Richard Mann has three big-priced fancies in his staking plan for the Northern Ireland Open which begins on Sunday.
Snooker betting tips: Northern Ireland Open
1pt e.w. Jack Jones to win the Northern Ireland Open at 30/1 (StarSports)
0.5pt e.w. Elliot Slessor to win the Northern Ireland Open at 70/1 (StarSports)
0.5pt e.w. Aaron Hill to win the Northern Ireland Open at 70/1 (StarSports)
The Northern Ireland Open is always one of the highlights on the calendar, and most certainly the most prestigious of the Home Nations Series, so snooker fans can expect a typically good week in Belfast.
A late withdrawal from Ronnie O’Sullivan would seem inevitable, but world champion Wu Yize will be there along with Judd Trump, Zhao Xintong and defending champion Jack Lisowski.
None of that quartet make the staking plan this week, for all Wu’s victory at recent the Shenzhen Open confirms him to be close to his best again in his first season since becoming world champion, while Trump won in Shanghai and has remained a pillar of consistency since.
In-form Jones heads the staking plan
However, another of the stars of the season so far has been JAK JONES, and he still looks to have been underestimated by the layers. with 30/1 knocking around for him to win in Belfast.
Runner-up in the 2024 World Championship, Jones is beginning to brush off the ‘long-format specialist tag’ that he has carried for the last few years, and he backed up his earlier victory at the Championship League with a brilliant win at the British Open last month.
That was a significant moment in Jones’ career, the first big title on his CV, and he looks set to scale even greater heights now.
Jak Jones is on the RISE! 👌
— WST (@WeAreWST) September 7, 2026
22nd in the world...and on the way UP!@JohnstonesTrade pic.twitter.com/RJsQSWG1hv
Jones has long possessed the game to contend at places like the Crucible, where the matches are more drawn out, require good safety play and a solid temperament to go alongside the heavy scoring that most possess in this day and age.
Where the question mark lay was how Jones would fare early on in the calendar when short-format matches are invariably the norm, but in winning the British Open this season, having reached the last eight of the same tournament in 2024, and making the semi-finals of the English Open last term, those concerns have surely been put to bed.
Jones cherry ripe for Belfast
And that British Open title was earned the hard way, not only beating Mark Selby in the final, but also downing Anthony McGill 4-0 and then Trump 6-3 in the semi-finals.
He kept his arm warm by defeating Liam Pullen in qualifying for the International Championship late last month, and I’m actually of the view that his chances in Belfast might be improved by having not travelled to Shenzhen.
Jones is the type of player who takes plenty of out himself, batting hard for every point, so a little break and no long flight to China might not be a bad thing.
The nature of the beast means there are dangers aplenty in the draw, but Jones will be favourite to beat a struggling Tom Ford first up, and it could certainly be worse thereafter.
I’ll take my chances at 30/1.
Silky Slessor a live runner
Turning my attention to the top half of the draw, I’m going to throw a couple of darts at ELLIOT SLESSOR and AARON HILL at big odds.
Slessor has come close to making that breakthrough success on a few occasions now, and is a terrific operator when his game and mind are in sync. Moreover, he has pedigree at this event.
The left-hander was a semi-finalist in Belfast in 2017, losing to eventual winner Mark Williams, and reached the same stage of this event in 2024 before blowing out to Trump on the Saturday.
Add another semi-final at the 2024 Welsh Open and a quarter-final appearance at last season’s English Open, and it’s clear that Slessor likes the Home Nations events and this format.
On the face of it, he’s been quiet so far this term, but he beat Chang Bingyu and Barry Hawkins in Shenzhen before bumping into on-song Shaun Murphy.
That little run suggests his form might just have turned a corner, and returning to Belfast, armed with a draw that could have been worse, he looks worth chancing at odds of 70/1 to finally make the breakthrough his talent has long promised.
Further up the top half, perhaps there could be a deep run from Hill whose results more recently have been encouraging.
Hill hot at 70/1
Hill has been tipped for big things since before turning professional in 2020, but he’s still only 24 years of age, and this game takes plenty of learning.
There is more of that to come, no doubt, but it took eventual winner and this week’s headline selection, Jones, to derail his run to the quarter-finals of the British Open in a match that went the distance.
Despite that run, I’m still not sure Hill was anywhere near the top of his game in Cheltenham, but he was much closer to his best when winning three qualifiers, including one for Belfast, last month.
In fact, his form looked to be trending in the right direction in those qualifiers, culminating in a very impressive 4-2 win over Antoni Kowalski that featured three centuries.
When reaching the quarter-finals of the last year’s English Open, Hill waltzed past the likes of Stephen Maguire, Ali Carter and Lisowski, so he can clearly mix it at a high level and in this format, and it would appear only a matter of time before he really makes his mark.
With the recent signs more than encouraging, this week could be the time to catch the promising, young Irishman.
Preview posted at 13:00 BST on 02/10/26
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Following victory in Leeds, it’s hard to see Dasun Shanaka earning a recall for the tourists, but should he the get the nod, this is a middle-order finisher who, too, could have things fall his way on Sunday.
