Snooker World Championship Betting Tips & Predictions
The World Snooker Championship gets underway on Saturday, and Sheffield is braced for 17 days of thrilling action.
The Crucible Theatre generates unmatched atmosphere and tension as the world’s best cuemen do battle on the baize.
Ronnie O’Sullivan returns in a bid to win an incredible eighth world title, but there are many rivals standing in the Rocket’s way.
Bet 1: Judd Trump to win the World Championship @ 7/2
Judd Trump has been the standout performer on the snooker tour for the last two seasons, and the Ace looks ready to add a second world title to his collection.
The Bristol-born potter lifted the World Championship title in 2019, and while Trump would have been expected to capture more than one Crucible crown in his career, the Ace still has a decent record in Sheffield.
As well as winning the World Championship, the 35-year-old has made two finals, two semi-finals and five quarter-finals in the last 14 years of competition and the 2025 staging of the Sheffield showpiece may offer Trump his best opportunity to become a two-time world champion.
The world number one has won the Saudi Arabia Masters, Shanghai Masters and UK Championship this season, and while there have been a couple of disappointing efforts along the way, those performances coincided with Trump relocating to Dubai.
In the three most recent ranking events, the Bristol-born potter reached the last four of the Grand Prix, the final of the Players Championship and the last eight of the Tour Championship, and he arrives in Sheffield in top form.
The draw looks very kind too. Title rivals Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Mark Allen, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Zhao Xintong have all been housed in the opposite section to the Ace and the path looks clear for him to claim a second World Championship crown.
Bet 2: Zhang Anda to win the World Championship @ 66/1
Zhao Xintong grabbed the headlines with some superb performances to qualify for the Crucible and the Chinese cueman looks capable of a big run in Sheffield. However, the draw has not been favourable to the Cyclone with the 28-year-old having been placed in the same quarter as Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson.
Zhang Anda is also housed in the top half of the draw, but Mighty Mouse is a 66/1 shot, and that price looks a little too big to ignore.
The 33-year-old won the International Championship and made the final of the Players Championship last term, and those efforts confirm that Anda is a contender for the top prizes in snooker.
There hasn’t been as much success for the Chinese cueman this season, but there have been some unfortunate defeats and the 33-year-old’s overall level of performance hasn’t dropped as much as it may appear.
There is potential for a second-round tie against Ronnie O’Sullivan, but the Rocket hasn’t played a competitive match since last year’s UK Championship, and that contest may not be as tricky as expected.
At 66/1, a small play on Anda could pay dividends.