Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb

[kevshat]

The Welsh Open begins next week but before that the qualifiers for the tournament take place for the rest of this week. Matches are being streamed on the various bookmaking consoles so there are betting opportunities both pre match and in play for those of us who like to get stuck into the snooker betting. Matches in this qualifying event are all the best of 7 frames.

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb Some early prices for Thursday's matches..... [TABLE=class: couponTable]

[TR] [TH=class: firstColumn]Thursday 9 February 2012[/TH] [TH]Player 1[/TH] [TH]Player 2[/TH] [TH=class: bppWidth]BPP[/TH] [/TR] [TR=class: row0] [TD][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn] Woollaston, B v Gilbert, D (10:00 GMT) [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 1.77 [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 2.15 [/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp]103.01 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row1] [TD][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn] Harold, D v Swail, J (14:30 GMT) [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 1.7 [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 2.25 [/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp]103.27 %[/TD] [/TR] [TR] [/TR] [TR=class: row0] [TD][/TD] [TD=class: firstColumn] Liu, Chuang v Highfield, L (14:30 GMT) [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 1.62 [/TD] [TD=class: selectionBestOdd] 2.4 [/TD] [TD=class: bppWidth bpp]103.40 %[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE]

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb One for the evening session. It's on the streamed table. 4pts Y.Delu to beat A.McGill 10/11 Apollobet In all fairness there isn't a lot between Yu Delu and Anthony McGill in terms of quality, both are good young talents but in terms of form and confidence Yu Delu has that on his side. Having qualified for the German Masters he then went out to Berlin last week and turned over his hero Ding Junhui in a very accomplished performance in the first round before giving Stephen Lee a fair game. To top that off he's already played a match in the qualifiers this week and thrashed the young Belgian star Luca Brecel 4-0 so there's no doubt Yu Delu is flying right now. This will be one of Ant McGill's few outings since the turn of the year and in a best of 7 frame match he can't really afford to waste any time getting going. With matches behind him and his game full of confidence right now I think Yu Delu should progress through to the third qualifying round from this match.

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb Bit annoying last night. Yu Delu looked good in going 2-0 up and then McGill only missed one ball and won 4-2. Will try again today with three throughout the day. First one is at 2.30, the other two are at 7pm. 4pts D.Harold to beat A.McManus Evs Apollobet I like Dave Harold in this match. Whenever you back Dave Harold you know you will get a decent run for your money and I think he'll come into this match full of beans having made the semi final of the Shootout a couple of weeks ago. Anyone who watched that tournament will know the event wasn't really suited for him as almost every shot he played the beeps were heard but he never let that put him off and that was a testiment to his fighting nature and his concentration levels. Having made the quarter finals of PTC10 as well as only losing out on qualifying for the World Open in a deciding frame to Dominic Dale in the final qualifier and that run in Blackpool, Harold's results are strong and his form is good. McManus began the season pretty well but his results have levelled out since and while he has the same attributes as Harold in that he's a top level fighter and knows every inch of a snooker table he lacks the confidence Harold will have. We saw at the Shootout that even at this stage in his career Harold can still score when the chances come and that can prove the difference in this match. 4pts X.Guodong to beat M.Dunn 23/20 Boylesports This should be a good match to watch and it is on one of the streaming tables so that option will be available to us. Both men like to get the balls open and make big breaks but for me I just favour Xiao Guodong who could go on to be a real star of the sport. Guodong has had an excellent season with a semi final and a quarter final to show for his efforts in the PTC tournaments, efforts which have seen him qualify for the finals of that event but the one thing lacking is an appearance in a full ranking event. He went close in the UK Championship, where he beat Mike Dunn 6-0 along the way to a defeat in the final qualifying round to Tom Ford. Mike Dunn has been in decent touch in December and January and made it all the way to the German Masters last week where he ended up losing in the Wildcard round. This match won't last long regardless of the score but Guodong is playing well at the minute, he made 2 centuries in the four frames he won in the last round of qualifying and after Jimmy White lost this morning, Guodong knows if he wins this match he will be in the top 48 in the world and will have one less qualifying match to play for tournaments. I think he's a touch too big to win this match and at 23/20 I'm happy to side with him. 3pts S.Baird to beat N.Bond 13/10 Boylesports It's fair to say Sam Baird wasn't making much of an impression this season but then things suddenly came alive a few weeks ago when he took part in the World Open qualifying. He qualified for that tournament, his first TV major, and beat the likes of Luca Brecel, Jimmy White and Mark Davis along the way, holding his nerve in a final frame against Davis to secure his spot in China. He then came into this tournament full of beans and has won both his qualifying matches so far by 4-1 scorelines and in his opening match against Passakorn Suwannawat he knocked in a 141 so something has really clicked with Baird in recent weeks. A win over Li Yan last night was good too. Nigel Bond is going well enough too and also qualified for the World Open but he hasn't really pulled up many trees this season even though he's been solid in qualifying. You would expect Bond's experience and knowhow to be too much for Baird but with Baird in such good form and the matches here over the shorter best of 7 frame distance I think the price on Baird is a bit too big so I'm happy to have a go with him as a bit of value.

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb 2 from 3 last night. One for this afternoon. Starts at 2.30. 4pts K.Doherty to beat J.Cope 5/4 Blue Square Since losing his place in the top 16 Jamie Cope's season has been pretty poor and until the World Open he hadn't qualified for a full tournament. Ken Doherty qualified for the German Masters and when he was there he looked in good form in the wildcard round but ran into Mark Williams on the wrong day in the first round proper. I like Doherty's better match play here. Cope has always been an everything or nothing sort and when his game is on he can be very tough to beat but he hasn't been in that sort of form all season and leaves himself open to counter attacks when he's off form. Doherty's safety play will put a lot of pressure on Cope's long game and with his confidence low you would think he'll struggle. Doherty scored well enough in Germany to suggest he can take advantage of Cope's misses and having played a match yesterday he's nicely warmed up for this and I think he'll book a meeting with Mark Allen in the first round next week.

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb Doherty won 4-2. Going for a small double in tonight's matches. Not normally a double backer but this one pays a bit too big I think. 3pts B.Hawkins to beat G.Greene & P.Ebdon to beat A.Duffy 13/8 Paddy Power I quite like the two favourites in these matches this evening. Barry Hawkins comes into the match in excellent form having won the Shootout a couple of weeks ago and pushed a confident Murphy to the limit in Germany last week. Peter Ebdon comes into this evening having played a lot of snooker this week having competed in the Championship League earlier in the week which will have sharpened him up. Ebdon's record in the qualifying tournaments this season hasn't been anything to write home about but he did qualify for Germany and for a long time looked like beating Stuart Bingham when he was out there. Adam Duffy isn't a regular at this stage of the season which would be a concern for anyone looking to oppose Ebbo in this match. Gerard Greene is a capable opponent for Barry Hawkins but he hasn't qualified for a main event of any tournament this year and with the form Hawkins is in I'm not sure this is the tournament where he's going to break that. I don't normally go for doubles but I think these two will win however in a best of seven frame match both are too short for me as singles so I'll stick them in a double here.

[kevshat]

Re: Welsh Open Qualifiers - 9-11 Feb Both Saturday bets won to make it a worthwhile trip into the qualifiers. +9.03pts for the qualifiers which I can hopefully better when the main event begins tomorrow.