The 2019 Betfred World Snooker Championships is a professional snooker tournament happening on April 20 to May 6, 2019 at the Crucible Theater in Sheffield, England. The tournament will be the final ranking event of the 2018/2019 season.
The Top 16 seeds are automatically entered in the main competition of the tournament. The defending champion is the #1 seed while the other seeds are numbered according to their world rankings after the China Open. All other players compete in the first qualifying round which will take place on April 10-17, 2019 at the English Institute of Sports in Sheffield. 128 players compete in the qualifying stage. A player needs to win three best-of-19 matches to reach the finals. Only 16 players will advance to the next round where they will be paired with the 16 seeds.
The total prize money for the 2019 World Snooker Championships is £2,231,000 and is distributed as follows:
Last year, Mark Williams defeated John Higgins 18-16 in the 2018 World Snooker Championships. As the defending champion, Williams is the #1 seed while the #1 ranked player in the world Ronnie O’Sullivan is seeded #2.
Below is the final draw with the numbers beside the players names their seeding in the tournament:
Here are the odds to win the 2019 World Snooker Championships. Odds taken from Bovada as of 4/11/19:
| Players | Odds |
|---|---|
| Ronnie O’Sullivan | +250 |
| Judd Trump | +450 |
| Neil Robertson | +550 |
| Mark Selby | +800 |
| Mark Allen | +1600 |
| Kyren Wilson | +1600 |
| John Higgins | +1800 |
| Mark Williams | +2000 |
| Ding Junhui | +2200 |
| Barry Hawkins | +2200 |
| Stuart Bingham | +2200 |
| Jack Lisowski | +4000 |
| Shaun Murphy | +5000 |
| Luca Brecel | +5000 |
| Ryan Day | +8000 |
| Stephen Maguire | +8000 |
| Allister Carter | +10000 |
| Marco Fu | +10000 |
Ronnie O’Sullivan is the betting favorite to win the 2019 World Snooker Championships. The Rocket is widely regarded as one of the greatest players to ever play the sport. O’Sullivan has won five World Championships, a record seven Masters titles and another record seven UK Championships for a total of 19 Triple Crown tournaments won, also a record.
After winning the Tour Championships last March 24, 2019, O’Sullivan reclaimed the world #1 ranking for the fourth time in his career but this time is arguably the sweetest. The Rockets last held the #1 ranking in May 2010, making his return to the top spot as the longest gap between reigns at #1 by any player in the history of the sport.
Judd Trump defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2019 Masters held last January. The win was Trump’s second Triple Crown title after winning the 2011 UK Championships. Trump also won the 2019 World Grand Prix last February 4-10, 2019 at The Centaur at Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham, England.
Neil Robertson is Australia’s greatest snooker player ever and a three-time world #1 snooker player. The 37-year old won the 2010 World Snooker Championship He is one of only a dozen players to win both the World Championship and UK Championship and one of only ten snooker players to win the Triple Crown.
Mark Selby is the current world #2 and is a three-time world champion, having won the World Snooker Championships in 2014, 2016 and 2017. The Jester is also a three-time Masters champion (2008, 2010 and 2013) and a two-time UK Championships winner in 2012 and 2016, becoming the sixth player to win all of snooker’s Triple Crown events at least twice. Selby’s most recent win was the 2018 China Open in April of last year.
Mark Allen is the 2018 Masters Champion, 2018 Scottish Open champion,the 2018 International Championship winner. The 33-year old Belfast, Northern Ireland native was also runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2018 UK Championships. Allen is an excellent break-builder who has compiled more than 400 century breaks in professional competition.
Kyren Wilson won the recent German Masters last February. He was also the 2018 Paul Hunter Classic winner and was runner-up to Mark Allen at the 2018 Masters last year. Wilson was also runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2018 Champion of Champions. The 27 year old from Kettering, Northamptonshire in England is currently ranked #7 in the world.
When you take a look at the draw, four out of the top five betting favorites belong to the same half of the draw. That means only one of Ronnie O’ Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Mark Allen are going to make it to the Finals.
On the other hand, the defending champion Mark Williams has an “easier” route to the championship round, based on the betting favorites that are on his side of the draw. While there is no doubt that O’Sullivan is the hottest player right now, Williams also won the German Masters and the World Open last year so he’s in good form as well.
But even if Williams goes all the way to win his side of the draw and advance to the Finals and O’Sullivan does the same on his side, the latter has the edge in head to head matchups having won 10 out of their last 12 matches.That said, I will ride the Rocket’s success and bet on him in this tournament. He’s just playing like a machine right now.
Prediction: Ronnie O’Sullivan
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