8th July 2012
Australia Goldfields Open Betting: Stephen Lee can pick up his first title of the season in Bendigo
The second running of the Australian Goldfields Open runs in Bendigo in Australia next week but it does so without many of the game’s top stars. The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Williams have all chosen not to enter the tournament which leaves the competition a lot more open than usual full ranking events. Stuart Bingham will be defending his title this week and is 16/1 with Stan James to make a successful defence.
As defending champion Stuart Bingham is in the top quarter of the draw which is a very weak section of the draw indeed and if you look at the second quarter and ignore the home hopeful Neil Robertson that quarter isn’t all that strong either so if you are in the top half this week you have a major advantage I feel. In saying that with all the big names who aren’t at this tournament even the bottom half isn’t too bad.
With the tournament so wide open I’m going to take two players in the draw this week, a main bet and an outside one. My main bet comes from the bottom half of the draw. Even though it has Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui in the bottom half not to mention the recent Wuxi Classic winner Ricky Walden, I’m happy to take Stephen Lee this week. Stephen Lee was the form man at the end of last season and got over the line in the PTC Finals to win this first tournament in a while. He then made the final of the World Open to show that was no fluke. Already this season he has reached the final of the Asian PTC and although he bombed out in the first round of the Wuxi Classic he did lose to eventual semi finalist Marcus Campbell so maybe that wasn’t as bad as it first appeared. There’s nothing to suggest Lee has lost his form from the end of last season yet and at 18/1 he looks a good bet to me this week.
In the top half literally any of the 16 players could come through but I like the look of last year’s semi finalist Ken Doherty. Doherty looked good in patches in the Wuxi Classic until he lost to eventual runner up Stuart Bingham. He only lost that in a deciding frame though having previously knocked in a couple of centuries that week. Deciding frames have been costly to Doherty who lost in another one to Mark Selby in the Six Red World Championship last week having beaten Williams and Ebdon earlier in the week. Doherty plays the struggling Martin Gould in the first round here and could meet Ali Carter who isn’t the best traveller these days with his illness in the second round. Only Robertson and maybe Bingham look big dangers in his half and Robertson will be under pressure to succeed at home. At 100/1, given he was a semi finalist last year Doherty looks well worth each way support here.
Back S.Lee to win Australian Goldfields Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 19.00 with Skybet (1/2 1-2)
Back K.Doherty to win Australian Goldfields Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 101.00 with BetVictor (1/2 1-2)
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Author: 'Arry Allsports
