The Championship League Snooker tournament continues on Tuesday as two more first round groups are played out inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester with eight more players beginning their new season over the course of the day.
We saw a couple of top 16 players in action on Monday but they are nowhere to be seen on Tuesday so we are promised more competitive battles rather than standout names showing us what they can do once again.
Day 7 Recap
It was a bit of a strange day inside the Mattioli Arena on Monday after the favourite for the group on the main table, Tom Ford, withdrew from the event after his first match which left the three outsiders for the spot to battle it out and it was Robbie McGuigan who made it through. There was drama in the other group as Jordan Brown was two pots away from claiming the group from Jak Jones but missed a key shot to allow the Welshman to sneak through by the skin of his teeth.
It was a good start to the week for us from a betting point of view too. We opened it up with just the one bet which was for Sanderson Lam to get the better of Barry Pinches. That didn’t look like it was much of a runner with Lam losing 3-0 to McGuigan in the match immediately before but the Englishman shrugged that off to come through against the veteran and win 3-1 to get the week off to the start we were looking for.
Group 24
Fixtures
Ricky Walden v Umut Dikme
Martin O’Donnell v Rory Thor
Martin O’Donnell v Umut Dikme
Ricky Walden v Rory Thor
Rory Thor v Umut Dikme
Ricky Walden v Martin O’Donnell
Preview
The action on the main table on Tuesday comes from Group 24 where Ricky Walden is the top seed as he looks to get back to the form he showed a couple of seasons ago after a slightly disappointing return last term. He is in a group where Martin O’Donnell is the second seed and while he is capable, he isn’t someone who stands out in a best of four tournament. Rory Thor hasn’t really done much in his time on the tour but he is the third seed while the section is completed by the German amateur player Umut Dikme.
Group 28
Fixtures
Wu Yize v Joshua Cooper
Ross Muir v Allan Taylor
Ross Muir v Joshua Cooper
Wu Yize v Allan Taylor
Allan Taylor v Joshua Cooper
Wu Yize v Ross Muir
Preview
Over on table two we will see Group 28 being played out and this is one where the Chinese player Wu Yize is the top seed for the first time in his career. He looks to have landed in a pretty decent spot as well because Ross Muir is one of the lower second seeds in the competition and he is in this group. Allan Taylor is a third seed but he has only just come back from Q-School which highlights how weak this group is in terms of depth. That is further the case when you consider that the other player in it is an amateur in the form of Joshua Cooper.
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Group Betting
Much like on Monday, I feel like this is a day where I should be looking to take two odds on favourites on, neither of whom jump out as players who are going to dominate their section. Ricky Walden is the favourite to come out on top on the main table and while I quite like him he didn’t have a great season last time around. Martin O’Donnell came out of his group last year but I don’t really like his profile in this event while the other two players look a distant third and fourth so I’ll let Walden win if he is good enough.
Over on the other table it is Wu Yize who is the favourite to come through. He is the one I would much rather take on but again I’m having trouble finding the person to do it with. Wu Yize has failed to come out of his group in both attempts so far so it might be that Allan Taylor is the value in the section but there is a reason why he had to go back to Q-School. I wouldn’t put anyone off at 7/2 but I think I’d rather play him in the match betting.
Match Betting
That is what I am going to do because I do like Allan Taylor to see off Ross Muir in the first match of the new season for the pair. Muir has a shocking record in this tournament. He has played in it in three of the four years but he has only won one match in it, which suggests that he doesn’t get up for a tournament this early in the new campaign, which is fair enough for the bigger names who often don’t end their previous season until early May but it was a month prior to that for Muir.
The one advantage Taylor does have by going to Q-School is he has played competitive snooker, and high intense snooker at that, in the last month. We’ve seen a couple of players who went to Q-School come out of the blocks fast in recent times and I don’t think that is a coincidence. On Monday, Robbie McGuigan and Barry Pinches won their opening match having been at Q-School while last week Ryan Davies and Farakh Ajaib did likewise while Zack Richardson, Cheung Ka Wai, Connor Benzey, Harvey Chandler, Iulian Boiko and Antoni Kowalski all held higher opposition to a 2-2 draw. I’ll take Taylor to get the better of Muir here.
Tips
Back A.Taylor to beat R.Muir for a 2/10 stake at 2.88 with William Hill
Back him here:
