🎱 Masters Snooker Preview, Stats and Betting Guide

Welcome to the definitive Masters Snooker Betting Guide, where snooker betting fans can sharpen their strategy. In this article, you'll find an in-depth look at the Masters Snooker Draw, critical form considerations, and a retrospective of previous champions. This guide delivers essential insights tailored to enhance your betting approach to the Master Snooker Championship

Masters Preview And Player Form Against Top 16 Opponents

The Masters traditionally brings together the current best sixteen players in the snooker world. All involved are high-class performers and winners of multiple titles but are they the sort of players that grind out the results against lower level opponents but falter when playing the other elite players?

With such a high quality field there should be no ‘lucky’ draws where players benefit from avoiding the other top players. With that thought in mind, how does this group of players fare when pitted against other members of the top sixteen? 

Below is a table highlighting how each of the players in this tournament have fared since the beginning of the 2021 season when playing members of the top sixteen.

The results have been taken when the players have played a best of eleven or more and relate to when the player in question has been pitted against one of the top sixteen seeds from each tournament. (Note - certain matches are excluded, such as the recent tournaments in Macau, where no seedings were given.)

Impressive figures from Judd Trump (69%) winning twenty-four of his thirty-five matches against Top 16 opponents in the last three seasons. The reigning champion is joint-favourite with the bookies to win his third Masters title and the World Ranked number two player has been in terrific form this season, already winning three titles and making the final in two other events. Trump has been the standout player of this season and makes plenty of appeal at odds of 4/1 where there are many question marks surrounding the majority of his likely opponents.

Trump shows two percent ahead in recent Top 16 victories victories from World Champion Luca Brecel (67%) and Neil Robertson (67%) but both those players have found their top form hard to find this season. Robertson has lost five out of his last six against Top 16 opponents and his high ranking in this table is predominantly due to a remarkable run of eleven consecutive victories over Top 16 opponents in the 2021/22 seasons. Brecel looks to be not enjoying his higher profile after victory in Sheffield and apart from making the Final in Shanghai his season has been a disappointment so far.

Zhang Anda (67%) can probably be called the most improved player on the circuit this season recording a win in the International Championship and losing out in the final of the English Open. Only a small sample size but Anda has won four of his six recent matches against Top 16 opponents, including the last four games he has played. That excellent run of form has seen the thirty-two year-old make it to Alexandra Palace for the first time where he looks to have an excellent chance of a long run in the event and continues to be overlooked by the bookies. A pre-event price of 28/1 looks great value for Zhang Anda.

Ronnie O'Sullivan (61%) is perhaps lower down the stats than most people would imagine but he is unbeaten in his last six matches against Top 16 rivals. This great run will give hope to The Rocket's supporters this week where he is looking for his eighth win in this event. O'Sullivan sits top of the World Rankings, cemented by his recent win in the UK Championship, but last won The Masters in 2017 and hasn't made the Final since 2019.

Next in our table is a bit of a surprise in Barry Hawkins (61%). 2023/24 has been a good season so far for Hawkins with his first ranking event win for six years when taking the European Masters. Two other semi-final appearances have meant Hawkins' record against Top 16 opponents has markedly increased. Hawkins tends to do well in matches over eleven frames and he must have a great chance of beating the out of form Neil Robertson in the first round. Unfortunately, old foe Ronnie O'Sullivan could be waiting in the Quarter-Finals, with the current head to head between those two players currently at 18-3 to O'Sullivan. Any enthusiasm for Hawkins' chance in the Masters is diluted by this likely match-up with O'Sullivan.

Shaun Murphy (56%) is another player who has had a very quiet season given his high standards. Murphy can be a very streaky player as shown by his great run of form towards the end of last season where he won the Tour Championship and the Players Championship in the space of six weeks. The 2005 World Champion has been experimenting with using multiple cues in his matches for which he has received a lot of criticism on social media and it remains to be seen if he will continue the experiment at Alexander Palace. Murphy has only made one quarter-final so far this season would need to step up considerably on his current form to figure here.

Beaten Finalist here last year, Mark Williams, (53%) won the first event of this season, the British Open, back in October but has appeared to struggle with his form since then. Williams stated this week on social media that he has hurt his back so it remains to be seen if he will be able to hit top form in the Masters.

A resurgent Ding Junhui has a recent 50% record against Top 16 opponents and his recent run to the Final of the UK Championship came as something of a surprise where he eventually lost out 10-7 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Ding is surely one of the hardest players to predict and he faces a really tough start to this event where he takes on O'Sullivan again in the first round.

Kyren Wilson (47%) has only managed one ranking event success (European Open 22/23) since 2019 which is surely a low return for a player of his abilities. A dangerous opponent for any player but his lack of top titles tempers enthusiasm for him for an event such as The Masters, although his price of 28/1 is likely to appeal to many snooker fans.

It is surprising to see John Higgins, Mark Selby and Mark Allen all returning recent stats of under 50% against Top 16 opponents. Higgins has won only one title (Players Championship 2021) since 2018 and surely only his biggest fans would consider backing the Scot at odds of around 16/1. 

Mark Selby appears to have struggled to recover from losing last year's World Championship Final to Luca Brecel and a return of just one Final appearance (British Open) will be seen as a poor return to the season so far for a player of Selby's quality. Odds of 7/1 look on the skimpy side given his current form.

Mark Allen won another big title this season when taking the Champions of Champions, but that performace has been the exception rather than the rule this season where the Northern Irishman has met with some heavy defeats in the early rounds of events. 

Jack Lisowski (40%) continues to be a frustrating enigma who unfathomably is still searching for his first big title. Surely only the most optimistic snooker fans could consider him here at odds of 22/1? 

Robert Milkins and Ali Carter's stats of 37% and 30% respectively would suggest that they both are likely to struggle against such a high quality field, although Carter may benefit from Mark Williams' bad back in Round One.

Masters 2024: Draw and Results

The Masters will take place at Alexandra Palace in London from the 7th to the 14th January

Final (Best of seventeen frames)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 10 Ali Carter 7

Semi-Finals (Best of eleven frames)

Ali Carter 6 Mark Allen 3

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Shaun Murphy 2

Quarter-Final Draw (Best of eleven frames)

Judd Trump 5 Ali Carter 6

Mark Selby 5 Mark Allen 6

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Barry Hawkins 3

Sean Murphy 6 Jack Lisowski 3

First Round Draw (Best of eleven frames)

Judd Trump 6 Kyren Wilson 5

Mark Williams 4 Ali Carter 6

Mark Selby 6 Robert Milkins 1

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 Ding Junhui 3 (Ding made a 147 in this match, the fourth in Masters' history)

Neil Robertson 3 Barry Hawkins 6

Shaun Murphy 6 Zhang Anda 2

Luca Brecel 2 Jack Lisowski 6 

Mark Allen 6 John Higgins 5

The Masters - Ten Year Form

Below is a table outlining how each of this year's players have performed over the last ten years at The Masters:

Judd Trump and Jack Lisowski had to withdraw from the 2021 tournament due to covid.

The Masters Snooker - Previous Winners

The Masters final has been played over nineteen frames since 1996. Below are records of all winners, runners-up, interval scores, number of centuries and highest break in each final:

The record number of centuries in finals at the Masters played over nineteen frames is five, achieved in 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2023

Only twice since 1996 has the Masters final failed to see a century break (2002 and 2014).

If you need more information for your snooker bets why not head over to the Best Snooker Tipsters page to see which of the top OLBG tipsters currently have tips on snooker. The higlighted tipsters have shown a recent profit for their snooker tips.

Masters Snooker 2023 Results

2023 Masters Results

Final (best of 19 frames)

Judd Trump 10 Mark Williams 8

Semi Finals (best of 11 frames)

Judd Trump 6 Stuart Bingham 1

Mark Williams 6 Jack Lisowski 0

Quarter Finals (best of 11 frames)

Stuart Bingham 6 Shaun Murphy 0

Judd Trump 6 Barry Hawkins 5

Jack Lisowski 6 Hossein Vafaei 4

Mark Williams 6 Ronnie O'Sullivan 5

First round matches are over 11 frames (seedings in brackets)

Neil Robertson (1) v Shaun Murphy (12) 4-6

Kyren Wilson (8) v Stuart Bingham (14) 3-6

Mark Allen (5) v Barry Hawkins (13) 0-6

Judd Trump (4) v Ryan Day (15) 6-5

Mark Selby (3) v Hossein Vafaei ()* 2-6

John Higgins (6) v Jack Lisowski (10) 3-6

Mark Williams (7) v David Gilbert ()* 6-2

Ronnie O'Sullivan (2) v Luca Brecel (11) 6-1

*Hossein Vafaei and David Gilbert replaced Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong who were suspended pending a match-fixing investigation.

OLBG experts will be giving their tips on the Masters. Why not check out all the latest snooker tips on OLBG and if you are thinking about placing a bet, make sure you read the top snooker betting sites in the UK.

Who has won the most Masters' titles?

Ronnie O'Sullivan has made the final of the Masters an amazing 13 times, lifting the trophy on a record seven occasions:

New to betting on snooker? Why not head over to our betting school where you can find a great aticle on Snooker Betting Advice.

The Masters - Highest Break

The following players made the highest break at The Masters over the last ten years:

147 Breaks at The Masters

The Masters was first played in 1975 when John Spencer beat Ray Reardon in the first ever Final.

There have been a further forty-seven renewals of The Masters since that first event but on only five occasions has the tournament seen a 147 break:

1. Kirk Stevens 1984
2. Ding Junhui 2007
3. Marco Fu 2015
4. Ding Junhui 2024
5. Mark Allen 2024

Before the start of this year's tournament the odds on there being a maximum break this year were priced at around 2/1.

How this Article was Created

We are blessed at OLBG to have a superb expert team contributing to all of our content - And this Master Snooker Betting preview and guide is no exception. Firstly there is the comprehensive data collection and curation which in this instance, such is his love of the sport, was completed by Darren Brett our Tipster Competition manager who is also a huge snooker fan, player and aficionado.

Written by Darren Brett

Darren has been with OLBG since almost day 1 and is well placed in having a considerable hand in our snooker content. A Fan of the sport, and in particular in having a bet at any stage of a major tournament, Darren enjoys nothing more than pouring over the facts and figures both ahead of a major championship and also over the results post-event.

- Darren Brett, Tipster competition manager

Fact Checked by Dan Tracey

Dan will not claim to be a huge snooker fan, but he is our very capable data scientist and has a meticulous eye for detail in all of our deep data on OLBG.com to ensure the numbers and the facts are correct.

- Dan Tracey, Data scientist and football editor

Editor-in-Chief - Trump and Dale Fan

Steve might get more benefit in betting on Judd Trump these days than Dominic Dale but he follows the pair avidly whenever they play - A league player down in Dorset, Steve will generally be found working [Hopefully] with snooker on in the background at every opportunity and has a peculiar fascination with our snooker betting content!

- Steve Madgwick, Editor-in-chief

More Snooker Content at OLBG

We have a huge base of snooker betting content at OLBG including our community of tipsters. So head over to our snooker tips area to find the best snooker tipsters making the best snooker tips through the season.Of course, once you have the tip, you'll need to find the best snooker betting sites, and perhaps you like to read more snooker betting guides and previews for other major events in the snooker calendar

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