International Championship (Including Qualifications)

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Qualifiers for this get underway tomorrow. The event doesn't start until August and this is a ranking event. Won by Mark Allen last year, this event has been going strong now for several years. The qualifiers much like the Riga are for a few days and so I'll see what we can find each day for value.

3.30pm matches :
Peter Ebdon takes on a man in decent form, Sohail Vahedi. I took Vahedi to qualify at Q-School at a very nice price of 25/1 and he duly obliged and he's scoring well. Ebdon on the other hand lost to O'Connor without even a 50 scored. Worth the value bet here. Meanwhile Shuan Murphy has a 2nd match in 2 days when he takes on up and coming Riley Parsons. I normally wouldn't give Riley a chance but we really don't know where Murphy's head is and for that reason alone 10/1 is huge.

8.30pm matches :
I will take David Lilley to beat Ken Doherty. Lilley was unlucky to get Lisowski in the Riga Masters but was still competitive. He was scoring well at Q-School with multiple centuries. Ken's had some poor results over the last year losing 6-1 to Ricky Walden and struggling against players like Andy Lee.

2pts S.Vahedi to beat P.Ebdon 11/4 bet365
1pts R.Parsons to beat S.Murphy 10/1 sportingbet
4pts D.Lilley to beat K.Doherty evens bet365

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Annoying day in which all 3 lead and lost. On to tomorrow

5pts C.Steadman to beat T.Pengfei 17/10 sportingbet
2pts J.Clarke to beat R.Day bet365

Steadman in some good form and Pengfei we're not sure of how he will play here. Day just looks awful recently in a spell which stretches back quite a way now.

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ah just noticed I didn't have the price on Clarke. Few for tomorrow that look quite nice value. Hopefully a few of the coin flip deciding frames goes my way.

2pts L.Hang (-1.5 frames) to beat E.Slessor evens paddypower
2pts J.O'Connor to beat J.Perry 11/5 betfred
2pts C.Zifan to beat R.Walden 7/2 ladbrokes
2pts J.Cahill to beat D.Gilbert 2/1 ladbrokes
2pts M.Xiwen to beat Yuelong 7/4 ladbrokes

Li Hang got a good result against Bingham without the need to score big. Slessor looked terrible in his loss at the Riga Masters. I would imagine Hang should be able to beat Slessor without too much lost. O'Connor is looking good right now and although Perry has beaten him in their 2 matches, Joe seems to be getting better with every game.

Walden looks quite poor at the moment. Despite beating the youngster Si, he looked shaky and Zifan could pounce on that. Cahill should give Gilbert problems unless Gilbert is in form and I'm not sure this event will be high on his priorities. Finally, Xiwen would give Yuelong a good game on form. Yuelong is playing well, but 7/4 looks the value call.
 

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Terrible tipping today. Apologies to anybody that was unfortunate enough to follow. I may have to be more selective in tournaments like these. Although I did lower the points on these. Looking at tomorrow for what it's worth..

Fraser Patrick beat Tom Ford in their only head-to-head 4-1 and they face eachother again tomorrow in the morning. The scot lost his Riga Masters qualifier to fellow scot, Donaldson but he played some decent stuff. Ford had some odd results though end of last season. I'll take Patrick on the handicap. 

Next I'll take Xu Si when he plays the out-of-form Andrew Higginson. Higginson was whitewashed in his Riga Masters match and lost a few matches at the end of last season he should have been winning. Xu Si is in abit of form after hitting plenty of centuries at Q-School.

next up I'll take Ian Burns against Scott Donaldson. Burns is a very capable player who I had some success backing last season and despite him losing the last head-to-head 4-2, prior to it he had won the prior 2 including a 5-0 whitewash. Finally, I'll take O'Neill to beat Maguire. O'Neill looked really impressive in his beating of Barry Hawkins and Maguire lost to Liam Highfield at the Riga a week ago. You have to wonder if Maguire will take this event seriously.

5pts F.Patrick (+2.5 frames) to beat T.Ford 4/5 boylesports
4pts I.Burns to beat S.Donaldson 15/8 coral
2pts X.Si to beat A.Higginson 6/4 boylesports
2.5pts J.O'Neill to beat S.Maguire 17/5 unibet
 

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This continues tomorrow. Looking at the outsiders there are a few big prices that I like as an outsiders chance.I'll take a look at some match markets later

2pts E/W B.Hawkins 25/1 sportingbet
2pts E/W D.Gilbert 33/1 betvictor
0.5pts E/W S.Carrington 250/1 coral
0.5pts E/W K.Maflin 300/1 coral

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Whole days worth of Snooker again tomorrow. Couple I've picked out as potential value in the match-ups.

Sijun takes on Shaun Murphy in the morning and the value is with Sijun. Played eachother already back in 2017 and Sijun won on a decider, 5-4. Sijun is playing well after destroying Greene 6-0 and beating Walden and Saengkham this season, only losing out to Li Hang on a decider. Murphy, meanwhile, went out of the Riga Masters to Zhang Anda and struggled somewhat against Q-School qualifier Riley Parsons here.

Next up, in the second session of matches, I like the look of Sunny Akani to beat Luca Brecel. These two have never met before. Brecel beat Andy Hicks 4-0 in this in Riga Masters first round, but then went out 4-1 to Haotian. There isn't a whole lot of Snooker to have seen to take this kind of punt, but I think this one will be close.

5pts Sijun to beat S.Murphy 7/5 Blacktype
5pts S.Akani to beat L.Brecel 21/10 Ladbrokes

 

[notanotherdonkey]

I have taken L Brecel but will be close game as Brecel not in the best form.Good Luck.

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Sijun has absolutely bottled that. Should have gone 4-1 up (Murphy needed snookers) should have won 6-4 (only pink and black needed) and then should have won 6-5. Incredible.

[notanotherdonkey]

Well done Lucca 6-3 and a nice confidence boost?

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yeah, although a 4/9 odds on shot.

Looking to tomorrow, a few I like. I really think Maflin has a shot against Ali Carter but with an outright pick already there for Maflin I will reluctantly not double bet on him so to speak.

Bingtao to beat Murphy is a standard bet. I would back most against Murphy who have any inkling of quality. I just don't believe his mind is on his game. Sijun should have beat him 6-1/6-2 in all fairness and completely bottled it. Bingtao is actually not a player I normally back, but a solid win at the Riga Masters has put some confidence in him and I feel I can trust him to win this one.

Next up I'll take on Brecel again. I think Akani gave him far too much respect in their tie. couple of times he got in and then broke down just before securing the frame and ofcourse Brecel will always be a big dangerous scorer. It will probably be a close match. Brecel got 2 centuries in the last round against Akani and Wilson has hit 2 centuries also in this event albeit across 2 matches. In what could be a coin-flip I rate Wilson as the better grinder.

5pts Y.Bingtao to beat S.Murphy 11/10 bet365
5pts G.Wilson to beat L.Brecel 11/10 bet365
 

[notanotherdonkey]

That is true but a winner is a winner if you are selective at those prices and I managed to get 4-7.Think both of the two above matches are quite close and could go either way but I would just prefer G.wilson if I was betting but no bet.Good Luck

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I go to see abit of Murphy's match and he's looking like he's actually playing quite well, so he proved me wrong. In-fact, he's quite tempting to beat Robertson ha-ha! But I'll swerve that match-up.

I like the look of Dave Gilbert against Mark Selby though. I don't like betting on outrights but I think Gilbert has a real good chance of beating Mark. He's played him twice already in 2019 and beat him both times. I can this going close, so the 7/4 available seems worth the bet. Next up I'll take Joe Perry on a handicap against Judd. Perry has been in good form in the past month hitting 3 centuries in his last 3 matches. 

4pts D.Gilbert to beat M.Selby 7/4 bet365
5pts J.Perry (+2.5 frames) to beat J.Trump 4/5 bet365

[notanotherdonkey]

I do not fancy much today and no good backing for the sake of it but Good Luck

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Can't believe Gilbert there. In great positions 3-1/4-2/5-3 and then when it gets down to 5-5 plays a stinker.

Very little value tomorrow. I do like Dott and Allen to win, but way my luck is at present it's just not worth a bet. Especially as Ding has a good recent record against Allen and Murphy looks to have restored some form.

[notanotherdonkey]

I do not fancy anything today so no bet.Judd Trump back at no 1 with his win over J Perry 6-2.Good luck 

[notanotherdonkey]

Shaun Murphy v Judd Trump in the final.Would have to fancy Judd but price is poor for me to play outright,it was Murphy's 37 birthday yesterday and nice to see him in a bit form after beating Mark Allen.Good Luck if you have a bet but I will leave this match alone.