PTC Grand Final Snooker Tips: One player to back from each quarter

12Mar 2013

Betfair

As the snooker season approaches it's climax at next month's World Championship, the next big prize is the PTC Grand Final, starting on Tuesday. Our tipster Paul Krishnamurty has been on fire this year, picking four of the last five tournament winners. Read his preview here...

Back Martin Gould 1.5u @ 42.0

The one-session, best of seven format used in PTC events is not to everyone's taste, so knowing which players tend to thrive in it is a particularly useful angle this week. Martin Gould is precisely the sort of player to follow. An extremely talented breakbuilder, the fact he hasn't broken through in the most prestigious events means the 'Pinner Potter' tends to be under-estimated for more suitable targets. That was certainly the case when successfully recommended at 34.0 in the recent Shootout. Gould also won PTC2 in what was his fourth final in these events, including this PTC Grand Final in 2011 when losing to his nemesis Shaun Murphy.

Granted, his draw is not easy, with Mark Selby, John Higgins and Ali Carter in the same quarter. However none of that star trio are renowned for producing their best snooker in PTCs and could be forgiven for having one eye on the looming World Championship. Under the circumstances, backing this 42.0 outsider looks the best strategy.

Back Neil Robertson 7u @ 9.0

Despite repeatedly reaching the latter stages of events lately, Neil Robertson just hasn't been able to get his head over the line. A deciding frame semi-final defeat at the World Open was the fifth time he's reached that stage in his last seven ranking tournaments and on the two occasions he didn't get that far, Robertson lost to remarkable comebacks by Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham.

A change of luck is overdue and the draw couldn't have been much kinder. The only two players in this quarter who inhabit the same snooker galaxy are Judd Trump and Graeme Dott. Robbo whitewashed the latter two weeks ago and hype-machine Trump remains well worth opposing. The Melbourne Machine reached last year's Galway final and is strongly fancied for another strong bid.

Back Stephen Maguire 3u @ 18.0

This competitive section includes the last two ranking tournament winners, Ding Junhui plus some dangerous outsiders. Recent form points towards either Mark Allen or Stephen Maguire, with the latter marginally preferred for two reasons. First, he's a bigger price. Second, he should have little problem with Joe Swail in the first round whereas Allen is no shoe-in against Mark Davis. Maguire also played pretty well in Galway this time last year before losing to Robertson in the semi-finals.

Back Stuart Bingham 3u @ 21.0

The bottom quarter could offer a significant punting angle as it looks by far the weakest section. Apart from the selection, the only member of the world's top-16 is Mark Williams, who also happens to be woefully out of form. Bingham has been the top man in minor tournaments this season, winning the Premier League, two Asian Tour titles plus a charity event. He also reached the final of the Welsh Open last month to confirm excellent recent form. That pedigree must make the ever-improving Essex player a red-hot favourite to reach the semis and if he doesn't, this quarter could easily be won by any of the other seven candidates.