Snooker Betting Tips

Our 10 Best Snooker Betting Tips

We’ve put together a list of our 10 best snooker betting tips for anyone looking to bet on snooker, whether they’re a first-timer or regular player. Take a look below and take the following tips into consideration as you play:

Tip #1: Research Players

One of the best things you can do when making bets on snooker is to follow the players. Research their past games to work out who they often loose games against, This, combined with our fourth tip and using the bookmakers’ favourites, will aid you in selecting the correct winner of a game or event.

Tip #2: The Games

Learn the differences between billiards, snooker, and pool, so you avoid making mistakes when placing bets. This is particularly true for when it comes to scoring and point-making in the various games as they all follow unique rules.

Tip #3: Check Bookmakers

One of the best things you can do to ensure you make the best bets and receive the best winnings is to check the odds on various online bookmakers. Some sports betting sites offer better odds than others, so it’s worth registering with several sites and compare odds to give yourself the best deal possible.

Tip #4: Watch Games

Watching games will help you analyse how certain players play. It’s also a great way of learning the rules of snooker and discovering how the game is played by professionals.

Tip #5: Stay Simple

If you’re new to betting, we suggest you keep things simple by betting only on matches or entire events. We suggest you take on the more complicated games when you’ve familiarised yourself a little more with the games and online betting.

Tip #6: Favourites & Predictions

Checking out a bookies’ favourite or taking a look at predictions for upcoming games or events can help you make decisions on bets. In some cases it may be a good idea to follow the predictions, it could be the difference between winning or losing a bet.

Tip #7: Don’t Rush

Another important tip we believe you should consider is to start off slow. Making bets can be exciting, but it’s important you refrain from rushing and making multiple bets as there’s still a chance you can lose, not matter how confident you are.

Tip #8: Monitor Spending

As with all gambling activities, it’s important to monitor your spending to ensure that you don’t end up spending more money than you can afford. Doing so can lead to some bad consequences but is usually a worst-case scenario.

Tip #9: Check Promotions

Many betting shops offer special bonuses when important tournaments are being played. Others give promotions to boost earnings or cashback bonuses which allow you to claim a percentage of money back on lost bets. Keep your eyes peeled for these bonuses as they can help you out greatly.

Tip #10: Have Fun

We’ve mentioned this before and we’ll continue saying this; make sure you have fun. Gambling should never be stressful, it should be a fun experience that you enjoy. If you do ever find yourself getting angry or upset, it may be a good idea to take a break from gambling for a while.

What Is Snooker And How Does It Work?

Snooker is played on a large rectangular table, which has pockets at each of its four corners as well as on either side of the table for a total of six pockets. In the game, players are tasked with knocking coloured balls into the pockets using their cues and a white ball, otherwise known as a cue ball.

The Rules

Snooker is only played by two players who compete against each other to score the highest number of points in the correct sequence. The game consists of 15 red balls, a white cue ball, and one ball in each of the following colours: yellow, green, brown, pink, blue, and black. Each of the balls has a different point value:

• Red: One point
• Yellow: Two points
• Green: Three points
• Brown: Four points
• Blue: Five points
• Pink: Six points
• Black: Seven points

During the game, players take it in turns to pot balls starting with a red ball, and then a coloured ball which players must call out. This process repeats with each potted ball adding to a player’s value. Turns end when a player commits a foul, such as:

• Missing a ball
• Pot a ball you were not supposed to pot
• Causing a ball to jump off the table
• Pot the cue ball
• Pushing the cue ball against another close ball
• Touching a ball

The winner of the game is the player who manages to score the most points in a frame (An individual round). Games and tournaments of snooker generally follow a “Best of” format involving multiple frames and the player who wins the most frames, wins the game or event. The number of frames in a game can vary, with some games requiring players to win five frames of nine while the highest number of frames being 35 as seen in the World Championship where the winning player is whoever first wins 18 frames.

Snooker, Billiards And Pool: What’s The Difference?

The Balls

Snooker, English billiards and pool are all cue sports that follow similar rules but there are some key differences. First of all, the number of balls featured in each game differs as pool uses 16 balls (15 number balls and a white cue ball), snooker uses 22 balls (15 red balls eight and seven coloured balls), and billiards uses only three balls (One red ball and one white and yellow for each player).

Scoring

Scoring works differently for each of the games too. In pool, players are required to pot seven balls of either stripes or solids and then pot the black ball. For snooker, players must pot a red ball followed by a coloured ball and so on. Each ball in the game holds a point value which is added to the player’s total count whenever the ball is poted. Finally, in billiards, players earn points by completing certain actions.

Winning

The way a player wins in each of the game changes too. In pool, players only win by being the first to pot the black ball. In snooker, players win by accumulating more points than their opponents across multiple frames. Finally, in billiard, the player who reaches the agreed total point target is the first to win.

Snooker Organisations

There are dozens of snooker organisations that operate around the world but the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) is currently the governing body for professional snooker. The organisation, which is based in Bristol and was founded in 1968, owns and sets the rules for the sport while also engaging in promotional activities.

The WPBSA has four subsidiaries which cover various aspects of the sport. The subsidiaries include the World Snooker Association, World Billiards, World Women’s Snooker, and World Disability Billiards and Snooker. The main subsidiary, the World Snooker Association, runs the main snooker competitions and tournaments including the World Snooker Championship, the World Open, UK Championship, China Open, and Welsh Open, but we’ll talk more about these later.

Important Players

There are dozens of well-known snooker players but there is no league that determines the best or most successful snooker player – it’s all down to opinion. Some of the most popular snooker players include Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Stephen Hendry, and many more. You can discover these famous players by reading on.

Judd Trump

Judd Trump is an English professional snooker player and currently one of the most well-known names in the professional sport. Throughout his youth, Trump experienced success in various tournaments before turning professional and winning his first rank in the 2011 China Open after beating Mark Selby. Trump has also won the 2011 UK Championship, the 2012 International Championship, the 2014 Australian Goldfields Open, and more. More recently, Trump experienced a run of wins in 2019 including the World Grand Prix, World Snooker Championship, International Championship, World Open, and Northern Ireland Open.

Neil Robertson

Neil Robertson is another well-known snooker player who won the 2010 World Championship. To date, Robertson remains the only Australian to have won a ranking event and is considered the best Australian snooker player ever. His first win came in 2006 when he won the Grand Prix followed by the wins of the 2007 Welsh Open, 2008 Bahrain Championship, 2009 Grand Prix, 2010 World Championship, and 2010 World Open. His more recent wins include the 2019 Welsh Open, the 2019 China Open, and the 2020 European Masters.

Stephen Hendry

Stephen Hendy is a now-retired snooker player and current sports commentator for channels BBC and ITV. Hendry is regarded as one of the most successful snooker players of all time and holds dozens of records including being the younger player to win the World Championship at the age of 21. What’s more, Stephen Hendry was awarded an MBE in 1994 and was voted BBC Scotland’s Sports Personality of the Year twice in 1987 and 1996.

Mark Selby

Mark Selby is an English professional snooker player who became a professional at the age of 16 in 1999. Throughout his career, Selby won three Masters titles between 2008 and 2013, as well as two UK Championships (2012 and 2016) and three World Championships (2014, 2016, and 2017). His most recent wins include the 2019 Scottish Open and the 2019 English Open.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Ronnie O’Sullivan is arguably one of the most famous snooker players of all time. O’Sullivan turned professional in 1992 and has won dozens of big championships, even sharing the record for the most ranking titles alongside player Stephen Hendry. O’Sullivan was also the youngest winner of a ranking title with the 1993 UK Championship aged 17, and won was the youngest winner of the Masters in 1995, at the age of 19. Recent wins include the 2019 Players Championship and the 2019 Tour Championship. O’Sullivan is so famous that he’s inspired the popular Playtech slot Ronnie O’Sullivan: Sporting Legends.

Snooker Events: February 2020

There are dozens of snooker events held throughout the year. However, the plethora of events can be hard to track and keep up-to-date with, which is why so many websites publish diaries for all the upcoming events. If you’re only interested in the main tournaments, you should keep your eye on the World Snooker Championship, the UK Championship, the World Cup, the Scottish Open, the World Open, the European Masters, the China Open, the Welsh Open, the German Masters, and so many more.

There are smaller events too. Although these may not feature the best players in the sport, they’re still incredibly fun to watch. If you’d like to stay updated with snooker events, just check back here every month to find out:

Coral World Grand Prix
February 3 – February 9, 2020
Cheltenham Racecourse, England

ManBetX Welsh Open
February 10 – February 16, 2020
Motorpoint Arena, Wales

Challenge Tour 9
February 15 – February 16, 2020
Terry Griffiths Matchroom, Wales

BetVictor Shoot-Out
February 20 – February 23, 2020
Watford Colosseum, England

Coral Players Championship
February 24 – March 1, 2020
Waterfront, England

Snooker Bets Explained

First-time snooker gamblers may find the number of possible bets overwhelming or confusing. However, most of the bets you make are pretty self-explanatory and easy to understand. If you’re unsure about the possible bets, just take a look below to find out what they mean and what you’re required to do for each one. Within no time we’re sure you’ll be making snooker bets!

Outright Bets

These bets are the easiest to make, you simply need to select which player you believe will win the tournament.

Match Bets

Match bets are similar to outrights, but they require you to wager on who you believe is the winner of an individual game.

Correct Score

Correct score bets are easy to understand but rather difficult to make, particularly for first-time gamblers. Despite their difficulty, however, these bets are incredibly popular. They generally require you to bet on the exact score in frames a match will finish in.

Highest Break

This beat generally means to wager on who you believe will make the highest break, either in a specific match or in the entire tournament.

147 Bets

These unique bets are incredibly simple. All you need to do is wager on whether or not there will be a 147 break score in a tournament. That’s it!

Total Frames

A fun bet to make, although sometimes hard, is Total Frames. When someone makes a bet like this, they’re predicting the number of total frames played by both players. Generally, betting sites or bookmakers will state a number of frames and you will need to wager on whether you believe it’s too high or too low a number.