Wild Thing

Come January, the Masters will be ready to rumble at Wembley, and we already know 17 out of the 18 competitors; The Top 16 plus Judd Trump, who qualified by beating Mark Joyce (?) in the final of the qualifiers. That leaves one place, with it going to a wild card. Who? Well here are the contenders:

Ricky Walden (Pictured): The big favourite to get it, as he won the Shanghai Masters earlier this year. Also won the Belgian Open, a non-ranking event and took eventual-finalist Ryan Day to a Final Frame in the Grand Prix. 

Chance 9/10

Dave Harold: Apparently this years best player outside the Top 16, this helped by a run to the Northern Ireland Trophy Final. Unfortunately he's always losing 4-5. So that's bummed down his chances a bit.

Chance 6/10

Liang Wenbo: The ever so popular Chinese player won the hearts of fans at last years World Championships and has carried on that form this season with some notable wins. Last year Marco Fu was chosen because he was a favourite with the BBC viewers after his Grand Prix win. It'll be interesting if that is the way of picking.

Chance 8/10

Steve Davis: BBC will probably want a presenter playing and Steve has done superbly this season (despite his highest break being something like 40) reaching a couple of Quarter-Finals. However he didn't enter the Qualifiers which asks the question whether he wants to play?

Chance 7/10 

Daniel Wells/Michael Georgiou/Jamie Cope A.K.A 'The Hotshots': World Snooker's 'Hotshots' have done nothing since being introduced at the start of the season. But is the Masters the start of it all? 2 of the 5 Hotshots will be there (Mark Selby and Mark Allen) but is that enough? Georgiou probably won't get it as he does nothing, Cope's failed this season with a load of poor performances but as for Daniel Wells, I think he deserves it. (Well, sort of) The Qualifiers for the tournament saw the popular youngster beat Michie then Liang before coming heartbreakingly close against Fergal O'Brien in the Quarters losing 5-4. Dan's only TV moments have been the Hotshots Video and being a judge in The Sportsround Trickshot Challenge, on CBBC. It's unlikely but I would love to see him play.

Chance 3/10

Others

Michael Holt: A couple of good performances probably won't be enough. 3/10 

Stuart Bingham: Decent season but who wants him? 4/10

Matthew Stevens: Bahrain finalist has a decent chance. 6/10

Ken Doherty: Plenty of fans but has had an awful season. 5/10

Jimmy White: Done alright this season but he is sort of gone. 3/10

Me: Amateurs can play right? 0/10