THE green baize is rolled out and the action will begin at The Crucible today as the world's best 32 players battle for Betfred World Championship glory.
I asked an expert who he fancied and sadly his reply was: “Any of 10 players can win, it's wide open.”
He then proceeded to tip the 11th favourite, Stephen Lee. The Englishman has enjoyed a recent revival, winning one tournament and losing another final, and could go far in the top half of the draw.
The advice from my snooker mole was to back him at boylesports at 33-1 and request one-fifth the odds a semi-final slot.
Players he couldn't rule included defending champion John Higgins, 2011 runner-up Judd Trump and the mercurial Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The Rocket, however, faces a tough opening match against Peter Ebdon and it promises to be a gruelling.
You never know which Ronnie will turn up but any bet on him always looks brilliant value when he turns it on.
It’s hard to believe world No.1 Mark Selby has yet to win a World Championship and he's 9-1 at unibet to finally justify his billing.
“The road to the World Championships has been a really interesting journey with some great match-ups and big shocks coming through the qualifiers” said Erik Backlund, Head of unibet Sportsbook.
“It was great to see Belgium player Luca Brecel qualify and rewarded with a first-round match against Maguire. At 17 years old Brecel will become the youngest player to play at The Cruicible and has been touted as the next Jimmy White’for a few years now.
“When Brecel was 14 unibet opened up a bet on him to reach the World Championships by the end of 2013 – he beat our expectations by a year!”
Lee is likely to face Trump in the quarters and if he comes through that he could conceiveably go all the way.
Trump is 5-1 favourite at Ladbrokes who make him their biggest loser in the book despite his recent poor form.
Punters are beginning to desert three-time champion O'Sullivan (7-1) while Higgins is chalked up at an attractive 8-1 with Ladbrokes for back-to-back titles.
Mark Selby (1-4), Neil Robertson (1-6) and Cruible hero Graham Dott (2-5) are all odds-on to make it through to the last-16 stage.
Paddy Power make Trump 11-4 favourite to score most century breaks, ahead of O’Sullivan at 4-1, with the pair 15-2 joint favourites to record the highest break of the tournament.
It’s 6-5 viewers are treated to a 147 break, 8-11 there is a first-time winner and 1-1 one of the former champions in the field lifts the trophy from among O’Sullivan, Higgins, Neil Robertson, Graeme Dott, Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams, Ebdon, Stephen Hendry and Ken Doherty.
Ladbrokes will pay out on your chosen player as a winner if he hits a 147 break but fails to lift the trophy in Sheffield on May 7.
If Trump wins tournament sponsors Betfred will return losing outright singles.
Recommendations (outrights)
Lee e/w
(33-1, one-fifth odds top 4, boylesports)
Trump highest break
(8-1, Betfred)
First-round matches
Dott to beat Perry
(2-5, various)
Hendry +1.5 frames v Bingham
(8-11, Paddy Power)
Jones +4.5 frames v Murphy
(5-6, bet365)
Brecel first to hit ton v Maguire
(11-4, Paddy Power)
Resident football tipster at Scotland's most read newspaper, the Daily Record, for over 20 years and proud host of one the best betting communities on the web with daily betting tips.
Very good article but I have to differ with Lee…I don’t give him a prayer…evens on a former champion looks a fantastic bet though
Andrew, that evens will be popular. I just thought it was so hard to call that Lee was a decent shout from left field. He has been playing really well and getting results. Trump will be his big hurdle to get to the semis but he beat him recently albeit in a shorter match.
Great article again but….
I agree Stephen Lee will not win.
Tough to go with someone outright though, I’ll pick John Higgins.
Come on Stephen Hendry.
Daryl, in essence I’ve taken Lee to reach the semis. I reckon it’s wide open this year but if Higgins finds his A game he will be hard to beat but he’s not been at the races recently.