Fresh from a 33/1 runner-up in Scotland, James Cooper has two selections for the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
Snooker betting tips: Riyadh Season Snooker Championship
1pt Mark Selby to win the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship at 15/2 (Unibet)
1pt Shaun Murphy to win the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship at 20/1 (General)
From David Beckham’s embarrassment-saving free kick against Greece, to Jasper Carrott’s greed-inducing ITV gameshow, the latest instalment of Golden Balls, or golden ball in this case, begins on Thursday with the second edition of the Riyadh Season Snooker Championship.
It’s a tiered draw, with Ding Junhui and Zhang Anda playing local amateurs in round one, while Shaun Murphy and Luca Brecel enter the fray in round two.
The remaining six players join from round three (quarter-finals) and it’s best-of-seven until the final, which is only best-of-nine so it’s a serious prize money to frames ratio and that’s before the $1million bonus for a 167 break is thrown into the mix.
Ronnie O’Sullivan won the inaugural running of this in March and this event will presumably be high on his priority list given his Saudi ambassadorial role but in truth, he’s hard to support at 7/2 on the evidence of this season’s fleeting performances.
Yes, the best player of all time can never be discounted but until he proves otherwise, I’m inclined to think his powers may well be on the wane slightly aged 49, albeit this format will certainly help.
With Judd Trump and Kyren Wilson, arguably the two best players at present, housed in the same section, there looks to be an obvious angle in backing a couple in the O’Sullivan half.
Step forward MARK SELBY and SHAUN MURPHY, who look a shade overpriced at 15/2 (with plenty of 7/1 available) and 20/1 respectively.
Both fell at the first hurdle here in March, losing deciders to Mark Allen and Trump respectively and it’s the Northern Irishman again for Selby, while Murphy joins a round earlier where he’s long odds-on to face Ding Junhui.
As is always the case with the game’s elite, there’s plenty of head-to-head form to go at, although Murphy and Ding somehow had a six-year hiatus from one another.
The 6-5 Murphy win at York last month will have stung Ding, who made back-to-back centuries to level at 5-5 before never really getting a chance in frame 11.
Murphy has genuinely held the upper hand against Ding and while both are similar players in many ways given their A-game is truly elite, both are capable of throwing in the odd shocker.
While Ding has tasted success this season in the International Championship, there looks to be more substance to Murphy’s form on the whole, particularly as he’s had an unfortunate knack of losing to the eventual winner of the tournament.
Demeanour-wise, I think the Magician looks the hungrier of the two at present and given he’s very slight favourite with me were the pair to clash, I’m a little surprised that Ding is shorter in the outright market.
Selby against Allen is a pretty easy match to price up, with the pair tied at 13 wins apiece from 26 career meetings.
The recent form of Allen can be looked at in two ways. A brace of semi-final appearances in the UK Championship and Scottish Open would ordinarily be a sound return but on both occasions he left with a sour taste in his mouth.
The manner of those two defeats may well leave a mark, losing a brace of painful deciders post-midnight and it appears from the outside that he’s struggling to find his optimal shot time/approach in his matches.
That said, he’s clearly doing plenty of things right but in Selby, he has an opponent who can mix it with anyone regardless of tactics.
In this instance, I do think that Selby should be the shorter of the pair in the outright market as he’s always struck me as a player that elevates his game once he gets a foothold in the tournament and given he starts at the quarter-final stage, that clearly won’t be an issue.
Already a winner this season, Selby hasn’t done a lot wrong in recent outings, his opponents Jack Lisowski and Xiao Guodong producing close to career-best performances to get the job done in York and Bolton respectively.
As far as the staking is concerned, the bookmakers have reacted to the format and go 1/3 two places for each-way purposes and with that in mind, a couple of win bets look the best way to play this.
Posted at 1615 GMT on 17/12/24
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