Riga Open Preview

The Snooker tour is all set and ready to go again this weekend in Latvia for the first European Tour event of the season. This follows the best part of four weeks since John Higgins was victorious in Australia at the first ranking event of the season, and with the majority of the tour back in action, despite the absences of Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan amongst many others.

The defending champion in Riga is Mark Selby who came from 3-0 down to beat Mark Allen 4-3 in last years final, and i'm sure the pair will be looking for runs of similar depth through the draw one year on as well, although there are a lot of players that are going to have a say about that. The interesting one for the top guys will be how they view this event. For members of the top 16 that aren't a part of next weeks Shanghai Masters Qualifiers, they will have around another 4 weeks off after this event ahead of the Paul Hunter Classic, which makes it a very stop start beginning to the new season with little to gain, including early season rhythm and form. It all comes back to how sharp some of the main guys will be, and if Australia is anything to go by, then some may still show signs of a tan (or at the least a Golfers tan).

However, it all comes down to opinion on such a matter. Golfers and Tennis players often choose to take 2 or 3 weeks off after a major competition but only in the heat of the season, and never as many as the top ranked snooker boys have had since Australia and will have again before heading to Furth in late August. I also have to admit to struggling to get into this season. With the Golf in the height of it's major season, and Cricket's Ashes well and truly heating up, that offers a healthy distraction to the lack of snooker and a busy period for me during the World Cup along with more unsociable timings and poorer weekend coverage of the Australian Open mean I have watched little snooker since the World Championships.

Enough of that debate though and back to the action this week in Latvia, with the draw and my thoughts upon it.

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Sanderson Lam
Joel Walker Vs Paul Davison
Ken Doherty Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gary Wilson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Jones W/O Hamza Akbar
Luca Brecel Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael Georgiou Vs Amateur Qualifier
Ryan Day Vs Allan Taylor
Graeme Dott Vs Amateur Qualifier
Andrew Higginson W/O Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Mike Dunn Vs Amateur Qualifier
Matthew Stevens Vs Steven Hallworth
Rod Lawler Vs Amateur Qualifier
Peter Lines Vs Amateur Qualifier
Scott Donaldson Vs Michael Leslie
Mark Allen Vs Gareth Allen

The top quarter of the draw is where we find last years Riga finalists Mark Selby and Mark Allen, along with Australian Open semi-finalist Jamie Jones and Graeme Dott who is presently hovering just outside of the top 16 in the world.

Jamie Jones started to show more of what we know he's capable of in Australia on the way to the semi-finals, beating Mark Selby, Mark Davis and his good friend Michael White along the way. Those results just prove what he can do at this level and that will increase his confidence even more than his run to the World quarter-finals in 2012, because it had been such a long time coming. However, his loss to John Higgins 6-4 from 4-0 ahead in the semi-finals would've hurt, but he's had long enough to deal with that and get that out of his system, to turn up here and play good snooker in a little section of the draw that I feel could open up to see him get to at least Sunday's Last 16.

Graeme Dott is someone we haven't really had to speak about in tournaments for a long time as a serious contender, but in this quarter there is every chance for him to shine. This will be his first event of the season so there could be some early cobwebs to work off, but the beauty of the European Tour events for all these players coming in a little short on match practice is that they can easily work into a rhythm with matches coming thick and fast, and that will help the likes of Dotty. Again, like Jones, I believe that if Graeme plays well enough that for him a last 16 spot and a good start to the season are both easily achievable.

Mark Selby hasn't as yet had the best start to the season being knocked out of the World Cup with Stuart Bingham in the group stages and receiving a last 16 thrashing in Bendigo at the hands of Jamie Jones. However, it is on these European Tour weekends that Mark will often do well, with his ability to take control of some matches early on and make light of the early fixtures to save energy, and then grinding out results when he needs to. His record speaks for itself and he is the defending Riga Open champion as well, a special title as his first after his World Championship triumph, so he won't want to give it up without a fight. Mark is unlikely to peak at such an early stage of the season and will not be set up to do so this week either, and I believe that opens for others to have a good week, though you can never write off the Jester.

Mark Allen is one of my tips to do very well this weekend in Latvia. His record in European Tour events over the last two seasons speaks for itself, putting him within the top 3 on the Order of Merit in both of those campaigns. Consecutive titles for Mark in 2013 and a win at the Paul Hunter Classic in 2014 following a runners up finish in the inaugural running of this event shows that his early season form is usually right up there and that he thrives on these best-of-7 sprints if he can get some momentum and rhythm going early on in the piece. He may have exited early in Australia but that's not really a guide for Allen who, by his own admitting, plays poorly year after year in Bendigo, possibly due to the long flight over. The things in Mark's favour for this weekend are that he has all of the tools and "knowhow" to win these European Tour events and that he will have good memories of playing in the venue last year.

Quarter Winner: Mark Allen

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Amateur Qualifier
Robbie Williams Vs Ian Glover
Craig Steadman Vs Amateur Qualifier
Anthony McGill Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark King Vs Amateur Qualifier
Sam Baird Vs Jason Weston
Mitchell Mann Vs Lee Walker
Michael White Vs Amateur Qualifier
Stephen Maguire Vs Amateur Qualifier
Anthony Hamilton Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jimmy Robertson Vs Eden Sharav
Alan McManus Vs David Grace
Kurt Maflin Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Robin Hull Vs Tony Drago
Mark Joyce Vs Chris Wakelin
Judd Trump Vs Sydney Wilson

Here in quarter two we have the Players Champion for 2013 Barry Hawkins, and Australian Open semi-finalist Stephen Maguire along with Judd Trump who has a superb record on the European Tour, as well as young Michael White and Anthony McGill.

Michael White will be pleased with how his game is shaping up at the moment making the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, despite losing 5-4 from 4-2 ahead against Jamie Jones in that last 8 tie, and a semi-final place in the World Cup alongside Mark Williams. Young Michael is really starting to perform now with a little more consistency which his maiden ranking win in March would've given him the confidence to do. The draw that White has in front of him should see him get to the Last 16 if he's relatively on his game, though we know that things don't always go to plan in these European Tour events.

Judd Trump started off his campaign with an annoying 5-1 loss in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open after two easy games. That loss saw him have many of the frames stolen on the colours by Maguire and the lack of killer instinct would worry Judd ahead of long season, so he'll hope to be back stronger this week without any further issues. It may not be too long before Judd gets the opportunity to exercise such demons either with a possible last 16 meeting with Stephen Maguire lurking in the future. That may not necessarily please Judd either given a poorer record against Maguire that he has compared to his record against most other top players. However, if he could get past that Judd does have the ability to breeze through the draw if he's on his game, as his record in these weekend long European Tour events shows.

Stephen Maguire has had a very well polished start to the season, even at this early stage. With a new cue in his hand Stephen should be well practiced as he attempts to get used to the new equipment, and that showed as he teamed up well with John Higgins to reach the World Cup final and then reach the last 4 down under. It would be good to see Stephen playing with renewed confidence and good early showings with a new cue is enough to boost any players self-belief. The Scot is also a winner on the European Tour from last season where he shone through in Lisbon, and all of the signs point to him being a serious contender, despite his very tough section.

Barry Hawkins is turning out for the first time this season when he steps out in Latvia. This is an incredibly important season for Barry with much to defend in the rankings after winning the £100,000 top prize as Players Champion two years ago and that means he needs an impressive start in these ET events to push him high up on the Order of Merit. Obviously, if Barry failed to qualify that would be a disaster for his ranking. A lot could be said about the way Barry's season tailed off in the middle, but he did start the season well and does usually seem well prepared to start the season strong and end it even stronger, and if he's thinking ahead like he should be, he'll be well aware of the strong start he needs to make this weekend, which could ultimately spur him on.

Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Amateur Qualifier
Aditya Mehta Vs Duane Jones
Jack Lisowski Vs Rhys Clark
Peter Ebdon Vs Nigel Bond
Matt Selt Vs Amateur Qualifier
Joe Swail Vs Alfie Burden
Liam Highfield Vs Amateur Qualifier
Robert Milkins Vs Fraser Patrick
Mark Davis Vs Amateur Qualifier
Stuart Carrington Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Rory McLeod Vs Amateur Qualifier
Fergal O'Brien Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael Holt Vs Jimmy White
Kyren Wilson Vs Ross Muir
Tom Ford Vs Amateur Qualifier
Joe Perry Vs Amateur Qualifier

Onto the bottom half of the draw where we find last years European order of merit leader and two time winner on the Euro Tour Shaun Murphy accompanying the eventual Players Champion Joe Perry. Matt Selt and Robert Milkins can also be found here and will want to go one better than the runners-up finishes they had in ET events in 2014.

Robert Milkins started off his season in Australia with a last 16 exit to Joe Perry is about average for Milkins who does struggle to kick on in events, especially when up against the top players like Joe. In the European Tour events he's had slightly more success as his run to the Bulgarian Open final last season demonstrated, and the format of these events suits his game quite nicely. As a player that appears to be reliant most of the time on getting into a rhythm early on, games coming thick and fast over the course of a weekend won't upset him too much, although we also know that if he doesn't get off to a good start he can fold quickly with the lack of recovery time that the best-of-7 frames matches offer. His draw doesn't look like a bed of roses with a possible last 32 clash against Matt Selt who is on the rise to better things as a player and well capable of toppling Milkins.

Matt Selt will have even more confidence after an appearance in the Australian Open quarter-finals to start his season, especially after beating home favourite Neil Robertson in the first round. Matt is continually growing in confidence and growing his ranking along with that, and he has plenty of bottle and nerve to match. A final on the European Tour last season gives him something to build from, and has built from a semi-final from the Gdynia Open of February 2014 and I think these short formats seem to be favouring him as much as the long format that saw him qualify for the Crucible and nearly come back from 9-4 down to beat Barry Hawkins in round one. If certain players come in cold this weekend i'd say that Selt won't be one of those as he's working incredibly hard on his game to get right to the very top and I could see him going far in Latvia this weekend too.

Shaun Murphy is last years European order of merit winner, after really coming into his own on the working weekend. After struggling in the Riga Open exiting in the Last 64, he went out to Selby in the Last 32 of the Paul Hunter Classic prior to winning in Bulgaria and making that back to back titles with the Ruhr Open. A Last 128 exit to Craig Steadman in Lisbon was a minor pre Christmas blemish, but he responded in the final event to make the Gdynia Open semi-finals as defending champion. A winner of nearly £50,000 just on the European Tour last season, Shaun will look to match that again this year and improve on a start to the season that saw him lose out in the first round of the Australian Open to Ali Carter. In fact that now means Shaun has lost his first match of the season in 3 of the last 4 years and that will annoy him, so he'll be working hard to put that right, and as I've detailed above he is clearly a threat for this weekend.

Joe Perry in fact went one better than Shaun last season by going on to win the Tour Championship finals in Thailand so he will want a strong start here in Riga, to boost his chances of defending that title. Joe was superb in these tour events last season finishing in the qualifying positions for the finals via both of the Asian Tour and European Tour order of merits, following his second Asian Tour title. It could be said that with Asian Tour events and a full ranking event title under his belt now, all that is missing for Joe is a Triple Crown event, and a European Tour title, but he's certainly displayed the credentials to compete over this shorter format. In fact, such are the results of Perry in recent years, he can now be counted as a major contender for every event he enters, and I expect this week to be no different.

Quarter Winner: Joe Perry

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ricky Walden Vs Zak Surety
Darryl Hill W/O Jamie Burnett
Ian Burns Vs Jamie Cope
Ben Woollaston Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Martin O'Donnell W/O Martin Gould
Michael Wasley Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gerard Greene Vs James Cahill
Mark Williams Vs Barry Pinches
John Higgins Vs Amateur Qualifier
Oli Lines Vs Daniel Wells
Dominic Dale Vs Chris Melling
Ali Carter Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liang Wenbo Vs Amateur Qualifier
David Morris Vs Amateur Qualifier
David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier
Stuart Bingham Vs Amateur Qualifier

The World Champion and second seed for this week can be found here in the final quarter with Stuart Bingham finding company at the bottom end of the draw with Australian champion John Higgins. Also here we have a recovering Mark Williams on the comeback from shoulder surgery, while Ben Woollaston, Ali Carter and Ricky Walden will all be looking to go big this weekend too.

Ricky Walden is a player that I can't seem to get away from the view of being very hit and miss. Even though his consistency has improved in the past few seasons, he still has patches where his game is shaky and he can go from very good performances to shocking ones without any real warning. He has won on the European Tour before but he's never up there amongst the titles as much as say a Trump, Selby or Murphy has been in the last couple of seasons, thriving on these best-of-7 weekends. Often Walden will get to the Last 32 or Last 16 and then perish to any player ranked around him, and I could very easily see that occurring again this weekend with plenty of those players lurking like Ben Woollaston, who could be seen as someone more likely to have a good run in these European Tour events, thriving on the format.

It will also be interesting to see how our World Champion Stuart Bingham gets on after his first round exit to Fergal O'Brien at the Australian Open, and an early exit in the group stages of the World Cup alongside Mark Selby. Stuart has every right to enjoy his summer with family and friends, along with completing a lot more corporate and sponsors events than he would be used to before now. The key is not to neglect the hours of practice that got you to where you are now, and let the odd day of hard practice slide but i'm sure he won't. However, it's a tough draw early on for Stuart Bingham who could face John Higgins or Ali Carter in the last 16, both of which seem to be cueing nicely in the early season, so Stuart will certainly need to show more of the form that got him to World Champion, than he has since starting the season with that title.

John Higgins is the shining star at the beginning of this new snooker campaign. On the baize, John led the Scots to the final of the World Cup alongside his good friend Maguire, before travelling down under to take his second ranking event title of 2014 by beating Martin Gould in the Australian Open final. I will be the first to admit that I doubted John over the last year or so, questioning his consistency throughout matches and tournaments, and I still wasn't convinced by his win in Cardiff a few months ago. However, the fact that he has performed consistently well at the start of the season, demonstrates that he can still pick up results and trophies, and is still working hard on his game. The season opening Euro Tour event of two years ago in Bulgaria saw Higgins go far, so will this weekend see a repeat performance? He's certainly playing well enough to make that a reality.

Ali Carter in my opinion can class his start to the season as a success. His only event so far came at the Australian Open, and after his ranking was unfrozen, Ali dropped out of the top 16 and had to play a match to qualify for Bendigo which he came through with the professionalism we come to expect from a top player like Carter. His first round performance to beat arguably the best player of last season in Murphy 5-4 with some high class breaks, was incredibly impressive and i'm sure he would've beaten Michael White in the Last 16 had the odd break gone his way in that narrow 5-4 loss. Having seen off what he's had to see off in the last couple of years, Ali will now be determined to get back to where he belongs in the world rankings and the winners circle. As we know Ali is a very determined character and I think this along with continued results will translate into a great season for Carter and some brilliant results, very possibly starting with this weekend if he's playing well enough.

Quarter Winner: Ali Carter

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Joe Perry
Predicted Tournament Winner: Mark Allen

Despite what I may have said and suggested earlier on, this should be a nice short sharp burst of snooker action, all of which will be found on Eurosport as usual and there should be yet more chances to see some new guys in action as well as all of your firm favourites for the first or second time in the early stages of Kreativ Dental (yes they're still sponsoring the show) European Tour 2015/2016. I hope you all enjoy, wherever you are!!!

Fantasy Snooker League: Riga Open and Points Update

After a long break following the Australian Open, snooker is back this weekend with the Riga Open snooker. That means it's time for another round of the Cue Action Blog Fantasy Snooker League and a points update following the first event of the season in Bendigo.

Here's how it all looks following round one:

1st - Igor 49 points +0.2 million
     - SnookerFollower 49 points +0.2 million
3rd - Anthony Ward 45 points +3.5 million
4th - LTD 26 points +1 million
5th - Spanish Snooker Blog 21 points +0.4 million
6th - John 20 points +1 million
      - Ezgi Ulutas 20 +1 million 
      - Sean20 +1 million
9th - Chris Watts 17 +0.2 million
10th - Gorkem Kurt 9 points +0.9 million
11th -  Andrew Brooker 7 points +3 million
12th - Kjetil 0 points - 0.4 million
        - Josh Cooper 0 points +0.6 million
        - Gary 0 points +1 million
        - Guillermo 0 points
        - TungstenDarts 0 +2 million
        - Kai 0
        - Phil 0 +0.6 million
        - Michael Coudray 0 +2.7 million

As you can see we have a couple of runaways at the top of the leaderboard but it's the first event of the season so it's not like we're running out of time to see them caught up, so keep plugging away.

Here are the players and prices for the Riga Open, as usual you have £8 million to spend plus any that you have added against your name in the points table above:

* Please note that you cannot pick any of the players in the amateur draw, whether they qualify for the Last 128 stages or not

Mark Selby – 6 million
Stuart Bingham – 5.8 million
Shaun Murphy – 5.6 million
Judd Trump – 5.5 million
Barry Hawkins – 5.4 million
Joe Perry– 5.3 million
Ricky Walden – 5.2 million
Mark Allen – 5 million
John Higgins – 4.9 million
Mark Williams – 4.8 million
Stephen Maguire– 4.6 million
Michael White – 4.5 million
Graeme Dott– 4.3 million
Mark Davis – 4.2 million
Robert Milkins – 4.1 million
Ryan Day – 4 million

Any Player seeded 17-32: 3.5 million
Any Player seeded 33-48: 3 million
Any Player seeded 49-64: 2.5 million
Any Player seeded 65-80: 2 million
Any Player seeded 81 or below: 1 million


If there are any further questions feel free to ask and it's not too late to join the league, just tweet your pick to me @CueActionBlog. Otherwise, happy tipping!!!

Celebrity Snooker Fans: CJ De Mooi: A lifelong love

In a nice new little feature I've got for all you fans of Cue Action Snooker Blog, I've spoken to CJ De Mooi, a famous face from the world of TV Quizzes such as Eggheads and Revenge of the Egghead, as well as a guest on several other quiz shows to go with his new on stage acting work, about his love of snooker and his fondest memories of the game. A lifelong fan CJ is also good friends with Triple Crown winning Shaun Murphy, which is enough to help anyone's love of snooker!!! In this piece CJ speaks of his early love of the game, very happy moments on the same day as Doherty's Crucible triumph of 1997 as well as the Pointless partnership he made with Shaun Murphy, and the day he got to test the knowledge of snooker's greatest. Enjoy:

"My earliest snooker memory was watching a match on television when I was three or four years old. Eddie Charlton was playing and as I was so youthfully impressionable, you might think that would be enough to put me off the game for life. However, I was fascinated by these coloured balls flying around the table in directions which seemed utterly impossible. As I grew, I became engrossed in the game but strangely harboured no desire whatsoever to play. I only wanted to watch. With my current running abilities well documented, it may seem bizarre that as a youngster I had no interest at all in physical sports. Even something as serene as walking around a green baize, occasionally leaning over to pot a ball was far too strenuous to be considered. Perhaps I knew I'd never be any good and as a naturally competitive person, this was enough to ensure my permanent armchair enthusiast status.

 

I came to revel in the personalities of the mid 1980s and yes, I was one of those eighteen and a half million souls who stayed up to watch the Davis-Taylor final. I wanted Steve to win but was sure he'd regain the title the following year (oops!) but was happy for Dennis and to see a new name immortalised.

 

Obviously after my life fell apart, I wasn't able to continue following the game but when I got back on track nine years later, I found myself back in front of a small screen watching as much as I could. 

As I've discussed with Ken Doherty, I met my partner (we're still together and getting married this year) on the day he won the world title against, let's be honest, all the odds and expectations. Ken is such a genuinely lovely guy though, no-one could begrudge him. This is something I unexpectedly found to be true virtually across the board. When my public profile began to grow, I attended my first live snooker match and thence onto the World Championships, so began to get to know the players personally. They were all so engagingly friendly and went out of their way to welcome me as not just a celebrity supporter but clearly someone who was passionate and knowledgeable about the game.

This was put to good use in 2010 when I was asked to take part in a Crucible interval piece called Snooker Eggheads. I faced six commentators, who included three former winners of the supreme title, in a quiz. They could answer on a chosen subject but I took the Snooker World Championships in every round. I scored fifty one out of sixty, and only lost to John Parrott but fortunately I'm not bitter about this sole loss... much.

 

Perhaps my proudest moment was appearing on Pointless Celebrities with Shaun Murphy. Although I didn't really take to him when he burst onto the scene in 2005 as the second youngest ever World Champion, we've since become good friends. We played to support the Paul Hunter Foundation and I couldn't have been more humbled. I really wish I'd had the chance to meet this amazing young man before he died tragically early after achieving more in the game than most people do in decades.

Despite a couple of hiccups, Shaun and I came through to win the jackpot for the charity and I count this as the highlight of my television career so far.

 

Snooker may seem an unusual obsession to some, especially as I have no urge to pick up a cue myself. Nevertheless, it makes me happy and the long history appeals to my inquisitive nature and love of quizzy lists. I can honestly say that of all the benefits my career has given me, getting to know snooker from the inside has been the most special."

I'd like to thank CJ once again for taking part in this feature for the blog and wish him all the best of luck with his many upcoming ventures, including the release of his autobiography which is currently available to pre order from the man himself (and signed for an extra few pounds)!!!

As for this feature I hope that I will be lucky to get in touch with another famous face who's passion for snooker burns strong. If anybody has any suggestions of who I should try and work my magic on, please send them in to me via Twitter @CueActionBlog.

Fantasy Snooker League 2015/2016

After a successful trial from the beginning of the year at the Masters in January to the season ending World Championships, the Cue Action Blog Fantasy Snooker League has returned and this time it will run from this week’s first ranking event of the season in Bendigo at the Australian Open, all the way up until the conclusion once again at the Crucible Theatre in May.

Last season’s winner was Andrew Brooker and the question is who will win this year? Entering is simple. Just get in contact through the usual ways on Twitter @CueActionBlog and tweet me your picks prior to every event after the events have been priced up.

Last time around the system seemed to work well so I’ll be keeping it the same as that with the deadline for picks being before the first match of each tournament and with the players being priced up in the same way as previously by seeding at the time of the tournament draw being made. You will also still be given 8 million to pick two players for every event with points also working in a similar way and the UK Championships, Masters and World Championships counting double.

Points Scoring System:

-          Match Win: 5 points
-          Match Win by 3 frames or better (5-2, 4-1, etc): 2 bonus points
-          Player Century: 2 points
-          147 break by player: 5 bonus points
-          Semi-Finallist: 2 points
-          Runner-Up  5 points
-          Tournament Winner: 10 points

First up as I say is the Australian Open so here are the players:

Australian Open Players: Deadline 1am on Monday 29^th June

Judd Trump – 6 million
Stuart Bingham – 5.8 million
Mark Selby – 5.6 million
Neil Robertson – 5.5 million
Shaun Murphy – 5.4 million
Joe Perry – 5.3 million
Ricky Walden – 5.2 million
Marco Fu – 5 million
Mark Allen – 4.9 million
John Higgins – 4.8 million
Stephen Maguire – 4.6 million
Robert Milkins – 4.5 million
Michael White – 4.3 million
Mark Davis – 4.2 million
Xiao Guodong – 4.1 million
Michael Holt – 4 million
Ben Woollaston – 3.5 million
Matt Selt – 3.5 million
Fergal O’Brien – 3.5 million
Martin Gould – 3.5 million
Mark King – 3.5 million
Jamie Jones – 3.5 million
Ali Carter – 3.5 million
Gerard Greene – 3.5 million
Mark Joyce – 3 million
Andrew Higginson – 3 million
Jack Lisowski – 3 million
Jamie Burnett – 3 million
Michael Georgiou – 2 million
Ian Burns – 2 million
Joel Walker – 2 million
Hossein Vafei Ayouri – 1 million

 

So then, the rules are above and if you’re interested get your picks sent in ahead of the deadline, by contacting me in the usual ways, mainly via Twitter @CueActionBlog. I will also be trying throughout the season to find someone to sponsor a prize worthy of giving out to this seasons winner, to make it an even more exciting league. Enjoy your tipping!!

Australian Open Preview

This week it’s time for the first full ranking event of the season as we head down under to Bendigo for the Australian Open. After qualifiers took place under the old structure with the top 16 seeds qualifying automatically, 16 more players came through qualifying right at the very beginning of June, three and a half weeks prior to the final stages.

The story with the Australian Open is usually who hasn’t entered, and despite the continued absence of Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan in Bendigo, most of the other big names will be present, other than Barry Hawkins who is a former Bendigo winner and Mark Williams who is undergoing shoulder surgery at some stage. That means we have both of the last two world champions and world numbers 1 and 2 in Selby and Bingham, as well as defending champion Judd Trump and former champion Marco Fu. Home favourite Neil Robertson will be looking to go one better than his runners-up cheque in both of the previous two years, while World Championship runner-up Shaun Murphy will be looking to start this season playing as well as he did at the conclusion of last.

The absence of four top 16 players means that Michael White, Mark Davis, Xiao Guodong and Michael Holt are also seeded for this week, while there is a pretty strong line-up of qualifiers including Ali Carter, Martin Gould and Ben Woollaston along with some lower ranked players in Joel Walker, Michael Georgiou and Hossein Vafei Ayouri, so it’s a very exciting line-up, even if the tournament is for one of the lower ranking event top prizes in terms of money.

So, without further ado here is how the draw looks for this week along with my thoughts on what we can expect:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Judd Trump Vs Jack Lisowski

Xiao Guodong Vs Ian Burns

Stephen Maguire Vs Joel Walker
Ricky Walden Vs Andrew Higginson

This quarter sees the defending champion Judd Trump along with last seasons International Champion Ricky Walden and the recent world cup runner-up Stephen Maguire and some exciting younger players at different stages of their snookering development with Guodong, Lisowski and Walker.

Xiao Guodong is one of the top 16 seeds for this week with four of the big guns deciding not to enter, and out of those 16 seeded players for this week it will be the first action of the new season for half of them, but not for Guodong as he was one of those that represented his country at the snooker World Cup. As part of China A with Ding Junhui, he didn’t exactly impress massively as the pair exited in the first knock-out round after topping the easiest of the four groups. In fact they were outshone by the China B team who went on to win the cup. This is an important season for the development of Guodong’s career. He has money to defend from 2 years ago when he made the Shanghai Masters final, and he didn’t exactly impress greatly in the 2014/2015 with not all that much notable to speak of. His draw isn’t the best if he can get past Ian Burns early on either as he has a possible second round meeting with the world number 7 and defending champion. But, will this season be the one for Guodong to really step up and be counted?

Ricky Walden is also in this quarter and making his first appearance of the season, so it’ll be interesting to see how he performances with a certain amount of rustiness in his game being inevitable. It’s hard enough to predict what Walden is going to play like in the middle of a busy period in the season, so after over two months off, how will he get on? It’s not the easiest early round draw playing Andrew Higginson in round one, with a possible last 16 tie against Maguire to follow. Ricky should be refreshed and raring to go for the new season, and he usually does come out firing after a decent sized break if he can get rid of the cobwebs early on. After a decent season last time out, Walden will be looking to kick on again in the next few months and really become established within the world’s top 8, as a realistic aim.

Stephen Maguire was a runner-up at the snooker world cup in Wuxi so any early season cobwebs should be history from his game, and that will all help in the process of getting used to what appeared to be a new cue for the new season. It wasn’t just a new cue for Maguire but a totally style switching from maple to ash it seems and that will take even more adapting too. The back end of last season was disappointing for Stephen as he fell at the first hurdle in Sheffield, and he’s now hanging on to his place in the top 16, and if he can’t start the season off well then he’s going to spend most of it looking down rather than up. He starts off the week against young Joel Walker and if he can overcome that test I think the quarter-finals is at least realistic for Stephen and that would be a decent warm-up for the rest of the early season.

Judd Trump comes into this week after a couple of months of reflection following his semi-final deciding frame loss in Sheffield, and what was a stunning season for the young man. He comes into this tournament as defending champion, and the world number 7. These are exciting times for Trump who is showing his potential and giving himself a lot of opportunities to win events, as well as converting a good percentage into the silverware he desires. As his first tournament of the season there will be a certain amount of rust to shake off and I don’t expect Trump to go on and defend his title, though I could certainly see him pushing it close if he can over a tricky early match against his friend Jack Lisowski, who always poses a tough challenge if he fires. If Jack doesn’t fire it could be quite an easy opener for Judd that helps him to kick on for the rest of the week.

Quarter Winner: Judd Trump  

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Martin Gould
Michael Holt Vs Gerard Greene
Mark Allen Vs Mark Joyce
Neil Robertson Vs Matt Selt or Ben Judge

Here, completing the top half of the draw is former champion Marco Fu, along with twice a runner-up in Bendigo and the home favourite Neil Robertson. Fellow left hander Mark Allen and Nottingham’s Michael Holt will be playing their first competitive matches of the season, while Matt Selt and Martin Gould are two qualifiers who can definitely cause some damage in this section.

Michael Holt struggled last year for any real results against the best players or for a really good run at any stage, and this season is an important one for him to keep himself where he is now at least in the top 32. Coming to Australia he’s had a nice break having not had to qualify here or not qualifying for Sheffield so he’s had about 8-10 weeks away from the table so he should be raring to get going again. First up this week though he has a very tough opponent in Gerard Greene who qualified without dropping a frame, and then went on to carry Northern Ireland in the world cup, while Joe Swail appeared to be the one who was struggling. With the cobwebs blown away though he will probably settle the quicker of the two in this match and I think that Gerard could edge it if it goes close as I expect.

Mark Allen is also in his first event of the season after turning down the chance to partner Gerard Greene in the Northern Ireland world cup team. He was beaten in the first round in Australia last season and in fairness I don’t think he travels particularly well (from what you read on Twitter)so could be vulnerable if he hasn’t got into the Australian time zone by the first couple of games. Allen comes into this season after a disappointing end to a season that promised so much last year after two ranking event finals before December, but he only really had a Masters semi-final to show for the rest of his season after Christmas, and a Last 16 World Championship loss 13-11 from 9-6 ahead. Mark needs to knuckle down this year so we can start to see the very best of him, and I have heard that he is trying to keep in better shape, and let’s hope that this will help his form and results. If he could get going this week there is potential for him to go on very far, although a potential last 16 meeting with Neil Robertson could put an end to his week equally.

Marco Fu is a former champion down under and therefore has that money to defend from his triumph two years ago, and Marco is on the defensive a little this year with his ranking because he did little of great note last season and is in danger if he can get results here or in Chengdu where he made the 2013 final losing a decider to Ding. It’s a tough start for Marco this week against Martin Gould who is climbing back up the rankings and had good showings towards the back end of the year in the World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals. Marco though was able to loosen the arm up in Wuxi representing the Hong Kong team with mixed results. The one thing with Marco is that he is a trier and a battler so usually you have to be right on your game to beat him and that will be the case again this week.

Neil Robertson is going to be one of the favourites for the title this week in Bendigo, playing on home turf and making the 2013 and 2014 finals, so he’ll have double the determination that he had last year to go one better. Again, he dusted away the early season cobwebs in Wuxi representing Australia in the World Cup and he played well, dragging a poor Vinnie Calabrese along and making the quarter-finals. Neil in all honesty would be disappointed with his ending to last season and some early exits in tournaments that he wouldn’t have enjoyed, and with plenty to defend this year with his final place here, a world semi-final and UK Championship winners prize money all from 2 seasons ago, along with Wuxi winners money which he couldn’t defend as the tournament was taken from the calendar. So, he needs to build momentum early this season and there’s nothing like playing in front of your home crowd to fire you up for a big run. Up first he has a possible tough match with Matt Selt who should come through the wildcard match he has, but if Robertson is on his game I think he’ll make at least the semi-finals.

Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Mark King
Mark Davis Vs Jamie Jones
Michael White Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Shaun Murphy Vs Ali Carter

In the bottom half of the draw we have a particularly interesting section with world number one Mark Selby, and World Championship finalist Shaun Murphy joined by the exciting Welsh talent and Indian Open winner Michael White, with Ali Carter is surely one man outside of the top 16 who you would want to avoid this season, while young Hossein Vafei Ayouri has overcome 4 matches just to get here.

Mark Davis is always a tough player to pick in any draw. Often when you think he can kick on he doesn’t, but then if you underestimate him he’ll surprise you. I think the cases of that were in consecutive tournaments at the World Grand Prix and Players Championship finals, after beating Neil Robertson in the previous round at both events to get to a quarter-final he then came up against Stuart Bingham only to lose 4-0 and 4-1 when he and I probably both gave him better chances of kicking on after the surprise victories against Neil. This week first up he has Jamie Jones who really started to find his game towards the end of last season qualifying for the Crucible and making the Last 16 in Beijing. Mark is obviously playing his first game of the season so could be a little rusty and there for the taking if Jamie is playing well.

Michael White is one man who we will all be looking out for in every draw this season. After his win in India you have to expect great things from him, but (there’s always a but) it’s also down to how he can handle this expectation? He was the highest seed in World Championship qualifying but lost in the second qualifying round, and I think he was disappointed not to have qualified automatically having a couple of events at the Players Championship and China Open to really have a go at breaking the top 16 when the wind was in his sails. However, with money in the bank mostly from last season ranking wise, this season could be more of a free shot for him and if he starts out well in Bendigo who knows what 2015/2016 will bring for the Welshman. This week he starts off against Hossein Vafei Ayouri who will certainly be warm having played 4 matches to qualify, and representing his country in Wuxi just as White did. We all know that Hossein is dangerous and Michael will need to get out of the blocks quickly to avoid an upset.

Shaun Murphy is going to be an interesting player to look out for in the 2015/2016 season. From January to May last season he really hit his straps. A World Championship final (narrowly missing out on the title), a German Masters final and of course the Masters title at the Alexandra Palace to complete his triple crown as he began playing the best snooker of his life. After the World Championships that he had he really needed the couple of months off just to take stock of where he is at, with a now solid ranking at world number 6 and almost with a free shot at the first half of the season as he didn’t get past the Last 16 of a full ranking event until March of the corresponding season two years ago. A holiday for Shaun has been mixed with plenty of Golf and heaps of exhibitions after the World’s so I think he’ll be fresh and raring to go again this week. However, he also has the toughest first round draw of the lot in Ali Carter, and he will know exactly what he is up against there and that he will need to get rid of the early season rustiness quickly to beat Carter. Having a tough starter can work both ways, it can either see you sent packing very early, or fire you up to play your best snooker and go very far and I don’t know which of those will be the case for Murphy in Bendigo.

Mark Selby is the top seed in this quarter and the first thing I want to say about Mark is that I think he had a really good season last year contrary to what certain “experts” said on commentary last week. To deal with the pressures of being world champion and a father for the first time all in a space of a few months, and win a minor ranking event as well as the German Masters and China Open is very impressive. This season is all about damage limitation ranking wise for Selby who will obviously be defending his World Championship money on the two year system as well as his 2013 UK Championship runner-up money amongst other things. He’s the world number one with good reason and I can’t see him being troubled too much before the quarter-finals this week because his draw shapes up pretty nicely, although Mark King can cause trouble in round one. A solid start to the season for Selby is very much expected by myself.

Quarter Winner: Mark Selby

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Joe Perry Vs Jamie Burnett
Robert Milkins Vs Ben Woollaston or Adrian Ridley
John Higgins Vs Michael Georgiou
Stuart Bingham Vs Fergal O’Brien

Completing the draw we have a quarter that includes the world champion Stuart Bingham, Players champion Joe Perry, recent world cup runner-up John Higgins while Fergal O’Brien and Ben Woollaston are two of the tougher qualifiers in this draw and both could do damage along with world number 16 Robert Milkins.

Robert Milkins is lining up for his first match of the season here against Ben Woollaston (so long as Ben can get through the wildcard round) and that’s going to be incredibly tough for Rob. Robert will be aiming for a strong season this time around to establish himself in the top 16, but I just don’t feel he’s solid enough and consistent enough as a player to do that. He has the talent, of that there’s no doubt, but his temperament and attitude is pretty suspect. Some days he’ll turn up and play out of his skin and can beat anyone, but if a few little things go against him early, he’ll turn into the club player that just likes to have a bash. That’s why a good start will be important for Ben, who must have big aspirations of his own after making the Welsh Open final last season and improving quite a lot.

Joe Perry had an amazing season last year winning his first ranking event and making a ranking event final early on in the season and he’ll be hoping for more of the same in a very big season for Joe. The gentleman had a very consistent season, two years ago, particularly after Christmas where he consistently made quarter-finals and semi-finals of major events. He’s a consistent and solid player when on form and he’ll be looking to start off his season brightly here, with his first match against Jamie Burnett, who you fancy him to beat if he plays some decent snooker. The one thing we’re going to see a lot more of now from Joe is confidence having won his first ranking event and proving that not only can he compete very strongly, but he can win and that is something which you can’t put a price on at any stage of a person’s career.

Speaking of winning, we’ve finally come to the section of the draw that sees our new world champion Stuart Bingham. Stuart was obviously in action at last week’s World Cup representing England, and he looked like he’d been enjoying some sun and some time off, after a long season of snooker and his end of season triumph. The question with Bingham this season is how he will deal with being World Champion, especially as this is something he didn’t necessarily expect to happen to him. He loves to play snooker all around the world though and is the kind of player that will play his way into form due to the sheer volume of matches that he plays over the course of the year. However, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him struggle for a few events early in the season, while he gets back into that groove, and playing Fergal O’Brien first up this week is no easy task.

John Higgins is going to be interesting this season, as I think he may be starting to find a little bit of form. He represented Scotland at the World Cup, and was certainly playing the better of the pairing between him and Maguire that managed to get to the final. Higgins of course was back in the winner’s circle last season at the Welsh Open, and the only thing that is missing from Higgins game throughout his struggles is the consistency. He still has the ability to make the vital clearances and breaks in matches, but the problem for John is just stringing the frames and matches together at times when he just seemed to throw in a bad miss every now and again. We all know that the talent is still there with John and if he can keep his belief and confidence up and keep working hard he still has a few more good weeks and good seasons in his capabilities.

Quarter Winner: John Higgins

Tournament Runner-Up: John Higgins
Tournament Winner: Neil Robertson

So, once we start on Monday, the first round of best-of-9 frames matches goes on until Wednesday with a two table set-up that then sees the last 16 started on Wednesday also, and finishing on Thursday ahead of Friday’s quarter-finals, Saturday’s best-of-11 frame semi-finals and the best-of-17 frames conclusion on Sunday over two sessions. It should be an exciting week, and a very cold one for those coming back off of their summer holidays and going out to the Australian winter to resume business. It’s a strong line-up and you expect one of the big players to come through even this early in the season.

I’ll be back with blog updates as often as I can be this week, though with my Wi-Fi at home currently out of action, and awaiting a replacement router, it’s anyone’s guess as to when things will be back up and running, though hopefully it’ll be before the business end of the week.

B is for Brilliant as Chinese youngsters storm to victory

Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao. They're 17 and 15 years old respectively. However, at the World Cup of Snooker in Wuxi, experience was in youth as the two teens ran out as the winners of the snooker world cup representing China B. Thanks to their amazing victory they are now in this years Champion of Champions and in terms of prize money they've got £65,000 each. For first and second year tour pros £65,000 (although of course not ranking money) has set them up for life in terms of the travel and entry fees for tournaments which so many other players in the game struggle for.

China B started out in the incredibly difficult Group D where in match one they took on the Republic of Ireland and ran out comfortable and somewhat unexpected 4-1 winners against Ken and Fergal. At this stage we didn't really know what to expect from the Chinese "Seconds" and whether they could go all the way as dark horses. On Tuesday it was time for the World Champions of Selby and Bingham representing England. It went all the way but eventually England ran out 3-2 winners, in what turned out to be China B's only defeat of the entire World Cup. Next up, at the halfway stage of the round robin the teens had the certain victory against the United Arab Emirates who were no problem, as China rolled out a whitewash. The key game for them in this group quickly became the match up with Thailand on Thursday who were already flying high after their heavy early victories. It was another tight match but once they came through it 3-2 they were mere certainties to get out of the group stages with a game against the Germans to come. Having beaten them 5-0 in the final game they ensured the top spot of the group ahead of Thailand.

Meanwhile, Australia were struggling but they came through as the second placed side in Group C, with Wales taking the top spot. Belgium ended up topping Group B ahead of Scotland, while China A romped to victory in Group A ahead of the Indian pair of Mehta and Advani. That meant that the quarter-finals saw Wales against Thailand, under the new first to four format for the knock-out stages. After losing the first frame Wales took the next four in a row for a 4-1 victory. China B meanwhile played Australia and won the opening two singles games to lead 2-0 early on. After losing the doubles they also lost the following singles game to draw level at 2-2. A big break in the next singles game gave the Chinese youngsters two cracks at getting into the semi-finals. A tight doubles match came next, going right down to the colours before China B got over the line to set-up a last 4 tie with Wales.

In the other half of the draw, Scotland eased to victory against the Chinese first choice side 4-1, while India ended up beating Belgium by the same score line to set up the first semi-final. India led early on 2-1 and 3-2 but the Scots were able to come back and win a "Captains picks" deciding frame to get into the final with a 4-3 victory. Meanwhile, the Chinese pair were ahead at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 despite the Welsh continually pulling them back and forcing a decider. Zhou Yuelong took on Mark Williams in the "Captains Picks" decider and it was Zhou who was dominant to take the home side into the final.

The Chinese were once again dominant in the final winning both singles games and the first doubles to take a 3-0 advantage of the Scots. They were able to pull one back but they soon had the job done and China B are the World Cup winners after a 4-1 victory over my tournament tip Scotland.


Next up on the calendar is the Australian Open starting in a weeks time and it should be another really good event even if some of the top stars will be missing, and i'm looking forward to having a look and previewing that event at the end of this week.

The Alternative View: Snooker World Cup

In a new feature for the blog i'm teaming up with Vik Iyer who writes for comedy blog NewsFox and tweet on the account @NewsFoxSport and the aim is the feature is to offer an alternative view on the snooker than the one I offer in my usual previews.

To start Vik offers his views on the Snooker World Cup, with the aim of mixing tips along with some much needed humour. So, here's "The Alternative View": 

"The last edition of the Snooker World Cup seemed to annoy the purists quite a bit – which is probably why I thoroughly enjoyed it. The moaners probably wanted every singles game to be best-of-19 so that the tournament was a 'true test'. But the entertainment of alternate shot doubles far outweighs such snipes.

There's the obvious point that such a format gives lesser nations a chance to shine and there certainly were some shocks in the tournament's last outing in Thailand.

It also forces a fiercely individual sport into an entirely different dynamic. The organisers have missed a huge trick in not pairing Ronnie O'Sullivan with Mark Selby (yes I know they did it from rankings)  – their attempts to play alternate shot doubles would've resulted in more rows than Big Brother. It would have been TV gold.

Before I get to my thoughts on who'd win, it's worth noting that bizarrely Mark Allen isn't competing for Northern Ireland meaning they are unseeded. It's also surprising that there's no Finnish team but then again after Robin Hull they'd probably have to get in one of Santa's reindeer.

This format does kind of remind me of local league snooker  - it somehow feels more appropriate that the players vie for microwave pizzas rather than huge wads of cash.

That said, it seems the way to approach this from a betting standpoint is to assume that hard matchplay could well win this. The other thing that is key is the way players gel. Yet the main contenders for this title – China, Scotland England and Wales – all rather fit that bill. The players know each other really well and they all know how to win tournaments the hard way.

Personally I can't look past the England team – Bingham and Selby is an awesome combo . They're good friends and their games complement each other too. The main threats outside of the big four will come from Australia, the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland. Australia are the threat here but it would need a big improvement from Vinnie Calabrese. Semis is their best hope and I suspect the bookies won’t offer great odds either.

I don't see any of the dark horses getting past the semis. Thailand have enough nous to make the quarters as do India who possess two players – Aditya Mehta and Pankaj Advani – who can handle this disjointed format. But an inspired run from young hotshots team China B is the only hope for a shock World Cup winner in my view.

For a mad, low punt accie, I’d suggest England to win and – if your betting account allows it – add in Thailand, Brazil and India to qualify from the groups. Second is going to be a dogfight in Groups A. B and D so the value may be in identifying the surprises at this stage."

I hope you enjoyed that and I hope their is much more to come from Vik on the blog in the future, as he certainly has a strong opinion on the game and offers a great alternative view and he certainly knows his stuff.