Snooker Betting Tips
Snooker originated in India in the second half of the 19th century as a game played by British Army officers. The World Snooker Championship began in 1927 with the sport gaining popularity in 1969 after BBC began to broadcast snooker on television.
Snooker now features professional players from all over the world competing for millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour. Betting on snooker is very popular, especially in the United Kingdom where the sport continues to enjoy tremendous popularity.
Latest Snooker News
Snooker Free Bets
Open a new bookmaker account and take advantage of snooker free bets to kick start your bankroll.
Snooker Odds
Every major online bookmaker will offer snooker odds including outright markets such as tournament winner. Individual match markets in snooker include odds for match winner, to win 1st frame, handicap, frame betting or correct score, total frames, race to three frames, to pot the 1st ball in 1st frame, 1st frame handicap, total points in 1st frame and if there will be a 147 in the match.
Snooker Live Streaming
Watch snooker on the go with snooker live streaming anywhere you can get a suitable internet connection. Check our live streaming calendar for all snooker live streams.
The bet365 live streaming service offers snooker live streaming so you can watch and bet on snooker. 18+ and geo restrictions apply, please visit bet365 for full terms and conditions.
Snooker Bookie Promotions
Keep an eye out for snooker bookie promotions which could include enhanced odds or odds boosts on certain players. Taking advantage of snooker bookie promotions is a great way to win on snooker.
Snooker Bet of the Day
Analyse all the matches on a day when there is a snooker tournament being played and make the most likely bet your snooker bet of the day.
Snooker Results
The snooker results are a great way to see what players are in form and playing well. Check head to head snooker results and be sure to note what players have performed well at certain snooker tournaments.
Snooker Replays
Watch snooker replays at the World Snooker Official YouTube channel.
Snooker Highlights
Watching snooker highlights is a great way to stay in touch with all the matches so you can keep an eye on what players are in form and playing well. The Snooker Planet YouTube channel is your home for snooker highlights.
Snooker News
Stay up to date with all the snooker news at worldsnooker.com including scores, tournaments, players and rankings. BBC Snooker is another valuable website for snooker news.
Snooker Social Media
Follow snooker on the major social media platforms so you don’t miss any of the important news, stories and features involving snooker
World Snooker Twitter - twitter.com/WorldSnooker
World Snooker Facebook - facebook.com/WorldSnooker
World Snooker Instagram - instagram.com/worldsnookerofficial/
Snooker Fixtures
The snooker season runs from May to April with the following tournaments being the highlights of the 2019-20 World Snooker season.
2019-20 Snooker Season
The 2019-20 snooker season begins with the World Cup in China on 24 June and concludes with the World Championship at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England on 18 April 2020.
| Date | Country | Rank | Tournament | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24 June 2019 | China | Team Event | World Cup | Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium | Wuxi |
| 26 July 2019 | Latvia | World Ranking Event | Riga Masters | Arena Riga | Riga |
| 4 August 2019 | China | World Ranking Event | International Championship | Baihu Media Broadcasting Centre | Daqing |
| 24 August 2019 | Germany | Non-Ranking Event | Paul Hunter Classic | Stadthalle | Fürth |
| 2 September 2019 | Thailand | Variant Event | Six-red World Championship | Bangkok Convention Center | Bangkok |
| 9 September 2019 | China | Non-Ranking Event | Shanghai Masters | Regal International East Asia Hotel | Shanghai |
| 23 September 2019 | China | World Ranking Event | China Championship | Guangzhou Tianhe Sports Centre | Guangzhou |
| 14 October 2019 | England | World Ranking Event | English Open | K2 | Crawley |
| 22 October 2019 | China | Non-Ranking Event | Haining Open | Haining Sports Center | Haining |
| 28 October 2019 | China | World Ranking Event | World Open | Yushan Sport Centre | Yushan |
| 4 November 2019 | England | Non-Ranking Event | Champion of Champions | Ricoh Arena | Coventry |
| 11 November 2019 | Nth Ireland | World Ranking Event | Northern Ireland Open | Waterfront Hall | Belfast |
| 26 November 2019 | England | World Ranking Event | UK Championship | Barbican Centre | York |
| 9 December 2019 | Scotland | World Ranking Event | Scottish Open | Emirates Arena | Glasgow |
| 12 January 2020 | England | Non-Ranking Event | The Masters | Alexandra Palace | London |
| 22 January 2020 | Austria | World Ranking Event | European Masters | Messe Dornbirn | Dornbirn |
| 29 January 2020 | Germany | World Ranking Event | German Masters | Tempodrom | Berlin |
| 3 February 2020 | England | World Ranking Event | World Grand Prix | The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse | Cheltenham |
| 10 February 2020 | Wales | World Ranking Event | Welsh Open | Motorpoint Arena | Cardiff |
| 20 February 2020 | England | World Ranking Event | Snooker Shoot-Out | Watford Colosseum | Watford |
| 24 February 2020 | England | World Ranking Event | Players Championship | Waterfront | Southport |
| 11 March 2020 | Gibraltar | World Ranking Event | Gibraltar Open | Victoria Stadium | Gibraltar |
| 17 March 2020 | Wales | World Ranking Event | Tour Championship | Venue Cymru | Llandudno |
| 24 March 2020 | India | World Ranking Event | Indian Open | tba | tba |
| 30 March 2020 | China | World Ranking Event | China Open | Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium | Beijing |
| 18 April 2020 | England | World Ranking Event | World Championship | Crucible Theatre | Sheffield |
Snooker History
Snooker originated in India in the 1870s as an alternative to billiards. British Army officers stationed in India created several variations of the game, one involving the combination of two pocket billiards games - pyramid and black pool.
Black pool was played with fifteen red coloured balls positioned in a triangle with pyramid involving the potting of selected balls. In 1884 first set of snooker rules was finalised by Sir Neville Chamberlain who helped popularise the game.
Snooker was originally a slang term to describe first-year cadets and rookie military personnel, but Chamberlain introduced the term to describe the performance of one of his officers that became a term used to describe the game itself.
In 1887 snooker experienced a growth in popularity in England when the game was referenced in a copy of a British sports newspaper called ‘The Sporting Life’.
Snooker, like other sports including cricket, grew in popularity across the United Kingdom and their colonies in India and surrounding regions. Snooker, like golf, remained a game mainly for the elite and many gentlemen's clubs that had a billiards table wouldn’t allow non-members to play.
Specific snooker clubs were formed to cater for the surge in popularity and in 1919 the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) was formed and a new standard set of rules for snooker became official for the first time.
In 1927 the first World Snooker Championship took place. It was organised by Joe Davis, a professional billiards and snooker player who won every world championship until 1946 and helped transition snooker from a casual game to a professional sport.
Snooker fell into a decline in the 1950s and 1960s, but the invention of colour television would change the fate of the sport. In 1969 the BBC began a television show called ‘Pot Black’ featuring snooker and it had huge success.
Ray Reardon was one of the best snooker players in the 1970s, and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to be fully televised which was another ground breaking moment for the sport.
Steve Davis was the dominant snooker player in the 1980s. In 1985 the World Snooker Championship attracted 18.5 million television viewers who watched the final frame of the final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis which was a record for the UK after midnight.
Stephen Hendry took over as the best player in snooker in the 1990s. A ban on tobacco advertising in the early 2000s reduced the number of professional snooker tournaments, but the emergence of Asian snooker players helped spread the popularity of snooker in the Far East.
Since 2000 Ronnie O'Sullivan has been the standout player in snooker and has helped popularise the sport. In 2010 sports promoter Barry Hearn gained a controlling interest in World Snooker Ltd. and the World Snooker Tour. The number of professional snooker tournaments increased with 44 events played in the 2019/20 season.
The popularity of snooker on television has increased the prize money on offer for professional tournaments with the winner of the 2020 World Snooker Championship receiving £500,000 out of a total prize fund of £2,395,000.
Snooker is now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).
World Number One Snooker Players
There have been three ranking systems to determine the best player in professional snooker since 1975. There have been 11 players holding the number one rank including Ray Reardon, Cliff Thorburn, Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Ding Junhui.
| No. | Nationality | Player | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wales | Ray Reardon | 3 May 1975 | 20 April 1981 |
| 2 | Canada | Cliff Thorburn | 21 April 1981 | 16 May 1982 |
| – | Wales | Ray Reardon (2) | 17 May 1982 | 2 May 1983 |
| 3 | England | Steve Davis | 3 May 1983 | 29 April 1990 |
| 4 | Scotland | Stephen Hendry | 30 April 1990 | 4 May 1998 |
| 5 | Scotland | John Higgins | 5 May 1998 | 1 May 2000 |
| 6 | Wales | Mark Williams | 2 May 2000 | 6 May 2002 |
| 7 | England | Ronnie O'Sullivan | 7 May 2002 | 5 May 2003 |
| – | Wales | Mark Williams (2) | 6 May 2003 | 3 May 2004 |
| – | England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) | 4 May 2004 | 1 May 2006 |
| – | Scotland | Stephen Hendry (2) | 2 May 2006 | 7 May 2007 |
| – | Scotland | John Higgins (2) | 8 May 2007 | 5 May 2008 |
| – | England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (3) | 6 May 2008 | 3 May 2010 |
| – | Scotland | John Higgins (3) | 4 May 2010 | 26 September 2010 |
| 8 | Australia | Neil Robertson | 27 September 2010 | 12 December 2010 |
| – | Scotland | John Higgins (4) | 13 December 2010 | 2 May 2011 |
| – | Wales | Mark Williams (3) | 3 May 2011 | 11 September 2011 |
| 9 | England | Mark Selby | 12 September 2011 | 4 November 2012 |
| 10 | England | Judd Trump | 5 November 2012 | 9 December 2012 |
| – | England | Mark Selby (2) | 10 December 2012 | 17 February 2013 |
| – | England | Judd Trump (2) | 18 February 2013 | 31 March 2013 |
| – | England | Mark Selby (3) | 1 April 2013 | 9 June 2013 |
| – | Australia | Neil Robertson (2) | 10 June 2013 | 5 May 2014 |
| – | England | Mark Selby (4) | 6 May 2014 | 6 July 2014 |
| – | Australia | Neil Robertson (3) | 7 July 2014 | 10 August 2014 |
| – | England | Mark Selby (5) | 11 August 2014 | 7 December 2014 |
| 11 | China | Ding Junhui | 8 December 2014 | 14 December 2014 |
| – | Australia | Neil Robertson (4) | 15 December 2014 | 24 January 2015 |
| – | China | Ding Junhui (2) | 25 January 2015 | 8 February 2015 |
| – | England | Mark Selby (6) | 9 February 2015 | 24 March 2019 |
| – | England | Ronnie O'Sullivan (4) | 25 March 2019 | 11 August 2019 |
| – | England | Judd Trump (3) | 12 August 2019 | Present |
What is snooker?
Snooker is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth and pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Players strike the white ball (or "cue ball") using a cue stick to pot or pocket the remaining 21 coloured in the correct sequence and accumulate points for each pot.
What is a snooker in snooker?
A snooker in snooker is when a player puts the white ball or cue ball in a position where the opponent cannot hit a desired coloured ball with a straight shot.
Why is snooker called snooker?
The term 'snooker' was specified by Sir Neville Chamberlain in 1875.
What is a maximum break in snooker?
A maximum break in snooker is the highest break that can be made in snooker - 147 points. To achieve a maximum break, the player must pot all 15 reds followed by the black ball after every red, followed by potting the six remaining colours.
Why is a snooker table green?
A snooker table is green to resemble grass.
How many balls are there in snooker?
There are 21 balls in snooker - 1 white ball (cue ball), 15 red balls and six balls of different colours: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black.
How big is a snooker table?
A regulation (full-size) snooker table is 12 ft × 6 ft (3.7 m × 1.8 m)
What is a frame in snooker?
A frame in snooker is an individual game that is won by the player scoring the most points. A match is won when a player wins a determined number of frames.