James Cooper is back with a look at the Champion of Champions, highlighting a couple of recommended bets in the outright market.
- Preview published prior to Ronnie O'Sullivan's withdrawal - stakes refunded
Snooker betting tips: Champion of Champions
1pt e.w. Ronnie O’Sullivan to win the Champion of Champions at 4/1 (General 1/2 1-2) - WITHDRAWN, BETS VOID
0.5pts e.w. Shaun Murphy to win the Champion of Champions at 14/1 (General 1/2 1-2)
The final of the International Championship may not have captured the imagination of the casual snooker fan but for the purist, a tussle between respected players on the circuit chasing a maiden ranking title was compelling.
A spate of “favourable sporting outcomes for punters” has been mentioned several times in quarterly updates from major brands to the city this summer/autumn and until Sunday, the roll call of snooker winners for the season had a familiar ring to it, namely Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins, Ronnie O’Sullivan (invitational), Mark Williams and Judd Trump (x3).
With that in mind, a new dynamic in Tianjin was just the tonic. A final session during the middle of the afternoon was also a bonus, not to mention a maximum break from Anda in frame three in which the final red knocked a couple of times before obliging.
A tense, error-strewn frame 11 was arguably the turning point in the match and in victory, Zhang Anda takes the place of Ding Junhui in Bolton.
Champion of Champions up next
There’s no time to dwell on that event though with the prestigious Champion of Champions getting underway on Monday afternoon.
The format takes a little getting used to, with four groups decided on each of the first four days in best-of-seven and best-of-11 length respectively, producing a traditional final four participants.
With the quick turnaround, not every firm has priced up at the time of writing and in truth, the disparity in prices across the board is pretty minimal but there are a couple of bets to be had in the shape of RONNIE O’SULLIVAN and SHAUN MURPHY from either side of the draw.
Old-school horse racing punters will know that 16-runner handicaps invariably provided the best each-way opportunities at a quarter-the-odds for four places and while we don’t get that here, half-the-odds for two places is still a nice proposition for win and place bets, and the 4/1 and 14/1 available prices are acceptable.
Siding with O'Sullivan
At first glance, O’Sullivan’s draw hasn’t been a kind one. Zhang, of course, claimed the biggest scalp of all in the semi-final on Saturday, winning four frames on the spin no less from 6-5 down and he gets another shot at O’Sullivan in a best-of-seven shootout.
From there, it cranks up another notch with a worse-case scenario path being matches with a trio of World Champions in John Higgins, Mark Selby and Judd Trump.
It’s easy to get ahead of yourself and predict a re-run of last season’s Champion of Champions final between O’Sullivan and Trump but things rarely go as smoothly as that. While Judd is the man of the moment and is housed in the slightly-easier bottom half, the gap in prices between the pair look a shade too big to me.
In fact, having simulated the tournament, Trump is a tad bigger than 11/4 with me to triumph, while I’d be 7/2 O’Sullivan betting to 100%.
The fact O’Sullivan hasn’t won a ranking event this season doesn’t bother me, particularly when you consider one or two issues have prevented him from teeing it up in three events.
His invitational win in China’s comeback event in Shanghai is a very persuasive piece of form given he saw off Ali Carter, John Higgins and Mark Selby before dispatching reigning Crucible champion Luca Brecel in the final.
Put simply, O’Sullivan arrives here fairly fresh and while his draw could have been kinder, there’s rarely an untroubled path in an event of this quality and odds of 4/1 make up for that.
Having already notched a trio of titles, the season so far belongs to Judd Trump and to do what he’s done in such a short of space of time, with travelling to China thrown in for good measure, really is some feat.
The best player of his generation had one or two questions to answer after Sheffield with several good judges wondering whether a cue-action rebuild was necessary given his unusual delivery.
Raw talent often wins out, though, and the best player of his generation is firing on all cylinders in no uncertain terms.
As I’ve alluded to earlier, Trump does feel a tad short at the current odds, even allowing for the fact he has a favourable opening tie and if one was to be extremely critical, he could have faced harder opponents in his three finals than Ali Carter, Zhang Anda and Chris Wakelin, albeit that does seem unfair.
Murphy makes sense at the prices
There’s been plenty of talk on the subject of cues this season, none more so than Shaun Murphy, who is experimenting going into bat with multiple apparatus in an attempt to combat the changing conditions on any given day.
I am not qualified to give an opinion on that, but a dip in form has certainly ensued of late, losing a couple of matches he probably shouldn’t have from a position of strength against Jack Lisowski and Liu Hongyu.
A run to the last 16 in Belfast was a sound-enough return for the Magician, but falling at the first hurdle against Dominic Dale in China was clearly disappointing.
That said, Murphy has long since been a player of fluctuation when it comes to performance levels. He unquestionably has a higher ceiling than almost anyone when it clicks, and while his defeats can be shockers, this tournament has only been won by the very top operators since its revival in 2013.
A repeat of what was a bit of classic in 2017 when Murphy defeated O’Sullivan 10-8 would be the dream scenario in Bolton this week.
Posted at 1920 GMT on 12/11/23
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
