The £50,000 Shoot Out is on at the Marshall Arena this week with fast and furious action on the green baize expected.
Once again the quick-fire single-frame tournament carries ranking points, with a lucrative total prize pot of £171,000 up for grabs for the 128 hopefuls in the draw.
A number of big names – notably Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Roberton are all absent – but with the likes of Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen and John Higgins all among the entries, the field is a strong one.
Yuelong Could Go One Better
This tournament, which is being staged for the tenth time, has a unique set of rules, with matches lasting a maximum of ten minutes and a shot clock of 15 seconds for the first five minutes and ten seconds for the last five.
One player who handled the intense pressure last year was runner-up Zhou Yuelong, who has played well so far this season and rates a player for punters to keep onside at 28/1.
The talented 23-year-old showed the quick thinking required to succeed in this format last year, but has also shown his class in recent months – in particular when reaching the semi-finals of the UK Championship.
He also finished runner-up in the European Masters last year and has enjoyed his best moments as a snooker professional over the last 12 months – he now sits at a career-high ranking of 20.
Speedy Un-Nooh Is Ready to Go Again
Thai cueman Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is one of the most exciting players on the tour, he scores heavily and fast when opportunities arise, and has the perfect game for this format.
Two years ago he lifted this trophy in fine style beating Michael Holt 74-0 in the final after knocking in a break of 139 in his semi-final, which is the highest break compiled in the history of the tournament.
Punters must look to players who spare no time addressing the cue ball and Un-Nooh fits the bill perfectly, he is a previous winner of the six reds world championship also and has shown a real affinity to these quirky tournaments.
At 28/1 he is another player that appeals.
First-Round Fancies
Two experienced former world champions go toe-to-toe in the first session on the opening day of action in Milton Keynes, when Ken Doherty takes on Graeme Dott.
The latter, known as ‘Pocket Dynamo’ is one of the best bets in the opening session on Thursday.
Dott, who was crowned world champion in 2006, finished runner-up in 2018 and has the creativity to go well again.
There is an inaccurate stigma attached to the Scot that he is a boring and slow player – he is far from it and a brilliant shotmaker.
He is a cracking bet at 20/31 to beat 51-year-old Doherty.
The other strong fancy in the first round is ‘Belgian Bullet’ Luca Brecel to beat another former world champion Shaun Murphy.
Brecel is rapid around the table and well suited to this format, he won the Championship League last year and can get the better of an inconsistent Murphy in one of the ties of the round at 20/21.
*All odds correct at time of writing.
