Snooker Betting Guide

Snooker's popularity has been increasing in recent years, with more and more competitions being established and included in the calendar worldwide (read more – best betting companies 2024 ).

British Officers based in India invented snooker, and currently, it's one of the leading international sports where fans and bettors follow its events. After decades of reinvention, gamblers can finally place bets on snooker events as long as they comprehend the sport’s betting concept.

The World Snooker Championship started in 1927, gaining popularity in 1969 after being broadcast on BBC television.

Currently, professional players from all corners of the world compete in snooker tournaments for lucrative rewards. The World Snooker Tour is the most popular event among both fans and punters.

For better understanding, this detailed guide for betting snooker will provide in-depth information on how to place wagers on snooker on any trustworthy betting platform. Read on to learn snooker betting tips, such as how to bet on the snooker handicap (read more – Asian handicap explained 2024 ), correct score, and many other markets.

FAQ

🎱 What is the difference between pool and snooker?

Pool and snooker are both cue sports played on a table with pockets and balls. The main contrast between the two is in the size of the table, type of cues used, number of balls that are used, and the rules governing each game.

🎱 How to play snooker (Snooker explained)?

With snooker, two players compete to earn more points than their opponent by pocketing the colored balls (red, yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black) in a specific order. To do this, they must use a cue stick to strike the white ball and propel it into one of the colorful objects on either side of them. You can play head-to-head against another player, and various formats let multiple people join in, too, so even rookies can enjoy it with friends or family members.

🎱 What is snooker points system?

Each ball has a point value in snooker, and players earn points by potting balls. Here are the point values for each ball:

  • Red ball: 1 point
  • Yellow ball: 2 points
  • Green ball: 3 points
  • Brown ball: 4 points
  • Blue ball: 5 points
  • Pink ball: 6 points
  • Black ball: 7 points

During a snooker game, the player who pots the most balls earns the most points. The game's purpose is to score more points than the opponent to win. In a typical frame of snooker, the first player to reach a total of 147 points achieves a “maximum break,” considered the highest possible achievement in snooker. However, a maximum break is rare and difficult to achieve, even for professional players.

🎱 Can you bet on snooker?

Yes, you can bet on snooker. Betting on snooker has become increasingly popular in recent years, with many sportsbooks offering various betting options and betting odds on snooker events. You can bet on the result of a single match or a tournament winner and different in-game options, such as which player will win the next frame or the total number of points scored in a match.

🎱 Is snooker losing popularity?

With the ever-increasing number of TV channels and streaming services vying for viewers' attention, snooker has had to fight even harder to remain popular. This competition is made more difficult due to its dwindling presence in real life; two decades have seen an alarming decrease in snooker clubs, leaving fewer places than ever before for people to enjoy the game firsthand.

🎱 Is snooker harder than pool?

In general, snooker is considered a more complex game than pool because it requires more skill and a higher level of strategy.

🎱 What is the difference between snooker vs pool cue?

The differences between a snooker cue and a pool cue are very pronounced. Snooker cues are about 150cm long, while a pool cue is about 132cm. Additionally, the shaft of a snooker cue is usually thinner and less flexible than a pool cue, and the tip size for snooker cues is often smaller. Shaft tapers also differ between the two cues, with snooker tips typically having a more pronounced taper than their pool counterparts.

The guide also provides information about snooker match betting sites (where you can make snooker bets online) and top wagering strategies that can help you to become a successful bettor.

Table of content

How Snooker is Played

Snooker is almost similar to pool. The main objective of snooker is to gather more points than the opponent. Sounds straightforward, right? Players score points by potting snooker balls in the correct order following a numerical sequence. Here are the snooker rules you need to know before you can start betting on snooker.

Snooker vs Pool

If you're new to these sports, you might wonder how they are different. Most people confuse these two sports and think that they're just different names of the same game. Snooker and pool are different games.

For a start, snooker is popular in countries associated with Great Britain's history, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Canada. On the other hand, pool is popular in the United States of America and countries associated with its history. The main differences between these two sports include the following:

  • Snooker vs pool balls – snooker balls are smaller – 2 1/2 for pool balls and 2 1/8 for snooker
  • Snooker pockets are narrower
  • The difference between pool and snooker cue is that snooker cues are smaller – 14 mm for pool and 10 mm for snooker
  • Snooker table vs pool table size comparison is that snooker tables are taller and larger
best snooker handicap betting odds tips sites

Snooker Rules

Now you understand the main differences between snooker and pool. So let’s take a look at snooker rules. Snooker features one cue ball, six coloured and fifteen red balls.

The main aim is to pot the red ball first, followed by any coloured ball and then red, and the sequence continues until a player pockets all the red balls. If a player fails to pocket the right ball, it becomes the opposing player's turn. Here are the points that each ball offers:

  • Black ball: Seven points
  • Pink ball: Six points
  • Blue ball: Five points
  • Brown ball: Four points
  • Green ball: Three points
  • Yellow ball: Two points
  • Red ball: One point

To decide who starts the game, the officials toss a coin, and if there is a draw, you can break it by re-sporting the black ball or flipping a coin.

The side that wins the coin toss has the option of deferring to allow the opponent to initiate the draw breaker or go first. Any player who pots the black ball becomes the winner.

Snooker vs Pool Balls Cue Difference Between Pool and Snooker Cue

Before the game starts, the balls are arranged in a special format. To set the rack, players place fourteen red balls in a pyramid with the black ball behind and the pink ball at the point. The blue ball takes the middle position, while the yellow, green, and brown balls are arranged in a line across the pyramid.

Snooker Scoring Rules

Aside from pocketing the balls in a correct sequence to gather points, a player also collects points when the opponent commits fouls. Fouls occur for different reasons, which include pocketing a coloured ball first instead of a red and pocketing the cue ball, among others.

Points that players earn from fouls differ between a maximum of seven and a minimum of four in cases that involve a black ball. Without fouls, the total number of successive points a player collects in a single visit to the playing table is called a break. 

Players achieve the maximum points by pocketing the balls in the required sequence, which includes all reds, blacks and then colours, accruing 147 points. A supper maximum is the highest possible break, achieved when an opponent pockets fifteen reds and leaves a free ball, sealing the black ball as an additional colour.

betting odds on for snooker scoring rules Ronnie O'Sullivan

A single match features a pre-arranged number of frames. The winner must win the highest number of frames. And a player must win a minimum of five to emerge as the winner of the game.

Snooker Match Betting Sites

In order to be a successful snooker bettor, you need to choose a trusted, reliable, and fair betting website. Naturally, a trusted, reliable and fair snooker bookmaker offers a welcome bonus for new customers.

On top of that, players will always find numerous ongoing promotions for existing customers, including VIP rewards.

Most bookmakers offer competitive snooker betting odds across the campaign with a vast array of pre-match markets for every tournament. With the best snooker betting sites, punters can also find lots of in-play markets, high-quality live streaming, and the biggest payouts on all snooker events, including the World Championship, Masters, UK Championship, China Open, and Players Championship. 

How to Play Is Snooker is played Harder Than Pool Barry Hawkins

That means that as a snooker fan and bettor, you can always find a bookmaker that meets all of your unique needs and requirements and provide you with a favorable odds for snooker events.

Snooker Handicap Betting

When a snooker game looks likely to be uncompetitive, or the odds reflect how it'll go, the handicap betting market becomes the best option. The snooker handicap betting market provides a start to underdogs forcing their rivals to give up the frames.

For players looking to increase their bankrolls significantly, snooker handicap offers an interesting way to wager since, essentially, the sportsbooks have already done all the hard work by setting the handicap line. Players only need to decide which side to wager on.

For example, a player can use handicap betting to apply a handicap to a favourite (-2.5 frames) or give the underdog a head-start (+2.5 frames).

This is a perfect way to increase the odds. If an underdog stays within three frames of the opponent or the favourite wins effortlessly by a minimum of three frames, this wager will be successful. The handicap differs based on the players' ability or the competition's format.

how to bet on snooker explained bets online
snooker table vs pool table size comparison

Snooker Correct Score Betting

Also known as correct frame betting, a correct score market can be an exciting one to pick, meaning you can leverage bigger odds, especially when you feel that a player will win by a predetermined score.

A snooker correct score market isn't an easy one to make since it's always challenging to predict the outcome, and it can, in most cases, be that bettors pick several selections to aim for a profitable return.

Given that the snooker correct score betting market can provide snooker odds anywhere between five and fifty for outside wagers, that means it makes more sense to spread bets and back several score lines in the same bet slip.

Even if you reduce your potential winnings and stake to cover several wagers, this approach will still work excellently and offer better value than placing a single wager and losing everything.

Another proven way to place a successful snooker correct score bet is to find scoring trends for players competing in a given match. Be sure to check the scoring trends of all players, taking into consideration their style of playing.

The playing style will allow you to predict a player capable of winning by a huge margin. If you think they're and have proven to do it in the previous games, you can target a vast array of snooker correct scores than when their ability to score is less convincing.

Snooker Frame Scores Bets

The snooker frame scores bet, in most cases, involves maximum break prediction. While it offers huge odds, the maximum break is a fairly rare occurrence since a snooker player needs to play and achieve a perfect frame that includes potting all fifteen red balls with the fifteen black balls to collect 120 points and, finally, potting other coloured balls in the required sequence to gather all 147 points without recording any misses.

Bettors must predict whether a 147 maximum break outcome will occur during the tournament. As players become more technically skillful over time, the probability of this outcome occurring has become greater, and that's reflected in the sportsbook changing odds available. 

what is odds for snooker rules points

As a result, snooker frame score bets are becoming more and more popular. 147s are still obscure, so bettors shouldn't expect them in every snooker game.

To play it safe and enjoy the huge profits that snooker frame scores bets offer, you should back this outcome across the tournament and not in a single game.

Total Points and Maximum Breaks Snooker Betting

Snooker betting experts also like to check the total frames or points market for every game. If a certain snooker game is the best of nine frames, you can place a bet on whether the Over/Under 7.5 frames outcome will occur. That means you need to predict whether the winning outcome will be a 5-2/5-1/5-0 or 5-4/5-3 victory.

Aside from total frames and points, breaks are also a massive part of the snooker game. All top snooker bookmakers have markets on which competitors will score the maximum or highest break in a given game, frame or season.

To increase your chances of winning, you can predict the player who'll score the maximum breaks or the most century breaks, as well as how much of each there'll be across a given tournament.

Dalius Mikalauskas

Sports Betting Expert

Dalius became interested in sports betting at the age of 16, although he could not place bets at that time (bets accepted from the age of 18). However, it was not forbidden to sell betting picks, which is what the author did actively on sports betting forums. Today, he has more than 18 years of experience in sports betting. In school, the auth ..
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