The 2024 Hanoi Open Pool Championship takes place from October 3-8 as the second staging of the anticipated World Nineball Tour major descends on the Vietnamese capital.
Pool writer Ben Hudd returns with his best bets and analysis ahead of the season’s final open championship, with last year’s tournament having seen Jayson Shaw beat Albin Ouschan 13-12 in a thrilling final.
Hanoi Open Pool Championship 2024 betting tips
- Duong Quoc Hoang to win the Hanoi Open Pool Championship – 40/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
- Pijus Labutis to the Hanoi Open Pool Championship – 66/1 E/W Bet365 1/2
Aleksa Pecelj to win the Hanoi Open Pool Championship – 125/1 E/W Ladbrokes 1/2
World number one and reigning world champion Fedor Gorst 11/2 and Shane van Boening 6/1 are the rightful title favourites whereas defending champion Jayson Shaw is available at 16/1, although value could perhaps be found further down the pecking order.
Vietnamese number one Duong Quoc Hoang would have never been more determined to achieve success in his career as he makes his Hanoi Open debut on home soil. The Scottish Open champion will have thousands of fans supporting him and that encouragement may just spur him onto creating one of the greatest stories in pool history.
The Martian is a true shot-maker and has ever shot in the book but he’s also level-headed and knows when to attack and when to play safe. Duong can cope with anyone on his given day and has proved that in the Matchroom arena, reaching the World Championship and Spanish Open quarter-finals last year.
Duong will have to cope with the same levels of expectation as Francisco Sanchez Ruiz when he competed at the Spanish Open on home soil last year. Being his country’s prominent hope of home success could prove too much, although it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that the trophy remains in Vietnam.
Meanwhile, it feels like Lithuania’s Pijus Labutis has been backed for every Matchroom tournament since reaching the Derby City Classic and Super Billiards Expo finals, although his consistency this year has been there for all to see.
Labutis was a semi-finalist at the UK Open in May and has continued to impress since then despite not reaching the business end. Having learned from that semi-final when the occasion appeared to get to him, Hanoi could be the destination where everything comes together, and he may be worth backing as a 66/1 outsider.
UK Open winner Robbie Capito and European Open champion Mickey Krause, the latter of who was tipped on these pages, both won their titles as 100/1 outsiders. History could repeat itself in the shape of Aleksa Pecelj, Mustafa Alnar or Jonas Souto Comino.
Pecelj, a US Open semi-finalist last year, is the most capable of those candidates at 125/1 and was hitting the balls well on his way to the Peri Open semi-finals last week, notably beating UK Open and Spanish Open semi-finalist Pijus Labutis in the last eight.
Despite not impressing as much this season as he did last year, the Serb remains one of numerous players currently knocking on the door. Having been only narrowly denied by eventual champion Gorst at August’s US Open, perhaps that door moves ajar in the Vietnamese capital.
Other notable outright odds for the Hanoi Open Championship include 22/1 for European Open champion Mickey Krause, 12/1 for Carlo Biado, 25/1 for Skyler Woodward, 28/1 for Wiktor Zielinski and 80/1 for Sanjin Pehlivanovic, Lee Van Corteza and Wu Kun-Lin.
