How To Bet On Snooker
If you’re reading this, you’re probably a passionate snooker fan, or even a player who likes to watch top-tier players and their gameplay. With snooker becoming a globalised sport that more and more people are interested in, placing bets on snooker games and tournaments is becoming a trend.
Let’s say you want to place a couple of bets on your favourite snooker player. You go online and start searching for a straightforward guide, but the information is all over the place, and you can’t seem to find anything useful.
Although snooker is a complex sport and betting on it comes with its own rules, I’ve compiled all of the essential information and put it into this simple and easy-to-read guide perfect for beginners. Here, you can find everything that you need to know about snooker betting to ensure a successful start. Let’s jump straight into it!
What is snooker betting?
Countless snooker tournaments are continually organised worldwide. This means that people interested in placing a bet on snooker have numerous opportunities to win prize money.
Snooker betting is similar to any other sports betting. It’s a process of placing bets on specific players or outcomes and winning money if your guess turns out to be true. Different snooker bets come with different rules, but I’ll focus on these nuances in the next part of this guide.
Today, most snooker fans choose to bet online, as it’s a simpler and more convenient process than traditional in-person betting. You can do it from home in just a couple of clicks.
Once you choose a reliable snooker betting site and create a profile, you can immediately start depositing money, placing your bets, and tracking match progress in real-time. If you win, you can conveniently withdraw the money from these sites as well.
Different types of snooker bets
There are multiple snooker bets that you can choose from if you wish to try your luck. Below, I’ll share some of the most popular types.
Match result
Match result, also known as Winner or 1x2 market, is undoubtedly the most popular type of bet in snooker. It involves betting on the player that’ll win the match. Since there are no draws in snooker, one of the two players must win.
Here’s an example from 888sport.com of a £10 bet on Haotian Lyu vs. Si Xu:
Since Haotian is the favourite, you only stand to earn 1.5 times (odds) what you bet, so a £10 bet in this example would yield £15 if Haotian won the match.
Handicap or frame handicap
In snooker matches, one player is always favoured to win. Therefore, the other player is the underdog. Handicap betting balances this by placing handicap scores on players. Favoured players get a negative handicap score, so they’re at a disadvantage. At the same time, the underdog gets a positive handicap score and is at an advantage.
Here’s an example from 888sport.com of the same game from above, only this time I placed a £10 handicap bet on the underdog, Si Xu:
With the handicap, the odds are now 3.30 for Si, so a £10 bet would now yield £33.
Total frames
A snooker frame is a kickstart on the pyramid of balls. As each initial kick counts as a new frame, players can bet on how many frames there will be per match. As different snooker tournaments follow different rules, this has to be considered when betting.
To simplify things, you can bet on whether the number of frames will be above or below a certain number. You can also bet on whether the total number of frames will be an odd or even number, as in the example below of Dominic Dale vs. Duane Jones from 10bet betting site (read 10bet Review):
Highest break
This betting type is self-explanatory. It includes betting on the player that’ll make the highest break. People who place their bets can choose whether they’re betting on the highest break made in the particular match or the entire tournament.
Here’s an example from 10bet.com using the same match as above:
As you can see, betting £20 on Duane Jones to make the highest break would yield £44 should he successfully do so.
Correct score
Correct score or correct frame score is another betting type rising in popularity among snooker fans. Instead of betting on a player, a correct score involves betting on the match’s final score. Since this is extremely difficult to predict, correct score betting comes with both high risk and high rewards.
Here’s another example from 888sport.com, but this time I bet on Scott Donaldson vs. Robbie McGuigan:
As you can see, I was fairly conservative, and put my trust in Donaldson, betting £20 on a decisive victory of 6 frames to 1, which gives me a nice potential return of £79 – almost 4 times my initial bet.
Total points
Betting on total points is as risky as betting on the correct score. Here, people need to predict how many total points the players will score in the first frame, or more accurately, whether that total number will be odd or even. To make things clearer, snooker players can win a minimum of 42 points: 15 points for a red ball and 27 points for all other coloured balls.
In the example from 10bet.com below, I again went for the Dominic Dale vs. Duane Jones match:
Here I decided to make two bets – that Dale will have an odd number of points in the first frame, but also that the total number of points that both players have at the end of the first frame will be an even number. It’s a £30 bet that will potentially earn me £56.66, so not the most exciting bet, but still a relatively safe one.
Outright bet
One of the least popular snooker bets is the outright bet. It includes betting on a player who will win not only a particular match but the entire tournament. However, this isn’t such a simple task because snooker is an unpredictable sport. To win the outright bet, you’ll need all of the snooker betting odds in your favour.
Here’s an example from 888sport.com:
I was only considering the top six favourites here, and since I really liked Ronnie O’sullivan’s chances of winning the World Championship, I placed a £50 bet on O’sullivan. I stand to gain a cool £325 if my gut feeling was right.
Important snooker statistics you should know
When betting in snooker, there are various snooker betting tips and tricks that’ll make your experience more exciting and more profitable. You should pay a lot of attention to statistics, especially when it comes to snooker betting odds. With that said, here are the essential snooker statistics to know about.
Player statistics
Each snooker player has a unique set of statistics relating to their professional snooker career. For instance, statistics can show that a player performs well in specific tournaments or matches, so focusing your bets here might be a good idea.
Similarly, snooker players often play with the same opponents. If a player continues to lose to a particular opponent match after match, player statistics will warn you about the low odds of this player becoming victorious in the upcoming match.
Player statistics are critical factors that you need to examine carefully before placing a bet on your favourite player.
Snooker tournaments
Every snooker tournament is unique, but some tournaments are more important than others. For example, the World Championship, the Masters, and the UK Championship are considered the top three tournaments and they’re even known as the “Triple Crown” events.
Knowing which tournament you’re betting on is an absolute must. That will allow you to gain a deeper insight into which players are likely to compete.
The world’s best players compete in important competitions such as the “Triple Crown” events, so the participant list can be fairly predictable. On the other hand, smaller tournaments are popular among lower-ranked players. Many top-tier players don’t even participate in these tournaments, and lesser-known players often win.
Game statistics
Snooker is one of the rare sports that can have its players participate in multiple matches per day. Naturally, a player won’t have the same level of focus in the first and fifth matches in a day. Even if a player is better when compared to their opponent, multiple games in a day can make players tired and cause them to make more mistakes.
For that reason, it’s also crucial to calculate how many matches the players have already played before the one you’re betting on.
Snooker betting FAQs
Is snooker easy to bet on?
Yes, snooker is easy to bet on. You can either place a bet on which player will win, or you can bet on the specific score of the match. There are also a number of other types of bets that you can place on snooker matches.
Can you make a profit with snooker betting?
There is no simple answer to whether or not you can be profitable with snooker betting. It depends on a number of factors, including your level of knowledge about the sport, your ability to stomach risk, and pure luck. That being said, there are plenty of people who have made a profit from betting on snooker.
If you're serious about trying to make money from snooker betting, the first step is to learn as much as you can about the sport. Study the statistics, pay attention to form guides, and try to get inside the heads of the players. The more you know, the better your chances are of making successful bets.
What is the best strategy in snooker betting?
The best strategy in snooker betting will vary depending on a number of factors, including your personal betting style and how much knowledge you have of the sport. However, there are a few general tips that can help you to become more successful when betting on snooker.
Firstly, it is important to do your research before placing any bets. This means learning as much as you can about the sport, the different players and their strengths and weaknesses, and recent form. The more information you have, the better your chances of making accurate predictions and winning your bets.
It is also important to be disciplined when betting on snooker. This means setting a budget for yourself.
Does snooker offer live (in-play) betting?
Yes, snooker offers live betting. You can bet on the outcome of each frame as it is being played. This is a great way to get involved in the action and make some money at the same time. There are plenty of online bookmakers that offer live snooker betting, so you should shop around for the best odds.
Conclusion
Snooker betting is becoming everyone’s new favourite activity mainly due to the sport’s unpredictability. This type of sports betting allows you to follow an exciting sport and possibly earn some money along the way.
Most snooker fans choose online betting as their primary method because it’s convenient, simple, and comes with outstanding betting bonuses and promotions.
