Snooker: PTC Finals

[kevshat]

A new 'big' event on the snooker circuit this one. 24 men take part based on the order of merit from the 12 PTC tournaments earlier in the season. All matches are the best of 7 frames and the tournament is a one table format so all matches will be live. Eurosport have the coverage of what should be a good week of snooker despite the absence of some of the top players.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals Just one outright for me. 1.5pts ew S.Maguire to win PTC Finals 10/1 Boylesports (1/2 1,2) No idea what this price is all about unless it's because he has to play a first round match. He's 10/1 and Murphy is 13/2. Maguire a recent Welsh Open runner up with a quarter to absolutely dream of whereas Murphy has the harder of the two quarters although admittedly it ain't that tough. Maguire showed in Newport the format doesn't worry him. If he makes it past Bingham first up I'd be very surprised if he isn't a semi finalist and from there we're on at 5/1 which he wouldn't be against anyone in the 1st quarter. No Ronnie, Higgins, Robbo or Ding this week so this can be the time for 'On Fire' to arrive in the winners circle again.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals With Maguire having pulled out I'll take another outright. 1pt S.Bingham to win PTC Finals 33/1 Stan James (1/2 1,2) In terms of the draw my thinking here is exactly the same as the Maguire pick above. Marcus Campbell in the last 16 and then one of Stevens, Greene or Dale is not going to cause any sleepless nights. Bingham's having a pretty decent season. In the last major tournament he played well against Selby at the Welsh Open before losing cruelly in a deciding frame and then last week he battered Alan McManus to qualify for Sheffield so he's in good nick and with the draw a very nice one Bingham gets my money at a decent price this week.

[PerryPFC]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals

With Maguire having pulled out I'll take another outright. 1pt S.Bingham to win PTC Finals 33/1 Stan James (1/2 1,2) In terms of the draw my thinking here is exactly the same as the Maguire pick above. Marcus Campbell in the last 16 and then one of Stevens, Greene or Dale is not going to cause any sleepless nights. Bingham's having a pretty decent season. In the last major tournament he played well against Selby at the Welsh Open before losing cruelly in a deciding frame and then last week he battered Alan McManus to qualify for Sheffield so he's in good nick and with the draw a very nice one Bingham gets my money at a decent price this week.

In to 25/1 now... VC & SJ only 2 with odds still available for Maguire? Think someone ought to tell'em? :lol 25/1 is still best price around at the mo...

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals Good luck Kev. I'm going with 2 but will be opposing you on 1 of them. M.Campbell to win PTC finals, 1pt EW @ 33/1 Bet365 (1/2 odds 1-2) With Maguire out, this section has opened right up and I'm taking Marcus Campbell here who has to win 2 games to reach a semi, and won't face a top 16 player in his quest to get there. Ok, Murphy may await in the semis but no way will he be 16/1 to win that so I'm keen to get on. First up is Bingham, Kev's choice, but I think the Scot could take this. He's been in decent nick all season, most recently beating Selt to reach the Worlds, McLeod to reach the China and Jogia to reach the Welsh Open finals, losing to Ding. Also made it as far as the semis in the 1 frame shootout as well as performing superbly in the PTC events (obvious as he made the top 8 ranked players:lol). Won 17 of his last 21 PTC matches, including a victory, a semi and 2 last 16's. Might just crash & burn at first base but 33's is a massive price for a player in such decent form. J.Trump to win PTC finals, 1pt EW @ 14/1 Betfred (1/2 odds 1-2) Nows the time for Judd to step up and make his mark on a tournament. Had a good win last week against Dave Gilbert in the qualifiers for the Worlds and I hope he'll take that form forward this week. Could meet Selby or Williams in the semis but his route there is not bad at all, starting with Martin Gould or Jamie Jones, and then Fu most likely in the quarters. Judd is another to win one of these events and I do feel that the short format may just suit him if he starts fast. Definitely a shorter price in this than he normally would be but the absence of the big names should give him confidence and I hope he lives up to the fav tag in his quarter. If he gets that far, 14's will be massive.

[RussP]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals Taking 3 bets tomorrow. J.Jogia to beat M.Davis, 3pts @ 7/4 SportingBet Joe who? Maybe I'm mad for taking him but almost 2's in a best of 7 against a player totally devoid of any confidence must be worth a shot. Jogia ain't the greatest in the world, admittedly, but 2 semis and 1 quarters in the PTC is pretty solid form. Amongst those runs were wins against Matthew Stevens, Ryan Day and Mark King so is more than capable than competing with a similar class of player here. Davis meanwhile is out of form, getting an absolute tonking off Rory Mc in the WC qualifiers. Failed to qualify for the German & the Welsh, and most of his PTC form was early on. In a format where the first to settle is heavily advantaged, I'll take Jogia to be comfortable with Davis struggling to come to terms with his McLeod defeat a few days ago. T.Ford to beat A.Hamilton, 3pts @ 11/10 Paddy Power Tom Ford has a massive future in the game, although he's gone off the boil lately. That said, he's a pretty fearless player who won the PTC3 and I'm really hopeful he'll go well here in a format that suits. Excellent amongst the balls and I'm not sure Hamilton can live with his scoring prowess. Might feel the pressure is off him, having qualified, and will relax and play his game. What worries me about Hamilton is fatigue. He's come out & said he struggles in the longer format matches so 2 best of 19's played just a few days ago is not the ideal preparation. The mentality of the 2 might be the difference here so I'll take Ford to come out on top in a match where he's fav with some bookies. J.Lisowski to beat A.Higginson, 3pts @ 5/4 Betfred Lisowski, the next big thing. This kid could be anything and will still be smarting from a last frame elimination in the worlds against the Nugget. However, he's a confident kid who makes big breaks and his form generally is pretty good. Selby, Fu, Walden & Dott rank amongst his victories on the PTC circuit so more than capable of mixing it with the big boys. Higginson is a good player indeed but looks to have lost his way lately. The shock of the WC qualifiers, losing to Andrew Pagett, is not the form you want to be taking into this short format event. Add to that, defeats in his previous 4 matches (to Holt, Milkins, Ebdon & Campbell) make Higgy a risky proposition here so I'm on the kid to progress at odds against.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: PTC Finals Just the one for me today. 4pts M.Fu (-1.5 frames) to beat M.Holt 21/20 Boylesports Marco Fu is in pretty decent nick these days and often comes alive this time of the year. Holt is often caught in headlights these days and I think Fu will win this and odds against that he wins 4-2 or better looks good to me.