The Snookerbacker Blog

As I am sure you will understand I’m a little busy tomorrow with a silly little tournament of my own so please use this excellent site with recent head to head records included for your reference point on tomorrow’s final round of qualifiers. 

That said there is a treble here that for me sticks out and I’ll recommend at 3 point treble on Andrew Higginson, Marcus Campbell and Ricky Walden at a shade over 11/4 with Paddy Power.

Anyone watching Steve Davis take on Rory McLeod, you have my deepest sympathy….

10am

43) Andrew Higginson v Jimmy White
45) Tom Ford v David Grace
46) Mark King v Adrian Gunnell
47) Barry Hawkins v Liu Chuang
53) Dominic Dale v Jack Lisowski
58) Rory McLeod v Steve Davis

2.30pm

44) Joe Perry v Anthony Hamilton
48) Ricky Walden v Sam Craigie
49) Marcus Campbell v Ken Doherty
51) Mark Davis v Michael Holt
52) Ryan Day v Ben Woollaston
56) Stephen Hendry v Yu Delu

7pm

50) Fergal O’Brien v Li Yan
54) Marco Fu v Jamie Jones
55) Jamie Cope v Alan McManus
57) Peter Ebdon v Liang Wenbo

The trip down the Gloucester starts today and my attention is now focused elsewhere as the finalists make the trip to the the South West Snooker Academy for the Snookerbacker Classic Finals tomorrow.

It is probably a good job as I would only have dwelt on one particular match yesterday that I watched and shall we say had a very strange ending and a feeling of inevitability about it. I’ll leave it at that as I am obviously, judging from comments coming at me from all angles, not alone in feeling that way about this particular encounter.

As the players move closer to a trip to Beijing next month we now come to the seeds bracketed in the 33-48 range, they face the qualifiers from the first two days play and there is a strong Chinese contingent still involved in the hunt for tickets back home. The matches are listed below with a briefer summary than usual.

10am
27) Jimmy White v Liam Highfield
28) Anthony Hamilton v Luca Brecel
29) Matthew Selt v David Grace
30) Joe Jogia v Adrian Gunnell
31) Robert Milkins v Liu Chuang
32) Gerard Greene v Sam Craigie

The two matches that catch my eye here in terms of a value bet on the outsiders are Sam Craigie to beat Gerard Greene and Adrian Gunnell to beat Joe ‘Gold’ Jogia. Craigie can be backed at 6/4 and Gunnell at 6/5 and two singles and a double may be the order of the day there. Of the other matches Jimmy White will be confident of victory against Liam Highfield and I would rather take the odds on the Whirlwind than the restrictive odds on Anthony Hamilton to beat Luca Brecel, who is definitely finding form this week and may cause a shock. Matthew Selt will take some beating despite the good form of our mate David Grace and may be the man for your acca, along with Jimmy from this session.

Recommended Bet: 2 points win Adrian Gunnell to beat Joe Jogia at 6/5 with Apollobet.  

2.30pm

33) Ken Doherty v Michael White
34) Mike Dunn v Li Yan
35) Michael Holt v Peter Lines
36) Nigel Bond v Ben Woollaston
37) Jack Lisowski v Dave Harold

Ben Woollaston: Can he bring down Bond?

Michael White walloped his way through to a tie with Ken Doherty and has the momentum to carry this form through against the experienced and wily old Dubliner. I think he has to be backed at 4/5 with Boyles to outscore our Kendo. Ben Woollaston had a good win yesterday and if he is in form he is another youngster that can outscore a more experienced opponent in Nigel Bond, the 5/6 available on Ben is another worth considering. I’m less confident in another young player, Jack Lisowski for a couple of reasons, firstly the fact that he is on a bit of a losing streak and secondly that his opponent Dave Harold is going the opposite way. Dave’s battling qualities are legendary and Jack will need to know how to handle the Stoke Potter from the off or he might find himself dragged into a scrap, of which there will only be one winner.

Recommended Bets: 2×2 points win singles and a 2 point double on Michael White and Dave Harold at 4/5 and Evens respectively with Boylesports. Add Ben Woollaston for a 1 point treble which pays over 6/1 at Blue Square. 

7pm
38) Jamie Jones v Cao Yupeng
39) Alan McManus v Aditya Mehta
40) Jamie Burnett v Yu Delu
41) Liang Wenbo v Xiao Guodong
42) Steve Davis v Rod Lawler

This session doesn’t hold a great deal of interest for me in terms of a bet, though I will be interested to see how Alan McManus and Steve Davis are priced up for a possible old boys double, depending on how earlier bets have gone.

The Best of Luck today if you are getting involved.

Prices for the Snookerbacker Classic are available at both Boylesports and Apollobet and I am reliably informed we have secured a few paragraphs in today’s Racing Post snooker section. The live stream link will be posted up on the sidebar and I am hoping that the quality of the stream is a little better than last time, but this is largely out of my hands I’m afraid, but it’s free to view and you aren’t breaking any laws by doing so and I will be keeping score updates coming on here and on Twitter at #sbclassic