Who Is Hot and Who Is Not Ahead of 2023’s Snooker Champs?
Author:
Roy Brindley
The Betfred World Snooker Championship is less than a month away. Staged at Sheffield’s iconic Crucible Theatre, this year’s tournament is worth almost ￡2.4 million. ￡500,000 will go to the winner, but who will collect that impressive pay cheque?
Judged by the odds currently offered by the leading snooker betting sites, the overwhelming probability is that a previous winner will be victorious again. The shortest-priced player that is not a former World Snooker champion is Mark Allen. The Northern Irish player can be backed at 12/1.
Can Mark Allen blow his rivals away in the 2023 World Championship? ?GettyImages
Similarly, the possibility of a player from outside the world’s top-16 (not entering the tournament at the final 32 main stage) lifting the trophy on May 1st is considered remote. Shaun Murphy was the last non-seeded World Snooker Championship winner back in 2005.
Anything is possible in Snooker, and one of the bigger surprises of recent times came in 2015 when Stuart Bingham won the title. The Essex native was available at 66/1 at the competition’s outset. He is 40/1 to take a second world crown this spring. Below is our opinion of the 46-year-old’s chances, the leading protagonists in betting order, and some potentially overpriced dark horses.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Seven times a winner (from 30 appearances), the defending champion has had an unspectacular season. By beating Ng On-yee, Neil Robertson, and Marco Fu, he did land the Hong Kong Masters in October. ‘The Rocket’ also won the Champion of Champions, but once again, he beat only one noteworthy player, Judd Trump, in the final.
There has been no semi-final or final appearances in ranking events for O’Sullivan this campaign. It means the defending World Champion was in far better form at this juncture 11 months ago. For that reason, the 9/2 offered by the leading snooker betting sites makes little appeal.
Judd Trump
The 2019 World Champion was not at his best during the first half of the season, suffering early departures from most ranking tournaments. But success in January’s Masters and a 10-9 defeat in the final of the World Grand Prix a week later suggested Trump was about to hit full stride.
Alas, a second-round defeat in the Welsh Open and a first-round loss in the Players Championship have followed. It is difficult to identify Trump’s exact chances, but he did make last year’s World Championship final on the back of a similar run of moderate form.
Neil Robertson
Robertson has won at least one professional tournament every year since 2006, and he won four major titles during the 2021/2022 season. But the 2010 World Champion elected to miss the first three ranking events of the current campaign and has not reached a final since.
A heavy cold was blamed for poor efforts in the UK Championship and Masters. Nevertheless, on the balance of recent form and understanding, he has only made the world championship final once – the year he won it – the Australian’s 7/1 odds appear skinny.
Mark Selby
The ‘Jester from Leicester’ traditionally reserves his best form for this event – and he is a four-time winner (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021). Victory in the mid-season English Open looked ominous for his rivals, but the 39-year-old has hit some bumps on the road since.
There have been first-round defeats in the Masters, World Grand Prix, Snooker Shootout and Players Championship during the past two months. Mental health issues and depression were blamed for these and other lackluster performances. Only Selby knows where his head and game currently reside. If playing anything like his best, 8/1 odds will represent a bookmakers donation.
Shaun Murphy
Now based in Ireland, Murphy declared he had a gastric band fitted to address his weight problems last August. As the pounds (and stones) have come off, Murphy’s form has improved in tandem.
He showed his run to the final of the Welsh Open in mid-February was no fluke when he made an overdue visit to the winner’s enclosure in the Players Championship a week later. ‘The Magician’s’ scoring during the tournament – breaks of 133, 135, 137, 141 and 145 – suggest he is currently playing his best snooker in years.
The 2005 World Champion looks primed for a deep run. Murphy – also a World Championship finalist in 2009, 2015 and 2021 – has been slashed in the betting. 50/1 is a distant memory but, at 12/1, he still represents fair value.
Mark Allen
Most people’s idea of the player of the season, the 37-year-old has won the Northern Ireland Open, UK Championship, and World Grand Prix during the past five months. There have also been runs to the quarter, semis, and final of three other ranking events.
Interestingly, like Murphy (and John Higgins in 2021/22), Allen’s upturn in form has come following the loss of several stones in weight. A trademark of his 2022/23 success has been his ability to win decisive final frames when the scores are tied.
Allen’s ability to perform under pressure cannot be questioned. However, first-round defeats in the Masters, and more recently the Players Championship, are cause for concern. Additionally, he has been a first or second-round casualty in ten of the last 11 World Championships.
Given his outstanding season, the 12/1 offered by the the best online betting sites has to be of interest. However, it could be prudent to wait until Allen has navigated through the first and second rounds before supporting the Northern Irish player. Incidentally, Allen’s deepest run in this competition came in 2009 when he reached the semi-finals.
Mark Williams
The popular and entertaining Welshman shocked everyone when returning from the wilderness to take the world title for a third time in 2018. Sadly for him, he has returned to snooker’s wasteland joining the ranks of journeyman professionals attending tour events where a first, second, and occasional third-round exit is almost inevitable.
Mark Williams has been in poor form, but he regularly goes deep in the World Championship. ?GettyImages
If only looking at his form in this tournament, Williams’s 18/1 odds could tempt a few. His last three World Championship appearances have yielded visits to a semi-final and two quarter-finals.
John Higgins
The Scotsman had a strong start to the 2021/22 season following dramatic weight loss. But, except for a low-value non-ranking success in the 2023 Championship League, the 2022/23 season has been disastrous.
A four-time World Champion (and four-time beaten finalist), Higgins can never be dismissed. Like Selby, the veteran tends to produce his best snooker at the Crucible, but on all known form, 20/1 underrates his chances.
Kyren Wilson
He may be a five-time ranking winner, but a triple crown event or a major title has so far illuded the 2020 World Championship finalist. Wilson started the current season by winning European Masters in August but has been largely disappointing since. Despite his world number five ranking, Kyren is hard to fancy even at BetVictor’s 20/1.
Barry Hawkins
Hawkins does not seem to get the results his undoubted talent deserves. He is an infrequent winner and last scored in the 2019 Paul Hunter Classic. ‘The Hawk’ did enjoy a good spin in the World Championships during the seasons following his 2013 final appearance (beaten 18-12 by Ronnie O’Sullivan) with four runs to the semi-finals in five years.
However, the Hawk has not progressed beyond the second round in the last four World Championships. Similarly, he has only gone further than the second round of just one of the last eight ranking events he has played this season.
Ali Carter
Carter’s overall profile shows peaks and troughs. Winning his first ranking title in seven years when taking the German Masters at the start of February – and following up with a place in the final of the Players Championship – ‘The Captain’ is currently riding high.
A finalist in the 2008 and 2012 World Championships, as an in-form player, he should not be dismissed. But, his overall profile suggests 40/1 odds are a fair reflection of his chances.
Jack Lisowski
A top-16 ranked player, it is difficult to believe Lisowski has never won a ranking tournament. His brilliance is clear to see, but the word comes with the prefix, ‘occasional’.
Pros and pundits believed Lisowski’s game would dramatically improve following an alliance with former World Champion Peter Ebdon – who was appointed as his coach ahead of the Masters. His break-building has been better than ever, but inconsistency remains.
Ding Junhui
In his prime, the Sheffield-based Chinese was world-ranked number one and won the UK Championship three times. The elder statesman of the Chinese snooker circle, Ding has seen many of his comrades suffer bans for alleged match-fixing this season.
??? “That’s what it means to him!” ????
?? The 3?? year wait is over for a major title and Ding Junhui claims his second Six Red Championship #SixRedWorldChampionship | @WeAreWST pic.twitter.com/nISrzvGXE3
— Eurosport (@eurosport) March 11, 2023
The stain has seemingly seen him raise his game, and Ding has reproduced some of his best snooker in recent months. In early March he beat some big names en route to winning the final of the non-ranking Six Red World Championship. A form horse, not a dark horse, William Hill underrate Ding Junhui’s chances by offering odds of 40/1.
Stephen Maguire
The former world number two is now ranked 36 and has had a terrible season. The Scotsman has failed to qualify for the bulk of ranking tournaments, and despite three quarter-final appearances in the past six World Championships, the 41-year-old is impossible to fancy.
Gary Wilson
Wilson took his maiden ranking tournament title when claiming December’s Scottish Open. An improving player – now ranked number 17 – he may be able to match his excellent run to the semi-finals of the 2019 World Championship. 100/1 odds could give each-way players some excitement.
Joe O’Connor
A 100/1 shot according to the odds compilers at Unibet sportsbook, O’Connor is the sport’s current shooting star. Now ranked 31, the 27-year-old has reached the final of the Scottish Open, the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open, and the semi-finals of the Players Championship during the past three months.
Yet to make it out of the World Championship qualifiers, the former Pool World Champion has taken the scalp of many of the world’s best snooker players this season. In the Scottish Open, Eurosport commentator Neal Foulds described a recent decisive break against Neil Robertson as: “one of the best I’ve ever seen.”
Conclusion
Neither Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Stuart Bingham, Judd Trump nor Stephen Maguire has won a ranking tournament during the 2022/23 season. The form players from the highest echelon of the sport are Mark Allen, Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and Ali Carter. One day Jack Lisowski will deliver a result in line with his talent – could he do it on the biggest stage of all? Of the rags, Joe O’Connor stands out.
