In what has been a dreadful week, tipping wise, at the Pokerstars.com Masters, we aim to re-address the balance with Friday's remaining two quarter-final matches.
Stephen Maguire v Ryan Day
Scotsman Maguire was my pre-tournament 10-1 tip for this year's Masters and he looks a worthy 4-6 (extrabet) favourite to see off Welshman Ryan Day in the afternoon clash.
'On Fire' wasn't at his brilliant best against Mark King in the first round, although he still made a century break and two others of 80+, but he didn't need to be, but he may well have to up the ante a little against Day, judging by his 6-0 whitewash of Joe Perry.
Day had been out of sorts in the lead-up to his match with Perry, but so had the Cambridgeshire cueman, but to win the match in the fashion he did suggests his form may be coming back. But that said, Perry is in a right trough at present and looks to have serious problems with his game and is in massive danger of dropping out of the top 16, so it didn't really need that good a performance to beat him.
I have no reason to jump ship and bet against Maguire at this juncture and I think we can expect more to come from the open-necked Glaswegian. And for a player who has already made one century in this year's event and made several at the recent Championship League, Ladbrokes could be biting off more than they can chew by offering 5-1 on the Scot to make two hundred breaks against Day.
Verdict: Maguire all the way.
Mark Selby v Mark Allen
Both these players enjoyed terrific morale-boosting victories in the previous round, with Selby routing Ding Junhui 6-1, while Allen shocked world champion John Higgins 6-3 in his best win of the season.
Of the two results, Allen's was by far the more surprising given how averagely his game has looked this season – and especially seeing how well Higgins had been playing – while Selby comes alive at the Masters and he consigned his poor recent form to the memorybanks.
Selby is 8-15 with extrabet and that is an excellent bet considering he is as short as 2-5 with bet365, and I think his Wembley experience will hold him in good stead and propel him to victory. He never really looked in any serious trouble against Ding, while it I think it was a case of a poor Higgins performance handing victory to Allen on a plate.
If the 8-15 doesn't take your fancy, what about Boylesports' 20-21 on the handicap with Selby at -1.5? That's more like it.
Verdict: Selby to make his Mark
