Pag's Punts: International Championship Qualifiers Day 2

After two sessions of play so far in the International Championship Qualifiers there have been plenty of interesting results and close finishes. Andrew Pagett's recommended bet for the first day fell foul with Mark King losing out 6-2 to Ian Burns in a surprise result.

Chris Wakelin survived a scare against Peter Lines, seeing his 4-0 lead evaporate but still winning the final 2 frames to win 6-4, while Joe Swail came back from 5-3 down against Allan Taylor to win that one 6-5. Other deciding frame finishes in the early play saw Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat Hammad Miah and Mark Allen come through a great match with Scott Donaldson.

Pagett has another recommended accumulator for the second day's play in Barsnley, so here is what he has picked out:

Once again, Pagett has gone for a fivefold accumulator that pays out at nearly 10/1 with Bet Victor, who are shown to have the best odds on this bet via Oddschecker. In all, Pagett's gone for Jimmy Robertson to beat Lu Ning (1/3), former Masters and UK Champion Matthew Stevens to overcome Fraser Patrick (4/11), Stephen Maguire against Thai opponent Noppon Saengkham (2/9). In two tighter matches to call, Pagett has opted for Finland's Robin Hull to beat Sean O'Sullivan (4/5) and Iran's Hossein Vafei Ayouri who is an outsider 7/4 against the talented Jack Lisowski.

All the very best of luck to those of you that follow Pagett's recommendation for Thursday's play and don't forget that the two-time Welsh Amateur Champion will be back again for the final two days of International Championship Qualifying with more betting tips. 

Pag's Punts: International Championship Qualifying Day 1

Over the next four days there is a feast of snooker action taking place in Barnsley as the International Championship Qualifiers get underway. This tournament is played on the new flat structure, instead of the tiered one which the first two full ranking events of this year have been played under. That means that the matches played at Barnsley will be the Last 128 round, so 60 games in all will be played as the games of the defending champion and World champion (Ricky Walden and Stuart Bingham) and the two highest seeded Chinese players (Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo) are held over to the venue in China, in a system that was announced last year.

The format sees 15 games a day on each of the four days, with 6 morning games (9.30am), 5 afternoon games (2.30pm) and 4 evening games (7.30pm) for these best-of-11 frame ties.

For those of you in and around Barnsley, entry is free to the Metrodome to watch the games great stars in action. To pick out a few of the big favourites in action, Mark Allen plays on Wednesday morning, Mark Williams on Wednesday afternoon and Mark Selby and Michael White are both in two of Wednesday's four evening games. Barry Hawkins, Robert Milkins and Ali Carter are all playing on Thursday morning, with Matthew Stevens, Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire on Thursday afternoon, while Shaun Murphy plays on Thursday evening. Friday night sees the appearance of Neil Robertson, and on Saturday John Higgins, Joe Perry and Judd Trump all enter proceedings.


With the sheer choice of matches, ex-pro Andrew Pagett has been able to pick a variety of bets out for readers this week, starting with the matches on Wednesday. Here is who Pagett is backing on day one of the International Qualifiers:

As you can see in the above picture Pagett has picked out a fivefold accumulator on Mark King  to beat Ian Burns (8/15), Irishman David Morris to beat Sanderson Lam (4/11), new Shanghai Masters champion Kyren Wilson to beat Malaysia's Thor Chuan Leong (1/5), Joe Swail to beat Allan Taylor (2/5) and finally, Alan McManus to win an All-Scottish affair with Ross Muir (2/9). 

As always Pagett has gone through the odds comparison site Oddschecker to find the best odds for the readers and as shown above, Bet365 are best price on this offering odds of just over 3/1 overall. All the best of luck if you follow Pagett on this selections and keep an eye on the blog as the former Crucible Qualifier will be providing a bet for each day of qualifying this week. 

Stat Attack: Shanghai Masters Review

After Kyren Wilson's fantastic victory in the Shanghai Masters, beating Judd Trump 10-9 in the final to win his first ever ranking event, it's time for me to look back on some of the weeks snooker with some well selected statistics.


One of the first interesting statistics that I've picked out, looks at unlucky Michael Holt. In the 4 main tournaments this season, Holt has lost to either the eventual tournament winner, or losing finalist. In the Riga Open and Australian he lost to the runners up in Tom Ford and Martin Gould. That was before losing to Ali Carter in the Paul Hunter Classic semi-finals and this week in Shanghai he lost to Kyren Wilson in the Last 16. So clearly, Michael Holt isn't playing badly at all this season and ending up unlucky with the draw.

In terms of a century count this week, I think the final tally's may reflect the overall usual Chinese conditions. 11 centuries were made in the 14 Last 32 matches, 4  centuries in the Last 16 games, just 1 in the quarter-finals, 2 in the best-of-11 semi-finals and 1 made by Judd Trump in the final. That totals up at 19 centuries for the final stages of the event.

Kyren was the 53rd seed for this years Shanghai Masters. That meant he had to play 9 matches in all, 7 of which were against players seeded higher than him. In all he played Vinnie Calabrese (5-0), Mark King (5-3) and Anthony McGill (5-4) in the qualifying stages to make it to Shanghai, before playing wildcard Wildcard Wang Yuchen (5-1) on arrival. Wins against Perry (5-2) , Holt (5-1)  and Ding Junhui (5-4) to make it down to the one-table set-up where he then overcame Mark Allen 6-1 and finally Judd Trump (10-9).

This years final was also the 3rd in the last 5 Shanghai Masters to go to a decider, two of which have seen Judd Trump as the loser after this year, the other being his 10-9 loss to John Higgins in 2012.

A decider is something that Neil Robertson isn't enjoying at the moment. He lost 5-4 to Jamie Cope in round one, now meaning that in the last 7 matches he's lost, spanning back to the German Masters, he's lost 5 of those games in a final frame shoot-out. Although, in the interest of fairness to Neil, he's also won 5 deciders in that period, 3 of which came in his win at the Gdynia Open.

Kyren Wilson's week sees him as the big ranking mover, up 32 places to a new ranking of 22 in the world, and No.18 on the provisional end of season rankings, although there is plenty of time for that to change.

The big loser in the world rankings post Shanghai was Xiao Guodong, after his runners-up money from 2013 came off, sending him down 9 places to 32nd.

It may come as a slight surprise that there was only one whitewash in the final stages in Shanghai, as Judd Trump overcame Robert Milkins 5-0 in the Last 32, while the highest break of 140 from Luca Brecel came in one of only three frames he managed to win, losing 5-3 to Mark Allen in round one.

Previous Stats Review

To really review the event in terms of statistics, it's worth having a look at some of the stats I picked out in my original Shanghai Masters Statistics Preview...

"One Last 32 that will take place on Monday sees John Higgins play Liang Wenbo. The pair have played 6 times previously, the last of which was at the 2015 Welsh Open, a tournament won by Higgins, and John has won every single won of their previous outings. The closest Wenbo has come to beating Higgins was at the 2012 World Championship when Higgins edged him out 10-9."

The form continued on this front for John Higgins as he beat Liang Wenbo 5-1 in this opening round match, making it 7 from 7 now for John against Liang.

"One head to head that may surprise a few people is that of the one between Mark Davis and Michael White. Despite Michael being the slightly higher ranked player, he's never beaten Mark in 7 professional meetings, something that the Welshman will be looking to put right on Wednesday."

Well, White couldn't put this right either, as Davis overcame him for an eighth time in eight meetings, 5-1 in the first round.

"When it comes to the actual tournament itself, the Shanghai Masters has been staged 8 times, with 8 different players winning it, while 3 of those 8 previous winners (Dale, Carter and O'Sullivan) are not in this weeks field."

Again this statistic can continue on to next year as Kyren Wilson is not only a first time winner in Shanghai, but a first time ranking winner full stop.

"Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy has an interesting statistic to look out for, having played in 8 deciding frames at the final stages of the Shanghai Masters, and 12 in total if you include qualifiers, which is the most out of anyone in the events history."

Shaun was certainly happy to add to his deciders played in Shanghai, which is now 9 in 7 years during the final stages, and 5 Last 32 matches in a row in Shanghai that he's taken into a final frame after he came back from 4-1 down to beat Peter Ebdon 5-4 in round 1 this week.

"Martin Gould will also be a dangerous opponent this week if he gets going like he did in Australia, having so far won 8 of his 10 matches played in the 2015/2016, averaging a break of 50+ in every 2.21 frames played, which is a rather impressive haul."

On this front Martin was a very dangerous player in Shanghai beating Barry Hawkins and former champion John Higgins before losing from 4-2 ahead against defending champion Stuart Bingham. That makes him 10 wins from 13 this season while he now averages a break of 50 or above in every 2.39 frames.


That's just about it from me on my statistical review of the weeks events in Shanghai. Just remember, any feedback on this new feature to the blog is welcome, while if there are any particular statistics you would like to know again the comments section of the blog or by tweeting me @CueActionBlog are to ways you can get your opinions across.

Trump Vs Wilson in Shanghai final

The final of this years Shanghai Masters will see Former UK Champion Judd Trump take on rising star Kyren Wilson, as a new name will be put on the trophy, the ninth in nine running's of the event.

Judd came through the first semi-final early in the day against defending champion Stuart Bingham. It was a brilliant start to the match with 4 quick fire frames being shared as Trump took the first and fourth with runs of 95 and 100, while Bingham's contributions of 98 and 118 were sandwiched in between. At this stage it looked like this could go all the way, but after the interval Stuart lost his way. A break of 47 wasn't enough to win him the fifth and Trump cleared with 39 to steal the frame. He needed a couple of chances to win the sixth and at 4-2 he looked in control. After Judd countered with 62 following an early 48 from Stuart, he let Stuart back into the frame and the match at 3-4. That didn't last long though, as Judd dominated the eighth frame, breaks of 45 and 46 doing plenty in putting him one away from the final at 5-3. Stuart Bingham had a chance at the beginning of the ninth, but he pushed the boat out once too many, leaving Trump in to avenge his World Championship semi-final defeat, as a run of 62 won him the match 6-3.

Kyren Wilson meanwhile was very dominant in his semi-final against Mark Allen. The first frame saw him gradually work away a 54 point deficit to win the frame on the final black and move 1-0 ahead. He progressed that lead in frame two with a break of 73, while a 68 after earlier chances for Allen moved him 3-0 in front, halfway to his first major final. Mark had plenty of chances in frame four to put his first one on the board, but another colours clearance from Kyren saw him win the frame on the black again to lead 4-0 at the interval. There was still a job to do for Wilson after the break, and he set about it perfectly with a contribution of 60 doing the damage in frame 5 to go 5-0 in front, needing only one of the next 6 to reach the final. Mark managed to avoid the embarrassment of the whitewash, but it wasn't long before Kyren's big moment came, as a break of 30 levelled up the scores in frame seven before he finished it with a run of 50, to not just but beat Allen, but give him a real thrashing.

Final Preview

Judd Trump Vs Kyren Wilson - These two guys have been excellent this week, and are thoroughly deserving of their places in the best-of-19 frames final. The first thing I want to mention is that if Kyren does beat Judd in this final it will be the start of brilliant things for him. The run this week should secure his place in the World Grand Prix and if he were to win it would also move him into the top 32 from down in the 50's of the rankings where he started the week and get him into November's Champion of Champions. The only time he's really come close to being beaten this week was against Ding Junhui whom he beat 5-4. Otherwise he boasts a 5-2 win against Perry, a 5-1 win against Holt and a 6-1 win against Allen, all quality, experienced players. Can he make it one more to win the event? Absolutely. In my view he's been the best player this week by quite a way of anyone else at times. He's showed no fear and plenty of bottle so far, and if he gets himself into a winning position, he'll obviously be nervous like any player would be, but I don't believe he'd bottle it or throw it away. Judd Trump though will certainly not take it for granted that he will win, just because Kyren is has never made a final before in his professional career. He's experienced enough by now to know that he should play the same way against everyone and I believe that he hasn't quite been at his best this week. His match against Milkins was a breeze and he could easily have been beaten by Matt Selt, whilst Mark Williams didn't take the chances that he had. However, he has improved through the week with his best performance coming today against Bingham, but I still believe he's not a certainty to win this one tomorrow. The key to this match is going to be whether Wilson shows more nerves at the start and end of the match if he gets in a good position, or whether he takes his chances and plays in the same fearless manner as the rest of the week. At times this week I wondered whether he was going to be able to keep his run going and he has answered those questions emphatically.

Prediction: Wilson to win his first ranking event with a thrilling 10-9 win.



I'm sure it will be a cracking final either way and it's just a shame it won't be shown live on Eurosport, so you'll have to wait for the highlights later on or find some kind of stream on the internet. Otherwise, the next you'll hear from me on the blog is my stat attack round-up of what we've seen during this weeks tournament.

4 remain in Shanghai

Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson make up the line-up for the weekend in Shanghai for the semi-finals after another stunning day of snooker. Trump will play Bingham in the first semi, while Wilson plays Allen in the second and they will be played over the best-of-11 frames.

The first man through today was Judd Trump. He played a very attacking match with Mark Williams who made a century in the only frame he won in the match in frame four. Unfortunately for Mark he had plenty of chances in the match but just missed too many vital balls, and he could quite easily have won all of the first three frames, but went 3-0 down instead before making his century. Williams had chances again to get back in the match at 2-3, but he couldn't take them and Trump moved 4-1 ahead and soon had the match finished at 5-1.

There was more drama on the other table where defending champion Stuart Bingham took on Martin Gould. Martin got off to a really good start, dominating to take a 3-1 lead at the interval. Stuart got back to within one frame with an 88 break, but it was all Gould in frame six as he went one away from victory at 4-2. Chances came and chances went for Gould in both frames 7 and 8, but he missed shots he would've expected to get and looked nervy, while Stuart didn't have to do anything special to force a decider. Bingham had the best chance in that decider and a break of 60 was enough to eventually see him over the line and continue his title defence with a 5-4 quarter-final win.

The man he beat in the final last year, Mark Allen, has kept himself in the hunt to go one better than his final loss to Bingham last year after he beat Mark Davis 5-1. It wasn't the most spectacular match, mainly due to the conditions which saw a number of kicks, particularly towards the end of the match. Allen took the opening couple of frames, and had chances to win the third, but Davis cleared to force a re-spotted black which both players had chances at before it sunk for Davis and he made it 1-2. He had a good chance in the fourth too but a break 50 wasn't enough to win him the frame and Allen was able to do enough to take a commanding 3-1 lead at the break. Straight after the interval Allen consolidated his lead with a quick fire 88 to make it 4-1. After a kick on the green killed Davis chance to clear in the sixth, Allen then had a kick on the yellow, but Davis missed again and the Northern Irishman was able to clear and finish off the match.

The best match of the day was most certainly the one between Kyren Wilson and home favourite Ding Junhui. An 89 got Kyren going in the opener, and despite a 50+ in frame three Ding was struggling and trailed 3-1 at the mid-session. Post interval Ding came back much stronger as breaks of 62 and 87 squared up the match at 3-3 and you wondered whether that was Kyren's chance gone. It wasn't though as he made a flawless 84 to re-take the lead at 4-3, before Ding took the match into a final frame courtesy of a contribution 63. The decider was a scrappy one in the end, with Ding have the first chance, before Wilson got back into it. In the end it went down to the colours and with the pink over a corner pocket a long safety bout on the brown was to decide matters. After plenty of quality shots from both, Ding's safety play eventually let him down, and after good shots on the brown, blue and pink to give him the chance on a tricky black with so much on the line, Wilson soon hammered "the biggest shot of his life" into the back of the pocket.

Quarter-Final Results:

Stuart Bingham 5-4 Martin Gould
Judd Trump 5-1 Mark Williams
Kyren Wilson 5-4 Ding Junhui
Mark Allen 5-1 Mark Davis

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Judd Trump - These two have had some interesting matches in big events over the course of the last 3 years, the best of which was their most recent, in the semi-finals of the World Championship. That's a defeat that Judd will be looking to avenge and it really doesn't feel like either one of these two is playing at their best this week so it should make for a close game. Bingham had two pretty easy games to make the quarters and didn't need to play his best, and eventually he came back to beat Gould by just sticking in there and hoping that Martin would make a few errors which he did with a bit of luck also going Stuart's way. Judd though has played slightly better, taking advantage of the errors made by Mark Williams and Robert Milkins, whilst also producing more breaks in the game with Matt Selt including a gutsy 41 clearance in the decider. For this reason I think Judd is going to win this one tomorrow either 6-3 or 6-4.

Mark Allen Vs Kyren Wilson - I'm really looking forward to watch this one and seeing what Kyren can produce after three superb results this week. He started by coming through the wildcard round comfortably and taking that on to the main draw with 5-2 and 5-1 wins in the Last 32 and Last 16. Today against Ding he was very impressive when he easily could've folded under pressure at 3-3 after Ding's fight back and in the decider on the colours also, but he showed plenty of bottle to come through. One thing that worries me is how much he's going to have left after such a battle with Ding, one which went on past midnight in Shanghai, and more than anything it would've taken a lot out of him emotionally to come down after a win that saw him get really pumped up and celebrate at the end. As for Allen, he's quietly gone about his business this week and played solid stuff under the radar against Brecel, Grace and Davis and I think he has plenty left in the tank to come out and finish this tournament off. His verdict on Twitter summed it up really with the tough conditions in Shanghai by saying that while it might not look pretty, a wins a win and if he can get two more he won't care how it looked. Once you realise that, it shows you won't be too fazed by things going wrong, as long as you can plug away and hang on in there and take advantage of your opponents errors. Particularly in a match over 11 frames, you know you're going to get chances it's just about making the most of them. I fancy Allen to edge this one 6-4.


It's going to be a thrilling weekend to end what's been a good week of snooker with plenty of good matches and close finishes, and if you can take the slightly lower standard with conditions and the fact that it's still so early in the season, then i'm sure you'll enjoy what you see over the coming days.

Shanghai Masters: Quarter's Preview and round of 16 round-up

Another interesting day of snooker in Shanghai is over and now we have 8 players left bidding to lift the title on Sunday. It's been another good day of snooker that saw plenty of interesting results and some that many would expect. Stuart Bingham eased through early in the day 5-1 against Mike Dunn in a match that wasn't too special, while the main televised match offered plenty. Mark Williams stormed into an early 3-0 lead in this one against Jamie Cope, but Cope came back taking the next 2, but soon found himself on the edge of defeat at 4-2. He managed to win the seventh frame, and a tight eighth followed with good snookers from Jamie pulling Mark back, before the Welshman and my tournament tip came through a 5-3 winner. For some incredibly odd reason Shaun Murphy's match against Mark Davis came in the afternoon after both players had played the evening before, yet 2 Monday night winners in Higgins and Gould played in the evening in Shanghai. Explain that one to me. I also thought it was strange that the best looking match of the session, managed to avoid being put in front of the TV camera's. Anyway, what us TV viewers didn't get to watch was a match in which Murphy opened up a 3-1 mid-session interval lead with a century in the third, before stealing the fourth on the black. From there Mark appeared to play very well with 3 50+ breaks in the next four frames, as Shaun didn't manage to add to his frames tally and the "Battler from Hastings" ran out a 5-3 winner. Young Kyren Wilson was the last winner of the first session today in Shanghai beating Michael Holt 5-1, and starting in impressive style with a century against an in form Hitman. Wilson has now repeated his performance here of 2 years ago when he lost to Michael in the quarter-finals.

Then came the evening session in Shanghai, and a session that was pretty closely fought. In my opinion though the awful scheduling of today's play really hit in this session. The fact that all 4 winners of the evening session matches, face players that all had the evening off is not exactly fair, considering two of those matches ran on to around 11pm in Shanghai. Also, the match that looked like being the most one-sided of the four in this session was put on the second TV table, where Mark Allen eventually overcame David Grace 5-1, after a marathon 45 minute opening frame and stealing frame 5 by a single point. On the main match table, the last Chinese hope in the draw and China's No.1 Ding Junhui took on Ryan Day. It always looked like being a close match and so it proved with there never being more than a single frame between the players. The first four were scrappy and 2-2 at the interval was a relatively fair reflection, even if Ding had a great chance to win the fourth frame. After the break it was Ding who continued his trend of winning the odd numbered frames to take 3-2 and 4-3 leads, but unfazed, Day stuck in there and both players began scoring much better as a 75 from Ding in the seventh was followed by Day who made a 60+ in forcing the decider. Day had the first chance in that ninth frame, but an unlucky split of the reds early on left him a tricky red to the middle, and after missing that tough red, Ding knocked in one of his own and a run of 76 (his highest of the match) was saved for the perfect moment as he edge a brilliant contest 5-4. It was equally good on the outside tables where Martin Gould avenged his Australian Open final defeat to John Higgins. Martin took a 3-1 advantage into the interval, but that didn't last long as Higgins levelled at 3-3. A 77 from Martin steadied the ship and he regained his lead at 4-3, before managing to hold his nerve to win the eight on the colours and the match 5-3. It was even tighter on table 4 between Judd Trump and Matt Selt. Matt took the opener, before Judd made a century as part of taking all of the next three and a 3-1 interval lead. Selt took the fifth in one visit, and had the first chance in the sixth, but Trump took it for a 4-2 lead. He quickly won the seventh to get back within one at 4-3, and after Trump threatened to clear in the eighth, Matt won the safety battle on the yellow and potted the colours he required to force a decider. It was a pretty scrappy decider, with Selt leading 48-14 with two reds left after having 4 scoring visits to Judd's 1. It was only one more that Judd needed though as a 41 clearance pinched the frame and match on the final black for a 5-4 win.

Last 16 Results:

Stuart Bingham 5-1 Mike Dunn
Martin Gould 5-3 John Higgins
Judd Trump 5-4 Matt Selt
Mark Williams 5-3 Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui 5-4 Ryan Day
Kyren Wilson 5-1 Michael Holt
Mark Davis 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Mark Allen 5-1 David Grace

That's what we've seen tomorrow, so as we head into the quarter-finals tomorrow, here's what I think we can expect:

Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Martin Gould - This is going to be a cracking encounter between Bingham and Gould here and I think it certainly has the potential to go the distance over 9 frames. Stuart hasn't looked convincing but has been able to keep it tight and force mistakes against wildcard Fang Xiongman and slightly lower ranked opposition in Mike Dunn. Meanwhile, Martin Gould has looked very strong again thrashing Barry Hawkins 5-1 and shining through a very tough match with John Higgins. He looks to be back to the form he showed in Australia where he made the final and nearly grabbed his maiden ranking title. This comes after the ear infection that stopped him from travelling to the Riga Open and was still very much in his thoughts as he lost in the Paul Hunter Classic Last 32. I don't think we're ever so far away now from Martin winning his first ranking title now, after losing in two previous finals, his scoring has always been superb, whilst his all round game has shown improvements over the last few months. He was so close to making the Grand Prix final, and even closer to winning the Australian Open and he certainly has what it takes to add Bingham to his wins this week.

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - Just when you thought these two were sick of the sight of each other after their battles in February and March, they meet yet again here in Shanghai. Before we look at their recent head to head, I think both guys have played fairly well this week, with Williams looking like he's in slightly better form. Judd scrambled over the line in a decider today having been 4-2 ahead and his game against Milkins quickly became quite an easy one for Judd with Robert never looking like putting anything together. Mark came through very nicely against Ford in round one with a couple of centuries, and then in round two against Cope he showed good form again, and looked to be playing similar snooker to that of his run earlier this year where he was on fire. In that run he and Trump met at the Welsh Open, Indian Open, Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals. On those 4 occasions Williams won 4-1, 4-3, lost 4-3 at the Grand Prix in a game he certainly could've won, and won 4-2 in Thailand. Over the course of those games he looked to have Judd's number so to speak, and he especially seemed to enjoy the rhythm and pace of those games settling quickly in whatever conditions. I think it'll be close once again, but don't be surprised if Williams adds to his collection of 2015 wins against Judd.

Ding Junhui Vs Kyren Wilson - Here we have another especially interesting game. Ding has looked very much more controlled at the beginning of this week, while at times cutting the same frustrated figure in the chair, none of that effected his game on the table where he has looked calm. He'll also be pleased to see one of his traits of the 5 ranking event winning season of 13/14 return. and that is finishing matches strongly. After a battle early on against McManus he pulled away with big breaks in the final three frames, and once again his best two breaks of the match against Day were to go 4-3 and then again to win the match 5-4. I still think there's more to come from Ding before we see his very best snooker, but I also don't think it's a million miles away. As for Kyren, he's one of the brighter young stars in the game right now, and this week has matched his performance of two years ago here in Shanghai and looked very impressive. He's not just beaten two very experienced and quality players in Joe Perry and Michael Holt, but he's turned them over, just highlighting how dangerous a man he is now in the draw. Beating Ding on home soil however is a different task entirely, and while I believe that Wilson will push him close, I expect Ding to get over the line.

Mark Allen Vs Mark Davis - The final match of the last 8 draw sees a battle of the Mark's, Davis Vs Allen. So far this week, Davis has had the much tougher opponents seeing off Michael White 5-1 and Shaun Murphy 5-3 looking very strong in both of those games. Meanwhile, Allen hasn't had an easy ride against Brecel and Grace but it seemed that in the end his quality and extra bit of experience told. This is all set up to be a close encounter also and I think it's probably the toughest of the four to call. Davis is playing well but the same could be said of him when he reached the quarter-finals of both the Grand Prix and the Players Championship Finals in March, and on both occasions he failed to kick on and show the same quality in the latter stages when it counted. Meanwhile, Allen knows how to get the job done better than Davis in the latter stages of events, and his run to last year's Shanghai Masters final will give him plenty of good memories, while the memory of the 10-3 drubbing Bingham gave him in that final will spur him on to do better this year now that he has the chance. I also think that Allen still has plenty in the tank for the rest of this week and his record against Davis looks favourable also.


So, 4 great matches in prospect and I look forward to seeing how each pans out and what will be set up for the longer distance matches over the weekend. I hope you all enjoy watching it like I shall.

Shanghai Masters: Last 16 Preview and Pag's Punts

It's been an eventful week so far at the Shanghai Masters as we've gotten down to the Last 16 stages of the event. First up, between my main preview and the games there were two withdrawals. The first of whom was Ricky Walden after his wife gave birth to their first child on Monday, after she was actually due to give birth around the time of the Paul Hunter Classic. So we'd like to congratulate the pair, while you'd like to think Matt Selt would get the baby a nice present as he got a bye through to the Last 16. Meanwhile, there was also some sad news as World number 1 Mark Selby had to withdraw from his match against David Grace, after receiving the bad news that his father-in-law had died suddenly back home, all of our thoughts of course are with Mark and his family, at one of those times where snooker simply pales into insignificance.

On the table, plenty of other seeds fell early on in the event, the highest of which was Neil Robertson. The big Aussie went 3-0 down early on to Jamie Cope and should've gone 4-0 down with Cope missing frame ball in that fourth. Robertson won that frame and the first three post-interval, taking a 4-3 lead only to lose the final two frames as Jamie managed to find something to win 5-4. Seventh seed Barry Hawkins was rather blown aside by Martin Gould, as Martin managed a happy birthday by winning that one 5-1. Then two of my quarter winner picks were handed early baths, Joe Perry 5-2 to Kyren Wilson and Marco Fu 5-3 by Mike Dunn. I also successfully predicted the demise of three other seeds, Maguire, Michael White and Graeme Dott in pretty tight calls on paper but not in practice.

One seed that must've turned into Harry Houdini at 4-1 down after Eurosport commentator Mike Hallett gave him no chance saying that "he'd need to turn into Houdini to win this one" was Shaun Murphy. Peter Ebdon (who Shaun persuaded into joining Twitter 24 hours earlier) went into a 3-0 lead in what was a pretty comfortable opening three frames, until the end of the third when Ebdon seemed to lose his way, after Murphy was nearly successful in getting 3 snookers on the green. Ebdon then missed a shot at the final black in the fourth, though frame ball blue was next to rattle for Murphy who should've reduced his deficit to 2-3 rather than finding himself 4-1 behind. Then, in an escape that he will soon become famous for after achieving one at the Paul Hunter Classic from 3-0 down in the semi-final, rattled in breaks of  74, 42 and 67 making it 3-4. Chances then came and chances went for Ebdon in frame 8, after a missed black from it's spot was punished as Murphy wadded in with 47 to force the decider. Peter had a go at two long pots in that decider (the 9th that Murphy had been a part of in his last 7 Shanghai Masters) the second of which left the opening that the Magician needed to pull his rabbit out of the hat. 81 was enough to seal a stunning 5-4 win, leaving Ebdon gutted and Shaun rather surprised by the look on his face at the end.

Last 32 Results:

Stuart Bingham 5-2 Fang Xiongman
Mike Dunn 5-3 Marco Fu
John Higgins 5-1 Liang Wenbo
Martin Gould 5-1 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 5-0 Robert Milkins
Matt Selt W/O Ricky Walden
Mark Williams 5-1 Tom Ford
Jamie Cope 5-4 Neil Robertson
Ding Junhui 5-1 Alan McManus
Ryan Day 5-3 Graeme Dott
Michael Holt 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson 5-2 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Peter Ebdon
Mark Davis 5-1 Michael White
Mark Allen 5-3 Luca Brecel
David Grace W/O Mark Selby

An interesting line-up for the Last 16 awaits so let's take a look

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Mike Dunn - This may be a much closer game than people expect. Mike played pretty well against Marco Fu, although looking at the scores in that one, as well as Dunn played, I also think that perhaps Marco let him off a couple of times, the same may not be achieved against Bingham. However, Stuart didn't exactly look convincing against wildcard Fang Xiongman and he may have been punished himself a lot more if he was playing someone like Dunn who has a little more experience. All in all I expect the world champ to edge a tough match.

John Higgins Vs Martin Gould - Both players came through pretty easy 5-1 wins in round one, with Higgins looking inconsistent against Liang, who failed to capitalise on any of his mistakes. Martin however, played very well against Barry Hawkins, the sort of form he showed in his run to the Australian Open, before suffering from a horrid ear infection. I certainly think that if John isn't at his best and doesn't improve on round 1, he could come unstuck against Martin.

Judd Trump Vs Matt Selt - This looks like a great match to me here. Matt had a walkover in the first round so may take a couple of frames to get to grips with conditions, but as someone who is now rising very quickly in the game of snooker, he will also give Judd lots of problems. Matt has been a bit of a bogey man for Judd and he wasn't as fantastic as his 5-0 win against Milkins suggests. When things don't go Robert's way it all quickly spirals and before he knows it, the match is over. Selt isn't so easy to overcome if you get on top early doors. Selt has a lot of confidence right now and that may be one of the keys to victory tomorrow.

Mark Williams Vs Jamie Cope - Mark Williams is of course my tournament tip after his previous exploits in Shanghai, with plenty of good runs in the past. He played excellently in February and March before it seemed to catch up with him at the World's. Since his shoulder surgery he seems to be back at the top of his game. He made two centuries breezing past Tom Ford 5-1. Jamie Cope though will give him a good game after beating Neil Robertson 5-4 today. He did still show signs of being very shaky in the middle of the match, while Robertson was particularly rusty at the beginning of the match, something Mark won't be.

Ding Junhui Vs Ryan Day - This looks like being a very tasty match on paper. Both scored nice wins in the first round and played pretty well in those two games. Ryan Day did become a bit of a nemesis for Ding in 2012 beating him in both the World and UK Championships. Day also won their latest meeting in this years German Masters 5-4. One common theme with their games is that they're close. Day looked a little inconsistent against Dott at times, although that assessment is probably a harsh one given it was the first match in tough playing conditions. Overall, something in my head is telling me to tip Ding here.

Michael Holt Vs Kyren Wilson - This one is a repeat of a quarter final in Shanghai from 2013, which Michael won 5-1. Both players will feel they have a good chance of making it that far again this year. I think Holt has got something very big up his sleeve this season. His run to the semi-finals in Furth included a nice win against Judd Trump and his thrashing of Maguire was highly expected in my book and featured a century and a break in the 90's in consecutive frames. I think Michael feels like he's starting to play well again with the help of Terry Griffiths and that makes him very dangerous. Kyren is equally dangerous these days and his win against Perry shows that, but I fancy Holt to edge this one.

Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Davis - It's a short turnaround for "Houdini" after Shaun Murphy's 5-4 comeback win against Peter Ebdon finished at around 11.30pm local time and he's due back on against Mark Davis at 2.30pm local time, but that shouldn't be a problem for an experienced professional like Shaun. Murphy showed a lot of fight against Ebdon to come back from 4-1 down as that's never easy, particularly against a player like him. It seemed like it took Shaun a long while to grasp conditions after being shut out in the first two frames. Once he did get going he knocked in some nice pressure breaks in the last four frames an showed great form again. Davis also showed great form against White making that 8 wins from 8 against him, but he'll need to go well again to beat Murphy. He has a reasonable record against the Masters champion, and you can expect a very close game with someone of Mark's quality and experience in China. Although, Murphy is the man i'll be backing to cross the line here.

Mark Allen Vs David Grace - The final match of the Last 16 draw looks quite one sided on paper and that could easily be reflected in the result. Allen played well early on against Brecel but Luca did equally well to come back at him but experience was soon the telling factor. David's problem will also be that of experience, particularly when it comes to these high pressure matches in Chinese conditions, which Grace also hasn't played in this week in match play after receiving a walkover. This could easily be one of those matches where Allen isn't in the mood to hand about and wants the job done comfortably and quickly.

Pag's Punts

It's not been a successful week for Andrew Pagett at the start of my new feature with him where he picks out a few bets to have a go at, but with the Last 16 comes new horizons and Andrew has sent me something new to put up, which he described as a "bet on the outisders" after some first round performances he liked the look of and he certainly thinks this fourfold has a chance, so take a look...

 



As you can see he fancies Gouldy and Selt the same as I do, whilst also going for Dunn against the defending champion and Day against Ding which I probably contemplated most out of all 8 games.

If you get on that one, I wish you all the best of luck, and if you're simply watching tomorrow's last 16 action, I hope you enjoy it!!!

Pag's Punts: Day 2 of the Shanghai Masters

Day one of my new feature didn't go according to plan, as Andrew Pagett's recommended bets as published on the blog didn't get off to a winning start. The first 5 fold went out in the morning session as Jamie Jones lost in unexpected fashion, 5-1 in the Wildcard round as Fang Xiongman bared his teeth. Meanwhile, the fourfold with two games from this afternoon and another two for tomorrow went down to another surprising score line as Martin Gould took a 4-0 mid-session lead and eventually beat Barry Hawkins 5-1, in a match most would've expected to be close going 5-3 or 5-4 either way.

Tomorrow's another day though, and time for another go at trying to find a winner so Andrew has picked out another 5 fold to put up on the blog. 4 of those games are Last 32 games from tomorrow, with the other featuring in Wednesday's play as Mark Allen takes on Luca Brecel, while he also fancies Maguire, Ding, Trump and Marco Fu. As you can see in the picture, odds were found on Oddschecker who found the best odds at Betfred. With the four games that are played tomorrow all being 12.30pm UK starts you also have slightly more time to get on this one!!

Andrew has also sent me a little treble to have a go at with Stephen Maguire to beat Michael Holt tomorrow afternoon, and then Mark Selby to beat David Grace and Mark Davis at odds against to beat Michael White on Wednesday afternoon. Best odds found on this with Coral at the time it was sent.

If you do get on either of those two bets, all the best of luck and i'd like to thank Andrew again for sending his Punts through to publish. More than likely, the next piece that we have will be a preview in preparation for Thursday's Last 16 action, and whatever happens hopefully we'll have some enjoyable snooker to watch.

Shanghai Masters Preview

After a break of over 2 months since the last, it's time to get back into full ranking event action as the Shanghai Masters begins on Monday. It's been a stop-start beginning to the season but things start to get a little busier from here. If there was a meter for it, i'd say we go from green to spacious to amber for hectic after this week, while it goes red for hectic on the calendar for the International Championships onwards.

The notable man missing out again is Ronnie O'Sullivan who also tweeted that he wouldn't be playing in the Champion of Champions event either (whether that can be believed or not). If you want to see/hear the rocket these days your best bet is to go to an SWSA Pro-Am event which he seems to be a regular at, or pop on Phoenix FM on a Thursday where he has a regular slot.

Otherwise, Ali Carter may have won the Paul Hunter Classic in the most recent snooker that had an effect on the rankings (the non-ranking 6 Reds event has also been going on this week in Thailand of course) but when the qualifiers for this took place over a month ago, Ali lost out in the final qualifying round to David Grace, who now plays Mark Selby in round one.

Before I get on with looking ahead to the week by picking apart the draw, i'd like to point you all in the direction of my new STAT ATTACK feature, which has debuted this week with a statistical look ahead to this week. That can be found here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/stat-attack-looking-to-shanghai.html

Otherwise, here's what I think will take place this week.

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Jamie Jones/Fang Xiongman
Marco Fu Vs Mike Dunn/Niu Zhuang
John Higgins Vs Liang Wenbo
Barry Hawkins Vs Martin Gould

The top quarter of the draw features World Champion and defending Shanghai Master Stuart Bingham, along with 2012 champion John Higgins. Marco Fu will look to do better than his first round exit to Zhao Xintong in 2013, while Barry Hawkins match with Martin Gould could be a real cracker.

John Higgins has had an interesting season so far. Winning the Australian Open was brilliant for John and he seemed to play relatively consistent snooker, which is where I felt he'd been lacking in the last year. Since then, he's proved that such inconsistency looks like a bleak future for John. A loss in the Last 128 of the Riga Open could so easily have been repeated in Furth and he didn't seem to take the 6 Reds too seriously, begging the question as to why he even turned up. His first round opponent is Liang Wenbo, who John has never lost to, but I think he could well be in trouble early on in the tournament.

Stuart Bingham has been struggling for form since winning the world title, a first round exit in Australia was matched in Furth, with a Last 32 exit in Riga sandwiched in between. Hopefully for Stuart it won't be long before his form picks up, and maybe defending his Shanghai Masters title will spur him in to action. Like Mark Selby last season, it may take a little while to deal with life as a world champion, but he's too good not to respond and play his very best snooker at some stage. If he's on his game this week the draw could well be favourable to him, with other guys that aren't necessarily at the top of their game.

Barry Hawkins was the winner of the Riga Open which was his first event of the season. At the Paul Hunter Classic he lost to an inspired Kyren Wilson so he's by no means in bad form whatsoever. After the second half of the season that Barry endured last season until the Crucible, I really hope he kicks on and makes up for those disappointments. The draw hasn't exactly been kind to Barry this week though playing Martin Gould in round one. You never get an easy game against Martin and Barry could very easily play well and be beaten and head back to the UK scratching his head, but that's just the nature of the game. Get past the first round and the Hawk could well swoop the prize at the end of the week.

Marco Fu has played one tournament with ranking contribution so far and that was at the Paul Hunter Classic where he may have just been coming into it a bit cold on match practice. The 6 Reds will have added to that a little although it's still not perfect preparation. The one thing you would say about Marco is most of the time he plays at his base standard and is very tough to beat unless you play well. It's not often that you would call Marco outstanding, and it's not often that he'll be too far below par. If thinks work out for him in this quarter, Marco could easily get through it at his usual standard of hard to beat snooker.

Quarter Winner: Marco Fu

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Judd Trump Vs Robert Milkins/Chen Zifan
Ricky Walden Vs Matt Selt
Mark Williams Vs Tom Ford/Wildcard TBC
Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Cope/Lin Shuai

In the other side of the top half of the draw we find 2012 Shanghai finalist Judd Trump and 2011 finalist Mark Williams. Neil Robertson will be playing his first match on tour since June 30th. Most improved player of the last year Matt Selt faces an intriguing match with Ricky Walden which I look forward to.

Ricky Walden came into the Paul Hunter Classic with his wife expecting their first child at any time. A couple of weeks on and i'm actually unsure as to what news there is on that front. Either way you feel that Walden's mind may be away from the table and you certainly wouldn't blame him. I've always said that Ricky is a rhythm player who plays his best when he's able to let loose, although from his manner at the table, these off table matters could de-rail his hopes of a second Shanghai title. Even without this, Walden has an incredibly tough draw as he takes on Matt Selt who I believe is going to make a charge for the top 20 before you know it, and will defiantly give the man from Chester a tough time.

Matt Selt as I say is highly improved and in good form already at the start of the season. A quarter-final appearance at the Australian Open was quickly matched at the Riga Open and he's already added the scalps of Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy so early in the campaign. Even on the different tables and format of the 6 reds, Selt ran deep and he's showing a great level of quality in the sense that whatever the format, whatever the conditions, he can play to a high level and get the results required to be a top player. I actually hope he continues to kick on this week in Shanghai, and continues to show us all what he's got in the locker.

Neil Robertson hasn't played since his early exit at the Australian Open and I personally don't feel like that's a good decision for him. If a lot of players were missing all of the European Tours you'd think this is understandable. You could also understand it if he'd entered the 6 reds to gain some match practice just as Ding Junhui did after a long period without competitive snooker. There's a fine line between coming into a tournament fresh and coming into a tournament rusty and Neil may well find that out the hard way this week. You could go as far to say that he hasn't fully recovered from the 10-2 Masters final loss to Shaun Murphy, and when he was at his best and throughout his 100 centuries season in 2013/2014, he played in almost every tournament on the calendar, as you would have to in order to achieve something so great.

Judd Trump has been in weird form at the start of this campaign also in my opinion. If you take a closer look and analyse some of his results you'll see why I make this point. After two pretty easy games at the Australian Open he lost 5-1 to Stephen Maguire. He'd love to say he was totally outplayed by Stephen, but the fact is he scored nearly as many points as the Scot which is quite something in a loss of that magnitude. On to Riga and again he looked pretty untroubled in getting to the Last 16, but then he lost quite unexpectedly to Alan McManus and by another score that you wouldn't consider close. The same occurred at the Paul Hunter Classic, where he looked good on Saturday, but when Sunday came he struggled past Cope and was soundly beaten by Michael Holt, a man whom he has a magnificent record against. Don't read this the wrong way and think that i'm saying those players weren't worthy of their victories, but it's 3 cases so early in the season where Trump has been thrashed by players that usually he is capable of giving a good seeing to. 9 centuries says there's nothing wrong with his scoring so I think we can expect him to kick on and go deep into this tournament this week.

Mark Williams is obviously on the comeback from shoulder surgery that ruled him out of the Australian Open in July and since then he's played fairly well with last 16 and last 8 finishes in the two ET events. He came into both of those events saying he wasn't going too well in practice and still suffering with some pain and that shows how well Mark could go if he was at full strength as he was at the back end of last season when he went on a fantastic run of consistent tournament results. The only thing that was missing from that run was a proper tournament victory (because he definitely loves being announced as the Senior Champion). Mark's record in Shanghai is very good having been in a final here before, losing a decider to Selby, so he's more than capable of running deep into the draw this week.

Quarter Winner: Mark Williams

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Alan McManus/ Yao Pengcheng
Graeme Dott Vs Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire Vs Michael Holt
Joe Perry Vs Kyren Wilson/ Wang Yuchen

This for me looks like the most interesting quarter of the draw. Ding Junhui hasn't played in a ranking event of any kind since the World Championships. Graeme Dott and Ryan Day are very closely matched in my view, as are Stephen Maguire and Michael Holt, while Players Champion Joe Perry has been in great form over the last year or so.

Ding Junhui is going to be an interesting player to watch this week as he comes into an important time in his season and arguably his career. He's just begun working with Terry Griffiths who will certainly help him in the mental side of the game, where he just seems to lack something, particularly when he lapsed back into old habits at the end of last season when he really struggled. It's also an important time for him in terms of his ranking. This time two seasons ago was when Ding clicked into gear and went on a run that saw him win 3 ranking titles in a row, and 5 over the course of the season. Unless he can repeat such spells of brilliance and win some big titles, with so much money to defend, he will fall quite alarmingly down the ranking list. His decision not to play in the European Tour events or Australian Open makes this his first tournament this season with any bearing on his ranking. However, we know that Ding is quite capable of going on a run of playing insane snooker, so maybe this is the week once again when everything will click into place.

Michael Holt is another player that Terry Griffiths is no working with, and it wouldn't be surprising to me if we saw the results of this work very quickly. Already we've been reminded of what Holty has the potential to do, as he made the last 4 in Furth losing out in a tough match to eventual champion Ali Carter. Shanghai is a place where Michael has managed nice results in the past, beating Ricky Walden in round one last year, before losing 5-3 to Mark Selby when Selby needed snookers in the seventh frame to avoid going 4-3 behind. Two seasons ago he made it to the semi-finals before losing out to Xiao Guodong. If there's one player that deserves to kick on and win a major title it's Holt. He's a quality player at his best, and works incredibly hard on his game as well as being a great personality who doesn't hide his feelings and accepts when he hasn't played well and knows how much better he can do. It may not be this week, although I could certainly see him winning his first round game with Stephen Maguire and who knows what he could do. Confidence is a funny thing in snooker like any sport and I personally believe that the run Michael had in Furth will have given him plenty.

Stephen Maguire is Michael's opponent in the first round and he's had a mixed start to the season also. After a semi-final appearance in the Australian Open, Maguire seemed to struggle in the two opening European Tour events losing in the Last 32 and Last 64, and this comes in a stretch of time now that has seen Stephen fail to kick on and left him fighting to stay in the top 16. I believe the problem that Stephen has is still a bit of "Scottish flair". If he misses a few simpler balls early or make a few simple errors, he gets on his own back rather quickly, particularly if he is punished by his opponent. I also believe that if Stephen gets sucked into a battle to stay in the top 16 rather than aiming to kick on, then his game will suffer as such.

Ryan Day is another former finalist at the Shanghai Masters and has already had a reasonable start to this season. He reached the quarter-finals of the Riga Open, though would've been slightly disgruntled to be whitewashed by Graeme Dott in that last 8 tie. Ironically, Graeme is his first round opponent this week and that will surely see Ryan hungry for revenge in what should be an evenly contested match between two players ranked within 3 spots of each other. In fact, the winner out of Graeme and Ryan could well kick on this week as I see this being a particular section of the draw that opens up very early on, and maybe the Welshman is the man to take advantage. The one thing that hinders Ryan is that he's very hit and miss. When he's on his game he can score heavily and is a match for anyone, but when it doesn't click you feel like he's very beatable for a man of such quality. Hopefully for his sake, things will fall into place this week.

Joe Perry is going about his business quietly so far this season. After a run to the quarters in Bendigo he's had two last 64 exits on the European Tour and i'd usually expect a lot better from Joe. Of course Perry won his first ranking title at the Players Championship in Thailand, a victory that you felt had been on the cards for quite some time with his form. He was present at the 6 Reds this week in Thailand, and hopefully that will re-invigorate him with the happy memories from earlier in the year, leaving him raring to get going this week. If the draw were to open up early on, Joe is certainly some that you would say is a candidate to take advantage of that, by doing what he always does and going about his business without too much fuss. Now he's a member of the winners circle, he'll have the confidence to that again and again, and Stuart Bingham is an example of that.

Quarter Winner: Joe Perry

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Peter Ebdon/Yuan Sijun
Michael White Vs Mark Davis
Mark Allen Vs Luca Brecel
Mark Selby Vs David Grace

The very last quarter of the draw sees last year's runner-up from Shanghai in Mark Allen, along with former winner Mark Selby. Shaun Murphy is another to watch out for after his run to the Paul Hunter Classic final a couple of weeks ago. Michael White's match with Mark Davis presents two guys that are separated by only three spots in the rankings so expect a close one there.

Michael White and Mark Davis presents a very tight first round match to call. Only three places separates them in the rankings, with White being the higher ranked of the two. The interesting stat comes on the head to head, as I pointed out in my new Stat Attack feature. Every single time the two have met, Mark has come out the victor, a stat that I was quite surprised to see. Neither has really kicked into top form at the beginning of this season, and I think that if the match goes close that could quickly become apparent as Davis in particular is not afraid to get drawn into a battle (something his marathon decider against Neil Robertson showed in the Grand Prix). I actually believe that Davis may try to make the game a little more tactical in an attempt to shut down the big scoring Welshman, and hopefully frustrate him into mistakes. Personally, I don't see either one of these players coming out on top in this quarter, with so many other quality players lurking that have all done well in this competition previously.

Mark Allen is one of those players as he beat Mark Selby 6-5 to make last years final, before being turned over by Bingham. Mark is another player yet to get going this season or even look like doing so. First round exits in Australia and Furth actually match that of his opponent in last years final, while he looked comfortable early on in the Riga Open, before meeting Graeme Dott in the last 16. In fact it's been a while since Allen has really had a good run in any tournament, possibly going all the way back to the Masters where he lost in the last 4, so you'd say he's due. However, snooker is never that simple and neither is his draw for this week. He could quite easily come unstuck against Luca Brecel if he brings his best scoring form and takes his chances. Even if he does get through Mark Selby is lurking as his possible last 16 opponent and that of course is never easy, as Allen has first hand experience of. This may well be another frustrating week for the Northern Irishman.

Shaun Murphy also finds himself in this difficult section of the draw. The World Championship runner-up was also a runner-up in his last event, the Paul Hunter Classic, losing out 4-3 to Ali Carter. The way Shaun explains the conditions for that week and if you compare them to the sticky, muggy conditions that are usually present in China, then he will be well prepared. He's been scoring well so far this season, and chose to miss the 6 Reds in order to better prepare for Shanghai (seeing no benefit in playing on a different make of table and cloth in an event with a totally different format). Instead Shaun has gone out to Shanghai quite early, with his first round match taking place on Wednesday evening, whilst he flew out on Wednesday of this week. If Shaun is on his game early this week and scoring well then he will be a match for everyone and it could be one of those weeks where the Magician tears up the field.

Mark Selby will have something to say about that, as a man that appears to be the King of Shanghai if you look at his history in this event. He may have only won the title once (though no-one has won it twice in the 8 year history) but he's also lost out in the semi-finals on 4 other occasions, so clearly has a love affair with the event, and of course the conditions that are not always easy to adapt to. His form this season hasn't been magnificent so far with a Last 16 exit in Australia 5-1 to Jamie Jones followed by a Last 32 defeat in Riga to Ken Doherty and a Last 64 loss in Furth to Scott Donaldson. This may be the event that kicks off Mark's season. When you have a good feeling coming to an event every year, knowing it's one where you have competed and played great stuff in the past it's a magnificent feeling, and at the best of times if Mark is anywhere near his best, he's tremendously tough to beat.

Quarter Winner: Mark Selby

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Mark Selby

Predicted Tournament Winner: Mark Williams


I'm really looking forward to what this week has in store for us, with the first of this seasons big Chinese ranking events. As always, coverage will be on Eurosport and they were doing so well with the coverage until it gets to the final which won't be shown live unfortunately according to the schedules. Otherwise this is usually a tournament that a lot of the fans and players seem to enjoy and I would certainly include myself with that after some of the brilliant matches we've seen in recent years.

FANTASY SNOOKER LEAGUE: Shanghai Players and points update

After a couple of weeks off after the Paul Hunter Classic, the fantasy snooker league is back for the Shanghai Masters, and with 32 players to chose from who will be your choice?

First off, here's how the table looks after events in Furth, with money leftover/in debt next to each players score also:

1st: Anthony Ward 132 points +0.3 million
2nd: Igor 109 +0.7 million
3rd: Gary 102 +2.5 million
4th: Kjetil 96 +0.4million
5th:  LTD 89 +0.5 million
        Snooker Follower 89 -2 million
7th: Kai 72
8th: Spanish Snooker Blog 67 +0.4 million
9th: John McBride 65 +3.4 million
10th: Gorkem Kurt 59 +0.4 million
11th: Michael Coudray 55 +1.9 million
12th: Ezgi Ulutas 53
13th: Andrew Brooker 50 +7 million
14th: Chris Watts 47 +1.4 million
15th: Phil 41 +0.5 million
16th: Guillermo 29 -0.5 million
17th: Josh Cooper 24 +0.6 million
18th: Sean 20 +1 million
19th: Tungsten Darts 17 +7.5 million
20th: Kellie Barker 14  +0.2 million


Right then, now you know where we're at so far this season, here are the players for the Shanghai Masters. 8 million as usual is given plus any leftover money you may have to spend on two players. Two points to make quickly as we do have a wildcard round this week, you can't pick any of the 8 Chinese Wildcard players, and if you pick any of the 8 tour players involved in those 8 matches, no points will be awarded for Wildcard round performances.

Otherwise the DEADLINE is Monday at 7.30am UK Time, the start of the opening matches.

Happy Tipping:

Stuart Bingham– 6 million
Mark Selby – 5.8 million
Ding Junhui– 5.6 million
Neil Robertson – 5.5 million
Shaun Murphy – 5.4 million
Judd Trump – 5.3 million
Barry Hawkins – 5.2 million
Joe Perry – 5 million
Ricky Walden – 4.9 million
Mark Allen – 4.8 million
John Higgins – 4.6 million
Marco Fu – 4.5 million
Mark Williams – 4.3 million
Stephen Maguire – 4.2 million
Michael White – 4.1 million
Graeme Dott – 4 million

Mark Davis - 3.5 million
Robert Milkins - 3.5 million
Ryan Day - 3.5 million
Michael Holt - 3.5 million
Liang Wenbo - 3.5 million
Martin Gould - 3.5 million
Matt Selt - 3.5 million
Alan McManus - 3.5 million
Jamie Jones - 3.5 million
Peter Ebdon - 3.5 million

Mike Dunn - 3 million
Luca Brecel - 3 million
Kyren Wilson - 2.5 million
Tom Ford - 2.5 million
David Grace - 1 million
Jamie Cope - 1 million


Those are the players but who will you pick? All the best of luck!!

STAT ATTACK: Looking to Shanghai

In my efforts to spice up the blog and bring you a different angle on some of the best snooker events there are, i'm launching a new feature that I would like to call the "Stat Attack". Here I look ahead to, and will also look back on, upcoming and recent tournaments to give all of you statistical fans something to read over. There are all sorts of statistics that you can find on wonderful websites such as Cue Tracker and Snooker.Org but it's incredibly, that it's actually tough to pick out the ones that are going to be relevant to an upcoming tournament, and can either give you that extra insight ahead of an event or that small edge on the punting front.

With the Shanghai Masters, the first full ranking event since the beginning of July, starting on Monday here's some interesting facts and stats that I've picked out from those that can be found on the previously mentioned websites.

With the 8 wildcard matches to be played of course, only 8 last 32 matches are known in full, so that doesn't give me many head to head comparisons to look at.


One Last 32 that will take place on Monday sees John Higgins play Liang Wenbo. The pair have played 6 times previously, the last of which was at the 2015 Welsh Open, a tournament won by Higgins, and John has won every single won of their previous outings. The closest Wenbo has come to beating Higgins was at the 2012 World Championship when Higgins edged him out 10-9.

Another interesting head to head to look at is one between Ryan Day and Graeme Dott. The pair have met 8 times previously between 2004 and just last month at the Riga Open, a match won 4-0 by Dott. The 8 matches have been shared though 4-4, with Ryan's most notable win being in the 2007 Shanghai Masters when he overcame the Scot 6-2 to reach the final.

One head to head that may surprise a few people is that of the one between Mark Davis and Michael White. Despite Michael being the slightly higher ranked player, he's never beaten Mark in 7 professional meetings, something that the Welshman will be looking to put right on Wednesday.


When it comes to the actual tournament itself, the Shanghai Masters has been staged 8 times, with 8 different players winning it, while 3 of those 8 previous winners (Dale, Carter and O'Sullivan) are not in this weeks field.

Mark Selby has the strongest record in those 8 Shanghai Masters having added 4 semi-final losses to his 2011 title, whilst also being knocked out in the first round on two occasions. He's also won the most amount of prize money in the staging's of the Shanghai Masters winning £144,640, while John Higgins comes second with £133,775 and Stuart Bingham in third place with £130,795.

If you follow the statistic that no-one has won the Shanghai Masters twice, then you may be interested in knowing who's won the most money in the event without winning the title. Mark Williams leads this field with £81,070, followed by Ryan Day with £73,750 and Shaun Murphy with £73,625.

Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy has an interesting statistic to look out for, having played in 8 deciding frames at the final stages of the Shanghai Masters, and 12 in total if you include qualifiers, which is the most out of anyone in the events history.

When it comes to whitewashes, Shaun is also up there on that list strangely enough having whitewashed 4 opponents, which only Mark Selby can better having whitewashed 5 of his previous opponents.

Selby is up there once again when it comes to highest match win percentage in the Shanghai Masters where his is 73.08% from 26 played.


If you want an idea of how a player has been playing so far in a stop start season (because results don't tell you everything) here are a few niche stats about certain players.

After reaching the Paul Hunter Classic final, Shaun Murphy has made 14 breaks of between 70 and 79 this season, averaging 1 in every 5 frames he plays, showing that he's certainly picking up from his 2014/2015 form when it comes to heavy scoring.

It's not the same story for Stuart Bingham however, who in 6 knockout matches (excludes round robin matches of the 6 Red World Championships) has only won two of those, both of which came in the Riga Open. Something that the World Champion will be desperate to put right in the coming week.

Despite the quarter-finals being his best finish in an event so far at both the Paul Hunter Classic and Australian Open, Judd Trump has already made 9 century breaks at an average of 7.6 frames per century (excluding the 6 Reds where obviously a century is not possible.

1. That is the number of matches that Neil Robertson has played so far this season in ranking play after his Last 32 exit at his home event in July, meaning he hasn't played on the tour for 2 months.

Ding Junhui may have played in the 6 Reds this week, but in terms of tournaments counting towards his ranking, this of course is Ding's first of the season, so once again it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

Barry Hawkins has played in two European Tour events in his season so far, winning the Riga Open at the start of August. Along the way he's made 12 breaks of between 50 and 69 averaging one of those in every four frames he plays, showing that his scoring form is looking very nice indeed.

Tom Ford starts this week in the wildcard round, but he'll be buoyed by the fact that if that match, or any matches he goes on to play go down to the wire, he has a 100% win ratio in deciders this season so far, having won 4 out of 4.

Once again excluding the 6 reds from the count up, Matt Selt is putting more fuel in the tank of people calling him the "most improved player on the circuit" with runs to the last 8 in both Australia and Latvia leaving him with 10 wins from 13 matches played. Matt starts out this week against Ricky Walden.

Martin Gould will also be a dangerous opponent this week if he gets going like he did in Australia, having so far won 8 of his 10 matches played in the 2015/2016, averaging a break of 50+ in every 2.21 frames played, which is a rather impressive haul.

Michael Holt could well be a dangerous opponent for Stephen Maguire in round one. 9 match wins from 12 is his record in events counting to the money list so far this season. Don't be surprised if Holty matches his run of the 2013 Shanghai semi-finals.

Ricky Walden's form may be deceiving this season. So far he's only won 3 games out of 6 played, but all three of those losses were in final frame deciders, and baring that in mind, he's also made three breaks of 130 or above. The former Shanghai Master could have a big say in this weeks proceedings also.



Has your brain been overloaded yet? Good. In that case i'll be back with some more facts and figures specific to what we've seen, once the event has finished next Sunday. Otherwise, I've still got my main preview to come in the next day or two, and I hope you've all enjoyed my first running of the STAT ATTACK.