Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins are the notable absentees from this event, which also means O'Sullivan won't be in the Players Championship Finals having not already qualified, unlike the other three. Shaun Murphy is obviously the top seed, as the seedings are done for these tournaments based on the European Order of merit, with Shaun winning both of events 3 and 4 this season. Shaun is also the defending champion this week though and I'm sure it would mean a lot for him to have a good run at defending the title that sparked the turnaround we've seen in him in the last year. Of course all three days of professional action from Friday to Sunday will be broadcast on Eurosport in Britain and on the continent and their coverage of the European Tour events has been superb so far this season so hopefully that keeps up.
Let's take a look at how the draw lines up for what really is a vital weekend:
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Shaun Murphy Vs Jak Jones
Allan Taylor Vs Zak Surety
Kyren Wilson Vs Andrew Pagett
Joe Swail W/O Zhou Yuelong
Mark King Vs Dave Harold
Graeme Dott Vs Lu Ning
Kurt Maflin Vs Amateur Qualifier
Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael White Vs Mitchell Mann
Craig Steadman Vs Amateur Qualifier
Noppon Saengkham Vs Michael Georgiou
Dominic Dale Vs Amateur Qualifier
Marco Fu Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Chris Melling Vs Chris Norbury
Ben Woollaston Vs Barry Pinches
Robert Milkins Vs Amateur Qualifier
There are a few guys in this section with plenty to play for and one of the main guys on that front is Joe Swail, while Jak Jones needs a couple of wins to try and get a tour card via the order of merit route, but a first round tie with Shaun Murphy is going to make that very tough. Allan Taylor is a nice £600 ahead of the likes of Jak Jones and is currently the 6th highest ranked player not already qualified, so a first round win against Zak Surety would put him fairly safe, but on the flip side he certainly does need that win or he may well lose that place. Andrew Pagett needs a small miracle to be honest, as probably only a run to the quarter-finals would get him a tour card via the EOoM, but he's supposedly giving up snooker at the end of the season anyway, realising he has no chance of staying on tour. Dominic Dale could still qualify for the Tour Finals here, but again he would need to reach the quarter-finals and I don't think his form is quite good enough to do that.
Joe Swail has interests all over the place in the different ranking lists. His walkover in the first round further consolidates that if he does finish outside of the top 64 at the end of the season, he will pick up a brand new two year tour card via the European Order of Merit, as he is currently the 2nd highest player not already qualified for next year and is well clear of 9th on that front. That doesn't end Swail's interests on the European Order of merit as his walkover against Zhou Yuelong has lifted him into 28th place and just £800 behind 24th place, but his walkover there does mean that he would have to get to at least the Last 16 to have any chance of breaking into the top 24, and his possible Last 32 opponent could be Shaun Murphy, so it certainly won't come easy given that Shaun is the top seed with good reason.
Mark King is also looking to qualify for the Players Championship Finals, but is in the much greater position of 19th on the order of merit and around £700 clear of 25th place and dropping out of the qualifying spots. All that Mark really needs to do is to win his opening round game and that should see him nicely qualified, and that Last 128 match is against Dave Harold, who has been on a horrible run of form this season, and Kingy has been playing decent as always so I expect him to win that one comfortably.
Noppon Saengkham's eyes are firmly on saving his tour spot this weekend. The Thai is in the 4th spot for players not already qualified to get a tour card via the European order of merit and he shouldn't have any problems getting a new two year tour card via that avenue. On the other hand, Noppon is only 69th on the provisional end of season seedings and around £11,000 behind 64th place so a good run this weekend could perhaps help his bid to save his tour card in the regular fashion, but not qualifying for both China and India has well and truly hurt his cause on that front, and a tough first round draw this weekend against in-form Michael Georgiou, isn't going to see things getting any easier for him.
Marco Fu comes into this event as someone that cannot afford an early exit, which can sometimes happen with Marco because of his inconsistent traits. He is 20th on the European Order of Merit coming into this event and is £700 ahead of 25th place. I can't see Marco slipping up and out of this top 24 mind you, and he seemed to be in reasonable form in Wales so he is certainly a contender for a very good run this week, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him make the quarter-finals by any means.
Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy is the defending Gdynia Open champion from last season, but is the top seed for this event by winning two of the five European Tour events this season in Bulgaria and Germany for events three and four, meaning he's won 50% of the last six ET events and can certainly go far again this week. Shaun's been cueing well this season, and despite an early exit at the Welsh Open, he'll still be confident and with a lot less pressure on his shoulders than he was under this time last year when he needed a good week to secure his place in the Players Championship Finals. If you let Shaun relax and play his natural game he's always an incredibly dangerous player and one of the favourites for any event.
Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Matt Selt Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Amateur Qualifier
Oliver Lines Vs Amateur Qualifier
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Amateur Qualifier
Neil Robertson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Anthony Hamilton Vs Michael Leslie
Fraser Patrick Vs Tony Drago
Chris Wakelin Vs David Grace
Ricky Walden Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Joyce Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Cope Vs Jack Lisowski
John Higgins Vs Cao Xin Long
Jamie Jones Vs Ian Burns
Mike Dunn W/O Lu Haotian
Jimmy White Vs Jamie Burnett
Judd Trump Vs Amateur Qualifier
Again there are quite a few things for us to keep an eye on with the guys in this quarter, but most of the stuff seems to have sorted itself out nicely. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is 63rd on the end of season money list, so could do with all the money he can get to ensure his tour survival, but a run to the final of the Asian Tour event 3 has put him in the Players Championship Finals already giving him a nice money boost. Dechawat Poomjaeng is 31st on the Order of Merit, but only £800 behind 24th place and a run to the Last 16 would certainly put him in the mix for a tour finals place. Fraser Patrick is 3rd out of the players not already qualified and is a cool £2,500 clear of the ninth so his tour card is sealed, along with Chris Wakelin who is 17th on the order of merit and should make the tour finals too. Jimmy White is 5th on this list and a nice 1.5k clear of the ninth place so only a catastrophe would see him fail to regain his tour card, but he is 68th on the End of Season rankings and 9k behind 64th, so a good run this week and he might not need that tour card come May. Jimmy though does have a very tough draw for this week.
Jamie Jones has one thing on his mind this weekend in terms of the ranking lists and that is qualification for the Players Championship Finals. The Welshman is presently 28th on the Order of Merit, and around £800 away from 24th place and qualifying which means he could be in with a big shout if he can get two or three wins. His first round opponent is Ian Burns which presents a tricky match, but certainly one that he'll go into as the favourite, and fancy his chances of winning, while thanks to a walkover, he knows that his Last 64 opponent would be Mike Dunn if Jamie can beat Burns, and again he'd fancy his chances of getting a victory there if he can get that far. Overall, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Jamie can make it into the Players Championship Finals.
John Higgins still has a chance of getting into the Tour Finals sitting £1,200 behind 24th place in the listings with the knowledge that a run to the quarter-finals would put him in very good position to qualify for Thailand next month. Of course Higgins is the man to beat after winning the Welsh Open last week, and if he can continue that form this week there is no reason why he can't run deep in this event and break into the top 24. One thing standing in his way is a much tougher draw than the one he faced in Wales. A possible Last 32 meeting with Ricky Walden and a potential Last 16 tie with Judd Trump, make reaching the last 8 a much tougher ask than it seems on paper, and it's always made tougher in these best-of-7 sprints.
Judd Trump is under no pressure at all this weekend, so again he can relax safe in the knowledge that not only has he qualified for the Tour Finals next month, but that he will also be one of the top 16 seeds to be drawn against the bottom 16 seeds in the actual event. Judd is another player in great form this season, though more in the first half than since Christmas, but he can take steps towards righting that with a big run this weekend.
Neil Robertson is a man whose Tour Finals spot is hardly a certainty as yet, sitting in the exact same seat as Marco Fu in 20th place in the order of merit around £700 clear of 25th place, but in a similar vain to Marco, I don't expect him to lose early on this week, especially not to an amateur qualifier which is who he will face in the Last 128. However, Neil will be determined not just to seal his place in the Grand Finals, but to win the event and get the best possible seeding and I certainly wouldn't rule him out of that. Neil has won this event before, a couple of seasons ago, so he will have good memories of playing in Gdynia, and he has been playing decent stuff on and off since Christmas without really going on and winning a title after his Masters final thrashing and unlucky quarter-final defeat at the German Masters. A big run here in Poland this weekend would make him feel a bit better, and put a lot of this right.
Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Mark Selby Vs Rory McLeod
Tian Pengfei Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liam Highfield Vs Ian Glover
Stuart Bingham Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Williams Vs Lee Page
James Cahill Vs Tom Ford
Andrew Higginson Vs Peter Lines
Rod Lawler Vs Ali Carter
Anthony McGill Vs John Astley
Gary Wilson Vs Marcus Campbell
Zhang Anda W/O Xiao Guodong
Joe Perry Vs Matthew Stevens
David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Davis Vs Amateur Qualifier
As we look at the bottom half of the draw, there are still as many things to keep an eye on this weekend, though this quarter does have markedly less. Joe Perry in this quarter is the 24th man on the European Order of merit, but having qualified via the Asian Tour for the Players Championship, that simply means that the European listing would get the extra place. Tom Ford faces a tough match with James Cahill as he sits around £6,000 of 64th place on the end of season rankings, while Marcus Campbell also has a tough draw sitting in 66th place and in big trouble.
James Cahill again has his tour place destiny presently in his own hands, as he sits in the 7th tour card qualification spot on the European Order of Merit, but only £400 clear of Elliot Slessor who is just outside of the places. James has a very tough match against Tom Ford in the first round and if he were to lose to Tom there, the likelihood is that Stuart Carrington and Elliot Slessor would both leapfrog and leave him in the position where he would probably drop off of the tour. Arguably, despite reaching the UK Championship Last 16 this season, you could say his match with Tom Ford is the biggest match of his career so far, because if he loses he will probably have to go back through Q School to regain his tour place.
Rod Lawler has interest this weekend in the World Grand Prix Money list, as he sits in 32nd place, with the top 32 qualifying and he is only around £1,000 clear of 33rd place Fergal O'Brien. Even though Fergal may have to make the Last 16, while a Last 32 berth could see him sneak in, Rod has an incredibly tough match in the Last 128 round against Ali Carter, and if he does lose to Ali there, that throws the doors wide open for Fergal to try and pounce. That match then for Rod is set to be a huge one then, and he'll go into the match as second favourite against a player of Ali's class.
Mark Williams will have his main target of the week in the back of his mind, and that is ensuring qualification for the Players Championship Finals. He is 22nd on the order of merit and around £500 clear of 25th place, so he you still feel that he needs a couple of wins to make certain his trip to Thailand for the finals. His first round opponent is Lee Page and I can't honestly see Mark losing to Lee. Mark Williams is in good form though and will be happy with his run to the Welsh Open semi-finals which is his second major ranking event semi-final of the season after his run to the International Championships in October, and the Welshman is again in with a good chance of another good run this week, and you wouldn't rule him out of a big run in this quarter and the event as a whole. Mark's is a similar situation of course to Shaun Murphy's of last year when he came to Gdynia without a title of any kind in some time, and scrapping for a tour finals spot, yet he went on to win the tournament. I don't think we can rule out the same eventually for Williams here either.
Joe Perry is presently that man occupying that 24th place on the European order of merit, but he has no need to finish in the top 24 on the list, having finished in the top 8 on the Asian Tour rankings after his victory at Asian Tour event 3. He is only £100 ahead of the chasing pack and could well be overtaken here as his first round opponent is a very tough one against Matthew Stevens, though I expect Perry to come through. In fact, after two wins on the Asian Tour, it may be about time that Joe Perry started to show what he can do properly in these European events, so don't be surprised that with the pressure off, he does well this weekend.
Mark Selby also has no pressure upon his shoulders either having qualified for the Tour Finals after winning the very first European Tour event in Riga, so he can relax this weekend, looking to continue on with his good form. Mark won the recent German Masters, and although he was knocked out by Luca Brecel at the Last 16 stage in Cardiff, he's still playing very good snooker at the moment and seems to have found his range now after some struggles this season. His draw isn't the easiest to go on far and run deep this weekend, but when has that ever stopped Mark?
Stuart Bingham is 25th on the order of merit coming into this week and £100 behind Joe Perry, but again the King of the Asian Tour has once again qualified via that order of merit, winning the second Asian Tour event this time to win yet another PTC event out in China. Despite all of his success in Asian Tour events, Stuart still hasn't quite come into his own at these European Tour events as I expected him to this season, and I thought he'd make at least a semi-final in one of these events, but it certainly isn't too late for him to do that now. The Championship league overall victory a couple of weeks ago would've boosted his confidence, and given him plenty of match practice, so he will certainly come into this tournament feeling sharp and a good run is certainly a great possibility.
Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)Peter Ebdon Vs Scott Donaldson
Sam Baird W/O Ahmed Saif
Elliot Slessor Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jimmy Robertson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Fergal O'Brien Vs Lu Chenwei
Ryan Day Vs Ken Doherty
Gerard Greene Vs Alfie Burden
Martin Gould Vs Amateur Qualifier
Luca Brecel Vs Hammad Miah
Michael Holt Vs Igor Figueiredo
Nigel Bond Vs Alex Davies
Aditya Mehta Vs Robin Hull
Michael Wasley Vs Steven Hallworth
Stuart Carrington Vs Amateur Qualifier
Joel Walker Vs Amateur Qualifier
Stephen Maguire Vs Ross Muir
This quarter is certainly the one to watch for twists and turns on all four counts to keep check of in this tournament that I outlined at the beginning of the piece. Jimmy Robertson is 28th on the Order of merit and only around £800 away from 24th, but having already from the Asian order of merit for Tour finals the extra place would simply go to the Euro order of merit were he to get into the top 24, and the same goes for Ryan Day who is 26th on the order of merit and only around £300 behind 24th place. Fergal O'Brien is one man with the most realistic chance of getting into the World Grand Prix that doesn't currently sit in the top 32, as he is 33rd on that list and around £1,000 behind, so if he could get into the last 16 he would have a genuine chance. Ken Doherty is 34th on that list, and also in this quarter but he is so far behind that only a semi-final finish for Ken would see him in with a shout. Nigel Bond meanwhile, is currently the lucky man sitting in 64th on the end of season seedings and is around £5,000 clear of 65th so he needs good performances in basically all events to keep himself one step ahead, but a tough first round match against Alex Davies could make things very interesting here. Robin Hull is 70th on the end of season seedings and may be £11,000 behind but having qualified for China and India and with the World qualifiers to come he is still in with a chance, and a couple of wins this weekend would do him no harm, and his first round game with Aditya Mehta has a lot riding on it. Alfie Burden has a tough first round tie with Gerard Greene, and he is only £7,000 clear of 65th place in his current position of 60th on those end of season seedings.
Elliot Slessor is a man who is clinging on to hope of getting a tour card for next season, as he searches for one via the EOoM standings. He is presently the 9th best player on this list to not already have a tour card provisionally for next season, and is £300 away from getting into that top 8 not already qualified where he needs to be, and that is simply the difference of one match. His first round draw sees him play an amateur qualifier though, and £400 behind James Cahill a man he can catch playing Tom Ford, things could certainly turn around in Elliot's favour, but only time will tell.
Stuart Carrington is in a very similar position to Elliot, though he is the 8th highest player on the EOoM not already qualified for next year, but only being £300 ahead of Elliot he has to win his first round game. Stuart is also 67th on the End of season rankings and is £9,000 away from 64th place, so he can still theoretically save himself by the ordinary means of getting into the top 64. A good run here won't hurt on either count though, and his first round draw sees him play an amateur qualifier, so he could certainly have had tougher as he looks for at least one win.
Luca Brecel has interest on two order of merits as he looks to qualify for two tournaments this weekend. Firstly, he is 18th on the European Order of merit and sits £800 clear of 24th place, so he should be able to seal his spot in the Players Championship Finals this weekend, but a first round win should guarantee him that spot. Things are also tight for him on the World Grand Prix seedings where he is currently 31st after his good run of form that saw him make the Welsh Open semi-finals last week. Again a win or two this weekend should see him qualify in the top 32 of that list quite nicely and get him some more good tournament experience. With the draw he has first up against Hammad Miah, and the good run of form he is on at the moment, I can certainly see things turning out his way.
Michael Holt is struggling at the moment having failed recently to get past the Last 128 stage by losing both of his qualifiers for India and Beijing, but also suffering a first round exit in Wales, so he could certainly do with qualifying for the World Grand Prix, where things currently hang in the balance. He needs a victory in his tough match against Igor Figueiredo you would feel to be certain of his qualification, presently sitting in 30th, but with a potential Last 64 clash with Luca. I fancy that Michael will just about be in the World Grand Prix next month though.
Aditya Mehta has interest in one particular thing this weekend, and that is qualification for the Players Championship Finals. He presently sits in 27th, but with 24th, 25th and 26th coming into this event, qualifying by the Asian Tour rankings he would presently be the 24th man via this list. He is only £400 behind 24th placed Joe Perry anyway, but the key will rest in his first round match I feel with Robin Hull. Robin is a very tough player and I fancy that Hull has a very good chance of beating him. If Mehta does get through though I'd fancy him to carry on and get to the Last 32 and that would certainly put him well and truly in the mix for Players Championship finals qualification.
Michael Wasley is also eyeing qualification for the Players Championship Grand Finals, and at 23rd in the present Euro Order of Merit, the ball is firmly in his court coming into this weekend. He is only £300 clear of 25th such is how tight it really is around these final qualifying spots, and one slip up could see him right out of the qualifying positions. The question is, will he slip up in the first round against Steven Hallworth? If Steven can push Michael like he did Shaun Murphy in the Welsh Open last week, than he'll certainly be in with a chance of upsetting Michael's apple cart.
Peter Ebdon sticks out as one of the biggest players in this quarter of the draw, particularly as he has qualified for the Tour Finals already, so has no worries on that front, and he's certainly been in very good form this season with a run to the semi-finals in Bulgaria, while he made the quarter-finals of one of the Asian Tour events earlier in the season too and the only man that has been able to stop him in the last two major ranking events is Mark Selby, at both the Last 16 stage in Berlin, but also the Last 32 stage in Cardiff. I think this all points to Peter having another nice run this weekend, and I think he'll make it to at least the Last 16 on Sunday given the form he has been showing.
Stephen Maguire is at the very top of his game at the moment at the moment it would seem. He has had good runs in basically every event since and including the UK Championships. It was a tournament victory in Lisbon straight after the UK's that ensured that he would qualify for the Tour Finals next month, and runs to the semi-finals in the German Masters and UK Championships as well as quarter-finals in the Welsh Open and the Masters have threatened that there is certainly a lot more to come from the Scotsman's cue, and his early round draws don't look particularly tough, so he looks like being a good bet for this weekend too.
Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire
Tournament Runner-Up: Stephen Maguire
Tournament Winner: Neil Robertson
It's sure to be a tight and a very exciting weekend of snooker for us to watch as fans and viewers, but one things for certain, there's going to be a lot of tension out in the arena with lots of players playing for a lot of different causes. It's always tough to keep a blog updated with results and news during the long days of these European Tour events, but I will try my best to tweet all of the important results, so those of you following the blogs account @CueActionBlog have that to look forward to.
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