After the highs and quality of the UK Championship last week, the snooker scene gets frenetic this week when 128 players head to the Mattioli Arena in Leicester to compete in the Snooker Shootout, the annual race against the clock.
Mark Allen outlasted the field in this tournament last year and the man from Northern Ireland has entered again this time around to look to become the first person to make a successful defence of the title but a solid field go up against him.
Recent Winners
2023 – Mark Allen
2023 – Chris Wakelin
2022 – Hossein Vafaei
2021 – Ryan Day
2020 – Michael Holt
2019 – Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
2018 – Michael Georgiou
2017 – Anthony McGill
2016 – Robin Hull
2015 – Michael White
The Rules
It is snooker but not quite as we know it this week. Each match is 10 minutes long with the first five minutes having a 15 second shot close which reduces to 10 seconds for the final five minutes. With every shot a ball must be potted or hit a cushion or else a foul will be called. All fouls in this tournament result in the other player having cue ball in hand. Players lag to see who breaks and whoever is ahead after the 10 minutes wins the match. If the scores are tied after 10 minutes a blue ball shootout decides the winner. There is a random draw for each round.
The Format
The one thing which is pretty easy to follow and assess this week is the format. Every match is one frame, or 10 minutes, whichever ends first. The 128 players in the field have been drawn out already with the winner taking £500 to their ranking. Each match a player wins their prize money doubles until the final where the champion will land £50,000 on Sunday evening. That is £50k for no more than 70 minutes work!
Profile
There are a number of different profiles who have won this tournament. You have the slower, under the radar players like Nigel Bond to the man who is the quickest player on the tour in Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. It is important to understand that the timings got quicker in 2016 so that probably takes out the men who don’t see the shot immediately, or puts them at a significant disadvantage at the very least.
Ultimately, however you approach betting on the outright market in this tournament you need a lot of luck. Luck with the draw and luck in each frame however there are a few factors I like to use to whittle down the first. I like players who cue smoothly and swiftly. This isn’t an event for the slower players. I also like players who can get in from distance and put 30 or 40 on the board from there. The other thing which is a must is we need a player who will take it as seriously as possible. There’s nothing worse than sticking our hard earned down on someone who’s had a few amber nectars too many and we’re done from the break off.
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Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of players who have a decent record in this tournament for my main bets this week. The first of those is the Wuhan Open winner Xiao Guodong, a player who has done everything but win this tournament in the past. He has twice been to the final of this competition and arrives here in more confidence than he has ever been after his best first half of a season in his career. Guodong is someone who holds his nerve pretty well under pressure which is a big thing in this tournament and he is scoring well as well. If ever he is going to finally get his name on the roll of honour here it is this year so I’ll pay to see how he gets on.
I can never bet on the Shootout without taking Thepchaiya Un-Nooh outright. He is perfectly suited to this tournament both in terms of the fact that at no stage is the shot clock ever going to be an issue for him and also because he is a very big scorer when he gets in. He can win frames in under five minutes but at the same time if he is 30 or 40 behind he can peg that back in two minutes such is the speed he plays at. He is ninth in the 50 break percentage this season and with five of those above him in the list not here there is enough boxes ticked for the Thai to win this title for the second time.
Outsiders
I’ll take three players as outsider bets for this tournament, the first two are quick Chinese players who are scoring well this season. The first of those is He Guoqiang who has beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan this season. He recently qualified for the UK Championship so he is playing some nice stuff and sits at 10 on the 50 break percentage this season. This will be his second tilt at the Shootout so he knows what it is all about now and if he can get himself into a groove he could easily run deep if he can get past the tricky test of Stuart Bingham in the opening round.
Jiang Jun is the other Chinese player that I think can go well here. He has had a decent enough season and is in the top 20 in that 50 break percentage statistic which tells us that he can score when he gets in. He is like most other Chinese players in that he handles himself well under pressure and he isn’t the slowest so there is nothing to suggest that the shot clock will count him out. Jun has had some decent results over the course of the year and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him go well either.
The last bet I’ll have this year comes in the former finalist Julien Leclercq. He lost out in the title match two years ago and while he has a bit of a stinker of a first round draw in Hossein Vafaei, if he overcomes that he could go well. Vafaei has won this tournament in 2022 but in five other efforts he hasn’t been beyond the second round so he could be vulnerable. Leclercq has the sixth fastest average shot time on the tour this year so the shot clock shouldn’t inconvenience him. If he can have his scoring boots with him the Belgian Beast could go well.
Tips
Back X.Guodong to win Snooker Shootout (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back H.Guoqiang to win Snooker Shootout (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back J.Jun to win Snooker Shootout (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Boylesports (1/4 1-4)
Back them here:
Back T.Un-Nooh to win Snooker Shootout (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Betway (1/4 1-4)
Back J.Leclercq to win Snooker Shootout (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Betway (1/4 1-4)
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