World Snooker Championship: Betting Guide, Tips & Odds

In all sports, there are some tournaments and events that transcend their discipline and the skills of individual participants. The Snooker World Championship is one such event, known for being the longest running and most prestigious competition and also one that has created a plethora of iconic moments through the years.

The World Championship is one of three events that comprise the coveted ’Triple Crown’ (alongside the UK Championship and invitational Masters) which of course draws in a global audience in the millions. But what do you need to know about betting on this event, and what can we look forward to in 2022? Keep reading this snooker betting guide to find out more.

The Best World Championship Betting Sites

Let’s start at the beginning, as the Betinireland site is packed full of sportsbooks where you can wager on the World Snooker Championship. We’ve listed four of the best below, based on criteria such as available welcome bonuses, outright odds, and in-play betting.

Best World Championship Betting Site – BoyleSports

We’ll start with BoyleSports, which is Ireland’s most iconic sportsbooks and one that’s home to more than 40 individual sports and disciplines.

This includes a large number of ante-post and in-play World Snooker Championship betting markets, which usually feature highly competitive odds. Similarly, BoyleSports offers access to outstanding, 24-hour customer support, so you can resolve any betting and deposit queries in double-quick time.

At BoyleSports, you can currently claim a €20 free bet when you register for a new account and make an initial deposit of €10. This can be deployed on any World Snooker Championship betting market, so long as your selection has minimum odds of 2.0.

• www.begambleaware.org

Best World Championship Free Bet Offer – Bet 365

On the subject of Welcome Bonuses and free bets, it’s Bet365 that’s currently offering the best value for punters.

More specifically, the sportsbook is running a promotion that takes the form of a 100% deposit match up to the value of €50. Although you’ll need to opt-in to receive these bonus funds, this can enable you to make one or more free bets on selected outcomes that boast minimum odds of 1.20 or higher.

With this bonus, you can place a number of World Snooker Championship bets, either prior to the tournament or in-play after the event has gotten underway.

• www.begambleaware.org

Best World Championship In-Play Betting Site – Betway

Live snooker betting represents big business, especially in high profile ranking tournaments such as the World Snooker Championship.

If you are someone who likes to wager on the action as you watch, you can rest-assured that Betway has one of the biggest and most competitive range of in-play markets imaginable. From betting on the winner of the next frame to estimating the first coloured-ball to be potted, you can engage in micro betting on a large scale at Betway.

The welcome offer at Betway enables you to receive a free bet up to the value of €30, with this matching the value of your deposit (between €5 and €30). This free bet can then be deployed across a range of World Snooker Championship markets, so long as the odds in question are 1.75 or higher.

• www.begambleaware.org

Best World Championship Betting Site for Odds – Ladbrokes

We close with Ladbrokes, which is a staple of UK and Irish high streets and boasts an online sportsbook that offers access to around 39 sports betting markets.

Ladbrokes is also renowned for offering highly competitive and enhanced odds across major sporting tournaments, including the World Snooker Championships. This rule applies to both ante-post outright odds and in-play betting, while you may also find competitive prices when placing individual match wagers.

The current Ladbrokes welcome offer boasts a value of €20, comprising four free €5 bets that must be placed on outcomes with minimum odds of 1.50. However, there are no wagering requirements in play here, so you’ll be able to bank all of your winnings if your wagers come in.

• www.begambleaware.org

World Championship Betting Odds for 2022

While the 2022 iteration of the World Snooker Championship may not be scheduled to start until 16th April (the qualifiers will run from 4th - 13th April), a number of our listed sportsbooks have already published outright odds for the eventual winner of the tournament.

A little later in our guide, we’ll cast a closer eye over the early favourites and their chances of winning the 2022 Snooker World Championship, but in the meantime here’s a quick glance at the key contenders and their real-time ante-post odds.

Of course, we’ll continue to update this information as the tournament draws closer and prices begin to shift, so be sure to check in regularly to ensure you’re accessing real-time odds.

World Championship Betting Markets

While outright betting can represent excellent value in the World Snooker Championship, there are a myriad of other ante-post and in-play wagering markets that can be leveraged by punters.

But which of these are the most popular and rewarding? Here’s our breakdown of the three best markets for snooker World Championship betting.

Acca or Combination Betting

Of the 32 players who compete in the Snooker World Championships, only 16 are determined by their ranking. This creates an opportunity for lower-ranked players and qualifiers to compete at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, with the first round often pitting a number of top seeds against these plucky underdogs. At this stage, you can select four or more heavily favoured, short-priced favourites and combine these selections in a single accumulator or combination bet. This way, the individual odds will be multiplied together to create a single, increased price, optimising your potential returns without overly compromising your chances of winning. Of course, all of your individual selections have to come in if the bet is to be successful, which is why you’ll need to be selective when structuring the wager.

Over/Under Betting

Over/under betting is also incredibly popular in the World Snooker Championship and the sport as a whole, with this offering a range of options when wagering online. For example, you could wager on the winning margin in a particular match, especially if a short-priced favourite is playing a perceived underdog. In this instance, you could wager that the favourite in question will win by a margin that’s higher than 3.5 frames, increasing the odds in question and boosting your potential returns.

You can also access over/under markets in terms of the number of frames that will be played in a game. In a best-of-11 match, for example, you could bet that the result will be decided within 8.5 frames. So long as the outcome is determined before the ninth frame starts (regardless of who wins), your bet will come in and you’ll bank the winnings.

The Winner of the Next Frame

If you’re a fan of in-play wagering and fun micro bets, there’s a wide range of live betting markets that you can target. For example, placing an even-money wager on the winner of the next frame is highly popular and can deliver incremental rewards during a game, while this is also an ideal wager for casual fans and punters alike.

This is certainly a viable bet if you’re watching a match and have observed one player building momentum, while this may also be an opportunity to bet on the maker of the next century break during the game.

World Snooker Championship Betting Tips

Now that we’ve covered a few of the most popular wager types and betting markets, the next step is to understand how best to leverage these to your advantage. Fortunately, the skilled team here at Betinireland has laid out some stellar World Snooker Championship betting tips below, so that you can make informed decisions.

Use Handicap Betting Wisely

Handicap betting is a staple of all sports wagering, but this type of bet is best deployed when backing short-priced favourites or matches in which there’s an obvious gap in quality between the two participants. After all, while applying a -3.5 handicap to a player will lengthen their odds of winning and potentially create increased returns (if they win by a margin of four frames or more), this also increases the risk of the wager being unsuccessful.

So, the key is to use your knowledge of the sport to identify matches where a large winning margin is more likely, as this enables you to pursue increased returns without overly compromising your chances of winning in the first place.

Don’t Overlook Form and Historical Performance

As with any team or individual sport, form is a huge consideration when pre-empting the outcome of individual matches and outright tournaments. Certainly, it’s wise to be aware of any players who may carry momentum and good form into the 2022 World Snooker Championship, while also recognising those who are out-of-form and potentially lacking in confidence can help you to review the published odds in a slightly different light.

Some players may also have an affinity with specific championships. For example, while competitors such as Judd Trump and Mark Selby tend to perform consistently all-year-round, Ronnie O’Sullivan typically reserves his best efforts for major events such as the World Championship. So, he may represent a better value bet in this type of tournament.

Know Your Betting Limits

When placing your snooker World Championship bets across both ante-post and in-play markets, there’s a huge array of options and wager types to choose from. This is particularly true in the case of live snooker betting, where you can make a vast number of micro bets in a relatively short period of time.

This creates a scenario where you may easily begin to wager outside of your financial means, so it’s important to have a clear understanding of your betting limits and the precise amount that you can afford to lose during a daily, weekly, or monthly period. You’ll also need discipline to continually impose these limits over time, particularly in instances if you quickly exceed your allotted bankroll for the Snooker World Championship.

The World Championship Format

The 2022 World Snooker Championship commences with a 128-player qualifier draw, with four rounds of such fixtures scheduled to be played out between April 4th and April 13th.

At the end of this process, 16 players will assume their place in the main draw, joining the world’s top 16 players who are afforded an automatic place as seeded competitors (including defending champion and subsequent first seed Mark Selby).

The main event then commences with the first-round proper on April 16th, 2022, featuring 16 matches that are played as the best-of-19 frames. The tournament then progresses along the lines of a straight knockout format, with the first-round winners progressing to the last 16 and eight second-round matches played as the best-of-25 frames. The four quarterfinals are also played over the same duration, while the two subsequent semi-finals are contested over a maximum of 33 frames.

The final will commence on May 1st, taking place over the course of two days and a maximum of 35 frames. The second day usually falls on the May-Day Bank Holiday, typically drawing large television audiences throughout the UK as a result.

As of 2022, the tournament boasts a total prize fund of £2,395,000. The winner will bank a cheque worth a cool £500,000, while the runner-up earns £200,000 and beaten semi-finalists will accrue £100,000 each. The remaining prize money is distributed across the early round and qualifying fixtures, so even players who exit in the last 112 and prior to the main draw are liable to earn £5,000.

The player who makes the highest break across the qualifying stage and main tournament will bank £15,000, while anyone skillful enough to complete a maximum break during the televised stage (there have been 11 in the history of the World Snooker Championship) will bank an impressive £40,000.

The 2022 Tournament Schedule

Below, we’ve broken down the exact 2022 schedule, based on the information that has been published so far. Once again, we’ll continue to update this section as and when the qualifying and main draws have been made.

The World Championship Top Players

From the ante-post prices and snooker World Championship odds published so far, it would appear that snooker’s so-called “big three” and top-ranked players in the world are among the early sportsbook favourites. These top performers, along with Australia’s world number four Neil Robertson, are head-and-shoulders ahead of the field according to most bookies, even with a further 16 qualifiers still to confirm their place at the Crucible in 2022.

So, here’s a breakdown of the three ante-post favourites, and exactly what sets them apart from their rivals.

Judd Trump

It’s current world number two and 2019 champion Judd Trump leading the field at present, at an average price of 10/3. The incredibly consistent Trump has won a total of 22 ranking events during his career, placing him sixth in the all-time list and leaving many wondering how he has only won a single world title to date. In terms of recent form, Trump claimed his first ever Champion of Champions title in November 2021, before being dumped out of the last 16 of the subsequent World Grand Priz by the unheralded world number 20 Tom Ford.

Mark Selby

The so-called “Jester from Leicester” is a close second-favourite at around 11/2, although Selby is the defending champion and a four-times winner who has claimed the seventh most ranking event titles of all-time (20). However, Selby has enjoyed a steady rather than spectacular 2021/22 season to date, making his 700th career century break in the opening match of the 2021 Champion of Champions event before being beaten by Neil Robertson in the semi-final of the World Grand Prix. Still, it’s hard to ignore the Englishman’s pedigree at this tournament, who will start the 2022 championship as the top seed.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Last, but not least, we come to the world number three and icon of the game Ronnie O’Sullivan, who will start his quest for a seventh World Snooker Championship title at an average price of 6/1. The 2020 champion often reserves his best form for this tournament too, while he arrives in Sheffield having won a record 38 ranking titles and 20 ‘Triple Crowns’ during a stellar career. Because of this immense pedigree, form isn’t always a great indicator of how O’Sullivan will perform in the championship, with ‘Rocket’ Ronnie set to compete in his 30th consecutive such iteration of the tournament.

The Previous Winners

While O’Sullivan has won six world titles overall, only three have come in the last decade. In fact, there have been five separate winners since 2012, including Welshman Mark Williams who shocked the world by lifting the title in 2018.

Williams, who beat fellow veteran John Higgins 18-16 in a thrilling final, claimed his third world title some 15 years after his previous win, while prior to the start of 2018 he had failed to win a ranking event for six years. This is also the only time that a non-English player has won the title since 2012, with Leicester’s Mark Selby having enjoyed a period of dominance during this time.

Here’s a quick glimpse at the last 10 previous winners and finals, along with the runners-up and the eventual score.

Your FAQs Answered

At this stage in our guide, all that’s left is to answer some of your most frequently-asked questions pertaining to the Snooker World Championship, its betting markets and the sport as a whole. So, here goes!