Free snooker betting tips for the UK Championship

With so much prize money at stake in snooker these days, it can never be an easy decision to miss a tournament.

But I believe Mark Selby opting to sit out last week's Northern Ireland Open can only stand him in good stead as he looks to defend his UK Championship crown in York.

The recent schedule has been demanding and after winning the International Championship in China at the start of the month, the world number one looked visibly fatigued at the Champion of Champions in Coventry where he went out at the quarter-final stage to Luca Brecel.

Then it was back to China for the Shanghai Masters where Selby again failed to fire as he went out in the third round to subsequent Belfast hero Mark Williams.

A week off should mean that the Jester arrives at the Barbican Centre fully refreshed for a tournament in which he has had a superb record over the last five seasons, having won it twice (2012 & 2016), reached the final in 2013 and semi-finals in 2015.

The only blip came in 2014 where he was beaten in the second round by David Morris.

Much has been said about Ronnie O'Sullivan's recent form which at times has been superb, but let's not forget it has only brought him the Shanghai Masters title. He was beaten in the Champion of Champions final by Shaun Murphy and suffered chastening defeats to Yan Bingtao at the International Championship and Elliot Slessor last week in Belfast.

On balance, the Rocket can be taken on with Selby, who is so far ahead of his rivals in snooker's world rankings that he could probably take a year off and still keep his number one spot.

It's also worth noting that recent tournaments have initially been best-of-seven which acts as a great leveller, and is the reason there have been so many surprise results.

But the UK Championship - which gets under way on Tuesday - starts with best-of-11 and gets progressively longer in format which I think will suit Selby, whose of course boasts a fine all-round game but likes to grind his opponents down and force them into making critical errors with his watertight safety which, more often than not, he is able to exploit.

After a record-equalling five ranking titles last season, Selby's current campaign has yet to fully ignite despite that victory at the International Championship, but the biggest events are still to come and I feel that will bring the best out of the 34-year-old, who gets the headline vote at 5/1.

Welshman Michael White was very much a child prodigy, making his first century break when he was just nine and being a highly-decorated amateur player.

Yet since turning over, the 26-year-old from Neath has not kicked on as many expected him to and has just two ranking titles to his name.

His first came back in 2014 when he won the Indian Open but after that his best was five quarter-final appearances until he won the Paul Hunter Classic back in August, beating Shaun Murphy 4-2 in the final.

He followed that up by reaching the last eight of the English Open in Barnsley, before being whitewashed 5-0 by Alexander Ursenbacher and it's that inconsistency which has been White's Achilles heel thus far, yet there is still so much to admire about his game.

A tremendous long potter and prolific break builder, on his day he is a match for anyone and as he matures, good things are coming.

He has been drawn in the same quarter as O'Sullivan, as well as Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins who are both woefully out of form, and White is far too good to be 250/1 and is worth a small each-way interest as he has proved in the past that once he gets on a roll, he can take some stopping.

Many experts within snooker have been telling us for some time that it is only a matter of time before Chinese players start to dominate the game and while I'm sure the likes of O'Sullivan, Selby and John Higgins will have plenty to say about that, there are signs that a shift in power could be on the horizon.

Ding Junhui has set the marker with 13 ranking titles but it seems there are plenty more from the snooker-mad country intent of emulating him.

Take the Northern Ireland Open for example, where no less than four of the quarter-finalists were from China and one of them, 17-year-old Bingtao, went on to reach the final where he was narrowly beaten 9-8 by veteran Williams.

This was no flash in the pan from Yan, who had reached the fourth round of the English Open before progressing to the semi-finals of the International Championship where he lost to Mark Allen after having beaten Ricky Walden, Jack Lisowski, O'Sullivan and Higgins en route.

It took all of Williams' experience and guile to deny him becoming the youngest ever winner of a ranking tournament on Sunday night, but it seems only a matter of time before he does get his hands on a trophy.

Yan's intelligent safety belies his young age and his long-potting is sublime, but for me his biggest strength is that he does not fear reputations - he simply plays the table. So while he's in a tough-looking second quarter along with the likes of Higgins, Murphy, Brecel and Kyren Wilson, after his heroics in Belfast it will be them fearing him rather than the other way round.

William Hill are offering 10/1 on this superstar in the making winning the section and on current form that looks too big.

The renowned 'Class of 92' is often talked about in snooker - a group of players including O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams who all turned professional at the same time and have gone on to achieve so much in the sport.

Joe Perry was another who also turned over that year but not has enjoyed the same success, despite plenty of near misses.

He has appeared in no fewer than 12 major semi-finals but only has one ranking title to his name - the Players Championship Grand Final in 2015 - as well as being runner-up in the European Open (2001), Wuxi Classic (2014) and last year's World Open.

The 43-year-old from Wisbech definitely has the game, but has so far under-achieved as far as titles are concerned.

Beaten finalist against O'Sullivan in last year's Masters, his season tailed off and he failed to qualify for the main draw of the World Championship.

This season started better with a run to the last eight of the Riga Masters but he failed to follow that up until last week in Belfast where he reached the fourth round before surprisingly bowing out 4-1 to Mike Dunn.

What really caught my eye was his 4-0 win over close friend Matt Selt in the second round where he compiled breaks of 129, 107 and 51. It was vintage Perry and convinced me that he is returning to the sort of form which could make him a danger to all this week.

He is in what appears to be an open third quarter, where an out-of-form Judd Trump heads the betting with Allen, Ali Carter and Liang Wenbo also in there.

Perry has twice been a semi-finalist in this event and if he is on his game, William Hill's standout 22/1 for him to win the section will soon look excellent value.

Recommended bets: UK Championship

4pts Mark Selby to win the UK Championship at 5/1

1pt e.w. Michael White to win the UK Championship at 250/1

1pt Yan Bingtao to win the second quarter at 10/1

1pt Joe Perry to win the third quarter at 22/1

Where to watch: BBC/Eurosport

Posted at 1330 GMT on 27/11/17.