Are you interested in betting on snooker but don’t have a clue where to start? Carry on reading for everything you need to know about snooker and betting on this sport!
Snooker is a highly entertaining game. It is complex and challenging. The rules are easy to learn however mastering the sport is not, which is why it is so fun to watch.
Basic rules of snooker
If you aren’t familiar with Snooker and how the game works, keep reading. If you are familiar with the game but just need some help on betting, skip to ‘ready to start betting’!
Snooker is a two player sport where the aim is to pot balls into pockets on a table. The size of the balls and table are regulated. The table is rectangular, measuring 12ft x 6ft and just under 3ft in height, and usually made of wood with a slate top covered in green baize.
A numerical value is assigned to each color ball on the table. The ‘frame’ is won by the player who earns the most points in one round. Depending on the tournament, a snooker match will consist of a certain number of frames. Some matches may be best of five frames, but the World Snooker Championship final will be best of 35 frames.
Snooker ball values:
- Red – 1
- Yellow – 2
- Green – 3
- Brown – 4
- Blue – 5
- Pink – 6
- Black – 7
Players take it in turns to take a shot with their cue. If they pot a ball, they get another turn. If they miss, then their opponent comes to the table.
There are 15 red balls and 1 of each of the coloured balls listed above at the start of the snooker competition. Before attempting a coloured ball, a player must first pot a red ball. They return to red if they pot a color after that. The reds are not re-spotted, but the other six colors are.
The player switches to a red after each color, then back to color until all of the reds are potted. After that, the following six colors are planted in ascending points order, starting with red and ending with black.
The player continues until he misses a ball or commits a foul, at which point the players switch roles. The maximum standard break (the phrase for a series of pots in a row) is 147 (15 reds taken with 15 blacks and then all the colours).
If a player fouls, his opponent receives four points unless the foul occurred when playing the blue, pink, or black or while hitting one of the higher values first, in which case the foul is for the value of one of those balls.
The individual who scores the most points in a frame is the winner. When a player has a larger lead than the number of points remaining on the table, the opponent is said to require snookers.
A snooker is where the balls are placed so that the player cannot directly hit the next ‘legal’ ball. The hope is to force a foul and earn four points. If a player thinks they cannot win, even by forcing snookers, they win the frame, usually when around four or more snookers (fouls) would be required in addition to all the remaining balls, depending on how many balls are left.
A match is normally played best of a set number of frames, ranging from three right up to 35 for modern World Championship finals. This could be that the winner would be the first player to reach an undefeatable lead.
The top names in snooker right now
1 Mark Selby
Mark Selby is an English professional snooker player who has won four world championships and is the current World Snooker Champion. He has been ranked world number one on several occasions and has won a total of 20 ranking titles, placing him seventh all-time in ranking tournament winners.
2 Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ronald Antonio O’Sullivan OBE is a professional snooker player from England. Ronnie is widely regarded as one of the sport’s most talented and accomplished players, and he holds the record for the most ranking titles in professional snooker, with 38. He is a six-time world champion, a seven-time Masters champion, and a seven-time UK champion, with a total of 20 Triple Crown titles to his credit. He has held the world number one ranking on several occasions.
3 Judd Trump
Judd Trump is a former world champion and former world number one in the sport of snooker. He was born in Bristol, England. He is widely regarded as one of the sport’s most talented players, and he currently ranks sixth all-time in ranking event winners with 23 ranking titles.
4 Neil Robertson
Neil Robertson is a former world champion and world number one snooker player from Australia. He is the only Australian to have won a ranking event, and the only player from outside the United Kingdom to have won the World Championship in 2010, the Masters in 2012 and 2022, and the UK Championship in 2013, 2015, and 2020. He has won at least one professional tournament every year since 2006, for a total of 22 ranking titles.
Ready to start betting?
There’s lots of different snooker betting markets. You can choose to bet on individual matches or wager on the winners of a tournament, and you can pick from live snooker betting or snooker props.
Outright bets
For an outright bet on snooker, you can predict a specific outcome of a tournament (not a single match). You can do this by picking a winner of the tournament, which can be placed before the game starts or during the match.
You can also bet on who you believe may reach the tournament final or winning quarter of the tournament.
Match betting
Match bets could be placing a bet on which player you think is going to win the match, who will rack up the highest break in the match or who will get the highest break in the next frame.
Frame betting
You can place bets on who you think will win the first frame in the match, the second frame etc. you can also bet on who will win the most frames in the match or how many the player may win by. You can predict the total amount of frames a player will win or bet over/under on the total amount of frames that will be played in the match.
Handicaps
Handicap betting is generally effective when one player has an edge over the other. This means that one player loses and the other has a better chance of winning. you expect your player to win with at least four frames, you can simply bet on him with a -3.5 handicap. Basically, this means that if your player wins by four or more frames, you will still profit from that bet.
Accumulators
You may also have an accumulator featuring several players to win their respective games during a tournament. The advantage of an accumulator is that you get bigger odds with the various selections rolled up.
Tournaments to look out for
If you feel ready to start placing your bets, here’s a list of upcoming tournaments!
- 16 Apr – 2 May 2022 World Championship
- 5-8 May 2022 World Seniors Championship