Snooker in 2025 is back with a bang with a series of heavyweight clashes in the 16-strong Masters. James Cooper has three recommendations.
Snooker betting tips: The Masters
1pt John Higgins to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan at 15/8 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
1pt Ali Carter to beat Mark Selby at 15/8 (Coral, Ladbrokes)
1pt Chris Wakelin to beat Luca Brecel at 13/10 (bet365, betway, BoyleSports)
Although denied what could have been a scintillating semi-final between Littler and Humphries, the Alexandra Palace oche delivered the goods and it’s that venue which hosts the next instalment of sporting excellence in the shape of the Masters, which commences on Sunday.
I reference the Ally Pally as venue/location form is something I may have to look a little closer at in my quest to do better in 2025.
The World Championship is a stand-alone tournament given the intimate nature of the Crucible Theatre, along with its prestige, history and unique match length.
What is becoming clear though is the change in playing and table conditions which surely has to be taken into account when betting in tournaments.
Heavy, humid conditions used to be a factor when playing in the Far East but in more recent times, the generous pocket sizes in China are there for all to see.
Something of a leveller and also favouring attack-minded players, the likes of Xiao Guodong and Zhang Anda managed to gain breakthrough ranking wins fairly late in the day in their home country, though for balance, both have performed at a high level since.
At the other end of the spectrum, the UK Championship table fitters came in for criticism in some quarters.
A dead cushion or a ball rolling off is far from ideal but in terms of the tight pockets, I personally believe they got it about right and the result was a high-quality final between Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins.
Back to this week’s action and given I have often complained that matches between elite players are too easy to price up and edges are very hard to find yet on the contrary, I have landed on four possible bets from eight ties.
First up is the classic curtain-raiser with Ronnie O’Sullivan, a brilliant eight-time winner of this magnificent invitational, taking on another all-time-great and two-time champion, JOHN HIGGINS (Sunday, 1300 GMT).
Slightly surprisingly given the pair’s prolonged spell at the top, they have met only four times in this event (2-2 record) though three were in finals, including that epic in 2006 with the Tiger Woods-esque hovering over the pocket and stunning back double in one of the famous John Higgins clutch clearances.
It probably wasn’t a shock to many that O’Sullivan passed up the opportunity to compete in the Scottish Open and while he’s kept his eye in on the exhibition circuit overseas, his lightly-raced profile this season can be viewed in one of two ways.
On the one hand, a reduced schedule is understandable for someone turning 50 at the end of the year and preparation isn’t usually a concern where O’Sullivan is concerned.
I’m sure this tournament along with the World Championship are the two most important events in his schedule but O’Sullivan lives abroad these days and there will be responsibilities that go with his Saudi ambassadorial role.
Whether he’s playing well enough this season to make it nine Masters wins is up for debate, albeit he’s evidently been in excellent nick in recent Chinese exhibitions, winning all seven matches, including a 5-1 win over Higgins.
I’m not going to place enormous stock in that recent clash and while it’s always dangerous to do this with regards the genius that is O’Sullivan, on the balance of this season’s form, I have them closer in the betting for this best-of-11 than the current prices.
A crude look at their extensive head-to-head record has Higgins at 45% and while I’m not suggesting the betting should be 4/5 v 5/4, there’s definite mileage in Higgins at the 15/8 available.
Next is Mark Selby against ALI CARTER (Monday, 1900 GMT), with the latter fancied to spring another minor surprise having beaten Selby at this stage in 2020.
Unsurprisingly given he’s the best player of his age group, Selby has a positive head-to-head record against Carter but it’s not overly one-sided at 24-16.
I’ve written numerous times that Selby’s best game is almost unplayable but he’s not quite as consistent as he once was and while there was at one point almost an air of invincibility about him in the latter stages of tournaments, that has rather subsided in recent times.
Indeed, Selby lost all four best-of-19 matches last season, which is a major surprise given his game lends itself to longer-format, high-profile matches.
The Jester corrected that with a British Open success over Higgins but it’s hard to argue that he arrives in top form, falling at the first hurdle to Jack Lisowski (though he didn’t do a lot wrong in that high-quality tussle) at York and Allen in Riyadh.
Carter has also added silverware this season, beating Jackson Page in the Championship League and last year’s run to the final of the Masters was special, defeating no less than Mark Williams, Trump and Allen before eventually losing 10-7 to O’Sullivan.
That result doesn’t paint the full picture, either, given Carter went 7-6 up and what is very clear is that he is very comfortable in what can be a bear-pit of an environment, by snooker standards anyway, and he also has the tools to capitalise if Selby isn’t at the top of his game.
By my individual frame prices, anything bigger than 13/8 for Carter is a bet.
Williams at 10/11 against Ding Junhui was also under consideration but a bigger discrepancy from the market to my tissue is in the Luca Brecel against CHRIS WAKELIN match (Wednesday, 1900 GMT).
Pretty much since becoming champion of the world in 2023, Brecel has proved something of a head scratcher for punters and compilers alike.
His form regressed so quickly it was tough to chart his decline, particularly as a ratings-based approach struggled to keep tabs on how badly one of the most naturally gifted players to ever compete was actually faring.
Winning the biggest prize of all does different things to different people and Brecel was clearly very keen to enjoy his time in the limelight.
On the plus side, there have been green shoots of recovery in Brecel’s game of late.
He beat Ding Junhui and Zhou Yuelong before finding another Chinese player in Xiao Guodong too good in the quarter-final of the Scottish Open and starting in round two, Brecel reached the final in Riyadh last month, admittedly not playing very well in it as he lost 5-1 against Allen without a meaningful break.
Of course, you have to take note of those improved performances and now he’s stopped the rot, Brecel may well be able to kick on in 2025.
While acknowledging that, I still remain slightly sceptical and I believe the layers may have overreacted a touch by making him 8/13 in places to beat Chris Wakelin, who is quietly having the best spell of his career.
That has resulted in a first Masters appearance but Wakelin should now be comfortable in this environment as he’s contested two finals since winning the Shoot Out in 2022/23.
Yes, the Brecel performance ceiling is higher but on the form of the last two seasons, you could argue that Wakelin should be favourite for this and it was only a month or so ago that Jak Jones, a very similar player to Wakelin, was sent off 8/13 when he saw off the Bullet at the Barbican.
More Masters content
Neal Foulds on Ronnie, Alexandra Palace, and Masters legend Paul Hunter
Posted at 1415 GMT on 07/01/25
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