Free tips Snooker Betting Preview: 2020 UK Snooker Championship Tips & Predictions (Nov 23 – Dec 5)

UK Championship 2020: Snooker’s opening Triple Crown event

Milton Keynes Marshall Arena is quickly becoming the centre-point of the snooker world. In October it played host to the English Open and this month the 888Sport Champion of Champions, BetVictor German Masters qualifiers, and the most recent Northern Ireland Open have all been staged there. Our fancies and UK Snooker Championship tips are below…

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When does the BBC coverage start?

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Live coverage will begin on the BBC from this Saturday.

This week it’s the turn of the Betway UK Championship, a biggie on the snooker calendar as it is the first Triple Crown event of the season. Its normal home is the Barbican Centre in York.

Starting on Monday 128 players will set out on a journey to etch their name on the £200,000 winner’s cheque and join a Roll of Honour which stretches back to 1977.

For the most part they might as well stay at home as the long game/format which this competition embraces always sees the cream rise to the top. As the list of previous winners shows, this one is destined for a top-10 ranked player. Ok, so Ding Junhui was ranked No. 16 when he took the prize last year.

Previous UK Championship Winners:

• 2019 – Ding Junhui
• 2018 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
• 2017 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
• 2016 – Mark Selby
• 2015 – Neil Robertson
• 2014 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
• 2013 – Neil Robertson
• 2012 – Mark Selby
• 2011 – Judd Trump
• 2010 – John Higgins
• 2009 – Ding Junhui
• 2008 –  Shaun Murphy

Only four snooker players, O’Sullivan, Selby, Junhui and Neil Robertson have won this competition during the past eight years.

Judd Trump was the 2011 victor and is playing at a level above all others at present. John Higgins is a three-time previous winner and is cuing well. Surely the outright winner, and quite possibly both finalists, will come from this group.

But there is £6,500 in prize-money for the 64 players who simply win their first round match. It is a lot of money and a veritable fortune to journeyman pros residing towards the bottom of the world rankings so we should see some great scraps.

UK Snooker Championship Tips – Three in the Outright Betting

At the top of the market Sunday’s Norther Ireland Open finalists, Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan are trading at 3/1 and 9/2 respectively.

But at the prices Neil Robertson (7/1 with William Hill), John Higgins (18/1 xxx) and Mark Allen (20/1 with Betway) offer a lot more appeal.

We would add Ding Junhui to this list but as he is in the same draw bracket as Higgins, that would be foolhardy.

Mismatches

There’s a heap of mismatches amongst the first round games with some players rated as short as 1/250 to win their opening match.

It is incredibly difficult to even consider where an upset will happen, but there is sure to be plenty of them. Jack Lisowski is 1/25 to beat Farakh Ajaib on Thursday. That looks a suicidal bet especially as Lisowski is renowned for errant play and he was beaten 4-1 by Ashley Carty in the first round of last week’s Northern Irish Open. Maybe this could be one of the ‘upset’ games.

Carty went out in the next round of the Northern Irish Open, beaten 4-1 by Andy Hicks and we fancy he will be spanked by the classy Ali Carter in a first round match on Wednesday.

Carter got to the semi’s of the Northern Irish event (beaten by O’Sullivan there) and posted four 100+ breaks along the way. That’s quality stuff and he should therefore dispose of Ashley Carty with the minimum of fuss this week.

UK Snooker Championship Tips – 1st Round

Ali Carter (-2.5 frames) to beat Ashley Carty at 5/6 with bet365* (7pm, Wednesday)

* Uk Snooker betting odds 2020 correct at the time of writing