Selby goes through

Selby was overshadowed by Ding Junhui in the round-robin phase of the tournament, with the Chinese player proceeding unbeaten through all of his six matches - winning five and drawing one - to go into the group one play-off.

But Ding then lost his play-off match 3-2 to Ali Carter while Selby – who was second out of the group of seven players after the opening games – waltzed past Joe Perry in the other play-off match.

Selby then produced a break of 133 - the best of the event so far – as he beat Carter 3-1 in the play-off final to win himself a spot in the Championship League winners' group.

Carter, Ding, Perry and Stephen Hendry will all go on to play in the group two round-robin matches which begin on Wednesday, where they will be joined by Mark Williams, Peter Ebdon and Mark Allen.

But UK Championship winner Shaun Murphy is out of the competition, as is Welshman Ryan Day. The pair each won just one of their six matches to finish sixth and seventh respectively in the group and heading out of the competition.

The Championship League consists of eight groups. Seven regular groups and then a winners group featuring the seven previous successful players.

In groups one to six, the winner of the final will advance to the winners' group. Players finish 2-5 advance into the next group where they are then joined by three new players for the next group.

All matches in the league phase are played over four frames. The play-offs and final are the first to three.

The winner of the event gets an automatic berth into the lucrative Premier League while there is also prize money on offer of £100 a frame in the regular group stage - with each semi and final being worth £300 per frame.