Guest post by Paul Micelli
Snooker presents a series of interesting betting opportunities that can be made at any stage of a major tournament. Although excellent value can be found when selecting an outright winner prior to a tournament starting, there are a massive number of other wagers available for individual matches and in-play betting.
Outright Betting
Outright betting offers a market where sports betting enthusiasts can wager on the eventual outcome of a tournament. The best value for this type of bet can be gained by investing in a tournament in advance of the scheduled starting date. While prices will be significantly higher several weeks or months before a competition, a surge in player form near the starting date of a tournament, or the elimination of other players once the first couple of rounds have taken place, will inevitably result in tumbling odds.
Betting on Frames
Every tournament operates differently and some ranking events play the best of nine frames in the opening stages of a competition. Others, such as the World Championship event in Sheffield, take place using a best of nineteen frame format from the first round. This will increase as the tournament goes on until the final is reached and the two competing players battle it out over the best of thirty-five frames. Frame betting gives sports enthusiasts the chance to bet on the frame score of an individual event and the more frames there are, the better the odds will be.
Betting on Matches
As well as betting on a player to win a tournament outright, bettors can also place wagers on individual players winning their matches. This makes for great entertainment during televised tournaments and if a number of players are fancied to progress from a particular round, the studious sports betting enthusiast can bet on all of them at accumulative odds.
Handicap Betting
Handicap betting has become one of the most popular forms of gambling and snooker is widely regarded as one of the most potentially profitable arenas for this particular style of wagering. If bookmakers feel that a game isn’t tightly matched in terms of betting opportunities, the supposedly weaker player will receive a designated number of frames as a head start. This will usually be referred to in the betting market as +1.5 frames, +2.5 frames or more.
As an example, let us assume that Ronnie O Sullivan is playing Matthew Stevens. Ronnie is a clear favourite with the bookies on the outright betting market but to attract interest from punters, Matthew Stevens if offered a +1.5 frame handicap start prior to the match starting. If Matthew wins the match, or loses by just one frame to Ronnie, he would still be the winner in terms of the handicap betting market.
