The Northern Ireland Open begins on Sunday, and Richard Mann's outright preview has three selections to consider at big prices.
Snooker betting tips: Northern Ireland Open
1pt e.w. Ali Carter to win the Northern Ireland Open at 25/1 (General 1/2 1,2)
1pt e.w. Pang Junxu to win the Northern Ireland Open at 50/1 (General 1/2 1,2)
1pt e.w. Gary Wilson to win the Northern Ireland Open at 66/1 (General 1/2 1,2)
The snooker circus heads to Belfast next, with the Northern Ireland Open starting on Sunday morning.
I won’t be alone in my belief that this tournament is by some distance the best of the Home Nations Series, and we have been treated to some memorable matches here over the years.
In his latest column, Nick Metcalfe has paid tribute to the event beautifully, so do check that out while I focus on trying to find the winner of this year's renewal.
As ever, the obvious starting point is Judd Trump, with two big titles and counting already this season and fresh from another deep run at the Wuhan Open.
Trump’s record in Belfast is quite something. He won it three times in a row from 2018 to 2020, beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final on each occasion, before finding the winning note again in 2023.
Trump is clearly the man to beat once more and there are sure to be plenty of takers at 7/2, or even 3/1. However, he wasn’t at his brilliant best in Wuhan, fortunate to beat Chris Wakelin on one occasion, and I’m keen to play a trio of others at big prices.
Wilson eyes more Home Nations gold
I’ll kick off with GARY WILSON at 66/1.
On the face of it, Wilson’s recent form asks punters to take a big leap of faith here, but the price on offer about a high-class operator does compensate for that, and I think there are reasons for optimism.
For starters, Wilson really enjoys this series and clearly has the game to stand up to these short-format matches which mean plenty of close finishes are almost inevitable. His temperament and bottle in the heat of the battle cannot be questioned.
And we saw all of that in evidence as he won the Scottish Open for the second season running in December, before rocking up in Llandudno and winning the Welsh Open with a brilliant week's work in which he bossed the tournament from start to finish.
Winning any Home Nations event twice in succession is no mean feat – we are in Trump territory here – but back-to-back wins is particularly impressive, especially when you consider that the first was your maiden ranking title.
And to back that up in Wales for a second Home Nations triumph in the same campaign was a fine achievement, reaffirming the point that Wilson is made for this format and the series in general.
As I said earlier, his more recent form is nothing to write home about, but he secured qualification for the International Championship earlier this month with a 6-3 win over Hammad Miah which featured breaks of 126, 120, 75, 63 and 53.
In fact, his scoring has remained reasonably consistent, and he dominated Mark Allen in that department when losing a deciding frame to their match at the British Open.
He also lost in a decider at the last-64 stage of the English Open, and again knocked in plenty of big breaks as he shared a couple of matches with the classy David Gilbert, the pair winning one each.
All in all, there have been definite shoots of promise, and in many ways, Wilson might be frustrated that what appears to be decent form hasn’t yielded a deep run somewhere.
As we know, that can quickly change over the course of such a long season when players drift in and out of hot and cold runs, so I’m happy to chance that returning to a Home Nations event can bring about a change of luck for Wilson.
Another who is due one of those is ALI CARTER, and I’ll be giving the two-time World Championship runner-up another chance having had him in my staking plan in Wuhan.
The case there was that having won the Championship League as recently as July, he has continued to appear in good touch, only losing out in a deciding frame to Ding Junhui in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters when knocking in two centuries in that match.
He lost another decider in the first round of the British Open, and back to Wuhan, he was excellent all week until again losing by a single frame in a high-quality contest with Shaun Murphy.
In the previous rounds there, he needed to play well to beat Mark Davis and Marco Fu, the latter 5-3 despite the Hong Kong veteran peeling off breaks of 139, 108, 66 and 51.
Carter has always been a terrific player with a fantastic all-round game and bombproof temperament, but joining forces with renowned coach Chris Henry appears to have given him a new lease of life, and his victory at the 2023 German Masters was backed up with two more finals and a series of other deep runs last term.
I think he’s close to another bold showing somewhere soon and I’m happy to stick with him at odds of 25/1.
Finally, Chinese youngster PANG JUNXU makes up the staking plan.
I’ve long been a fan of Pang and like the aforementioned pair, a bit more rub of the green and things might have been even better for the 24-year-old this season.
A semi-finalist at the 2023 Welsh Open, Pang has started the current campaign well, but he led Mark Selby 3-2 before losing their quarter-final at the valuable Shanghai Masters, and then lost to the same opponent 5-4 at the Xi’an Grand Prix and 4-3 at the British Open in a match he really ought to have won.
He’ll certainty pleased to see the back of Selby who, gladly, is berthed on the opposite side of draw this week.
In truth, it’s been a season of near misses for Pang so far, having also downed the likes of Matthew Selt and Luca Brecel, before Si Jiahui beat him 6-5 in the last 16 of the Saudi Arabia Masters.
Another deciding-frame loss, at the last-16 stage of the English Open, does raise a few eyebrows, but he won a decider when beating Brecel in the previous round, and that was a pretty good week for him overall in this same format.
On the whole, his game and results appear to be trending upwards and in snooker terms, he’s very much a baby with his best days still to come.
Pang is up to 17 on the 1 Year Ranking List and as we’ve seen many times already this season, including with Wu Yize’s runner-up finish at the English Open, the battalion of talented Chinese youngsters are beginning to make an impact with increasing regularity.
Pang has always looked one of the better prospects from the current crop, so I’m happy to roll the dice at 50/1.
Posted at 1415 BST on 17/10/24
ALSO READ: Nick Metcalfe's latest column
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