The first real ranking event of the new snooker season takes place this week when many of the stars of snooker head back to India for the Indian Open. We shouldn’t make the mistake of calling this a full ranking tournament but it does carry a £50,000 first prize so somebody will get a nice boost to their ranking.
In terms of the very elite names such as the world champion Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson they are all missing from the tournament but there are plenty of other household names looking to win an early title for the campaign ahead.
The Format
The 128 man tour has already been whittled down to 64 with a round of qualifying earlier in the season. The entire draw is played out in a best of seven frame knockout between Tuesday and Saturday with two rounds a day on both Friday and Saturday.
The final is a best of nine frame match later on Saturday where the winner will scoop the £50,000 first prize and potentially a place in the Champion of Champions later in the season.
Top Half
The defending champion Michael White is the top seed in this tournament and without meaning any disrespect that automatically makes it an area of the draw to focus on because his consistency isn’t the greatest and just two months ago at the Crucible he revealed he was suffering from depression.
The other seeded players in this half of the draw are Mark Davis, Kyren Wilson, Martin Gould, Marco Fu, Ryan Day and Ricky Walden. Dave Gilbert was seeded in this part of the draw but he was knocked out in qualifying.
There are a few dangerous floaters in the top half of the draw too not least Sam Baird who showed his talent at the Crucible. Dominic Dale, Zhou Yuelong, Zhao Xintong and Jamie Jones are others who are capable of causing problems for the bigger names.
Bottom Half
I think it is fair to say that the bottom half of the draw contains the bigger names with four former world champions in the section along with a host of players who have lost at the final hurdle in Sheffield too.
Stuart Bingham, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy and Mark Williams are the former world champions while Matthew Stevens, Barry Hawkins and Jimmy White all went so close. Other seeds in this part of the draw include Matt Selt, Robert Milkins and Stephen Maguire.
Just like in the top half there are some players to be avoided in the bottom half too with Joe Swail, Alfie Burden and Anthony McGill among a few names who are capable of beating anyone on their day.
Betting
I always think that tournaments like this are better for the younger players who have a bit more stamina in them. The early rounds of the event over the first three days are nicely spaced out but come Friday and Saturday things get a bit hectic with potentially four matches in the two days and the pressure cranks up with each one.
Those who score heavily might be well suited too and that is certainly the profile of the defending champion Michael White. He was young when he won and he scores heavily and got through his matches quickly to give himself the most recovery time possible in the latter stages.
I’m going to take two players this week, one from each half of the draw, and both fit the profile I’ve described above. The first of those players is Kyren Wilson, a player who has already won a tournament and who has the mindset to want to win everything and become as good as he can possibly be.
He showed in the World Championship how well he can score and having won the Shanghai Masters we know he can compete in the heavier conditions in Asia. Wilson has a nice part of the draw with Michael White in his quarter and after a positive start to the season coming through all the qualifiers I’m expecting a big run from him.
The other man I’m taking outright is Anthony McGill. He also showed in the World Championship what he is made of and he has begun the campaign very well. After that run in the worlds last season I think he is set up for a very big campaign this time around and he certainly has the game to win tournaments and it is one like this which I think he can break through in.
McGill looked in excellent form in Riga last month when he made it to the quarter final but the eventual runner-up Michael Holt was too good for him in the last eight but the Scot has done nothing wrong and although he is in the bottom half of the draw he has a nice quarter. At 40/1 he should go well in India this week.
Tips
PLACED – Back K.Wilson to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with Paddy Power (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
WON – Back A.McGill to win Indian Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 41.00 with NetBet (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
