Peter Lines to beat Anthony Hamilton 6/5

Hills/BetVictor/Ladbrokes/Coral 2pt

Peter Lines and Anthony Hamilton both turned professional in 1991 and Lines is the only one still standing in the game, playing to a very fair level. Hamilton retired at the end of last season and is now a coach to a few main tour players including Liam Highfield and Louis Heathcote. 

This information is quite significant in pricing this match. Between the mid 90’s up to 2025, Hamilton would quite rightly be favourite in this contest. I like to price all my matches before I see how the bookies price theirs and I found it hard to split these two. 

If anyone should be favourite here, I would hedge Lines given he is still the active player. Therefore, the 6/5 on offer for the Leeds man is wrong in my book.

Lines performed with loads of credit on the Q Tour winning Event 2 and lost in the playoff final to Ash Carty, 10-8. At the Worlds, he beat world no55 Scott Donaldson 10-8 then lost to Matthew Stevens 10-8 who went on to qualify (Lines put up a better show than Stuart Bingham did). That’s extremely strong form in the context of this tie with a player who is retired and barely played competitively since last May losing with a whimper at Q School.

Hamilton did play at the Seniors British Open in December losing 4-3 to Stevens in a match of just moderate quality. By and large, the bookies have priced this solely on Hamilton’s past exploits as the better professional and not on the here and now. 

Lines will undoubtedly be the sharper of the pair and I would guess will have prepared well for this whereas Hamilton could easily stroll into Sheffield with just an hours knock and not have a care in the world.

Lines, who won this title in 2017, is a cracking bet at anything odds against for me. This will certainly mean a lot more to him.

Daniel Ward highest break (v Jimmy White) 6/4

Bet365 2pt

Daniel Ward isn’t a player many of you will know however, I’ve known the West Midlander for 25+ years as I used to play in the same local league as him. 

He’s always been a terrific player and lost in the World Amateur final in 2006 however never made it professional - he’s better than many who have quite frankly. Ward has always dreamt of playing on the Crucible stage and got here the hard way winning a ‘Golden Ticket’ Seniors event to get the tie with fellow lefty and the legend that is, Jimmy White. It’s no surprise to me that Ward has had a lot of good results on the Seniors tour and deserves his place in the line-up. 

It’s a tough ask for him to beat White at the Crucible, let alone on TV - both will be fairly alien to Ward however I do think 6/4 is well wide of the mark for the highest break prize. I don’t think the bookies realise how good Ward is. 

He’s always been a heavy scorer and made five Senior event centuries this season. He probably won’t even need to make a century in this best-of-7 match. I reckon a break in the 70-80 range would be a decent target. White’s highest break in World Championship Qualifying was 72 and though his scoring was reasonably decent for him this season, (1x ton, 3x 90s & 1x 80) he’s hit and miss and cannot be trusted as the 1/2 favourite.

Around 6/5, maybe 5/4 top end is the correct price for me here.

5.0
Read Full Review

Bet365

  • Slick, clean interface
  • Full suite of safer gambling options including profit/loss
  • Market leading all customer offers across all sports
Bet £10 Get £30 in Free Bets
Claim
For new customers at bet365. Min deposit requirement. Free Bets are paid as Bet Credits and are available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply. Registration required. 18+ Begambleaware.org

Gerard Greene to beat Ken Doherty 6/4

Generally 1pt

It’s the battle of Ireland as Northern Ireland’s Gerard Greene faces Southern Ireland’s ‘Darling of Dublin’, Ken Doherty. 

The prize is a match with Ronnie O’Sullivan so there’s a lot on the line here. 

A bit like the Lines bet, I expected Greene to be shorter than 6/4. He will have got his head down for this whereas Doherty has been in the comms box all 17 days for the BBC so hasn’t picked up his cue. 

Furthermore, at World Championship Qualifying, Doherty was drilled 10-5 by amateur Patrick Whelan who in my opinion is no better than Greene. Doherty lost in this round last year to unknown Charl Jonck from South Africa straight after the Worlds. He isn’t in Greene’s league so lightening could strike again.

The past head-to-heads read positively for Greene at six wins each, which is impressive considering he was only a journeyman pro back in the day and Doherty was a former World

Champion and top 16 mainstay for decades. Greene also beat him 10-5 in the 2009 Worlds. 

Greene has impressed greatly on the Senior tours playing in just eight events, making six finals and winning four of them. They included six centuries too. 

Greene has played at the Crucible on five occasions and warrants plenty of respect which I don’t think the bookies have given him enough of and is a logical bet to defeat Doherty at 6/4.