Season 3 PreviewWe've reached Season 3 of the MCQ with the field growing season on season. Season 3 currently has a field of 21 with under 2 hours to go until kick off and that has seen a slight tweak to the table format with the top and bottom 5 now becoming the top and bottom 6.
Amongst the runners we have 4 debutants with
HutchGF the most favoured of those. He has some decent quiz form and Hatbrokes have him priced at 66/1 so we could be looking at a player flirting with the top 6. The other newcomers are
superwomble (100/1),
nirvana (150/1) and
celtic (500/1), and at those prices it would suggest that a midtable finish would be one to celebrate for those players. nirvana has talked down his own chances but has the potential to perform on his day whilst celtic is notorious for his quiz performances and is a clear favourite to finish last.
At the head of the market we have some familiar names.
Rubbish2407 missed Season 1 due to a niggling virus but made a mockery of his 20/1 pre-season price by storming the league, winning with one question to go, correctly answering 16 of the 19 questions. Hatbrokes not taking any chances with Rubbish2407 at 4/1 but a repeat of Season 2 could again see his fans collecting after question 20. In behind Rubbish in the market is the Season 1 champion,
Archer, and he is definitely a serious contender. Archer (5/1) was perhaps disappointed with his Season 2 performance but he was flirting with the top 5 late on and answered 12 questions correctly (4th highest) so it could be suggested that he needs to avoid the zero point answers to improve on that season.
KarmaDope, at 11/2, is a real contender and has shown his quiz skills over seasons 1 and 2 with 7th and 3rd place finishes respectively, continued improvement could see him really challenge.
Behind the market leaders we have
degston77 (8/1) and
TightEnd (12/1) who both finshed in the top 5 last season with degston77 finishing 4pts behind Rubbish2407 in 2nd place. He also has a 5th place finish to his name in Season 1 so it could be argued that there's place claims in his 8/1 price but can he find that extra push to take top spot? TightEnd has had two very contrasting seasons so far, with a 15th place finish in S1 followed with a 4th place finish in
. It could be claimed that Tighty, as he is affectionately known to his fans, is priced on reputation given his fearsome quizzing history but he finished
like a train and if he can get off to a strong start in
then he'll likely be a big challenger. Another who finished
well was
ForthThistle, coming from a bad bottom 5 spot to answer 6 of the final 7 questions correctly to tie TightEnd in 4th place. He's available at 33/1 and a repeat of
could see his backers collecting on the place part of that bet.
Karabiner has been very consistent in his two campaigns so far, with safe 9th and 10th place finishes. However, he's never really been in any danger of finishing in the bottom 5 and flirted with the top 5 numerous times. Even the smallest of improvements could see Karabiner in contention for Season 3's top 6 and he looks priced about right at 25/1. Another player with two midtable finishes is
jakally (8th and 12th) but unlike Karabiner he hasn't really threatened the top 5 in two seasons so will need to find a bit more to please any 28/1 backers.
Alverton went in to
as a real contender after a 4th place finish in S1 but he had a disaster of a season finishing in 14th and needed a strong finish to avoid last place. If he can recapture his S1 form then he could land a few place bets at 33/1 but this is a strong field and a repeat of
will lead to another struggle. In behind Alverton in the market is three players at 40/1 in Dacorb, stribling and bergeroo.
Dacorb has finished 10th and 7th so far and has been very consistent but needs to find a little extra to trouble the top players. He teased his fans throughout
with the top 5 looking a possibility on a few occasions and he only missed out on a correct answer count back.
stribling finished on the same score as Dacorb in
in a tie for 6th which was a huge improvement on his bottom 5 finish in S1. He briefly led in S1 before falling away so is one to keep an eye on if he's worked on his quiz stamina in pre-season.
bergeroo is one that's been mentioned in the press this week as a potential contender after rumours of a strong pre-season but has had to work hard to avoid the bottom 5 in both seasons so far so it would need big improvement for him to challenge.
Juperjiper (50/1) has a similar story to stribling with a bottom 5 finish in S1 followed up with a tie for 6th in
and has clearly been working hard in preparation for
by preparing his own quiz.
Which version of
4KSuited will we get in
? A 3rd placed finish in the inaugural season led many to believe he could go on to be a top quizzer but this was followed up by the season of horrors as he finished bottom in
. Rumours continue to circulate that 4K didn't take
as seriously as he could have and was seen coming out of many nightclubs late at night. Can he find his S1 form and compete at 66/1?
Pokerpops was rooted to the bottom of the table in his debut
but answered the final 5 questions correctly to pull clear of that bottom spot and finish in 14th. That was still a bottom 5 finish for Pops but he was the only player to finish with 10 points from 10 so that is clear championship form so could there be any value at 125/1? Another 125/1 shot is
arbboy who has two bottom 5 finishes so far and there doesn't seem to be much upside to backing the Stoke-based player at that price with the field strengthening.
The final player to mention is
Ironside, who at 200/1 doesn't seem to represent much value given his performances so far. He has finished in last and second last in the two seasons so far but has claimed he has refocused this season. His aim should be to finish midtable to show he can perform before people could really get behind the Scotsman.
Late drama as
Tal enters the competition with little over an hour remaining. Tal missed
with a timing injury but finished 2nd in S1 and the bookies have taken no chances by having him in at 8/1.
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