Fantasy Snooker: China Open

This is a very quick blog just to inform you of the players and prices ahead of the China Open. Of course the nature of the schedule means I could not leave it until after the Players Championship Finals to release the blog with an updated table because of the shot time between events.

It's the usual 8 million for picks and if you need to know how much you have leftover from previous events tweet me @CueActionBlog

Here are the prices for this week:

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

Players Seeded 21-32 – 3.5 million
Players Seeded 33-48 – 3 million
Players Seeded 49-64 – 2.5 million
Players seeded 65- 80 – 2 million
Players seeded 81 or below – 1 million


All the best and lucky picking!!!

Dunn stuns Day at Tour Finals

Mike Dunn was the surprise winner on day three of the Players Championship Finals at Event City in Manchester where he beat Ryan Day 4-2 to progress into the quarter-finals of a full ranking event for only the second time in his career. Day showed none of the form that saw him make a century and two 90 breaks in a 4-1 demolition of Kyren Wilson just a day earlier on his birthday, and despite a horrific miss-cue from Dunn when looking to clear for a 4-1 win, he held his nerve to take victory a frame later in the sixth.

Elsewhere there were comfortable wins for Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy as they continued their recent returns to form, while Mark Allen felt he was stronger in round two with victory over Mark King. Ben Woollaston saw off Selby's replacement Matt Selt while his wife Tatiana refereed Barry Hawkins scrappy deciding frame victory against Robert Milkins on the next table in the evening session.

Ali Carter was much too strong for Judd Trump scoring heavily when his chance came and shutting his opponent out in the safety exchanges to really put the former UK Champion under significant pressure that he could not rise too. Carter will now play Ricky Walden who continued his return to form by reaching his first ranking quarter-final of the season with a magnificent 4-2 win over Marco Fu, which was completed with a century break.

Last 16 Results:

Ben Woollaston 4-2 Matt Selt
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Dominic Dale
Mark Allen 4-2 Mark King
Mike Dunn 4-2 Ryan Day
Ricky Walden 4-2 Marco Fu
Ali Carter 4-1 Judd Trump
Ding Junhui 4-0 Michael White
Barry Hawkins 4-3 Robert Milkins

Quarter-Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Ben Woollaston - This may only be Shaun Murphy's second ranking event quarter-final of the season but right now he is absolutely flying. Dominic Dale did nothing wrong last night but was beaten comfortably simply because of how good Murphy's long potting and scoring is at this precise moment. We all know that Woollaston is a class player and has been in decent form himself in recent times reaching the Welsh Open quarter-finals so he will challenge the Grand Prix champion. Murphy will be weary of the fact that he did not play too badly in a 5-4 defeat to Woollaston at the German Masters but the confidence he has right now still sees him a level up from that match and I fancy his run to continue.

Mark Allen Vs Mike Dunn - Mike Dunn is obviously the surprise name in the quarter-finals but he fully deserves to be here. Against McLeod I expected him to win and he was very good value for it, and yesterday against Ryan Day he was given plenty of opportunities by Day's frankly poor play and Dunn just about held his nerve to take them. Playing Mark Allen is a different proposition though as he has been in really good form this season. In Cardiff he was very impressive to make the semi-finals and he has started this week off fairly nicely too as he looks for another appearance in the last 4. If Allen scores heavily like he can, then I do not see Mike Dunn progressing any further.

Ali Carter Vs Ricky Walden - This match is a real coin flip affair in my opinion. Starting with Ali Carter I think he was magnificent yesterday against Judd Trump, doing everything perfectly in both the safety department and with his heavy scoring. However, it is tough to keep these high levels up in all areas from game to game, and Trump has looked off colour for some time and he almost allowed Carter to dominate him. Ricky Walden has also been out of form this season, in fact this is his first ranking event quarter-final of the season. This week though has been a different story, two very strong wins and his fluency amongst the balls seems to have returned. When Walden is at the top of his game he can reel off frames for fun with the first scoring chance he gets and it is a real joy to watch the flow and rhythm he gets into. If Carter's safety is as strong as it was against Trump then he should win but if he gives Walden chances I would expect the former International champion to take them.

Barry Hawkins Vs Ding Junhui - Finally we have another good match to look forward to between Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui. Hawkins has had to grind for his victories against lower ranked opponents in Michael Holt and Robert Milkins and has certainly not been at the top of his game but that does not mean he will not win this. His battling qualities and match play are right up there and his scoring form has not exactly fallen off of the face of the earth. Ding Junhui however has been looking in great form so far this week, starting off both of his comfortable victories with century breaks which is a sign of class and a sign of the game that Ding Junhui showed to win five ranking events two seasons ago. This is in fact his third ranking event quarter-final in a row which is as good as anyone right now, and it took some real form to see him off in the Welsh Open quarters, and Grand Prix semi's and you would expect someone to have to play some outstanding stuff again this week if he is to be sent packing.


A cracking quarter-final line-up and the final day of best-of-7 frames matches that we will see this season, ahead of the best-of-11 semi's and best-of-19 final, before the China Open and of course the World Championships. A great time to find form.

Top players all through in Manchester

The large majority of the top players involved in the Players Championship Finals in Manchester made it through to the second round over the first two days. Ding Junhui started things off with an easy victory against David Gilbert, while Marco Fu struggled through a deciding frame against Alan McManus.

Shaun Murphy carried on his winning ways with a second victory in consecutive events against Liang Wenbo, with the Chinese managing just one frame across those two meetings. One of the matches billed as match of the round did not live up to expectation as Judd Trump eased through 4-1 against Martin Gould whose only contribution was a 135 break in frame four. It was the same story when Ryan Day took on Kyren Wilson as Wilson was not at his best missing several shots with the rest while Day scored heavily to run through a 4-1 winner.

Mark Allen was the benefactor of miss of the season from Mark Davis at the start of their deciding frame as the Northern Irishman came through 4-3. Barry Hawkins had to grind in his match with Michael Holt but a good clearance in the final frame saw him take out the Hitman 4-2. Ricky Walden meanwhile seemed to find some form in his match with Tom Ford with some brilliant scoring there making Walden a 4-1 winner after a month off from competition and a very poor season.

Finally, there was one major casualty as Mark Williams poor season continued with a 4-3 loss to Dominic Dale in which Williams played quite poorly. Having not qualified for China next week he then went to Twitter and voiced his opinion that it would probably be Ponds Forge next for him for World Championship qualifiers, but looking at the provisional seedings it would take an unlikely turn of events to nudge him from provisional 13th seed out of the top 16.

Last 32 Results:

Matt Selt 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Jimmy Robertson
Dominic Dale 4-3 Mark Williams
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Liang Wenbo
Mark Allen 4-3 Mark Davis
Mark King 4-2 Sam Baird
Ryan Day 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Mike Dunn 4-1 Rory McLeod
Marco Fu 4-3 Alan McManus
Ricky Walden 4-1 Tom Ford
Judd Trump 4-1 Martin Gould
Ali Carter 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ding Junhui 4-1 David Gilbert
Michael White 4-2 Luca Brecel
Robert Milkins 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Michael Holt

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matt Selt Vs Ben Woollaston - Matt Selt was obviously in the 'lucky loser' situation when he was called up to replace Mark Selby and this match here with Ben Woollaston looks like a close one. Woollaston scraped past Jimmy Robertson in the last round and did not seem to play as well, while Matt Selt was very solid against Andrew Higginson and I think he has his eyes very firmly on a big run this week to put himself in contention for a top 16 seeding at the World Championship. This could go all the way but I think Selt has a slight edge.

Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale - Dominic Dale scored well in beating Mark Williams but Williams was out of sorts in that match and you would say that Dale will have to improve even further to beat Shaun Murphy here. Murphy has been flying of late and continued to show that form I round one in Manchester and he would love to win back to back ranking events. His scoring power and long potting could be too much for Dale if they continue on as they have been for the last couple of weeks.

Mark Allen Vs Mark King - Another battle of the marks with Allen and King and this could be another close one for both players. Allen will go in as favourite and you would fancy him to win against King to be fair to both players. King will need to grind away to win this or heavily up his scoring power which is probably where he falls down against the top players these days. If he can put Allen in trouble in the safety department though, then it could be a different game.

Ryan Day Vs Mike Dunn - Ryan Day was superb last night in dispatching Kyren Wilson. His scoring was excellent just as it was in the early rounds of the World Grand Prix. Day has been threatening a big run for a number of months and he certainly has the game right now to go on through to the semi-finals or even beyond that and put his name firmly in the ring for an automatic seeding through to the World Championships. Mike Dunn played well at the end of his match against Rory McLeod and when these two met in the Welsh Open he competed well with Day but in the end it was the Welshman's scoring that got him over the line and I think that could be the same story here.

Marco Fu Vs Ricky Walden - This is another tight match to call here in round two as most of these matches are to come in the bottom half of the draw. However, the one really positive sign in round one was the return to some form of Ricky Walden and I think that is long overdue. It's tough to keep a player like Walden down for too long and if he can keep his rhythm going this week then he is an incredibly dangerous player. Fu has been struggling too in recent months and was a very lucky man to get through against Alan McManus, but I do not think he will be so lucky here is Walden scores as heavily as we know he can and as heavily as he did in round one.

Judd Trump Vs Ali Carter - Matches between Ali Carter and Judd Trump are usually quite enjoyable and I am sure todays will be no different. Trump mopped up against a sloppy Martin Gould in round one but did not quite seem to be at his best in my view. He has struggled for any consistency at all this season and did not sound very confident in his interview after beating Gould. Ali Carter meanwhile played well in my opinion at the World Grand Prix and at the start of the week I fancied him to carry that on here in Manchester. He started well against Dott and won that match by outscoring him as I expected he would. If he is on his game, which he certainly was not when the pair last met in this years German Masters, then he is more than a match for Trump in all areas of safety and scoring and he will not give in if Trump starts off well either.

Ding Junhui Vs Michael White - This is quite an important game today with the implications of the provisional seedings for staying in the top 16 for the World Championships. The one thing that strikes you is how both players would deal with that. White is very emotional and puts lots of pressure on himself as you can see in most of his matches and that will not usually lead to results. Ding meanwhile has been very calm on the subject and played very well with recent runs at the Welsh Open and Grand Prix and I fancy him to carry that good form on in this match after he was solid against Gilbert in round one. White was struggling against Luca Brecel in round one but Brecel (possibly distracted by events back home in Brussels) went off the boil at 2-0 and made some basic mistakes to let White back in, but he will not enjoy the same luxuries today so he will certainly need to up his game.

Barry Hawkins Vs Robert Milkins - Finally, we have another good little match up between Hawkins and Milkins. Both had to grind it out in their matches yesterday as they were not at their best at all. Milkins did not have a break of 50+ in a 4-1 win against Tian Pengfei and against the top players that simply will not get the job done and it will not do against Hawkins today. Barry did what he needed to when he needed it most against Michael Holt with the clearance to win 4-2 and he did have some quite bad luck at times in the match that stopped him being more clinical. Safety play could be the key aspect of this game as it is an area where Hawkins is usually better than Milkins who will need to up his game in all areas to win this.


A cracking set of matches here for today then over best-of-7 frames and i'll be back to look ahead to more best-of-7 frame matches in tomorrows quarter-finals.

Players Championship Finals Preview

After a week off from snooker after Shaun Murphy's triumph in the World Grand Prix it's time to get back into things with the Players Championship Finals at Event City in Manchester.

Once again the tournament will be covered on ITV4 with the usual suspects (though Alan McManus will be on playing duties first up on Tuesday afternoon against Marco Fu) and after their great coverage of the World Grand Prix it will be good to see them take on another new event.

The format for the week in Manchester is exactly the same to that of the one we saw in Llandudno with the tournament starting on Tuesday with a two table set-up and first round, second round and quarter-final matches all taking place over the best-of-7 frames before the best-of-11 frames semi-finals on Saturday and the best-of-19 frames final on Sunday.

There are a number of notable absentees with six of the top eight players in the world rankings not taking part. Mark Selby was meant to be the number one seed for the event but he has withdrawn from the this event and the China Open for personal reasons. Hopefully everything will be better for him to be able to compete to a good standard at the World Championships.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson are also not present after not entering enough of the qualifying events to have an impact on the order of merit, while John Higgins, defending champion Joe Perry and world champion Stuart Bingham all entered plenty of the European Tour events but just fell short.

To bring in a quick statistic, despite the Grand Prix places being filled up by the top 32 players on a one year ranking list from the start of the season to the Gdynia Open, and the Players Championship Finals effectively being filled by the top 32 on a combined order of merit from the six European Tour events and lone Asian Tour event, 20 of the 32 players involved this week were also in Llandudno.

Stephen Maguire is also not present in Manchester and he is provisionally seeded 19th for the World Championships so will need a big week in Beijing to qualify automatically by getting back in the top 16. Michael White is provisionally 15th with £187,033, while Liang Wenbo is provisionally 16th on £178,101 roughly £9,000 behind. Ding Junhui is then just over £3,000 behind Wenbo, with Wilson just under £6,000 behind Liang coming into the week. Even Ryan Day could have a chance if he were to have a strong week this week despite being £27,000 behind.

A look at the money breakdown tells you that by getting into the event the players are guaranteed £4,000, with £7,000 for reaching the last 16, £12,500 for getting into the quarter-finals, £20,000 for losing semi-finalists while the runner-up receives £38,000 and the winner £100,000.

All to play for then this weeks, so here is how the draw looks for the penultimate event in the Crucible lead-up:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Andrew Higginson Vs Matt Selt (Wednesday 23rd March at 1pm)
Ben Woollaston Vs Jimmy Robertson (Tuesday 22nd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Mark Williams Vs Dominic Dale (Wednesday 23rd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Shaun Murphy Vs Liang Wenbo (Tuesday 22nd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)

Looking at the top section of the quarter we have a massive opportunity for one of the four players involved. Matt Selt has been the beneficiary of a lucky loser situation after the withdrawal of Mark Selby. He just missed out on the combined list but now he is back in and will play Andrew Higginson in round one. Ironically, before this draw amendment was made, I was talking about the rise of Matt Selt with my brother and we likened him to what Andrew Higginson was essentially in around 2011/2012 when he rose up in the rankings to just outside of the top 16 and generally looking like a solid player. Now though Higginson has lost his consistency and Selt is found quite a lot of consistency through pure hard work and determination to succeed. Do not be surprised at all if Selt goes a long way this week.

Meanwhile we have Ben Woollaston and Jimmy Robertson who are also in that top section, and Ben Woollaston has found quite a bit of form in recent times. He made the last 8 both in the Welsh Open and Gdynia Open, the latter of which helped to solidify his place in this competition. Again Ben Woollaston is a hard working player who is climbing up the rankings and again if someone like himself or Matt Selt could have a good week this week they would put themselves on the edge of the top 16.

Elsewhere in this quarter we find Mark Williams who, while he has found some form over the last couple of years, has not had the results in recent times to back that up. Tough draws against Ding and Trump saw him losing in the first round of the Gdynia Open and World Grand Prix. This is also his last event before the World Championships having failed to qualify for China next week so he could do with finding some form this week to boost his confidence ahead of Sheffield you would feel.

Shaun Murphy is after another successful week having taken home the trophy and £100,000 from the Grand Prix. He seemed to find his form there after a bit of a lean season by his standards, and now he will have his sights set on more glory in a place where he lived for many years until recently. First up this week he has Liang Wenbo who he beat in the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix as Wenbo only scored 36 points. Though with plenty on the line for Liang in terms of automatic Crucible qualification you would expect him to give Murphy a closer contest on this occasion. However, once the Magician gets his tail up he is pretty tricky to stop and if he can get through the first couple of rounds again then who knows, he could be taking home another trophy and another £100,000 winners cheque.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Allen Vs Mark Davis (Wednesday 23rd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Mark King Vs Sam Baird (Wednesday 23rd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Ryan Day Vs Kyren Wilson (Wednesday 23rd March 7pm)
Rory McLeod Vs Mike Dunn (Tuesday 22nd March around 9pm - second evening session)

Straight away by looking at the draw you can see two massive matches featuring players that are both outside of the top 32. Firstly there is King and Baird. Mark King has had a good season on the European Tour making the quarter-finals in Gibraltar and Gdynia, as well as a semi-final at the Paul Hunter Classic and after qualifying for the tour finals last year he also made it to the last 16. Sam Baird is still quite hit and miss as a player. On his day he could breeze past King but if he has not quite got it together then it could be a much easier afternoon for the KingDog. Then of course there is Mike Dunn and Rory McLeod which is a very interesting game. McLeod has been quite hit and miss this season, at times of course he has been very good. He would not have won his first professional title at the Ruhr Open otherwise. Other times he has been ridiculous. Losing from 4-1 up in the German Masters and 5-1 up at the UK Championships are not exactly habits you want to be getting in to. Mike Dunn meanwhile has been a lot better on the circuit since this time two years ago when he just avoided dropping off of the tour by making the semi-finals of the China Open. For other players around him, he is usually tough to beat just as Rory is so that could be quite a battle on Tuesday evening.

Mark Allen considered himself very unlucky last week at the Grand Prix to lose from 2-0 up in the Last 16 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, although he did not seem to have the same comfort within his game that he had displayed a few weeks earlier on the way to the semi-finals of the Welsh Open. He starts off this week in a tough match with Mark Davis, but like Murphy, he too could go very far this week if he can get past the opening round or two. I think that could be particularly true given how much better I feel he has played this season compared with previous campaigns.

Then you have an absolutely massive match between Ryan Day and Kyren Wilson. Wilson is right in the thick of it for a place in the top 16 for the Crucible while with the form Ryan Day showed at the Grand Prix last week he could get in there with a couple of strong weeks. This match is almost too close to call given the importance and I am of the belief that the winner of this match could win the entire section. Day looks like he is very close from everything clicking into place and finally getting rid of the tag of 'best player never to win a ranking event'.

Quarter Winner: Ryan Day

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Alan McManus (Tuesday 22nd March 1pm)
Tom Ford Vs Ricky Walden (Wednesday 23rd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Martin Gould Vs Judd Trump (Tuesday 22nd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Ali Carter Vs Graeme Dott (Tuesday 22nd March 7pm)

Tom Ford and Ricky Walden are two players that are going to be very tough to separate in round one. Walden has not had the best of years and that was signified by his absence from last weeks World Grand Prix. He is too good of a player not to turn it around though and maybe this could be the week, after a bit of time off to work on his game, where things start to click again and he finds his form. Tom Ford is not an easy opponent though as we saw from his victory against Mark Selby. He has found a lot more form this season because Ford is a better player than his ranking would suggest, and I actually fancy him to beat Walden this week.

Marco Fu has been quite inconsistent again this season. At the back end of 2015 he found some great form making the UK quarter-finals and winning in Gibraltar but since the New Year he has suffered early exits in the Grand Prix and German Masters and not been able to re-create any of his pre-Christmas snooker. I still fancy him to beat Alan McManus in round one this week but looking at the names in this quarter this week, he will have to do it the hard way to progress through the draw.

Ali Carter was quite impressive in the Grand Prix. He dominated Luca Brecel who had been in good form and then took care of Tom Ford in round two without any problems whatsoever. Joe Perry in the quarter-finals was just a step too far for Carter as he failed to really get going in that contest, but that does not mean that he will not have another very good week this week. Graeme Dott is his first round opponent this week and we all know that Dott is never an easy player to get past. The key against Dott is to score well when you get in to avoid being dragged into the kind of tactical battles in which he excels, and that is what Carter does very well when he is at his best though his tactical is also a great match for Dott on top of that.

Finally in this quarter it is time to talk about the absolute blockbuster that awaits us between Martin Gould and Judd Trump. This is the sort of match that the draw for events like this can throw up, if you get players like Judd that have not made it to the final of one of the tour events in order to get a higher seeding. Martin Gould is in the form of his life at the moment after winning his maiden ranking title and getting to the Gdynia Open final in the space of a month, while at last weeks Grand Prix it took eventual champion Murphy to beat him in the last 16 and that shows that the signs are great for him. Judd Trump meanwhile has had an inconsistent year of losing to plenty of players that he would have beaten had he been at the top of his game, having been pretty close to the top of his game in the rounds leading up to that. Trump could easily hit the ground running this week and breeze through the draw to another ranking title.

Quarter Winner: Ali Carter

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs David Gilbert (Tuesday 22nd March 1pm)
Michael White Vs Luca Brecel (Tuesday 22nd March 7pm)
Tian Pengfei Vs Robert Milkins (Wednesday 23rd March 7pm)
Barry Hawkins Vs Michael Holt (Wednesday 23rd March 1pm)

Michael White and Luca Brecel is one incredibly tough match to call as well, following the theme of the rest of the draw. Luca's run to the German Masters final did him the world of good in terms of confidence as we saw when he made the last 16 of the Welsh Open a couple of weeks after. Michael White made the quarter-finals that week in Cardiff and was unlucky to run into a bit of a steam train in Llandudno when he was playing Shaun Murphy. I have a lot of time for Brecel as a player as he seems very likeable as well as someone who works hard on his game now and is very easy to watch when knocking in the long balls and big breaks. I fancy Brecel to win this one against White.

Barry Hawkins will be looking for a good week here as he aims to defend the points won two years ago from lifting the Players Championship title. His form coming in is nothing too special after losing 4-0 in the first round of the Grand Prix and suffering a couple of last 16 exits in both Berlin and Cardiff, and he is up against his good friend Michael Holt in round one. Holt had a big win against O'Sullivan on the TV in Llandudno so he will come in with another confidence boost after a reasonable season that he will be looking to finish off well in the next few weeks. Whoever comes through that could indeed go very far this week.

Ding Junhui is the final man I want to come to in this section and this preview. He of course is still fighting hard to get back in the top 16 as a seed for the World Championships and has hit a little bit of form recently. A quarter-finalist in the Welsh Open he made a 147 there but it still was not enough to beat an in form Neil Robertson, and then he followed that up with more valuable ranking money in the Grand Prix fighting hard to get to the semi-finals before losing the final four frames of a 6-3 loss to Shaun Murphy. Working hard with Terry Griffiths looks to have been working wonders in fact and it does not feel like the Chinaman is too far away from getting back into the winners circle.

Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Shaun Murphy

Predicted Tournament Winner: Ding Junhui


As I say this is a key event in the race to the Crucible particularly with all of the absentees and £100,000 once again for the winner. It does get very cramped at the back end of the event with the China Open starting the day after the final here in Manchester and that could cause all sorts of problems for the players that make the latter stages on Sunday and even Saturday's semi-finals and will most likely see some schedule changes for World Snooker to make with the schedule. In fact, the only two players in the top half of the draw not in the draw for the final stages in China are Allen and Williams, while in the bottom half every single player involved is on duty again in Beijing next week.

As for me, I will be back throughout this week with updates after each round with my preview of the China Open being left until as late as I can for the reasons I have mentioned above about the short turnaround as I wait to see who makes the latter stages here.

Fantasy Snooker League: Points Update and PTC Finals Players

Just three events to go now until the end of this years Fantasy Snooker and the gap at the top remains the same after many of the picks lost in the early stages of the World Grand Prix which was eventually won by Shaun Murphy.

Here's a quick look at how the table looks going into this weeks Players Championship Finals:

1^st: Igor: 684 +7.4 million O’Sullivan (0)

2^nd: Gorkem Kurt: 628 +6.7 million O’Sullivan (0) and Selby (0)

3^rd: SnookerFollower: 611 +8 million Wilson (5)

4^th: Michael Coudray: 608 +5.6 million Trump (9) and Robertson (0)

5^th: TungstenDarts: 564 +11 million Robertson (0)

6^th: Chris Watts: 552 +3.8 million Trump (9)

7^th: Anthony Ward: 542 +1 million Allen (5) and Woollaston (0)

8^th: Gary: 541 +1 million Selby (0) and Ding (21)

9^th: Kjetil: 503 +3.5 million Selt (0) and Allen (5)

10^th: Guillermo: 473 +3 million Wilson (5)

11^th: Josh Cooper: 430 +4 million O’Sullivan (0) and Murphy (49)

12^th: Spanish Snooker Blog: 394 +7.9 million Selby (0) and Williams (0)

13^th: LTD: 388 +11.7 million Selby (0)

14^th: Ezgi Ulutas: 378 +13.3 million Robertson (0) and O’Sullivan (0)

15^th: Kai: 368 +7.1 million Williams (0) and Murphy (49)

16^th: Andrew Brooker: 336 +13.3 million O’Sullivan (0) and Higgins (9)

17^th: Phil Mudd: 330 +5.5 million Wilson (5) and Gould (9)

18^th: John McBride: 327 +15.4 million Robertson (0) and Trump (9)

19^th: Kellie Barker: 317 +1.8 million Ding (21) and Williams (0)


Plenty of people have plenty of money in hand given that the totals next to each name plus 24 million is effectively how much each player has left this season, with 8 million given for every tournament.

As always it is two players that you can pick with this money and with plenty of the top players not in action this week in Manchester it will be interesting to see who people decide to spend their money on. So, here are the players priced by seeding order:

Barry Hawkins – 6 million

Marco Fu  – 5.8 million

Rory McLeod – 5.6 million

Mark Allen – 5.5 million

Ali Carter – 5.4 million

Shaun Murphy – 5.3 million

Ding Junhui – 5.2 million

Mark King – 5 million

Ryan Day – 4.9 million

Tom Ford – 4.8 million

Michael White – 4.6 million

Tian Pengfei – 4.5 million

Mark Williams – 4.3 million

Ben Woolllaston – 4.2 million

Martin Gould – 4.1 million

Andrew Higginson – 4 million

Ricky Walden – 4 million

Judd Trump – 4 million

Kyren Wilson – 4 million

Liang Wenbo – 4 million

Mike Dunn – 3.5 million

Dominic Dale – 3.5 million

Michael Holt – 3.5 million

Jimmy Robertson – 3 million

Matt Selt – 3 million

Graeme Dott – 3 million

Alan McManus – 3 million

Mark Davis – 3 million

Luca Brecel – 3 million

Robert Milkins – 3 million

David Gilbert – 3 million

Sam Baird – 3 million

 

There you have it, two players maximum to pick for the tournament and plenty of interesting names to choose from, so happy picking!!!

Bingham and Murphy to contest Crucible throwback

Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy will meet again in the final of the World Grand Prix, just over 10 months since Bingham snatched the world title against him 18-15.

Bingham was the first man through today in battling fashion against Joe Perry. Perry was dominant early on against the world champion and surged into a 3-0 lead as Bingham looked quite poor on the whole. Taking an important fourth frame prior to the mid-session interval proved the turning point as he then followed it with the first two after the break to level up the match at 3-3. The seventh looked key at the time as Bingham missed on 60 when looking certain to go 4-3 ahead, and Joe stepped in with 62 before missing the final black to win the frame. However, he had another chance from range a few shots later and potted a stunning long black to regain his lead. Bingham was back level with a run of 97 but a 53 from Perry put him one away at 5-4. From there though he did not score another point in the match as Bingham forced the deciding frame and went on to win it with a magnificent run of 69.

Shaun Murphy followed with a total domination of Ding Junhui in the evenings semi-final. Despite falling 3-2 behind at one stage, Shaun could easily have won four of those five frames. In the third he went in-off on the black trying to around for the yellow which would have put him 2-1 ahead and in the fourth he made a 110 break snookering himself on the last red when searching for a 145 break. Ding then made a break of 66 to win the fifth after Shaun missed a great chance. From there though the Magician really stepped up. After getting in front for the first time at 4-3 with two straight frames he rattled off the final two with runs of 88 and a 66 in the ninth to run out an easy 6-3 winner in the end.

Semi-Final Results:

Stuart Bingham 6-5 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Ding Junhui

Final Preview:

Shaun Murphy Vs Stuart Bingham - Here we are then, the final of the World Grand Prix and what a final we have in prospect. Not only is it a repeat of the world final but it is the first time that either player has made it into a ranking event final since then or really even threatened to make one. Starting with Stuart Bingham, he really has had to battle hard this week and has fought his way back into form, every credit must go to him for that. Against Gilbert he started to look more lively and then he got a big win against Trump when both were feeling unwell. Against Ryan Day he had to battle again but made four 60+ breaks in the match to win it which was a sign of quality and his fight back against Perry was superb. He will be determined to show everyone what he can do and get a title under his belt while he still reigns as the champion of the world.

Then there is Shaun Murphy. He seems to have gotten his confidence back. For the route he has had playing Michael White (fighting for his top 16 place for the World Championships), Martin Gould (the in-form man of the last month), Liang Wenbo (again fighting to be a Crucible seed) and Ding Junhui (also fighting to get back into the top 16) to only drop four frames is outstanding. This time against Bingham he is very much the hunter, the challenger to the throne and very much after some satisfaction. He will want to make Stuart feel exactly what he felt in the weeks after losing that narrow Crucible classic because it was a hard one for Murphy to get over. Now is the time to channel that frustration onto the table and not just beat Bingham but bash him up all over the table. He is certainly back playing the snooker that he displayed last year in Sheffield but will not be underestimating Bingham and neither will I. This is sure to be another closely fought contest.

Prediction: Murphy to win 10-7.


After a fantastic week of snooker that has seen a few classic encounters, this final is the fitting end to another good tournament that has been well hosted by the ITV and the usual suspects like Alan McManus, Neal Foulds and Clive Everton and the addition of Phil Yates to the team too. It sets things up brilliantly for the Players Championship finals which will again be on the ITV starting on March 22nd.

Bingham, Perry, Murphy and Ding to contest semis

World Champion Stuart Bingham is into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix and has been joined by Joe Perry, Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui after their victories today.

It was Ding Junhui who was the first man though after coming back from 3-1 behind to win a quality contest with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3. Un-Nooh opened up with a fantastic 97 clearance, before Ding hit back with a 92 to level the scores. Runs o 84 and 74 then put the Thai one away but he missed his chance to kill the match off in frame five and never seemed to recover afterwards. Ding rattled in a 65 in frame six to force the decider and then killed it off in style with a stunning break of 108 in which he pulled off a number of brilliant recovery pots.

Joe Perry was the next man through in the afternoons second match against Ali Carter. Perry took the opener before Carter levelled with a break of 69 but after that he struggled to stay in the game as breaks of 87 and 66 saw Perry surge and with a high pot success compared to a very low one from his opponent it was the Gentleman that ran out a comfortable 4-1 winner.

Shaun Murphy was next up when play resumed in the evening, taking on China's Liang Wenbo (who he will also play in the first round of the Players Championship Finals in a week and a half). Liang had the first chance in the opener but after a missed red with the rest he never seemed to get going again. Murphy made a 71 in that frame and then followed with breaks of 50, 50 and 55 with Liang only scoring 7 more points in a 4-0 victory that it took Murphy less than an hour to complete.

Finally, it was the turn of world champion Stuart Bingham who has been suffering with a little bit of illness over the last couple of days but that did not stop him from disposing of the last Welshman in the draw in Llandudno. Day opened up with 60 and did lead at one stage 2-1. Four 60+ breaks in the match did the job for Bingham who took advantage of his opponents mistakes and saw him continue a bit of good form that he has picked up this week.

Quarter-Final Results:

Stuart Bingham 4-2 Ryan Day
Joe Perry 4-1 Ali Carter
Shaun Murphy 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Ding Junhui 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Joe Perry Vs Stuart Bingham - Now we are into the semi-finals the format moves on to the best-of-11 frames and the first semi-final we have sees Joe Perry take on the World Champion. Perry has been very good indeed this week dropping just a couple of frames in best-of-7 frames matches with tough opponents in Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson and Ali carter and if he can carry on like that then he will certainly take some stopping over the course of this weekend. Bingham has certainly been battling this week, more with the bug he has had than anything else. On the table he slowly seems to be getting some of his world championship winning rhythm and form back, and even though he has missed some easy balls in his victories over Ryan Day and Judd Trump in the last two rounds, h has also scored when it was needed. The difference in this match for me could be that fact that Bingham still seems to be battling with himself and is taking every miss to heart, while Perry is looking confident on the table and sounding very upbeat about his chances in his interviews with the ITV and there is no substitute for what confidence can bring in sport.

Shaun Murphy Vs Ding Junhui - Our second semi-final sees two players in Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui who seem to be back to their best as they reach their first full ranking event semi-finals of the season respectively. Murphy has blitzed through three very tough matches on paper against Michael White, Martin Gould and Liang Wenbo for just the loss of a single frame. He is scoring well, knocking in some good long balls and says that after tinkering with things in practice and "wasting half a season" he is back playing how he was at the world championships last year which makes him very dangerous. Ding Junhui has played equally as well this week although he has had a couple of battles in deciding frame wins against Woollaston and Un-Nooh which he could easily have lost. He looks to be back at his best though and is very relaxed even with his situation of getting back into the top 16 for the Crucible. One thing that does go for Murphy here is that the players met on three occasions two seasons ago (when Ding won five ranking titles) and beat him in two of those, and overall he has a pretty good record against the Chinaman.


This is a particularly interesting line-up for the weekend in Llandudno given the fact that Bingham, Murphy and Ding have all struggled for results in the big ranking events this season and even Perry has had his tough times this season. Some exciting matches are certainly on the horizon in the final stages of the 2016 World Grand Prix.