In this article we rank all the best Snooker betting sites in the UK and discuss the most popular snooker betting markets and tournaments. Read on to find out more.
Best Betting Sites we Recommend for Snooker Betting
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How is Snooker Played?
Snooker is a table game played between two people. The table is covered in a green baize surface and is specially designed, sized and marked for snooker. To play, players strike the white cue ball using a snooker cue. The aim of the game is to pot balls into pockets for points on a table in order to win a frame. Snooker is played to a best of number of frames.
On the table, each of the coloured balls have a different numerical value. At the start of each snooker frame, there are 15 reds on the table plus one ball of each of the other colours. Players take it in turns to step up to the table and attempt to pot the balls in a red-colour-red-colour-red-colour sequence. If they pot a ball, they get another turn. If they miss, then their opponent comes to the table and starts on red again.
If they pot a red, then they too will shoot for a colour, any colour, and aim to pot it. If they do pot the colour at this point of the frame, it is replaced in its designated spot on the table. Once all of the reds are down (unlike the colours – these do not get put back on the table but instead stay in the pockets), the colours must be potted in the following order: yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, black.
Once one player has assumed a lead that cannot be overtaken, they win that frame. Often, players continue to play on to see how high they can score, but the result remains the same. A break is when a player first breaks up the red balls before spending a period of time potting reds and colours alternatively to achieve a high score. The highest break that a snooker player can make is 147.
On occasions, there will be times where players know that they will be unable to sink a ball, and so their turn will be over after they have taken their shot. In such times, players can choose to set up a tricky play for their opponents who will step up to the table next. This is known as a snooker, and is designed to ensure that the opponent fouls on their turn while looking for a red. If they miss a red and hit a colour, or pot the cue ball, it is a foul, and the first player earns at least 4 points.
Scoring in Snooker
Below are the values of each of the coloured balls.
| Colour | Points |
|---|---|
| Red | 1 |
| Yellow | 2 |
| Green | 3 |
| Brown | 4 |
| Blue | 5 |
| Pink | 6 |
| Black | 7 |
Best Snooker Betting Sites – Reviewed
Snooker Betting #1 – Coral
Coral are the main sponsor of the Snooker Players Championship, World Grand Prix and the Tour Championship, all of which collectively make up the Coral Cup. That’s how seriously Coral take their snooker – they even have a cup named after them! When it comes to betting on snooker, Coral have everything you need, from acca specials to cash outs and live streaming on snooker events throughout the whole year.
Snooker Betting Site #2 – Ladbrokes
Ladbrokes have been in the game a long time, and know exactly what they are doing when it comes to betting on snooker. Making a bet at Ladbrokes will allow you to live stream the match you are betting on, and if things look like they're about to go badly, cash out is always an option. This is a site that is also well known to give out regular free £1 bets as well as daily acca boosts.
Snooker Betting Site #3 – William Hill
William Hill have been specialising in snooker for years now, so you won’t be surprised to learn their snooker menu is as strong as it gets. In fact, William Hill is one bookmaker where you can bet 3way on a snooker match, where a draw can be a bet upon outcome. Of course, you can also bet live in-play, as well as being able to cash out and watch live on the bookie’s own live stream.
Snooker Betting Site #4 – Paddy Power
Paddy Power offer a wide range of in-play snooker betting markets. Live streaming is well covered with the Irish betting giants, and snooker is no exception. Cashing out on potential losing bets is also possible when betting on snooker at Paddy Power, who are also famous for providing Acca Insurance, where you get your money back as a free bet if one leg of your acca lets you down; an offer that doesn’t just apply to snooker but to all sports, except types of horse racing.
Snooker Betting Site #5 – Betfred
Betfred have sponsored snooker’s biggest event – the World Snooker Championships– since 2015, and from 2009 to 2012. Such commitment is testament to their love of the game, as is their snooker betting offering, which includes live streaming of the prestigious event we just mentioned. Betfred don’t skimp on their snooker promotions either, for example with the Betfred cash out options to boot.
Snooker Betting Site – #6 BetVictor
BetVictor sponsor the English, Northern Irish and Scottish Opens as well as the Shoot Out event and the Championship League Snooker. They also put their name on the European Masters, German Masters, Snooker Shoot Out and Gibraltar Open, all of which helped create the BetVictor European Series. So, you can see that when it comes to snooker, BetVictor mean business. This is also apparent when you make a snooker bet with BetVictor with an overwhelming amount of markets to choose from.
Snooker Betting Site #7 – Betfair
Cash out – which started at Betfair – and live streaming are the order of the day for Betfair’s snooker betting coverage. Beyond that, the world’s largest peer-to-peer betting exchange aims to cover every snooker tournament of the year, including each of the matches therein. Providing great odds on players and matches, at Betfair you will find every type of snooker bet you could conceivably want to place.
Snooker Betting Site #8 – Bet365
As you might expect from the world’s largest and longest running online bookmaker, no stone is left unturned in bet365's effort to bring you one of the finest snooker menus in world betting. Its famous cash out and TV live streaming features are both applicable to their snooker markets, which stretch to almost every snooker match per year.
Snooker Betting Site #9 – Unibet
Unibet started out in 1997 in Sweden and have today grown into one of the major players in the game. Their snooker offering is huge too, covering each and every tournament across a season. Players at Unibet won’t miss any of the action by watching and betting on snooker – they can track the live scores during frames with snooker live stream services on most of the big tournaments, thereby enjoying the in-play betting markets with ease.
Free Snooker Betting Tips and Strategies
As with other sports, success in snooker betting is mainly achieved after bettors have assumed a better understanding of the game. Only by dedicating time to research all of the variables that can affect the outcome of a match or tournament can we fully know that we are making an informed bet. As such, understanding player form, injuries, head-to-head results and statistics is key when betting on snooker. Remember, certain players might perform better or worse under specific conditions.
It is also critical that punters have a full grasp on the tournament format, including how many frames it takes to win a match (these usually build in number as the tournament progresses). To that end, investigate the format of the tournament you are looking to bet on. Having this knowledge on hand will not guarantee you making a profit, but it will ensure you have a better chance of doing so. See our list of tournament specific snooker tips below:
- Players Championship
- World Snooker Championship
- Snooker World Grand Prix
- International Championship
- English Open
- UK Championship
- Snooker Masters
- Scottish Open
Most Popular Snooker Betting Markets
Snooker is a great sport to have a wager on, with no shortage of markets to offer. Below, we have listed some of these to give you a better understanding of what you can expect from snooker betting.
Match Win Bet
Backing a player to win a match is basically the most common market in sport. In this bet snooker punters are ultimately betting on who will win the match with only two possible outcomes: win or lose. There are no ties in snooker.
Outright Snooker Tournament Market Betting
Online bookmakers offer snooker outright tournament markets that allow bettors to punt on the outright winner of a major tournament. Outright betting on snooker allows the punter to make a valuable prediction after looking into the potential route to the final of each player, thus working out which player offers the best value.
Frame Win Bet
Snooker matches are broken down into frames, and a Frame Win Bet allows you to punt on who will win each of these frames or how many will be won in total.
Snooker Total Legs Betting
The equivalent of a snooker “total frames” bet, this market means that the punter can wager on the total amount of frames numbering over or under a value set by the bookmaker.
Snooker Frame Handicap Betting
Handicaps occur in betting when one player is favoured over their opponents; this also applies to snooker betting. To curb the bias in skill, bookmakers offer a handicap of frames with the aim of levelling the playing field. At the end of the match, these frames are added to the final score and the winner is the player that wins with these additional frames applied.
147 Bet
This is more of a prop bet, a bit like a nine-darter in darts or a hole in one in golf. A 147 is the highest achievable score from break, i.e. the maximum break. This maximum break is recorded by potting all 15 reds with 15 blacks for 120 points, followed by all six colours for a further 27 points. This is quite rare, but can be backed at value in the market.
Major Professional Snooker Betting Tournaments
There are big-money, professional tournaments that take place throughout the year. Unquestionably, the biggest of these is the World Championship, which takes place annually in April at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
World Snooker Championships
As mentioned above, the Betfred Snooker World Championships takes place each April at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield and sees the best 16 players in the world take on 16 qualifiers. This championship is the leading snooker tournament when it comes to prestige and also prize money.
Dafabet Masters Snooker
The event, sponsored by the online bookmaker Dafabet, features a 18 strong field made up of the top 16 ranked players plus two wild cards. It is a non-ranking event that was first held in 1975, and runs in January each year at London’s Alexandra Palace after the PDC World Darts Championships finishes on New Year’s Day.
Betway UK Snooker Championship
The UK Championship is the second biggest ranking tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is held in November at the York Barbican and is currently sponsored by Betway.
BetVictor Championship League Snooker
Staged at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, the Championship League Snooker takes place annually with 64 players from the World Snooker Tour. The format involves eight groups, each consisting of seven players. Play takes place intermittently to make way for other tourneys over the season.
History of Snooker
Snooker was born from billiards, which is believed to have been played in 1340s France. It is said that Louis XI owned a billiard table in the 1470s. It was future British prime minister Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain who coined the name snooker while playing the game serving in the Army in 1875 at the Officers' Mess at Jubbulpore, today known as Jabalpur, in India. Many games were popular among the men stationed there but it was Chamberlain who added in some coloured balls for the first time, creating the new game in the process. He came up with this while playing a form of billiards known as ‘black pool', which consisted of 15 red balls and one black ball.
At the same time, ‘snookers’ was the term given to rookie cadets (the word ‘cadets' also gave birth to a sporting term still used in golf today) studying at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich. To that end, Chamberlain reasoned that snookers would make a good term for newcomers to his new game, and happily the name stuck. By 1885, British Billiards Champion John Roberts visited India and met with Chamberlain to enquire about snooker and its rules. Impressed, Roberts agreed to introduce the game back home in England where it slowly grew in popularity.
In 1916, the first official snooker competition, the English Amateur Championships, was held, 11 years ahead of the first professional event in 1927 which was won by legend Joe Davis. The competition was the Professional Snooker Championship, which later became the World Snooker Championship, the biggest event in snooker today.
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Snooker Betting FAQs
That depends on the tournament and the round, but mainly, frames can number best of three right up to around 35.
Yes, in an over/under style bet.
After potting a red, yes but otherwise, no – snooker works in order as soon as all of the reds have been cleared.
No – there are only two players, one of which must win while the other will lose.
Yes, you can bet on a player scoring a maximum break.
ThePuntersPage Final Say
As you can see, snooker is a great game with a prestigious heritage and one which sees a number of professional tournaments get underway right across the year. While being dominated by the British over the years, the game is now attracting an increasingly active Asian following that should be challenging the Brits properly in the coming few years as this game expands globally. Of course, with such popularity comes new opportunities to bet – which is another reason we absolutely love snooker.