Snooker is a hugely popular sport that takes genuine skill and nerve – to do well on the table, you need a fantastic eye for detail, a head for maths and an unflappable attitude. It’s little wonder, then, that so many people enjoy watching and betting on some of snooker’s biggest events!
If you’re just getting into snooker and are interested in knowing more about how the game works and what’s involved with betting and odds (including live bets), you’re in the right place.
In this guide, I’ll take you through everything you need to know about snooker betting, and I’ll introduce you to perhaps the biggest event in the sport’s calendar – the World Snooker Championship.
Basics of snooker
The main aim in snooker is to make as many points as possible by potting coloured balls around a table that has six pockets spread around four corners and two sides.
Using the white cue ball, players pot balls in a specific order to score as much as possible within a frame, which is the technical term for a single game of snooker.
There are 15 red balls arranged in a triangle at the head of a snooker table, with the cue ball positioned at the other end. Other coloured balls have specific spots on the table, and are returned to these spaces through much of the game.
To start, players must pot red balls into any of the table’s six pockets. When you pot your first red ball, you can then pot another colour – but that coloured ball is placed back on the table until all the reds are potted. The red balls stay potted – and, once they’re cleared, you need to pot coloured balls in this order:
- Yellow
- Green
- Brown
- Blue
- Pink
- Black
At this stage, all the coloured balls stay potted, and the frame ends when there’s nothing left on the table.
Play switches between each of the two players at the table when one misses a shot. For example, if player one misses a red, player two can then take up that play. Each continuous turn is called a break, and if a player is able to keep potting balls in a single break without missing, they will score a maximum of 147 points. This is commonly known as the 147 in snooker circles.
Here’s how many points you’ll get for each ball potted, based on colour, in snooker:
| Colour | Points |
| Red | 1 |
| Yellow | 2 |
| Green | 3 |
| Brown | 4 |
| Blue | 5 |
| Pink | 6 |
| Black | 7 |
Therefore, to stand a chance of winning a 147, a player might pot a red, then black, then red, then black, until all the reds are cleared.
It’s possible to forfeit points to the other player in snooker if you commit a foul. For example, potting the white cue ball will cause you to lose your turn and give points over to your opponent.
As mentioned, a frame ends either when all the balls are potted, or when it’s determined that a player can’t mathematically beat the other with the combinations left on the table.
The number of frames you need to win in any snooker match will vary, and these can differ depending on tournament rounds. For example, you might need to win six out of 11 frames early on in some tournaments, with later rounds expecting you to win eight out of 15.
As you can see, there’s quite a bit of mental arithmetic that players go through at the snooker table – and, the later the tournament round, the more intense play can get. That’s why snooker betting is so popular with our customers!
Types of snooker bets
It’s easy to assume that you can only bet on who wins a snooker match – and while outright bets are certainly some of the most popular, there are plenty of other types of wager you can make to diversify your slip. These include correct score bets, handicap bets, frame bets, highest breaks and odd/even frames.
Here’s a handy breakdown of each of the main types of snooker bets, and how they work in practice:
| Bet type | What is it? |
| Match Winner | A straight bet on who you think will win a snooker match. For example, in a game of 11 frames, you bet on which player you think will win six first. |
| Correct Score | A tricky bet where you predict what the correct score between players will be in a snooker match. Odds on this bet tend to be very long because it’s extremely precise – and it gets more difficult to predict the longer a match goes on. |
| Handicap | A bet where players start with a lower or higher starting score, reflected by whether or not they are the favourite to win the match. For instance, a player with a higher handicap score will need to win a specific amount more than the other for the bet to convert. |
| Frame | A bet where you predict who will win the next frame in match play. This can be a popular bet during in-play (live) sessions, because bettors may believe that one player has an edge over the other. This is a difficult bet to convert when wagering far in advance, and isn’t recommended as a futures choice. |
| Total Frames (Over/Under) | An over/under bet where you decide whether or not the total number of frames suggested by a bookmaker will be exceeded. For example, if a bookmaker sets a total frames figure of nine, you might bet ‘under’ and win the wager if only six are played. |
| Outright Winner (Tournament) | A bet similar to match winner – except this applies to the entirety of a championship or tournament. This bet can be difficult to get right unless you carefully study form and watch snooker frequently. |
| Highest Break | A bet where you decide which of the two players in a match will score the highest break. You can also bet on the highest break for the whole of a tournament. For example, you might decide that Judd Trump will score the highest break across all matches, regardless of where he ends up in the knockout. |
| Total Centuries/Half-Centuries | A bet where you decide how frequently players will make breaks of 100+, or 50+, respectively, in a match. This can be a tricky bet to get right. |
| 147 Break | A bet where you decide whether a 147 break is going to happen in a match, and/or who scores it. 147 breaks are rare but not impossible – especially in major tournaments, where the best players in the world take to the stage. |
| Odd/Even Frames | A bet where you choose whether or not the total frames played in a match are odd or even. In an 11-frame game, you’re more likely to convert on an odd pick. |
Snooker betting odds
The way that snooker odds are written can vary depending on the bookmaker you play with, and the settings you choose via your account. Here’s a quick overview of the different types of snooker odds you’ll find when betting online:
- Decimal odds represent who is most likely to win a snooker match based on a number followed by a decimal point. So, if one player has odds of 2.50 to win, and their opponent has odds of 1.25, the latter is the favourite. To work out your return, simply multiply your bet amount by the odds – so, if you bet €10 on the 2.50 outsider, you would get €25 back if you win.
- Fractional odds are more commonly used across Ireland, and they represent two numbers that are split by a slash or a hyphen. So, the odds of a player winning a match might be 5/1. Essentially, your bet amount is the number on the right, and your potential win amount is on the left. So, in this case, you need to bet €1 to win €5, if your bet converts.
- Moneyline odds are typically used in the US, and are represented with numbers following either a plus or minus symbol. These numbers are based on the idea of making or wagering €100 through any given bet. So, for an outside bet on a snooker match, you might see moneyline odds of -250. This means that you need to bet €250 to get €100 back in profit. With plus odds – let’s say +300 – you can expect a profit of €300 when you bet €100.
- Implied probability odds are percentage figures that suggest who is most likely to win a snooker match – for example, based on a moneyline equation. For instance, if a player has moneyline odds of +150, you would add 100 to 150, divide 100 by the figure, and then multiply it by 100 again to get a percentage – in this case, it’s 40%. With a minus moneyline, add 100 to 150, then divide 150 by the figure, then multiply by 100 to get 60%.
World Snooker Championship
The most prestigious of all the snooker tournaments in the calendar is, of course, the World Snooker Championship (WSC). It’s here where the sport’s most talented players come together to face off – and it has been an annual fixture since 1927, making it almost a century old.
Over the past two decades, the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, John Higgins and Mark Williams have all broken through to become world champion. Judd Trump, who is currently world snooker number one, has interestingly only won the WSC once so far, back in 2019. However, it’s world number two – Kyren Wilson – who people will want to look out for, as he won his maiden WSC last year.
We’re already racking up the World Snooker Championship odds for 2025 here at Tonybet – and at the time of writing, we’ve got Trump and Selby leading the pack, with Wilson, Higgins and Neil Robertson not too far behind. For a real outside bet, brave punters might want to get behind Matthew Selt, Ryan Day or Fan Zhengyi.
Regardless, if you’re keen to get into the WSC betting scene this coming May, use this guide as a springboard to boost your understanding of the sport! And, don’t forget that odds can and will change as the tournament gets closer and as it progresses. Stick with Tonybet for competitive odds and the latest market changes.
