This week’s ManBetX Gibraltar Open is the final counting event before the field is set for the Ladbrokes Players Championship in Llandudno.

Only the leading 16 players on the one-year ranking list will go through to North Wales later this month (March 19-25) where a top prize of £125,000 will be up for grabs.

As it stands, Graeme Dott occupies 16th place with £113,500, but he has not entered the Gibraltar event so his fate is out of his hands. There are four players who can overtake him and earn a place in Llandudno: Cao Yupeng, Jack Lisowski, Joe Perry and Li Hang. All four of them, however, can only get into the top 16 by winning the £25,000 top prize in Gibraltar. Anything less, and Dott keeps his place.

John Higgins won last week’s ManBetX Welsh Open and the £70,000 top prize sees him climb to third place on the one-year list. Barry Hawkins would have leapt into the top 16 by winning in Cardiff, but his £30,000 runner-up prize only brings him to 25th spot and he will definitely miss out on Llandudno.

On the official two-year ranking list, Higgins remains fifth but closes the gap on fourth-placed Ding Junhui. Noppon Saengkham reached the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time in Cardiff and he’s up 11 places to 47th. Gary Wilson lost in the other semi and he climbs nine spots to 42nd.

There are three events to go in the Race to the Crucible with only the top 16 seeds after the China Open to be sure of  place at the Theatre of Dreams. Mark Allen, currently 16th, is over £25,000 ahead of Stephen Maguire in 17th.