A Beginner’s Guide to Snooker Betting

Snooker Basics 

Many people mistakenly believe that snooker is a very complicated sport. However, the basics are very simple. A match consists of a number of frames and a player wins a frame by accumulating more points than their opponent does. Points are simply scored by potting balls.  

There are many balls on the snooker table, fifteen reds, and a yellow, brown, green, blue, pink and black. Players must first pot a red ball and can then pot a colour of their choice, after which the red remains potted but the colour is returned to the table. Once all of the reds have been cleared, the colours are potted in the order yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, then finally black. Each red ball is worth 1 point and the colours are worth between 2 and 7 points.  

There are many more rules, but essentially that is how each game works, and by understanding that, you can begin to start placing bets.  

Betting on Snooker 

When it comes to betting on snooker there are two large categories of bets. You can bet on individual games or you can bet on tournaments as a whole. Both categories of bets offer a number of different betting markets and here we shall explain the most popular of them.  

Winner  

There are two types of Winner bets in snooker, the winner of a match and the winner of a tournament. In both cases, you just place money on the player you want to back and if they win, then you win your bet. If you are betting on a tournament, then you will likely find odds that are more generous at the early stages, which is definitely worth remembering if you want to back an outsider.  

You will also find handicap betting available. This is a method that bookmakers use to even out the odds when there is a clear favourite, for instance in the first round of a tournament if an unknown has been drawn against a big name. The handicap values will always involve a half frame, so an example may be 1.5. In this case, the favourite would be marked as -1.5 and have to win by at least two frames for the bet to win. The underdog would be marked as +1.5 and would have to lose by less than two frames for that bet to win. 

Over/Under 

This type of bet can apply to many different aspects of a snooker match. It is a bet on whether there will be more or less of a certain thing. For example, you could bet on the number of frames played in a match. It may be presented as Over/Under 9.5, you then bet on Over if you think there will be at least 10 frames or bet on Under if you think there will be 9 or less.  

Other examples of Over/Under may be on the total number of points scored in a match, the highest break in a match (a break is the number of points scored in a single visit to the table), the number of century breaks in a match, and so on. The odds on these markets are often very generous, and they can be an excellent tool. 

Frame Bets 

There are numerous bets that you can place on individual frames within a snooker match. Most of them are completely self-explanatory. For instance, you can bet on the following: 

• Winner of the frame 
• The points scored in a frame 
• The first colour to be potted 

• Whether the frame will have a 50 or 100 break 
• Which player will pot the first ball 
• Which player will pot the last ball 
• Whether there will be an even or odd number of points scored 
• Which player will make the highest break 

• The value of the highest break  

You may find many more markets, and they are a wonderful way to enrich your betting experience and make things even more exciting. 

Match Bets 

Similar to betting on frames, you will find many markets that relate to the match as a whole. Here are some example bets, 

• Highest Break in Match 

• 147 Break in Match 
• Over/Under Match Centuries 
• Number of Match Centuries 
• Match to have a Deciding Frame 
• First Player to win 3 Frames 

• First Player to win 4 Frames 
• Leader after First 4 Frames  

In-Play Betting 

In-play betting, or live betting, is an excellent way to make watching snooker even more exciting. You will find many of the same markets described above available and the odds are continually updated to reflect the action. Furthermore, it introduces a category of bets called ‘Next To’, which are simply bets on the next player to do something. For example, you can bet on the next player to score a century. By keeping a careful eye on the markets, you may spot some fantastic opportunities.  

Tournament Betting 

As mentioned, you can also bet on an entire tournament. The most basic of these markets is on which player will win. However, you can find many more markets, such as whether there will be a 147 during the tournament, the number of century breaks that will happen, and so on. You can place these bets both before and during a tournament, and they are always worth looking at.  

Accumulator Betting 

Snooker is a sport that lends itself to accumulator betting. This is when you combine a number of bets into one. For example, you could bet on the winner of three separate matches. The advantage of doing this is that it gives you odds that are more generous. For instance, if the favourite is facing an unknown in the first round, then you will not get very long odds on the favourite to win. However, if you combine that bet with another match, then you will get better odds. Of course, the more things you bet on the harder it is to win, but it can be very profitable when everything goes to plan.  

What to Consider When Betting on Snooker 

Before placing a bet, it is important to do your research. The more things you are able to consider, the more likely you are to place a winning bet. Of course, upsets and surprises happen and you can never be guaranteed of winning, but careful research can go a long way towards helping.  

To start with, you should look at the players’ forms. The snooker season is very long and contains many events. It is very rare that a player is able to maintain top-form throughout and you will see that the rankings change a lot in any given season. This means that big names are likely to try to prepare for the bigger events while newer players might focus their energies on smaller events where there may not be as much competition. As a result, it can sometimes be worth backing an outsider in early ranking tournaments, such as in China and Australia. 

You should also watch as many qualifiers and minor events as you can. It is a great way to get a sense of the new players and who is most in-form. Occasionally, you may see a player coming through qualifying and think that they are capable of causing an upset. It is at times like this that you will be able to take advantage of long odds in first round matches and hopefully land a winning bet. 

At the start of a tournament, it is worth taking the time to analyse the draw carefully. You can get an idea of which players may be facing each other in future rounds. For example, you may see that the two favourites look set to meet in the quarterfinals, in which case you may not want to back them to win the tournament.  

Of course, the most important thing is to study the players and get a sense of their different styles. Some players are excellent break builders, others are better at defensive play. If a break builder is playing a defensive player, then you could back the builder in the highest break markets. It is also a good idea to try to get a sense of players’ personalities. Some players seem to thrive under pressure while others can almost be relied upon to break down.  

Essentially, you want to gather as much information as possible, both by looking at statistics and by watching snooker on a regular basis. That way, you will be placing well-informed bets that have a much better chance of winning.