Free tips Snooker Betting Tips: Championship League Snooker Preview & Predictions (Starts Mon 1st June)

Championship League Snooker Tips & Preview

Snooker has taken the first opportunity to get back into the groove and the Championship League Snooker format, which is normally staged behind closed doors anyway, is an ideal way to get us back into the groove.

The Championship League Snooker is a non-ranking tournament that was originally held at the Croydon Park Golf Club in Essex from its debut in 2008 until 2016. Between 2017 and 2018, it was held at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry and earlier this year it went to the Morningside Arena in Leicester.

Previous Winners

Previous winners, in order, have been Marco Fu, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham, John Higgins (in 2017 & 2018), Martin Gould and most recently, in March of this year, Scott Donaldson.

So this will be the second Championship League event of 2020, it’s never been staged twice in the same year before, it’s never been run over 11 consecutive days before (it normally runs over the course of a few months) and it’s never been televised before.

Traditionally it has only been available as an online live stream, but ITV4 have all the action this time. One additional difference is another change of venue. The competition which starts on Monday 1st June will be held within Milton Keynes Marshall Arena.

Fans across the Americas, Asia, Africa and in New Zealand will be able to watch the upcoming @CLSnooker in its entirety for free at https://t.co/0mCRoqdsmX!

Both tables will be available.

ℹ https://t.co/nAuZWM5dFK pic.twitter.com/XbGZ6fLvJQ

— World Snooker Tour (@WeAreWST) May 28, 2020

The Format

This time around the total prize fund stands at over £200,000. All players will earn a guaranteed £1,000 with the winner taking home a £30,000 cheque and a place in November’s Champion of Champions. As normal this is not a ranking event. So it’s curious the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby are taking part while Sean Murphy and John Higgins are missing.

From a snooker betting perspective this is a great competition as the 64 entrants are divided into groups of four who play on another in a round-robin format with six matches played in each group.

All matches are the best of four frames, with three points awarded for a win and one point for a draw. The 16 players that top the group tables will qualify for the group winners’ stage on the 9th & 10th June, consisting of four groups of four players and that will give us a final group of four players in another round-robin final.

FULL CHAMPIONSHIP LEAGUE SNOOKER GROUP MATCHES DRAW:

Monday June 1st

Group 2

• Judd Trump (Outright pick)
• Daniel Wells
• Elliot Slessor
• David Grace

Group 13

• David Gilbert (Tip to win group)
• Stuart Carrington
• Jak Jones
• Jackson Page

Tuesday June 2nd

Group 9

• Jack Lisowski
• Luca Brecel
• Robbie Williams
• Oliver Lines

Group 3

• Michael Holt
• Mark Davis
• Mark Joyce
• Louis Heathcote

Wednesday June 3rd

Group 12

• Kyren Wilson
• Ryan Day
• Alfie Burden
• Chen Feilong

Group 4

• Joe Perry
• Mark King
• Sam Baird
• Harvey Chandler

Thursday June 4th

Group 5

• Mark Selby
• Liang Wenbo
• Joe O’Connor
• Lee Walker

Group 14

• Gary Wilson
• Matthew Stevens
• John Astley
• Mitchell Mann

Friday June 5th

Group 10

• Ronnie O’Sullivan
• Chris Wakelin
• Michael Georgiou
• Kishan Hirani

Group 15

• Tom Ford
• Robert Milkins
• Mike Dunn
• Ian Burns

Saturday June 6th

Group 1

• Stuart Bingham
• Ricky Walden
• Jordon Brown
• Jamie Clarke

Group 8

• Jimmy Robertson
• Ben Woollaston
• Liam Highfield
• Alex Ursenbacher

Sunday June 7th

Group 16

• Neil Robertson
• Kurt Maflin
• Ken Doherty
• Ashley Carty

Group 7

• Barry Hawkins (Tip to win group)
• Anthony McGill
• Craig Steadman
• Hammad Miah

Monday June 8th

Group 11

• Mark Allen
• Martin O’Donnell
• Michael White
• Nigel Bond

Group 6

• Ali Carter
• Matt Selt
• Sam Craigie
• Dominic Dale

Tuesday June 9th

• Group C
• Group D

Tuesday June 10th

• Group B
• Group A

Wednesday June 11th

• Tournament Finals

The Form

So there is plenty of snooker ahead and little recent form to go on. Scott Donaldson was starting to merge as the 2019/2020 season was reaching its climax and Dave Gilbert and Gary Wilson had both been playing like top-10 players for some time.

But how have these and any player coped with the Covid-19 lockdown? Those players who do not have the luxury of a snooker table in their house – instead relying on a local club to practice – will surely be lacking practice and be disadvantaged.

Judd Trump (11/4 with 888sport) is not amongst that number and while it’s as predictable as a bar of laxative, he’s our best snooker pick in the outright market as the reigning world champion simply been playing at a different level than his rivals for well over a year.

Let’s go baby ! https://t.co/xX3ZIkF9hB

— Barry Hearn (@BarryHearn) May 21, 2020

Fly in to Take Some of the Even Money

In Group 7 (which might be listed as Group G with your bookmaker and starts on June 7th) we definitely like SportNation’s even-money (2.00) about Barry Hawkins winning the group. The Hawk may not be a regular competition winner but he’s consistent and has been ranked in the game’s top-20 for a decade.

Other players in the group Craig Stedman and Hammad Miah will need to play better than ever to compete with our selection while Anthony McGill may be great on his day but those days are few and far between.

Beforehand, on June 2nd and in Group 13 (or Group M), Dave Gilbert can land bet365’s 4/6 (1.67) odds to top the table and beat off Stuart Carrington, Jak Jones and Jackson Page. Gilbert may have crumbled on the major stage more than once but he is massively talented, on an upward curve and will love the lack of tension traditional live audiences bring to an occasion.

In Summary: Championship League Snooker Tips

• Judd Trump to win outright at 11/4 (3.75) with 888Sport
• Dave Gilbert to win to win Group 13 (or Group M) at 4/6 (1.67) with bet365*
• Barry Hawkins to win Group 7 (or Group G) at Evens (2.00) with SportNation

* Championship Snooker betting odds correct at time of writing

Image credit – DerHexer, Wikimedia Commons, CC-by-sa 4.0 [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons