Snooker’s 2025 British Open second round kicks off on Monday, with 64 players from an initial 128 vying to win their share of a bumper £500,000 prize pool. Often dubbed the FA Cup of snooker, as each round is randomly drawn, it’s one of the most chaotic and exciting events on the snooker calendar.
From a betting perspective, it can be packed with value, with upsets and underdogs playing a key role in the storyline. For 2025, there’s no Ronnie O’Sullivan, who withdrew for medical reasons, and his omission reshapes the betting market for the outright winner.
World number one Judd Trump leads the early outright British Open snooker betting markets at a best price of 9/2 with Betfred, but this is a tournament he’s previously flattered to deceive in, failing to get past the quarter-finals since its reincarnation in 2021.
The field is packed with talent, and there’s tons of value to be tapped into as we preview our British Open outright winner tips for 2025.
Our British Open Outright Winner Tips for 2025
We’ve got three cracking picks for the outright winner market at this year's British Open, and we’ve compared the odds from the best snooker betting sites to see who’s best price for each of our picks.
*Odds correct as of 10:15 BST on 22/09/2025. Odds subject to change.
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Mark Selby – 8/1 for Defending Champ to Go B2B
It’s hard to look much further than Mark Selby as our 2025 British Open outright winner pick. He’s the defending champion, having beaten John Higgins 10-5 in the 2024 final, and finished runner-up in 2023, eventually losing to Mark Williams. It’s clearly a tournament he thrives in, and has good form coming into this week, having won the Welsh Open (24th ranking title) and made the semi-final of the English Open a little over a week ago.
There’s something about his style of play that is perfect for this short format. He’s a real grinder, so he doesn’t need many frames to get into top gear. He’s also won 57% of 401 deciding frames in his career, so for best-of-seven events, like the British Open, he has that clutch factor.
The Jester from Leicester is as short as 13/2 with some bookies, so odds of 8/1 with Ladbrokes look an absolute steal.
John Higgins – Veteran Scot the Value at 20/1
Higgins turned 50 this year, but the Scotsman looks as silky as he has at any point over the last 20 years. He’s scored two titles in 2025, winning the World Open and Tour Championship in the previous six months, so he’s in good form coming into this week.
A runner-up finish last season to Mark Selby shows the format suits, but he’s interestingly a two-time winner of the event, albeit back in 2001 and 2004, before the structure changed to its current 128-player knockout. The shorter format will suit Higgins’ tactical control and safety efficiency, which is exactly what’s needed as games can be touch-and-go.
The bookies are all over the place in terms of pricing, with some as short as 14/1. BetMGM’s price of 20/1 is too big to turn down and is our second British Open outright winner pick.
Marco Fu – Long Shot Pick at 80/1
If Higgins and Selby feel a little safe at 8/1 and 20/1 respectively, Marco Fu is your guy for an 80/1 long shot. The veteran potter comes into the tournament in decent form, beating Stephen Maguire in the first round from 0-3 down, with breaks of 140, 81 and 104. He’s also won five from six best-of-seven games this season, so it’s another tick for the format.
Granted, Fu will need a bit of luck with the draw, and he’s got a very winnable second-round tie against Ian Burns. As a former three-time ranking event winner and twice a World Championship semi-finalist, the pedigree is there, and at 80/1, he would be a solid each-way pick, if only to hedge once he progresses.
