The snooker season is about to click into full gear and the prelude to some big tournaments is the Six Red World Championship out in Thailand – an invitation event with handy dosh and a format designed to entertain.
This event has been running for a while and has launched careers and revitalised others and I’m sure it will do the same this week.
In total 48 players will head out to Bangkok for this tournament with them drawn into eight groups of six for the opening round. Every player plays the others in his group once in the first stage over the best of nine frames and when that is done the top four in each move into the knockout stages. As the tournament name suggests each frame has just six reds rather than the usual 15.
Like most of these quirky formatted invitation events I think the tournament is designed for aggressive play. A little like the shootout later in the season the sort of players who go well here are players who can get in from distance and who score well. You don’t have to score fantastically with just six reds on but quality positioning around the big colours is a must.
Of all the tournaments this one and the Shootout are the ones I think can land a decent priced winner particularly now that the event immediately precedes the Shanghai Masters. Some players won’t fancy going deep with that event next week and those slightly down the rung can take advantage of that.
One man who is approaching the top echelons of the game is Matt Selt and he’s worth a bet this week. He’s a super long potter and his scoring has really improved recently. Apart from John Higgins there isn’t a lot in his group so he should cruise through and if he can find some consistency in his long game he’s a big price at 50/1.
I’m also going to take a stab at a couple of big priced local runners. By local I mean Asian who should go well in the heavier conditions.
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has some decent scalps on his CV. He is ultra attacking but I don’t see that being a bad thing this week and if his long game is in good nick then he can do some damage. He is at home in Thailand so that will boost his chances and he looks overpriced at 66/1.
Another player who is overpriced is the Chinese youngster Yan Bingtao. Bingtao has shown his potential for a while but plenty of people took notice when he won the World Cup earlier in the season alongside Zhou Yuelong. Bingtao is a very solid potter who scores well at any level let alone with only six reds and if he has his best game with him he’s set to surprise plenty more top stars this week.
Back M.Selt to win Six Red World Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Skybet (1/5 1-4)
Back T.Un-Nooh to win Six Red World Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Skybet (1/5 1-4)
Back Y.Bingtao to win Six Red World Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Skybet (1/5 1-4)
