate that this term when he embarks on his Championship League campaign on Wednesday. He wasn’t just about the British Open last season, he had a decent enough term overall and it will be interesting to see how ready he is for the beginning of this year. His fellow Welsh player Michael White will be hoping that Day isn’t ready as he is seeded to be in the best position to take advantage. Himanshu Jain has had a year on tour now and will know what it is all about and will hope to start a big season in style here. Jiang Jun won the Chinese qualifier to get onto tour and the teenager begins life as a pro here.
Group 22
Fixtures
Joe O’Connor vs Alfie Davis
Robbie Williams vs Zak Surety
Joe O’Connor vs Zak Surety
Robbie Williams vs Alfie Davis
Zak Surety vs Alfie Davis
Joe O’Connor vs Robbie Williams
Preview
Joe O’Connor had the best season of his career last term but couldn’t finish it at the World Championship which will have disappointed him. He gets the chance to open up a new campaign on home soil which might well have ensured that he has been on the practice table in preparation for this event. On the face of it, O’Connor hasn’t drawn a bad group to come through on Table Two with Robbie Williams a competent second seed but one who underachieves too often for my liking. Zak Surety will be looking for a big season and will want to begin that in style here while Alfie Davies missed out at Q-School but has a chance to play as an amateur and will be wanting to take full advantage of that.
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Group Betting
The two groups on show on Wednesday look to be two-horse races with two very competent and established players going up against two lesser players in each. That might be a little unfair on Zak Surety in Group 22 over on Table Two but even with him in the section I still fancy the group winner to be played out between Joe O’Connor and Robbie Williams. I would go with O’Connor as the local man but not with the sort of certainty I would like in order to merit a bet.
I am a lot more confident that Group 10 on the main table will be between the two Welsh players Ryan Day and Michael White though. Himanshu Jain is still really getting to grips with this level while Jun Jiang will be in alien territory both from a pro tour debut point of view but also in front of the bright lights and the cameras on a lightning fast table. Day is very much all or nothing and if he is slightly out then he can leave himself exposed, which certainly isn’t ideal over the best of four frames. I think White is probably more suited to the format and as he looks to climb back to where he once was in the game this might be more important to him. At the prices I’ll side with him.
Match Betting
As I have said already in this competition my strategy in the match betting is look for a favourite who is vulnerable early in the piece who we can take on without the draw in play but these two groups look so straightforward that one doesn’t really exist. If there was one to materialise itself then it would probably be Zak Surety to get the better of Robbie Williams but Williams isn’t flashy or anything and doesn’t really not take tournaments seriously.
That puts me off getting involved there and then the three other opening matches for the players on show on Wednesday really do look like complete mismatches. If Jiang Jun wasn’t making his tour debut then I might have chanced him against Ryan Day in the hope that the Welsh player didn’t fancy the job but that isn’t a favourable situation and having backed Michael White for the group I’m certainly not opposing him. That group bet can act as my sole interest on the day.
Tips
Back M.White to win Group 10 for a 2/10 stake at 2.63 with William Hill
Back him here:
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