The second stage of the Championship League Snooker begins on Friday when we will find out the identity of the first two players in the final groups of the competition when eight players return to action inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
We had a mix of main names coming through the opening round along with a few shocks here and there but in the main we have some strong groups taking place in the second round, beginning with the two on Friday.
Day 16 Recap
It was one of the most dramatic days in the tournament so far on Thursday with both top seeds coming through to the second stage. On the main table it was largely a cruise for the defending champion Shaun Murphy. He won all three of his matches and only dropped a frame in the process. The drama came on the other table where all six matches were draws and the group was eventually decided on the highest break which came in the last frame of the day when Dave Gilbert made a 136 to qualify, beating the previous best of 131 from Xu Si.
We didn’t have a preview for the Thursday action because of laptop issues but the last bet we had which was on Wednesday came in when Fan Zhengyi won his group which was what we backed him to do. We saw it as a match between he and Zhou Yuelong and it was Fan who came out on top to give us a winner to repair some of the damage from the beginning of the week and give us something to build on for the rest of this week.
Group C
Fixtures
Shaun Murphy v Long Zehuang
Hossein Vafaei v Jamie Jones
Hossein Vafaei v Long Zehuang
Shaun Murphy v Jamie Jones
Jamie Jones v Long Zehuang
Shaun Murphy v Hossein Vafaei
Preview
The action on the main table on Friday looks very tasty with the defending champion Shaun Murphy continuing his title defence as the top seed in the section. He is going to have his work cut out to make it through though because Hossein Vafaei is about as tough a second seed as you’ll get in these groups. Jamie Jones beat Neil Robertson towards the end of last season but he only gets in as a third seed in this group while Long Zehuang was very impressive in coming through in the first stage and is more than a live runner as the bottom seed.
Group B
Fixtures
Dave Gilbert v Ashley Carty
Stuart Bingham v He Guoqiang
Stuart Bingham v Ashley Carty
Dave Gilbert v He Guoqiang
He Guoqiang v Ashley Carty
David Gilbert v Stuart Bingham
Preview
The action over on table two is not going to be shabby on Friday either and although we don’t have a current top 16 player on show, we do have two men who will feel that they belong with the elite. Dave Gilbert is back on the baize the day after his incredible first round group win and he is the top seed in this group. Stuart Bingham was the World Championship semi-finalist last month and he is the second seed in this section. Ashley Carty has a decent record here so he has to be respected as the third seed while He Guoqiang is perfectly competent as a bottom seed.
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Group Betting
These two groups are quite tough to bet on for the reason that there is so much quality in them. It is hard to oppose Shaun Murphy on the main table when you consider how well he played on Thursday and the fact he played the day before surely has to be an advantage but with Hossein Vafaei and Jamie Jones in the group I can’t say I’m massively keen to back Murphy either so I’ll certainly leave the group on the main table alone.
Over on the other table I guess we have the same situation with Dave Gilbert having played on Thursday. We should note that he didn’t win any of his matches though but the 136 he made in the final frame was top class and shows us that he is playing well. I’ve already got a horse in the race in this group though because Stuart Bingham is one of my remaining outright bets so I’m going to hope that he comes through and just leave the group betting along on Friday.
Match Betting
I do think we have more scope with the match betting on Friday though. The main table doesn’t really offer anything up because while I wouldn’t say the four players are evenly matched necessarily but they all played well in their first group and three of them in particular are quite capable of beating everyone else. That means if I was going to bet on this group I would be looking for value but there isn’t much around.
Looking at the other group, I do think there is betting potential in the opening match in the form of Dave Gilbert, who although he didn’t win a match on Thursday, he did play on Thursday and he scored well. He meets Ashley Carty in the opening game of the day. Carty played on the third day of this tournament more than two weeks ago so Gilbert has to have an advantage based on that. Add that to the fact that he played well enough on Thursday and I think he’ll get the job done to open up the day.
Tips
Back D.Gilbert to beat A.Carty for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
