The Snookerbacker Blog

Shocky Horror: Roll on Germany....

There are some unlikely names in the mix today coupled with some familiar faces. It’s almost like the sixteen players that contest finals day can be patted on the head and ticked off the register as not having summer off, while naughty boys such as Judd, MJW, The Jester and Smurf are warned that if they ignore the baize for too long, whether it be to get married, to play too much golf or to just behave like a ‘playboi’ in a flash car, they will be made to pay.

Given that he’s usually a naughty boy, it’s good to see Ronnie in there. All the speculation that the World Championship saw a new face to the normally carefree Rocket is looking more and more like it’s true. Whatever you think of him, the game is much better when he’s giving it his full attention and competing and he faces his stiffest test in this yet against Martin Gould.

The only member of Team SB to make it is Stuart ‘Ballrun’ Bingham, whose exploits in Thailand (no not those kind of exploits) a week ago have stood him in good stead for the start of the new season. In fact, the first three rounds in this saw him do what he narrowly failed to do at the Crucible, namely, enter the top 16 at the expense of Stephen Hendry. If Hendo didn’t know how tough this season was going to be already he certainly will now. Ballrun faces Stephen Maguire for the right to meet the winner of Ron’s match in what can be described if not quite in the magnitude of a quarter of death, certainly a quarter of semi-serious but not life-threatening illness.

But the story of this event has been the lesser lights with two amateurs, Eden Sharav and that dancer out of Take That Robbie Williams lining up with the others for a crack at the title, Robbie putting paid to The Captain’s flight late on last night and now takes on the equally tough prospect of Graeme Dott who is ‘lurking’ and must be favourite to make the final from the top half. Dave Gilbert has also continued his Q-School form and will fancy his chances against Joe Jogia, who can be a world beater one day and a hacker the next. Xiao Guodong once again edged out Kurt Maflin in a decider last night to book his place with Kurt once again knocking in a high break, his 145 being the best of the week so far. It’s always nice to see the good guys doing well too and Joe Perry, Fearless Fergal, Marcus Campbell and James Wattana will all be pleased with their work so far in this.

Marcus won one of these events last season and did consistently well in them, he faces the surprise package of the tournament in fellow Scot Sharav, who is being talked about in very grand terms by some in the know. I will admit that I’d never heard of him before this but he has obviously caught the interest of a few as he is sponsored by ‘Pockets’ who sponsor Stephen Lee, coincidentally, Eden’s cue action is already being talked about in classic car terms. To have one Rolls Royce is decadent, but two? That’s just greedy.

The only two finalists I haven’t mentioned are Liam Highfield and Jamie Jones. Young Liam, will have to have another day off from his paper round and will be looking to build on what was a solid first campaign as a professional last season in which he played a total of 41 matches, quite a tally. Jamie Jones is improving all the time and caught the eye on a few occasions in the qualifiers last year, he’s one to keep on the right side of I reckon.

In terms of betting, while the outrights haven’t quite gone to plan the match bets flagged up so far have done ok and it is great that we get the chance to have a go on these. Perhaps given there were no professional withdrawals (as predicted), these might now come onto the radar of the firms and these might be given a bit more attention across the board. That said, there ain’t too much value out there this morning, of the odds against shots Gould to beat Ronnie at 2/1 might be worth a small interest as might Bingham to beat Mags at 5/4. In terms of the favourites, the two I would consider doubling up are Jones and Guodong. In terms of an overall winner, the 20/1 on Martin Gould will look huge if he can beat Ronnie, but a safer prospect for me is Dotty at 11/2.

Good luck if you are having a bet. I’m out for most of the morning but will catch up on things this afternoon.

10am

191. James Wattana 0-4 Joe Perry
192. Jamie Jones 4-3 Fergal O’Brien
193. Xiao Guodong 4-2 Liam Highfield
194. Graeme Dott 4-0 Robbie Williams
195. Stephen Maguire 3-4 Stuart Bingham
196. Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-2 Martin Gould
197. Joe Jogia 4-3 David Gilbert
198. Eden Sharav 0-4 Marcus Campbell

Not before 1pm
Quarter-finals

199. Perry 4-1 Jones
200. Guodong 3-4 Dott
201. Bingham 2-4 O’Sullivan
202. Jogia 4-1 Campbell

Not before 4pm
Semi-finals

203. Joe Perry 4-2 Graeme Dott
204. Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-2 Joe Jogia

Not before 7pm
Final

Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-0 Joe Perry

PTC1 Winner – Ronnie O’Sullivan

You need stamina for this game.

I told you the schedule was overly hopeful…..I don’t know how many of you stayed up to catch all the results last night but after midnight there were still matches waiting to start at the PTC. You have both my admiration and my sympathy.

Some coped better than others and among them Ronnie O’Sullivan, who made it into the Finals Day tomorrow. John Higgins and Judd Trump both fell at the first and avoided a late night but team SB member Stuart Bingham proudly takes his mustard cashmere into finals day too. An update of all the results and qualifiers into tomorrow can be found here.

Today sees the Team SB Skipper Mark Williams kick things off this morning but I’ll be keeping a close eye on Allan Taylor who kicks off this afternoon against Joe Swail. You can get 15/8 on the Assassin overturning the Outlaw in this shootout and I’d suggest that this may be worth an interest if yesterday’s pattern is anything to go by. A lot of rusty pros coupled with those fresh from an early summer on the baize made for some shocks. The interestingly named Eden Sharav from Scotland being a surprise face making it into the last 16.

In terms of the match betting it was nice of Sam Craigie to land the 11/4 yesterday but I can’t really see anything like that this morning. Perhaps Adam Wicheard at 11/8 to beat Tony Drago might be worth a bet but I’ll wait and see I think.

Top Half Round 1

79. Mark Williams 3-4 Li Yan
80. Steve Davis 1-4 James Wattana
81. Mike Dunn 4-0 Mitchell Travis
82. Stephen Hendry 3-4 Kyren Wilson
83. Ken Doherty 4-0 Kishan Hirani
84. Tom Ford 4-0 Andrew Norman
85. Mark Joyce 4-0 Ben Harrison
86. Joe Perry 4-0 Sanderson Lam
87. Alfie Burden 3-4 Cao Yupeng
88. Jamie Jones 4-0 Shane Castle
89. Peter Lines 4-2 Ian Burns
90. Anthony Hamilton 0-4 Luca Brecel
91. Joe Swail 4-3 Allan Taylor
92. Fergal O`Brien 4-2 Darren Bond
93. Robert Milkins 4-2 Stuart Carrington
94. Ryan Day 3-4 Simon Bedford
95. Xiao Guodong 4-0 James Murdoch
96. Tony Drago 3-4 Adam Wicheard
97. Michael White 4-1 David Grace
98. Rory McLeod 2-4 Kurt Maflin
99. Liam Highfield 4-2 Chen Zhe
100. Andrew Pagett 4-3 Shaun Wilkes
101. Mark King 4-0 David Hogan
102. Rod Lawler 3-4 Scott MacKenzie
103. Andrew Higginson 4-3 Michael Wasley
104. Stephen Lee 4-1 John Sutton
105. Graeme Dott 4-0 Sam Baird
106. Dominic Dale 4-1 Gareth Green
107. Peter Ebdon v Robbie Williams
108. Shaun Murphy 3-4 Nick Jennings
109. Ali Carter 4-1 Yu Delu
110. Matthew Stevens 4-0 Andy Lee

Round 2

143. Li Yan 3-4 James Wattana
144. Mike Dunn 4-2 Kyren Wilson
145. Ken Doherty 1-4 Tom Ford
146. Mark Joyce 2-4 Joe Perry
147. Cao Yupeng 2-4 Jamie Jones
148. Peter Lines 4-3 Luca Brecel
149. Joe Swail 1-4 Fergal O`Brien
150. Robert Milkins 3-4 Simon Bedford
151. Xiao Guodong 4-1 Adam Wicheard
152. Michael White 2-4 Kurt Maflin
153. Liam Highfield 4-2 Andrew Pagett
154. Mark King 1-4 Scott MacKenzie
155. Andrew Higginson 1-4 Stephen Lee
156. Graeme Dott 4-2 Dominic Dale
157. Robbie Williams 4-2 Nick Jennings
158. Allister Carter 4-0 Matthew Stevens

Round 3

175. James Wattana 4 -2 Mike Dunn
176. Tom Ford 3 – 4  Joe Perry
177. Jamie Jones 4 – 2 Peter Lines
178. Fergal O’Brien 4 – 3 Simon Bedford
179. Xiao Guodong 4 – 3 Kurt Maflin
180. Liam Highfield 4 – 0 Scott MacKenzie
181. Stephen Lee  0 – 4 Graeme Dott
182. Robbie Williams 4-2 Ali Carter

It’s always nice to hear from the top players and tonight that bloke who nicked a few scones from our house and even got a peck on the cheek from Mrs SB a few months back has given us a few words. You just can’t shut him up sometimes, but as he loves his dogs he’s always welcome on here.

Off he goes……

It’s back to the day job tomorrow (and hopefully Wednesday) for the first PTC event at Sheffield. I’m really excited about the new season and if it turns out anything like last year, then I can’t wait. I’m aiming for a better start than last season and I certainly feel mentally fresh and ready for it. While snooker is not one of the most physically arduous sports, I think it is one of the most challenging mentally. That’s why I feel it is really important that I’ve had a good break since the Crucible, enjoying some great laughs with my friends, playing a fair bit of golf and spending some time in the gym.

I’ve been practising my snooker, too – two or three hours a day of late. My base is at Mere Golf and Country Club where I can practise, play golf and spend time in the gym all at one site, which is really handy.

This summer is just about the first since I’ve been a pro when I really feel that I’ve earned a break. We had a lot of tournaments last season, which was great, and the schedule looks busy again from now on.

It says a lot for what Barry Hearn and his team have done for the sport since coming in about 18 months ago. There is a recession on and yet our total prize money has increased from around £3.5million to something like £6million.

That is very encouraging for all the players on the circuit. It’s great to see where snooker is now, compared to where we were in the not-too-distant past.

Anyway, I’m off to put the final touches to my game before tomorrow. It’s possible I could have three matches tomorrow and four on Wednesday. Well, that’s what hoping in any case!

An absolute marathon of a day over in Sheffield today with a 9am start and a (overly hopeful) final match slot starting at 9pm where they will be hoping to play down to the 8 qualifiers from this section of the draw.

All the results so far can be found here and it’s good to see that The Assassin, Allan Taylor has won through to this stage to play Joe Swail tomorrow.

Sportingbet have match betting up and there are a couple of prices that catch the eye. The 8/11 on James Watanna to beat Steve Davis appeals to me as does the 5/6 on Nigel Bond to beat Ben Woollaston, Daniel Wells at 5/6 might be another to consider as he takes on the inconsistent Joe Jogia, although Joe has won their only encounter to date, Wells is fresh from a great win over in Bulgaria at the European Championship (read more here) and of course carries the mantle of being the ‘One to Watch Willie’ winner at the awards, which has obviously already inspired him to the winners enclosure. Of the bigger prices, it might be worth taking a chance on the well-thought of Sam Craigie to beat Dave Harold at 11/4.

With the likes of Ronnie, John Higgins, Judd and Mark Selby in action it is sure to be an interesting day. If you click over to the World Snooker website we should see the return of the live scoring to keep in touch with the action. Let’s hope it doesn’t overheat given the weight of matches today. Talking of weight, today’s nostalgia man is undoubtedly former Slimmer of the Year; Southport’s Les Dodd, who is back for a crack at the big time. For nostalgists he pips Mike ‘Has anyone got a Rope?’ Hallett, who takes on The Rocket this morning.

Good luck if you are having a bet on the first rounders.

9am

111. Mark Selby 4-1 Zhang Anda
112. Gerard Greene 4-3 Aditya Mehta
113. Stephen Maguire 4-3 Matthew Day
114. Jack Lisowski 4-1 Ian Glover
115. Mark Davis 4-2 James Mcgouran
116. Barry Hawkins 4-1 Tian Pengfei
117. Stuart Bingham 4-0 Andrew Milliard
118. Jamie Burnett 4-2 Robin Hull

Not before 11am

119. Adrian Gunnell 2-4 Craig Steadman
120. Bjorn Haneveer 4-1 Joe Meara
121. Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-2 Mike Hallett
122. Andy Hicks 4-2 Sean O’Sullivan
123. Matthew Selt 4-2 Stephen Craigie
124. Martin Gould 4-2 Jamie Barrett
125. Dave Harold 1-4 Sam Craigie
126. Nigel Bond 4-2 Ben Woollaston

Not before 1pm

127. Matthew Couch 4-0 Lucky Vatnani
128. Michael Holt 4-1 David Gray
129. Joe Jogia 4-0 Daniel Wells
130. Liu Chuang 4-0 Jack Culligan
131. Jamie Cope 4-0 Les Dodd
132. Judd Trump 1-4 David Gilbert
133. Alan Mcmanus 4-1 Kacper Filipiak
134. Jimmy White 4-3 David Morris

Not before 3pm

135. Anthony McGill 3-4 Gary Wilson
136. Barry Pinches 4-2 Christopher Norbury
137. Liu Song 0-4 Adam Duffy
138. Liang Wenbo 0-4 Eden Sharav
139. Marcus Campbell 4-3 Paul Davison
140. Jimmy Robertson 3-4 Passakorn Suwannawat
141. Ricky Walden 2-4 Justin Astley
142. John Higgins 3-4 Dechawat Poomjaeng

After 5pm (next round commences)

159. Mark Selby 4-0 Gerard Greene
160. Stephen Maguire 4-2 Jack Lisowski
161. Mark Davis 4-1 Barry Hawkins
162. Stuart Bingham 4-1 Jamie Burnett
163. Craig Steadman 1-4 Bjorn Haneveer
164. Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-1 Andy Hicks
165. Matthew Selt 3-4 Martin Gould
166. Sam Craigie 1-4 Nigel Bond
167. Matt Couch 2-4 Michael Holt
168. Joe Jogia 4-1 Liu Chuang
169. Jamie Cope 2-4 David Gilbert
170. Alan McManus 3-4 Jimmy White
171. Gary Wilson 4-3 Barry Pinches
172. Adam Duffy 1-4 Eden Sharav
173. Marcus Campbell 4-1 Passakorn Suwannawat
174. Justin Astley 3-4 Dechawat Poomjaeng

Round 3

Maguire 4-2 Selby

Bingham 4-3 Davis

O’Sullivan 4-0 Haneveer

Gould 4-3 Bond

Jogia 4-2 Holt

Gilbert 4-1 White

Sharav 4-2 Wilson

Campbell 4-2 Poomjaeng

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that there is a new box at the top of the sidebar on the right hand side of the blog. It takes you here and tells you all you need to know about the forthcoming Snookerbacker Classic, how to enter and all the terms and conditions.

You will notice underneath this box that there is also a drop down menu with the venues listed and a ‘Pay Now’ button to forward entrance fees directly to me. As the entries in each event are restricted in number, if you are going to enter I would make sure you do so as early as you can, to avoid disappointment. You can of course enter more than one event if you wish.

So why should you enter? Well rather than me telling you this I thought I’d let a couple of other more qualified people tell you why. Beginning with none other than Neal Foulds who says:

The Snookerbacker Classic looks a really good idea and a great opportunity for a budding star to realise their dreams without the pressure of a hefty entrance fee.

I’m sure that this event will see inexperienced but talented local players locking horns with some semi-professionals who may be willing to play in as many of the four events as is necessary to make the finals.

The invaluable match practice to be gained is one thing, but ultimately two places in the next Q-School are up for grabs. The bonus being that these places have been earned by results rather than merely stumping up a large entry fee, which in itself is a psychological advantage in the scramble for a place on the main circuit.

I’m pleased to say that one of the first names to pitch his hat in the ring is none other than The Assassin, Allan Taylor who says:

This is a great opportunity for anyone that aspires to making it as a professional. It’s pretty simple, you win 4 matches, you get your entry fee refunded, you win another 2 and you’re in the Q-School, you win another and you get 4 PTC’s and a big shiny trophy on top!

Having worked with SB over the past year I can also say that you will not go short of support should you be the lucky runner-up (behind me!!). The blog also gives a great platform to raise your profile in the game and that is worth it’s weight in gold. Entering this event is a must for anyone wanting to progress in the sport.  I’m really looking forward to it, great venues too.

So there you have it. If anyone has any questions about the event please contact me at snookerbacker@hotmail.co.uk or my new email snookerbacker@ymail.com (I’ve had a few problems with hotmail)

Dennis, Alex, Some other bloke and Eugene Hughes with the State Express Trophy

Good Morning Everyone. Below you will find the first batch of PTC results from last night. Match 9 saw a comfortable win for The Albino Assassin.

Mystery and intrigue surrounds the outcome of the Chen Zhe/James Silverwood clash but there were also comfortable wins for friends of the blog Martin O’Donnell and Gareth Allen.

Arguably the tie of the first round produced a 4-3 win for Kyren Wilson over Jak Jones whilst the well thought of Ben Harrison, who made a 147 the other day in a one frame match against a local reporter came through 4-3 in his match.

Nostalgists (is that a word?) will be disappointed to see Dessie Sheehan the other end of a 4-0 scoreline. I remember him from the State Express World Team Challenge on ITV in the 1980′s playing alongside the legend that is Eugene Hughes, who once gave a starstruck young snookerbacker his autograph at Pontins whilst saying I had ‘a good Irish name’.

1. Hammad Miah 2 – 4 Oliver Lines
2. Ian Stark 4 - 0 Sachin Plaha
3. Jak Jones 3 - 4 Kyren Wilson
4. Stephen Ellis 1 - 4 Kishan Hirani
5. Joel Walker 4 - 0 Dessie Sheehan
6. Brian Cox 3 - 4 Ben Harrison
7. Alex Taubman 4 - 0 Martin Ball
8. George Marter 1 - 4 Martin O’Donnell
9. Jonathan Friel 0 - 4 Allan Taylor
10. Shahram Changezi 4 - 2 Bash Maqsood
11. Declan Bristow 2 - 4 Darren Bond
12. James Murdoch 4 - 1 Callum Lloyd
13. Gareth Allen 4 - 0 Sydney Wilson
14. Chen Zhe ? James Silverwood
15. Shaun Wilkes 4 - 1 Lee Richardson
16. Grzegorz Biernadski 3 - 4 Lewis Frampton
17. Lee Page 4 - 0 Terry Buchan
18. Lasse Munstermann w/d v w/o Steve Judd
19. John Sutton 4 - 1 Phil O’Kane
20. James Hill 0 - 4 Mitchell Mann
21. Sam Harvey 4 - 3 Saqib Nasir
22. Leo Fernandez 3 - 4 Nick Jennings

£50 free bet up for grabs

A new season and away we go again with the Prediction Contests. For the first one this time around I am pleased to announce that our friends over at Skybet are contributing a £50 free bet prize for the lucky winner.

Skybet were the first firm to price the event up and if you still haven’t committed to a bet on it then you can peruse the prices at your leisure here. Whilst doing so you might want to jot down four names, because they will form your team for this event.

The rules are quite simple. You choose four players and for every match they win in the event you will receive the number of points equivalent to their outright price at Skybet. For example, for every match that John Higgins (6/1) wins you will receive 6 points, for every match Michael Holt (66/1) wins you will receive 66 points and so on. So it’s up to you whether you concentrate on short/medium or long priced players or a mixture of them all.

But here’s the other thing. If one of your players wins the event you will receive a further 500 points bonus.

Simply copy this template into the comments section and fill in your players and their odds at Skybet.

Team Member 1 = xxxx xxxxxxxx @ odds of
Team Member 2 = xxxx xxxxxxxx @ odds of
Team Member 3 = xxxx xxxxxxxx @ odds of
Team Member 4 = xxxx xxxxxxxx @ odds of

The only matches that count are those played from Monday onwards.

The usual restrictions apply regarding anonymous and multiple entries. One entry per person only and all entries must be accompanied by a valid email address (nobody else will see this, just fill it in above the comments box)

Entries will close at the start of the Monday morning matches.

The very best of luck.

Things are happening fast this week as regards the Snookerbacker Classic and today I have secured the final two venues and dates for this new event. You can find out more about the Snookerbacker Classic here and discover where the first two events will be held here.

After the events in Scotland and the North of England it is time to venture south and pick up four finalists from the final two qualifying events. I am pleased to say that the standard of venue is every bit as special as the first two and the details of these are:

Event 3: Wales & The South West of England

Date: Monday 30th January 2012

Venue: The South West Snooker Academy, Edison Close, Waterwells Business Park, Gloucester GL2 2FN (website here)

The brainchild and vision of Paul Mount, this purpose built snooker venue is one year old today and is already being talked about as ‘the’ snooker venue in the UK. Home of the Pink Ribbon event, Players Tour Championship events and growing every day, this place is frequented by many top professionals including the one and only Jimmy White. It is an absolute honour to be able to hold the event here.

Event 4: The South of England

Date: Friday 10th February 2012

Venue: Chelmsford Snooker Club, 8 Rivermead Industrial Estate, Chelmsford, Essex CM1 1PD (website here)

As a long term friend of the blog how could we not hold an event at the Captain, Ali Carter’s club? Ali himself has even promised to be around if he isn’t otherwise engaged. Please note that with this being the final qualifying event, it may be open to a higher number of entrants should demand be strong enough. However, entry numbers will be capped at a maximum of 64.

THE FINALS DAY:

The date is still to be confirmed but I can confirm that the Finals Day will be held at The South West Snooker Academy where the eight qualifiers from the four events will do battle for the prizes on offer.

The Next Stage:

I will be opening the Snookerbacker Classic up for entries this weekend. Please bear in mind that the first three events in Scotland, Northern England and Wales & the SW will be capped at the first 32 entrants. So to be sure of getting a place in one or more of the events my advice would be to enter as early as you can.  Please keep an eye on alerts on Twitter, Facebook and the blog for when I expect to be able to start accepting entries. In the meantime if anyone has any questions about the event simply email me at snookerbacker@hotmail.co.uk

There's hundreds of them!

Inspirational speakers and motivational gurus often use that well oiled mantra ‘Nothing is Impossible’. Countless power ballads and drippy boy band songs have been based around this very theme. Is it true? Are there things that can be considered just so difficult so as to render them impossible?

Well, I don’t know about you but picking the winner of this first Players Tour Championship which gets underway with the amateur section on Saturday evening is about as near to impossible as you can get where the baize is concerned. A huge number of entries, a draw format that took Einsteinesque thinking to decipher and having to add two unscheduled days onto the event because of the sheer volume of players all make this a logistical nightmare. 

In terms of having a bet on this, not only do you have to study the draw but you also have to factor in that we have (advanced recycled classic gag warning) so little to go on it puts me in mind of that fruitless investigation into the theft of all the toilets at the local police station (well I think it’s funny and it’s my blog). This is a season starter and the only indication that we have of players form and practice regimes are a mixture of pro-am events here and abroad and a few tweets, including Judd claiming the other day that he made a 147 in 4 minutes or so.

Regulars will be aware that the usual tactic when approaching these events from a punting point of view is to award a Skipper’s Mustard Jumper to my main pick. He is followed into the event by a band of five further mustard clad warriors who provide the supporting roles. Last season, from the 12 events we managed to pick 5 overall winners (all skippers) including the first two. They included Judd himself who obliged at 33/1 in the Paul Hunter Classic and provided the biggest outright winner on the blog to date.

Now before I move on to try and find a similar gem in this I must inform you of some truly sad news. Betty, the proprietor of the self-named ‘Betty’s Wool Shop’ on the High Street has been making the woollen cashmeres for the players since the blog began. Regulars will remember with great fondness the work of ‘the ladies’, including Enid, Maude, Rosemary and Ethel as they worked tirelessly to ensure that each team member had their woollens in time for the events. Well, I am truly upset to inform you that Betty is no longer with us. I suppose at some point things had to change, employing an ageing workforce always has its downsides and this one of course is inevitable. Yes, she just got greedy and asked for a pay rise, so I told her to bugger off and now I’ve got them being made abroad by midgets in a hut for a fraction of the price! Result eh? Seriously, you can’t even notice the difference, I should have done it last year as I knew Betty was inflating the prices, the greedy old cow. Even with postage on top they come in way cheaper! Everyone’s a winner.

Anyway, enough of that nonsense and onto the preview. As we know Skybet are the only firm so far to price the event up so all the prices I flag up will be with them.

The Laid Back Welshman

Like last season I have tried my best to ‘quarter’ the draw up and spread the team around all over to hopefully end up with a couple or more making finals day. In the top quarter of the draw, world number one Mark Williams headlines and has a section that includes his old sparring partner Stephen Hendry, who will be entering everything this year as he attempts to keep hold of his top 16 place. On that note, notable absentees from this event are Mark Allen and Neil Robertson. Both will need good seasons this year to hold onto their places at the top of the game and whilst Mark has had well-publicised personal issues to deal with and Robbo is busy promoting the forthcoming Australian Open, they haven’t done themselves any favours by not entering this, as the entries were done in blocks of four I wonder if they have entered the next three?

Anyway, I digress. MJW looks a solid contender and may win through to play Mark Joyce in the last 16, Joyce fresh from his win in the Pink Ribbon event so obviously playing well. But you have to fancy the laid back Welshman to progress and looking at the draw he has one of the more straightforward paths to the semi-finals so I will take the plunge on him at 7/1 and award him the coveted Skippers Jumper first time around. 

I am also going to include another player from this quarter in Rob Milkins (aka Mill Hopkins) at 80/1 for no other reason than his price stands out in a section that is easily winnable for a player of his standard.

The second quarter sees a very attractive draw for Mark King, but I can’t bring myself to plunge on him as he is notoriously unreliable. Michael White has been turning heads recently and did well in these events last season, I think his 125/1 is worth a couple of quid each way, especially seeing as the terms are one quarter of the odds on reaching the semi-final. Lower down this section sees a segment including the Captain, last year’s PTC champ Shaun Murphy, Matthew Stevens and Peter Ebdon, a little higher up Graeme Dott and Stephen Lee populate the draw. Pricewise, I’ll again take an each way punt on Lee at 66/1, simply because he is the best priced of the main players, with Ebdon not someone I will be backing a lot this season.

Judd models a quality item.

Into the bottom section and it doesn’t get any easier. Mark Selby heads up the next quarter with the likes of Stephen Maguire and Jack Lisowski waiting for him. I’m going to take a stab at Stuart Bingham in this section, he has been playing over in Thailand in a competitive event, losing narrowly in the final, so will be match sharp and at 40/1 he’s worth a look.

Finally down at the bottom we have the recent world finalists Judd Trump and John Higgins, who might be destined for a quarter final rematch. There doesn’t seem any obvious barrier to this happening and given that Judd is double John’s odds at an attractive 12/1, I’ll be jumping on the bandwagon of the new kid in town and backing him to small stakes in the hope that my two ‘win only’ bets MJW and Juddly meet up in the 205th match of the event.

So to summarise, I’ll take MJW as my Team SB Skipper, closely followed by Judd Trump. Each way hopefuls are Rob Milkins, Michael White, Stephen Lee and Stuart Bingham.

Just a note that if The Assassin wins his first two matches he will face Joe Swail and slot in the draw there. Looking at the draw you might find this the most useful website in finding out how it all works out. The schedule for the amateur players can be found here. Also a note that the World Snooker scoreboard will not be operational until the professionals start on Monday, so I’m not sure other than Twitter, how you will get to find out how Allan and others are getting on.

Skybet have also priced up the overall Order of Merit and for this I am going to recommend a bet. Last year, the cream rose to the top in this event and I think this year the same will happen. I am going to recommend a bet on the best player in the world at the moment to head the list up at the end of the first twelve events.

Recommended Bet: 5 Points win John Higgins to top the PTC Order of Merit after 12 events at 6/1 with Skybet.

The Best of Luck if you are having a bet and thanks to Skybet for pricing this up for us.

Today has been a good day for getting things done and I am pleased to say that I have managed to secure the first two venues and dates for my new venture, The Snookerbacker Classic (draft details of which are here).

I am just finalising the entrance form and all the other administrative type stuff before I can start taking entries in but I can confirm that the first two dates and venues will be:

Event 1: Scotland

Date: Sunday 6th November 2011

Venue: The Lucky Break Snooker Centre, 26-30 Glasgow Road, Scotland, Clydebank G81 1SE. (directions here)

This place was the venue for John Higgins recent Scottish Professional Championship win and is frequented by the man himself as well as other Scottish professionals including Anthony McGill.

Event 2: Northern England

Date: Friday 2nd December 2011

Venue: The Northern Snooker Centre, 92 Kirkstall Road, Leeds LS3 1LT. (website here)

‘The Northern’ is widely acknowledged as the best snooker club in the North of England and is the venue for numerous prestigious amateur events. Top drawer tournament standard tables will be used for the whole event.

Remember that the events are going to be limited to 32 players. The events to follow will encompass Wales and the South West but anyone can enter any of the events, you can enter more than one event if you wish. The third and fourth events are likely to be in January and February with the Finals Day following the last qualifying event.

A big thanks to the people that have helped me out at the venues so far.