Judd is taking part in the Championship League Snooker 2013 and started his campaign in Group 1 on January 7, 2013. Having won the International Championship in Chengdu earlier in the season, he’s almost certain to be invited to the Premier League in 2013 but as he tweeted “Off to crondon park for championship league snooker good prep for the masters starting Sunday.” … Judd finished fifth both in group 1 and in group 2. He was back in group 3 and this time made the final, but lost to Ding. After a good first day in group 4, Judd failed to win a match on day 2, and finished 6th of the group. That’s the end of Championship League Snooker for him this season.

Group 1

Judd Trump 1-3 John Higgins
John was clearly the better player, twice taking full advantage of Judd poor breakoffs. Judd looked a bit rusty although his break building when in the balls was quite OK.

Judd Trump 0-3 Martin Gould
Martin Gould won all three frames in one visit and never gave Judd a clear-cut chance all match. Ruthless stuff. After the match Judd tweeted “U know u took a battering when the ref says to ur opponent at the end do you ever miss!!! Ouchh”

Judd Trump 3-0 Shaun Murphy
Judd will be happy to finish day 1 with a convincing win. Judd potted some great balls but in fairness Shaun was struggling badly and never put his opponent under any sort of pressure. Judd needs more of the same on day 2 to stay in the tournament.

Judd Trump 3-1 Mark Davis
It was important for Judd to win this one and he did. The first two frames featured a lot of tight safety exchanges and were shared.
Judd pulled away in the next with a big break: he was on 87 when camera a live sores died … How exactly the match ended is the referee, Judd and Mark secret.

Judd Trump 3-2 Matthew Stevens
This was a close match, with both players missing some unexpected balls. Judd came out the winner though and it’s important as this means that in the worst case he’s now certain to be back in group 2.

Judd Trump 0-3 Ali Carter
Ali dominated the match hitting a 102 in frame one. This result means that Judd run in group 1 ends here as he finishes 5th in the table. He will be back in group 2 though.

Group 2

Judd Trump 2-3 Martin Gould
It was a strange match actually. Judd started playing very well and looked cruising at 2-0 up. He had a great chance to make it 3-0 but missed what on streaming looked like a dead easy red to finish the job in frame 3. From there on, errors crept in his game whilst Martin’s confidence was growing by the minute. Martin won the next three finishing with a 133.

Judd Trump 1-3 Stephen Maguire
Maguire played very well, managed good safeties and scored heavily. Judd isn’t at the top of his game (yet) and despite not playing actually badly, wasn’t good enough to overcome him.

Judd Trump 3-2 Mark Davis
This was a match between two players struggling badly and there were lots of mistakes. For some reason they also had a lot of bad contacts which obviously didn’t help. But eventually Judd played a good decider frame to take an important win, his first on the day.

Judd Trump 1-3 Neil Robertson
Judd’s erratic form continued and he made too many mistakes against an on form Robertson. This defeat places him 6th provisionally in the league table. He needs to win his two remaining matches if he is to stay in the tournament.

Judd Trump 3-2 Stuart Bingham
This was the 1000th match of the Championship League Snooker, but Judd surely had other things on his mind when he came at the table as this was a must win match for him: losing it meant being out of the tournament. It started like a nightmare for him as Stuart was playing extremely well and won the first two with 85 and 122. Judd then dug deep and won the third with a break of 68 that featured a number of very difficult shots. He then forced a decider with a break of 77. Judd was first in in the decider and built a 55-0 lead. He then manage to extend it and had the match won, as Stuart already needed 4 snookers. But he relaxed too soon and played a careless shot on the next, easy, red and missed it. Stuart mounted an incredible come back. Playing excellent safety he got the 4 snookers he needed, used the free ball he gained to free the blue that was on the cushion and got another snooker for good measure. The pressure was firmly on Judd. But he held his nerves and, playing a good safety of his own, forced an error from Stuart. Judd must have been mightily relieved to pot the last red with a color and Stuart offered his hand. Phew! Judd is still in the tournament.

Judd Trump 2-3 Ali Carter
Ali has been solid all week and was again in this match. Judd played some great shots, but also played some poor ones – positional errors mainly – and missed a few unexpected ones. In fact he played great in spells all week, showed great fighting spirit, but was inconsistent. As a result he finishes 5th again and will be back in group 3.

Group 1

Stephen Maguire 3-2 Judd Trump
0-83 (Trump 36, 47), 80-0 (Maguire 50), 4-131 (Trump 110), 66-1 (Maguire 50), 74-1 (Maguire 74)

Judd Trump 1-3 Mark Selby
49-63 (Trump 38), 63-0 (Trump 41), 10-120 (Selby 93), 6-77 (Selby 50)

Neil Robertson 2-3 Judd Trump
73-30 (Robertson 32, Trump 30), 1-64 (Trump 45), 12-76 (Trump 76), 110-0 (Robertson 109), 0-137 (Trump 137)

Mark Williams 3-1 Judd Trump
0-94 (Trump 94), 68-55 (Trump 54), 65-41 (Williams 41), 63-57 (Williams 63, Trump 56)

So after day 1 in group 3, Judd finds himself in trouble again despite some very high scoring.

Judd Trump 3-0 Ding Junhui
96-42 (Trump 96, Ding 42), 72-45 (Trump 42, Ding 31), 61-40 (Trump 32)

After this win, and just before his last match, Judd is certain to finish 5th at worst considering the other results. If he beats Martin Gould, he will be in the play-offs.

Martin Gould 0-3 Judd Trump
0-74 (Trump 45), 59-63, 0-113 (Trump 113)

This means that Judd finishes third and will play Mark Selby in the play-offs

Mark Selby 1-3 Judd Trump
69-41 (Selby 51), 39-75 (Selby 39, Trump 73), 44-71 (Selby 44, Trump 61), 38-73 (Selby 32, Trump 71)

Final

Dung Junhui 3-2 Judd Trump
Judd battled hard from 0-2 down to make it 2-2, but eventually Ding proved the strongest.
Judd will be back in group 4 tomorrow.

Group 4

Judd Trump 2-3 Stephen Maguire
34-83 (Trump 34, Maguire 83), 45-67 (Maguire 44), 67-0 (Trump 67), 68-52 (Trump 58, Maguire 30), 56-66
From 0-2 down Judd battled back to 2-2 only to eventually lose what was actually a very good match. Both players played great safeties. Judd seemed to struggle a bit with the pace of the table at the start which cost him position on a few occasions. It ann came down to one shot in the end. Judd being 16 ahead with 35 on the table didn’t need the brown to win whilst Stephen did. Pink and brown were tying each other but Judd freed them with an unwanted nudge on the pink when playing safe. When Stephen got his chance, nothing difficult remained and he duly took it.

Judd Trump 3-1 Barry Hawkins
26-81 (Trump 48), 26-60 (Trump 32), 77-13 (Hawkins 76), 13-113 (Trump 112)
Judd played OK and finished in style with a century. His long potting looked good as well.

Mark Selby 1-3 Judd Trump
44-61 (Trump 43, Selby 40), 95-0 (Trump 95), 126-0 (Trump 122), 74-42 (Trump 62, Selby 42)
Judd was impressive in this match, in particular in frames two and three where he restricted the World n°1 to … just one shot and no points.

Judd Trump 0-3 Mark Allen
11-113 (Allen 109), 1-126 (Allen 126), 19-76 (Allen 34)
Mark Allen was impressive in the two first frames, literally potting Judd off the table with two century breaks. A couple of mistakes crept in the last frames, but Judd had been kept cold and didn’t get the run neither. A terrible kick sealed his fate just when it looked like, maybe he could nick it.

Judd Trump 2-3 Ricky Walden
78-52 (Trump 42, Walden 35), 29-83 (Walden 62), 0-88 (Walden 88), 71-51 (Trump 59), 1-77 (Walden 64)
I was a mixed bag of a match, with some scrappy exchanges and some good breaks as well. Ricky had to win this to stand a chance in the competition and he was the more determined of the two. It showed. Judd on the other hand seemed to suffer some lapses of concentration.

Judd Trump 1-3 Martin Gould
36-76 (Trump 35, Gould 39), 6-81 (Gould 75), 136-0 (Trump 136), 31-71 (Trump 31, Gould 60)
Judd lost this match despite hitting at 136 tc and having his chances. Again he looked like losing his concentration at times and Martin punished him. Judd needed to win two frames to stay in the tournament. He didn’t get them and is now relegated.