International Snooker Championship Betting Guide

While the International Snooker Championship may not have been scheduled on the world tour since 2019, it was widely considered to be the ‘first overseas major’ to be contested by leading players.

The tournament earned this status thanks by offering the same number of ranking points as the UK Championship, while a total prize fund of £802,000 also made it one of the most coveted titles on the tour.

But what else do you need to know about this tournament, and what are its best betting markets? Let’s find out!

The Best International Snooker Championship Betting Sites

Before we delve a little deeper into this snooker tournament and its core wagering markets, we thought we’d introduce the best International Snooker Championship betting sites.

We’ve selected four picks below, based on various factors such as the available welcome offer, the odds and access to in-play wagering. So, let’s get into it!

Best International Snooker Championship Betting Site – BoyleSports

We’ll start with BoyleSports, which is Ireland’s biggest and best-known sportsbook and one that has a huge presence both on and online.

BoyleSports certainly offer access to both highly competitive odds and frequent live streams across a number of disciplines, while providing both ante-post and in-play betting options that optimise your chances of banking a return.

After you’ve registered for a new account at BoyleSports, you can qualify for a free bet worth €20 when you make an initial deposit of €10. This can be deployed freely across a broad selection of International Snooker Championship markets, although your selections must have odds higher than 2.0.

Best International Snooker Championship Free Bet Offer – BetVictor

If your main criteria when choosing an International Snooker Championship sportsbook is a competitive welcome offer, you should look no further than the iconic BetVictor brand.

Currently, the BetVictor welcome offer comprises a free bet, whereby you bet €10 to receive €50, which you can then use on International Snooker Championship betting markets.

The minimum odds requirement is here 2.00, although you should note that all bonus funds will be removed in instances where your account sits idle for 90 days or more.

Best International Snooker Championship In-Play Betting Site – Betway

Like most snooker tournaments, the International Snooker Championship will offer you access to both ante-post and in-play betting markets. The range of real-time betting options is particularly large, whether you want to wager on the winner of the next frame or the colour of the next ball to be potted!

Arguably, Betway offers access to the largest number of in-play betting markets, including even-money wagers like the identity of the player who will land the most 180s during a match or who will complete the highest checkout.

Currently, you can qualify for a free bet up to the value of €30 when you make an initial deposit with Betway. The operator will match any first deposit worth between €10 and €30, creating one or more free bets that can be subsequently used on any International Snooker Championship selection with odds of 1.75 or higher.

Best International Snooker Championship Betting Site for Odds – LeoVegas

Last, but not least, we come to LeoVegas, which is an international outfit that’s known for offering particularly competitive odds - this could be true for the International Snooker Championship too!

As a customer who’s new to LeoVegas, you can qualify for a 100% Profit Booster Bonus up to €400. This means that you can earn 100% extra winnings up to €400 on your first bet with the provider, and that first bet could be on this tournament.

When you combine fruitful odds with an attractive bonus scheme, you can understand why a lot of new players enjoy sports betting with LeoVegas.

International Snooker Championship Betting Odds for 2022

As we’ve already touched on, the International Snooker Championship was last tested in 2019 and before the global outbreak of Covid-19.

At present, we’re unsure when the tournament will return; however, we’ll be sure to update this page regularly and publish the associated odds ahead of the event’s next iteration.

International Snooker Championship Betting Markets

If you do intend to bet on this tournament in the future, it’s crucial that you understand the event’s core betting markets.

We’ve listed three of the best and most popular below, while considering why they’re synonymous with the International Snooker Championship.

Accumulator (or Acca) Betting

Historic iterations of the International Snooker Championship have seen 64 players compete, creating an opening round comprising 32 matches. These match-ups often feature several mismatches, with the top seeds drawn against lower-ranked players in most instances.

This affords you a great chance to engage in accumulator (or ‘acca’) betting, through which you can include between four and 20 selections within a single bet slip. The odds of each selected outcome are then multiplied to create a single, extended price, which translates into a potentially higher return in relation to your stake.

Of course, all of your selections must come in if you’re acca bet is to be successful, which is why you’ll need to be thoughtful when constructing your wager (we’ll have more on this in the next section).

Match Betting

Match betting is also popular during tournaments such as the International Snooker Championship, while this remains one of the simplest and easiest to understand markets available.

Match betting simply requires you to back the winner of individual games, with the elimination of the ‘draw’ as a possible outcome creating an even-money wager that can improve the probability of you placing a successful bet.

Once again, match betting can be particularly rewarding during the first and second rounds, where it’s considerably easier to pick likely winners and minimise the risk of loss.

Handicap Betting

Of course, the challenge with match betting during the formative stages of the International Snooker Championship is that the most likely winners will often feature short or odds-on pricing.

However, you can negate this challenge in some instances simply by placing a handicap bet. For example, if the current world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan is drawn against 2019 qualifier Daniel Wells from Wales during the early rounds, you can apply a virtual, -3.5 frame handicap to the Englishman and seven-time world champion.

As a result, O’Sullivan will have to win by a margin of four frames or more for the best to be successful, but this will increase the odds in your favour without overly compromising your chances of winning.

International Snooker Championship Betting Tips

OK, so you now have an understanding of the most popular betting markets when wagering on the International Snooker Championship.

However, the question that remains is how can you leverage these markets to your advantage? Fortunately, our qualified team of experts have provided some expert tips and answers to help you achieve this aim!

Don’t Include Too Many Selections in Your Acca Bets

While acca betting is best deployed in the International Snooker Championship rounds of 64 or 32, we’d argue that you should limit the number of selections in your wagers to no more than six.

This enables you to construct balanced wagers that minimise risk and optimise your chances of placing a successful bet, while encouraging you to be selective and focus on the players who have the greatest chance of winning.

Don’t be afraid to include relatively short price selections in your acca bet either, as the respective odds will be multiplied together to deliver a viable return on your stake.

Use Match Betting Sparingly

In many wagers, accumulators are used to help increase the profitability of match betting, while the same can also be said for handicap wagering.

If you do engage in straight match betting, we’d recommend that you access this market sparingly, while basing such wagers on both a keen understanding of the sport and the form of the competing players.

Certainly, data should play a key role in informing your individual match bets, including the head-to-head records between competing players and their past performances at the International Snooker Championship and similar tournaments.

Tailor Your Handicap to Suit the Length of the Match

Whenever you create a handicap wager for an International Snooker Championship match, one of the key considerations is the length of the game in question.

For example, the round of 64 matches in the International Snooker Championship are contested as the best of 11 frame encounters. So, if we take the earlier example of O’Sullivan playing Daniel Wells at a handicap of –3.5, the former will have to win by a margin of either 6-0, 6-1 or 6-2 for the wager to be successful.

This bet allows for a number of reasonable outcomes and offers genuine value for money, but such a handicap would be far less effective during shorter match-ups.

Also, you should be very wary when engaging in handicap betting during the latter stages of the tournament. This is because matches tend to be more keenly contested as the tournament progresses, creating much tighter winning margins that offer little room for error.

International Snooker Championship Format

As we’ve already touched on, the International Snooker Championship isn’t yet scheduled for 2022, while it hasn’t been hosted in any form since 2019.

Historically, all players who want to compete have been required to qualify for the tournament, with a total of 128 qualifying matches usually taking place over a four-day period and settled over the best of 11 frames. Typically, participating players will only play one qualifying match each, before progressing to the round of 64 and the tournament proper.

The first four rounds of the tournament (the round of 64, round of 32, round of 16 and quarter-finals) are contested over the best of 11 frames, so the first player to win six frames will progress.

When the semi-finals are contested by the remaining four players, the matches are extended to a maximum of 17 frames. The final is then contested over the best of 19 frames, meaning that the first player to win 10 frames is ultimately victorious.

As for prize money, the 2019 tournament saw the winner (Judd Trump) bank a cheque of £175,000. The remainder of £802,000 prize fund was distributed as follows:

• Runner-Up: £75,000
• Semi- Finalist: £32,000
• Quarter-Finalist: £21,500
• Last 16: £13,500
• Last 32: £8,500
• Last 64: £4,750

There’s also a cash prize of £6,000 for the player who makes the highest break during the tournament, although no additional money is awarded in instances where a maximum is achieved.

The 2022 Tournament Schedule

Remember, no iteration of the International Snooker Championship has yet been confirmed or finalised for the 2022/23 season.

However, we’ll include this formation below once the tournament does return to the tour, featuring the details of the main draw and when individual matches are likely to take place.

International Snooker Championship Top Players

So far, there have been eight iterations of the International Snooker Championship since its debut in 2012, with some of the world’s top players having won the tournament during its relatively brief history.

Below, we’ve listed three of the best International Snooker Championship players and taken a look at just how successful they’ve been during this ranking event.

Mark Selby

Fittingly, we’ll start with former world number one Mark Selby, with the four-time world champions having won two International Snooker Championships. Selby won consecutive titles in 2016 and 2017, seeing off Ding Junhui and a dogged Mark Allen in the process. These are two of 20 ranking titles won in total by the so-called Jester from Leicester, whose consistency, temperament and solid, all-round game have established him as one of the best and most successful players of his generation.

Judd Trump

While Judd Trump endured a challenging 2021/22 season, he remains the world number two and someone who has also won the International Snooker Championships on two separate occasions. In fact, the ‘Juddernaut’ won the inaugural championship in 2012 and the most recent iteration in 2019, while the defending champion has also claimed a total of 23 ranking event titles during his career. Known for his attacking and flamboyant style of play, Trump is also an incredibly popular player who retains a cult following across the globe.

John Higgins

Another four-time World Champion, John Higgins is one of the most successful players of all-time and has always performed well at the International Snooker Championship. In fact, he lifted the title back in 2015, beating David Gilbert 10-5 in a high-quality final in Daqing. Throughout a stellar career, Scotsman Higgins has won 31 ranking titles since turning professional three decades ago, making him the third most successful player of all-time behind compatriot Stephen Hendry and the incomparable Roonie O’Sullivan.

Previous Winners

Since its launch in 2012, there have been eight iterations of the International Snooker Championship.

These tournaments have spawned six unique winners from three different countries, although Chinese star Ding Junhui remains the only player from outside the UK to win the competition. Below, we’ve provided a detailed overview of the finals dating back to 2012, addressing the winners, the runner-up and the result in the final!

Your FAQs Answered

At this stage, all that’s left is to answer some of your most pressing and frequently-asked questions!

Our expert team at BetinIreland has taken the time to address these questions, pertaining to both the International Snooker Championships and the sport as a whole!