By Saj Chowdhury

Holt says Prestatyn is tough

Michael Holt said he would not be fazed by any tactics employed by his Crucible first-round opponent Peter Ebdon.

Ebdon's slow play upset world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight of last year's World Championship.

"I heard he was slow, but I'm not going into the match thinking he'll play like that. Slow players have never bothered me," the 25-year-old told BBC Sport.

"I would rather it take him 20 minutes to make a 20 break than 20 minutes to make 100."

Holt added: "Peter's a great player and a world champion, but I can beat anyone though."

The world number 31 from Nottingham made his first appearance at the Crucible last year, beating Paul Hunter in the first round, who had been diagnosed with cancer a couple of months before the tournament.

The defeat was down to my own stupidity Holt on his 2005 Crucible loss to Steve Davis

"It was a strange experience, because of the situation with Paul mixed with the elation of getting there for the first time," Holt said.

"I think I handled myself well. The result wasn't going to be great whether I won or lost, I had to be professional."

The Nottingham star went on to meet six-times world champion Steve Davis in the next round, but things did not go according to plan.

"I was 8-2 up, then lost, I was disappointed in myself. He did well to come back, but the defeat was down to my own stupidity," he added.

This year Holt beat Stuart Pettman 10-2 in his qualifier at Prestatyn to secure his berth at Sheffield.

Holt believes playing at Prestatyn's Pontin's holiday camp can be a testing experience, as UK champion Ding Junhui, found out when he lost his final qualifier 10-6 to rising star Barry Hawkins.

"At Prestatyn I stay at the camp, but I'm never there for that long because I don't have to play many matches in order to qualify. There aren't many there who watch me - it's my dad and my manager usually," he said.

"There's a lot of pressure playing there, many don't realise. Any player would find it hard at Prestatyn. Ding is one example. He won the UK at York but then failed in front of about 10 people."