Arguably one of the most famous snooker tournaments in the world, The Masters, the biggest non-ranking tournament that is on the top of every player’s list, swings back into action this month. The action from the Alexandra Palace gets underway on January 15th and runs through to January 22nd.
This is a relatively small tournament with just the sixteen players competing for the big prize, which is more about prestige and honour and being able to join that Masters winners club than it is about the money. Ronnie O’Sullivan goes back to the tournament as defending champion and is therefore top seed, while World Number One Mark Selby is second seed. The rest of the places in the Snooker Masters 2017 were then filled with the top sixteen in the world.
There is just the one player making his Masters debut this season and that is Kyren Wilson. The winner of the tournament will walk away with a cool £200,000 in prize money. Last season it was Ronnie O’Sullivan who landed the prize money as he smashed Barry Hawkins 10-1 in a bit of a non-contest in the final. That was O’Sullivan’s first tournament back after eight months away from the game and he still destroyed the field. O’Sullivan is 11/8 at Coral to go out and sweep the Ally Pally field again.
Will the Rocket be able to hold on to his title? Last season we also saw arguably the greatest ever Masters match up in the quarter final between Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, with six 100+ breaks in the 11-frame match. For the last decade the winners circle hasn’t been attended by a wide variety of players as seven of the last ten editions have been won by either Mark Selby or Ronnie O’Sullivan. Will the Rocket be able to set a new record of seven Masters titles won during his career? He currently sits level on six titles with Stephen Hendry.
Snooker Masters 2017 Betting Odds
| Player | Betting Odds |
|---|---|
| Ronnie O’Sullivan | 11/4 |
| Mark Selby | 7/2 |
| Judd Trump | 15/2 |
| John Higgins | 8/1 |
| Neil Robertson | 10/1 |
| Ding Junhui | 11/1 |
| Shaun Murphy | 16/1 |
| Stuart Bingham | 25/1 |
| Marco Fu | 28/1 |
| bar | 33/1 |
Snooker Masters 2017 Betting Promotion
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Snooker Masters 2017 Betting Draw
You have to look at the draw of course for some betting planning because if there are big early clashes between two contenders, then you have to put some further consideration in. Obviously the top two seeds, O’Sullivan and Selby are on opposite sides of the draw so they could only meet up in the final. They have met three times before in the final of the Masters and Selby holds a 2-1 head to head lead from those clashes.
Selby has a little bit of an easier route to the final than O’Sullivan does in this one. Selby opens against 15th seed Mark Williams and then would face either Shaun Murphy or last year’s losing finalist Barry Hawkins in the second road. The highest seed that Selby would have to get past on the way to the final is third seed Stuart Bingham, although Ding Junhui remains a dangerous floater in the half.
As for O’Sullivan he could meet up with Neil Robertson in the quarter final sand then have to go through either Judd Trump or John Higgins in the semi finals. The Rocket opens against 12th seed Liang Wenbo. So O’Sullivan could be facing tougher games down the line than what Shelby is going to have to do. It’s a tougher run for O’Sullivan that what it was last year, that’s for sure, despite beating Selby in the quarter finals.
First Round Masters 2017 Draw
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo
Neil Robertson v Ali Carter
Judd Trump v Marco Fu
John Higgins v Mark Allen
Stuart Bingham v Joe Perry
Ding Junhui v Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy v Barry Hawkins
Mark Selby v Mark Williams
Snooker Masters 2017 To Reach Final Betting Odds
Ronnie O’Sullivan 5/4, Mark Selby 7/4, John Higgins 3/1, Judd Trump 3/1, Ding Junhui 9/2, Neil Robertson 5/1, Shaun Murphy 7/1, Stuart Bingham 10/1, Barry Kiwanis 14/1, Mark Allen 14/1, Marco Fu 14/1, 20/1 bar
Snooker Masters 2017 Betting Predictions
It has pretty much been Selby and O’Sullivan dominating this for some time. Only Shaun Murphy in 2015, Neil Robertson in 2012 and Ding Junhui in 2011 have managed to break them up. However, this year we are going to go outside of the box and suggest that there is some massive dark horse value running in Judd Trump at 3/1 with Coral. Well, he’s not exactly a dark horse, but he was in cracking form in last year’s Masters, but that epic quarter final took something out of him and then he went down to Barry Hawkins surprisingly in the semi’s.
He should be back stronger for that experience this year and even though he is lumped in the congested top half, with eyes and pressure on others, he could slide through. Look for Selby to still dominate the bottom half of the draw as there’s no clash with Ronnie O’Sullivan until the final potentially for him this season. This is likely to be a wide open tournament and ultimately it may just boil down to whether or not O’Sullivan is in the mood. But the Rocket is too short of a price in the outright, so look for Trump or Selby to rule.
