Tournament | Snooker Welsh Open |
Timetable | Saturday, 26th of February to Sunday, 6th March |
Prediction | Ronnie O'Sullivan to Win |
Odds | 5.00 (Bet €100 and win €500 if Ronnie O'Sullivan wins) |
Bookmaker | betway |
18+ New UK + IRE customers. Paypal and certain deposit types and bet types excluded. Min 5 bet within 14 days of account reg at min odds 1/2 = 4 x 5 free bets. Free bets valid for 7 days on sports, stake not returned, restrictions apply. www.begambleaware.org
18+. Play Safe. New customers using Promo code BB40 only, Min €10/£10 stake, min odds 1/2, free bets paid as 4 x €10/£10, free bets credited after settlement of first qualifying bet, free bets will expire 30 days after the qualifying bet is placed, payment method/player/country restrictions apply. See full Terms & Conditions. gamblingtherapy.org #ad
The 2022 Welsh Open snooker is a ranking snooker event that will be taking place from the 28th of February until the 6th of March. The tournament will be played at the Celtic Manor Resort in Newport, and it is the 31st edition of the competition. The defending champion is Jordan Brown as he beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-8 in the 2021 final. Who will go on to win this prestigious trophy and a cheque for £70,000? Read on and you will find out our Welsh open snooker predictions, tips and betting odds.
Qualifying for the Welsh Open 2022
The qualifying rounds for the 2022 Welsh Open took place from the 15th to the 20th of February in Wolverhampton at the Aldersley Leisure Village. The games that involve the top 16 seeds as well as the two wild card participants are held over, and these will take place at the main venue. Sam Craigie was originally scheduled to be taking place in this tournament, but he had to withdraw and his place was taken by James Cahill.
There were a couple of shocks in the qualifying round, meaning that some players we expected to be playing will not be. For instance, Luca Brecel has been playing pretty well of late, but he underperformed during his qualifying match and lost to Rory McLeod. Fan Zhengyi won the 2022 European Masters by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-9 in the final, but he lost to his compatriot, Cao Yupeng in the qualifiers, so will not be taken part in the 2022 Welsh Open.
Previous Winners
Whenever you are thinking about betting on sporting events, no matter what the sport is, it is always a wise decision to take a look at previous winners of the tournament. If a player has performed well at a particular event in the past, then there is a very good chance that they will do so once again. So, this is why we are now going to look at some of the most successful players in Welsh Open history.
Scotland's John Higgins leads the way when it comes to Welsh Open titles as he has five to his name, having won it in 2000, 2010, 2011, 2015, and 2018. O'Sullivan is just one behind him with four titles to his name, having won it in 2004, 2005, 2014, and 2016. Stephen Hendry sits in third place in the list with three titles under his belt that he won in 1992, 1997, and 2003.
Other players that are currently on the circuit that have won this prestigious title includes the likes of Mark Williams Neil Robertson, who have both won the title on two occasions. Then the likes of Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham, Ding Junhui, Stephen Lee, Stephen Maguire, Mark Selby, Jordan Brown, and Shaun Murphy have all won it once.
Welsh Open Snooker Odds
In the table below, you can see the odds that some of the best bookmakers are offering at the time of writing. There will be a total of 64 players competing in the First Round of the Welsh Open, but a number of these players realistically have no chance of winning predicted by our experience in this field and backed up by the odds against them, which is why we have just provided you with the odds for 15 players. We do not mean to sound harsh when we say that many of the participants have little chance of winning, but it is the truth.
Player | Bet365 | Ladbrokes | William Hill |
---|---|---|---|
Judd Trump | 5.50 | 5.50 | 5.50 |
Neil Robertson | 5.50 | 5.50 | 5.50 |
Ronnie O'Sullivan | 6.00 | 6.50 | 7.00 |
Mark Selby | 7.50 | 10.00 | 9.50 |
John Higgins | 10.00 | 9.00 | 10.00 |
Zhao Xintong | 17.00 | 15.00 | 13.00 |
Mark Allen | 21.00 | 17.00 | 15.00 |
Yan Bingtao | 21.00 | 21.00 | 21.00 |
Kyren Wilson | 23.00 | 21.00 | 21.00 |
Mark Williams | 29.00 | 23.00 | 26.00 |
Barry Hawkins | 29.00 | 29.00 | 29.00 |
Stuart Bingham | 29.00 | 29.00 | 26.00 |
Shaun Murphy | 34.00 | 41.00 | 29.00 |
Ding Junhui | 34.00 | 34.00 | 34.00 |
Anthony McGill | 41.00 | 41.00 | 32.00 |
A Look at the Players That Have a Chance of Winning the 2022 Welsh Open
So, above you saw who the bookmakers have as favourites to go ahead and win the competition, but now we are going to take a look at some of them and provide you with our opinion on who will be lifting the trophy on the 6th of March.
As the final leg of the 2022 Home Nations Series makes its way to Newport for the Welsh Open, John Higgins, the most successful player in the history of this competition, will be hoping that he has a change in luck after final defeats in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and England. But with the games including the top-16 seeds being held over, Higgins might struggle a bit to replicate those heroics with a qualifying match versus Pang Junxu being quite the tricky starting point.
Pang managed to reach the last 16 of the European Masters that just finished, where he beat the talent Neil Robertson, so there could be plenty of value in putting your money on him to advance considering the fact that it is a best of seven format at the start of the tournament.
The draw can actually help players to win competitions, and few players should have it better than Zhao Xintong, who is a rising force in the snooker world - he sits at the top of one 1-year ranking list after having won the German Masters and the UK Championship. Zhao will play Oliver Lines in his opening match, and a victory here would see him enter the first quarter of the draw, which is, in our opinion, the weakest section.
He would go on to face Jak Jones in a last 64 match, and based on the quality that he has shown this year he should not have much to fear from potential opponents such as Ryan Day, Anthony McGill, and Shaun Murphy. There has been nothing lucky about Zhao's rise in the snooker world, and given the fact that he always grows into a tournament, he might be worthy of a punt. We can see him getting to the semi-final, and from then on who knows what will happen next.
The second quarter of the draw looks like one that is best left alone with the likes of Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, and Barry Hawkins battling it out for the right to advance, but there are a couple of tempting each-way alternatives that stick out in the bottom half of the 2022 Welsh Open draw.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was beaten in the final of this competition in 2021 by Jordan Brown and Yan Bingtao will both have their backers, but there is the possibility that they will be overturned by Mark Allen in the third quarter. Allen, also known as The Pistol, won the Northern Ireland open back in October and his recent showings indicate that he is returning to his best form. He made it to the semis of the German Masters and go the luck of the draw in Newport, with his first real test of the event coming in a possible last-16 encounter against Kyren Wilson.
Wilson, who is ranked as number 11 in the world, can beat anyone on his day, and O'Sullivan might be a little bit vulnerable after having had a busy week playing in the European Masters. His odds are pretty tempting to say the least.
Mark Selby is currently ranked as the World Number One, but he is struggling for form at the moment and has been struggling with his mental health, which he has been quite open about. So, this might have an impact on how he plays at this tournament, which might be a good enough reason not to back him to go on and lift the title come the 6th of March. Stuart Bingham is also one of the favourites with the bookmakers, but if we are being honest then we are not entirely sure why as he has been quite out of form as of late.
Jack Lisowski, who has finished as a runner-up at a ranking event six times now, will be hoping that he can claim his maiden ranking title. He is in the same part of the draw as Bingham and Selby, and with the form that both of these players are in, he will be confident that he can go far in the competition. The bookmakers’ odds suggest that he does not have a chance, but even though Mark Williams or John Higgins might be waiting for him in the quarter-finals, we think he has a better chance than what his odds would suggest.
Our Snooker Prediction Winner: Who Would We Put our Money on?
At such an early stage in such a tournament, it is not that easy to predict who will go on and win the trophy and the prize money. There are so many good players that will fancy their chances of winning a ranking event. If you put your money on the likes of Trump, Robertson, or O’Sullivan then you would be giving yourself a good chance of landing a win.
If you are looking for higher odds while still having a pretty decent chance of winning, you should consider putting your hard-earned money on Zhao Xintong or Mark Allen to lift the title. We know that some people love to be risky with their bets and put their money on a rank outsider, and if you happen to be such a bettor, then you should look no further than Lisowski.
So, if we had £20 to stick on an outright winner of the 2022 Welsh Open, who would we put it on? Well, O’Sullivan has been in fine form as of late, and only just missed out on adding yet another ranking title to his name. What better way is there to overcome that disappointment by winning a ranking event such as the Welsh Open a week later? So, our prediction is O’Sullivan to win.