Players Championship

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Back to the good stuff, starting tonight, as the Players Championship gets underway. John Higgins won this last year, beating Ronnie 10-3 in the final. Speaking of Ronnie, when was the last time we saw Ronnie at 8/1 to win a tournament? This event is stacked with big name and the bottom half sees Ronnie Vs Trump with the winner playing Robertson and Kyren Wilson and that makes me want to look in the other half.

Xintong is the name of everybodys lips at the moment with his epic rise in statue with his recent form but I can't be having him at 8/1 to win an event. It's just barmy. I like the chances of Mark Allen, who would have to beat Walden, Mark Williams and "probably" the winner of Xintong Vs Bingtao to make the final. Williams doesn't have a fantastic record here, Waldens form has cooled recently and like I say, Xintong can't be 8/1 because as good as he is, he is still tempremental.

In the bottom half I always like to have atleast one to try and make a "dream final" from a betting perspective. I'm going to have a punt on Luca Brecel. In my mind, Trump beats Ronnie and Kyren Wilson beats Neil Robertson (Robbo had covid a week ago) and then Trump beats Kyren like he always does. I think Higgins beats Vafaei and Brecel beats Jimmy and I can't be on Higgins at 2nd favourite when he had so many problems recently in getting over the line. Brecel has beaten Higgins in the most recent match and Trump hasn't been the same animal for a while now.

3pts M. Allen to win Players Championship 8/1 willhill
1pt e/w L. Brecel to win Players Championship 18/1 betvictor

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Williams takes on Gary Wilson tonight whilst Kyren Wilson takes on Neil Robertson. As I said in the preview, Neil Robertson caught covid after the Masters win and it ended up giving him quite bad Tinnitus apparently. It's not something you'd enjoy whilst trying to practice and would drive you nuts to be honest. I know he was "isolating" in his "man-cave" as of last week but who knows if he has a table in there? you would expect so with his millions. However, I can't be touching that match with Kyren. If anything, I think there is some value with Kyren Wilson.

I do like Williams to beat Gary Wilson on the -1.5 handicap though.  I can see a Mark Williams Vs Mark Allen showdown in the Quarter Finals. Hopefully with Allen coming through it. I do think he beats Wilson though at the very least. He has beaten Gary in all four of their head-2-heads and has covered the -1.5 handicap on them all.

6pts M. Williams (-1.5 handicap) to beat G. Wilson 4/6 betfair