The final full week of the Championship League Snooker gets underway on Monday when we have another two first round groups taking place inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester with eight more cueists getting their new season started.
We conclude the first round with top 16 players everywhere you look this week so we are guaranteed some top quality action on both tables throughout the entire two sessions of play on Monday.
Day 12 Recap
We had a top seed beaten and another one come through on a good day of action on Saturday. It was on the main table where the top seed got toppled as Stuart Carrington got the draw he needed in the last game to secure his passage into the second round. Over on the other table the highest ranked player Long Zehuang took full advantage of the withdrawal of Noppon Saengkham to come through in that group and into the second round.
Zehuang won all three of his matches which means that it was a good day to end the week for us betting wise as we took the Chinese player to win his second match. We suspected he would have an advantage over Alfie Davies because he had played in the match immediately prior to that and that is certainly how it looked when that clash was played out. Zehuang won 3-1 to give us a winner to end the week and take into this one with us.
Group 6
Fixtures
Gary Wilson vs Huang Jiahao
Joe Perry vs Michael Holt
Joe Perry vs Huang Jiahao
Gary Wilson vs Michael Holt
Michael Holt vs Huang Jiahao
Gary Wilson vs Joe Perry
Preview
The action on the main table on Monday comes from Group 6 and it has to be described as the best group in the competition so far and a rare one which has four professionals in it. The Scottish Open and Welsh Open champion Gary Wilson is the top seed in the section but he has only come out of his group once in the four previous seasons of this event. That will be of interest to the second seed Joe Perry who will be out to prove that his best days aren’t completely behind him. Michael Holt is back on the tour again and he’ll be the third seed in this section with the quartet made up by the Chinese play Huang Jiahao who makes his debut on the tour here.
Group 9
Fixtures
John Higgins vs Artemijs Zizins
Hailong Ma vs Ben Mertens
Hailong Ma vs Artemijs Zizins
John Higgins vs Ben Mertens
Ben Mertens vs Artemijs Zizins
John Higgins vs Hailong Ma
Preview
We have another seasoned campaigner and household name over on table two where Group 9 will be completed. John Higgins is the top seed in the group and the player who will be expected to dominate proceedings throughout the day. Ma Hailong is the second seed in the group given the main hope of getting the Scot beat but the Belgian youngster Ben Mertens has to be considered a dangerous third seed even allowing for the fact that Higgins is in this section. The Latvian youngster Artemijs Zizins came through Q-School last month and makes his tour debut here hoping to show that he belongs at this level.
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Group Betting
The action on the main table should be some of the best snooker we have seen in the tournament to date with three tournament winners at this level on show. The record of Gary Wilson in this event makes me think that he could be vulnerable here but I’ve seen lots of social media posts during the off season of him doing exhibitions with Ronnie O’Sullivan so he might be much sharper than he usually is. That makes me think twice about taking him on but I wouldn’t want to back him in a group which is surely going to have some surprise results along the way.
The other group does interest me though. I am wondering why John Higgins has entered the tournament this year having not done so in the last two years but he is never the quickest starter to a season and I don’t see why that would change here. I like Ben Mertens but I feel he has lost his way a little bit over the last few months. I don’t see Ma Hailong being consistent enough so I’m going to take a chance on the Latvian newbie Artenijs Zizins to show what he can do. We know he should be relatively sharp having been to Q-School where it has to be said he scored very well, as he did on the amateur scene last year. I keep mentioning that I want to be on the scorers in this tournament and if he can settle quickly he might prove a real challenge for the other three.
Match Betting
I did have a look at the match betting to see if there was any value doing the rounds. To be fair, I probably wasn’t expecting too much of it in the group that is on the main table because that just looks very competitive between the three seasoned campaigners and the games between that trio could go any way really. None of them offer too much value in taking on the Chinese youngster with so it is an easy group to watch and enjoy without a betting interest.
There was always more likely to be a better value bet on the other table but it has to be said that bookmakers aren’t taking a lot of chances with Artenijs Zizins, which I can understand so it isn’t easy to find anything that I like. I was hoping we would get a better price on Ben Mertens than we are getting but with me not getting the price I wanted I’m happy to sit out the match betting and just play the group bet on the Latvian.
Tips
Back A.Zizins to win Group 9 for a 1/10 stake at 9.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
