Snooker betting explained
Here at SBAT, we pride ourselves on having great sporting knowledge. Here we will explain how Snooker works as well as how Snooker betting works. Snooker is an increasingly popular sport in Asia, although it is now losing some of its appeal in Europe.
Snooker betting has become more popular over the years and is something that some people struggle to get their heads around. Betting has become a lot more advanced in the 21st century as it has come online, giving people more competitive odds a lot faster and easier.
Snooker explained
Snooker is a fairly simple sport, the game is played on a table which is 11 ft eight 1/2 inches by 5 foot 10 inches (360 cm x 178cm), it is made up of a slate-covered by felt. On this they then place 15 snooker balls, these comprise of 15 red balls, one yellow ball, one green ball, one brown ball, one blue ball, one pink ball, one black ball and finally one white ball which is referred to as the cue ball. The snooker players then have a snooker cue which is basically a long straight stick with a tip on the end to hit the balls. The object of the game is to strike the cue ball with the cue and use the cue ball to pot the other table balls in the pockets. The pockets are placed around the table; there are four corner pockets and one either side half way up the length of the table. You can pot the balls in any pocket you wish. The balls on the table all have different values with the red ball being worth 1, yellow ball 2, green ball 3, brown ball 4, blue ball 5, pink ball six and black ball 7. These balls have to be potted in a particular order. You must strike the red balls if it is your first shot in a visit to the table if you then pot a red ball you may then pot a coloured ball of your choosing. If you pot the coloured ball, it is placed back on its spot on the table. You then continue and pot another red ball and keep repeating this process until all the balls are potted, or you miss a pot. Once all the red balls have been potted you must then pot the colours in sequential order according to points. If at any point you foul (by missing the targetted ball or potting the cue ball) bonus points are added to the opposition’s score.
A break is one visit to a table, each player takes it in turns to go to the table, he takes his shot and must pot a ball to continue his visit. If at any point he doesn’t pot then he has to go and sit down and allow his opponent a turn. The maximum if all balls are on a table a player can score in a single visit is 147, to do this a player must pot every red ball and a black ball after each red ball, then go on and pot all the colours. This is known as a 147, and they are rare in professional snooker. Most players will aim to score 100 plus breaks on 2 or 3 occasions in a match.
Once all the balls are potted (or when one player’s score is too high to be reached by his opponent) that “frame” is over. Most snooker matches are played over a set amount of frames (normally an odd amount), this will differ depending on the stage of the tournament and the actual tournament rules. The minimum number of frames is normally 9 and can be as high as 35.
Different types of bets in Snooker
Here we will explain all the different types of Snooker betting you can do. With so many markets it can be hard to know sometimes so let us do all the work for you.
Match winner
Every sport you bet on will have the option to bet on who will win the match or competition. This isn’t any different for Snooker, making that their most common source. You just bet on match-winner and whoever hits the targetted frame mark first is the match-winner.
Total frames
Here you can bet on the total frames in a match; this is a simple over/under market normally. All you do is say whether you think there will be over or under a set amount of frames.
Number of frames in a match
This is betting on the number of frames in a match, you can either bet on the exact number of frames or a group of frames.
Who will win the frame
This is betting on a player to win an individual frame, in-play it is often referred to as the next frame winner.
Handicap
This is where one player will start with a headstart and another on a minus figure according to the bookmaker. This is meant to even out one-sided matches between players often better than their opponent. For example, if one player was -1.5 frames and another + 1.5 and you bet on the player -1.5 frames he would have to win by two clear frames for your bet to win.
Correct score
This is betting on the exact score of the match at the end. The only way this bet wins is if you get it exactly right.
Total frames odd/even
This is betting on whether the total frames will be an odd number or even, for example, seven frames would be odd, ten frames would be even.
To win the first frame
This is betting on who will win the first frame in a match.
Highest break in a match
This is betting on who will have the highest score in one visit (run of scoring without missing) in a match.
Race to frames
This is betting on who will hit a set number of frames, for example betting on which player will reach the seven frame mark first.
Tournament outright winner
This is betting on a player to win a whole tournament at the end.