Champion of Champions snooker free betting preview and tips including John Higgins

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1pt e.w. John Higgins to win the Champion of Champions at 16/1

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I'm going to do it again. I'm going to back John Higgins to win a major snooker tournament, some 20 months since he won his last. Even for a man they call The Wizard of Wishaw, that is some feat.

Higgins - when he eventually hangs up his cue - will go down as one of the greatest to ever play the game. Debates about the exact order of snooker's elite, past and present, could rage into the early hours, but for my money, there's Ronnie O'Sullivan, there's distance, and then there is John Higgins. The rest - the Stephen Hendrys and the Judd Trumps - can sort themselves out, but right now, two members of that class of '92 stand above the rest in my eyes.

Four times a world champion, to sit alongside 26 other ranking titles, Higgins might well be the most complete player we have ever seen. A safety game that has rarely met any peers, Higgins was an awesome scorer when world number one through various periods between 1998 and 2011, while his ability to withstand pressure and apparently revel in such situations has continually left fellow professionals and fans in awe. There has never been anyone better at clearing the table from a long way behind in a frame and if you wanted anyone to win a frame for your life, the rock-solid Scot would have to be very close to the top of the list.

And even at 45-years-of-age, having suffered the inevitable dips in form that come in a career that has spanned almost 30 years, Higgins continues to prove stubbornly hard to beat. Just ask Judd Trump, who had to come from behind four times before edging past the veteran in the semi-finals of the English Open recently.

And it is at this point that my case first weakens - not quite enough for the Judge to throw me out, but I can sense the Jury stirring in their seats. For anyone considering backing Higgins, the 'Trump problem' - no, not the big, orange fella currently residing in the White House - is a significant hurdle that not even the most forgiving of punters can ignore. Trump has now won the last eight meetings between the pair - including when again coming from behind at last season's Northern Ireland Open - and he has clearly turned the tables on a player who enjoyed the better of most of their early battles. It is to Higgins' great credit that he still edges their head-to-head record (22-18).

As such, Higgins will no doubt be relieved to see that he has been drawn in the opposite half of the draw to Trump next week, for all the likes of Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby present stern challenges of their own.

Robertson pushed Trump all the way in the final of the recent English Open, eventually losing a final-frame decider, while there was very little between the Australian and Selby - a few cruel runs of the ball notwithstanding - in their hard-fought semi-final a day earlier. At 9/2 and 7/1 respectively, there will be plenty backing both for outright glory next week.

Robertson will line up as defending champion having got the better of Trump in yet another classic final between the pair 12 months ago, while Selby looks somewhere close to his best again having already triumphed at the European Masters this term. Crucially for him, he has regained the knack of winning tight frames and edging close matches, and of the two, he came closest to making my staking plan having been firmly in his camp at the English Open.

However, at over double the price, I can't get away from Higgins who appeared to be enjoying his snooker again at the English Open and was clearly in good spirits off the table, talking warmly about his game in a couple of interviews with Eurosport. A new ferrule and change of chalk appears to have done the trick - along with the reality check many of us have been given by the Covid-19 pandemic - and Higgins looked the best player on show for much of that week until Trump did what Trump now does and came good when the big cheques started to be written out.

To put Higgins' performance at the English Open into context: he beat James Cahill; Connor Benzey; Jimmy Robertson; Ding Junhui and Jak Jones before losing to Trump, only dropping five frames prior to the semi-finals and making a host of sizeable breaks along the way. These were matches Higgins might have needed to scrap his way through two years ago, or even when playing with a little more consistency last term, but he is scoring heavily again - as demonstrated by his 147 maximum break at the Championship League on Friday - and I'm not sure he has too much to fear from anyone on the tour at present - Trump apart.

Another clash with Ding is certainly one Higgins will be confident he can get through, and lets not forget that he had too much nous for Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals of the 2019 World Championship, and too much firepower for Selby at last year's Northern Ireland Open. He looks to be playing even better snooker now - he is certainly more confident in his game - and my conscience can't let him go unbacked at 16/1.

There are certainly worse each-way bets out there - I'll probably publish a few for the Breeders' Cup next week - and I'm happy to let Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan and maybe even the hugely-talented but increasingly-frustrating Mark Allen take lumps out of each other in the bottom half of the draw.

The case for Trump is clear: he is the number one player in the world who has made winning such a habit that he is able to win matches, tournaments even, without playing his best snooker. His opponents fear him, make mistakes when he deserves to be punished, and then can't live with him when he raises his game to levels only he and perhaps O'Sullivan are capable of reaching.

If we are going to get him beat, early in tournaments seems to be the time to catch him cold and Louis Heathcote was one of a number of players who failed to take advantage of winning positions against Trump at the English Open.

Whether he is quite as slow off the mark in an event as big as this one remains to be seen, though Nigel Bond beat him at the UK Championship last season, while he hardly set the world alight at The Masters or World Championship. Maybe I'm clutching at straws but I can pass him over at 7/2 this time - for all his price wouldn't be the worst you'll see all season.

I'd certainly rather take 7/2 about Trump than O'Sullivan, given the latter has looked short of his World Championship-winning best so far this season, suffering early exits at the European Masters and English Open. Nevertheless, a potential semi-final with Trump certainly sets the pulse racing, though I'm not certain O'Sullivan will be able to keep pace with Allen if they face off in the final of Group Four.

Allen has been scoring for fun of late, without adding the tournament wins his standard of play would appear to deserve. Even his first-round loss to Jamie Clarke at this summer's World Championship was littered with big breaks, but despite boasting a solid safety game and a sound temperament, Allen is still searching for that winning formula.

He should find it before too long, though, and I wouldn't be at all surprised were the Northern Irishman able to outmuscle O'Sullivan and even Trump next week.

That would certainly do Higgins a favour, and I'm hoping one of snooker's most decorated players can build on his early-season promise and enjoy a deep run in an event he has already made the final of on two sperate occasions.

Preview posted 2100 GMT on 30/10/2020

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