Snooker

This cue sport first originated in 1884, devised by none-other than the former British Prime Minister, Sir Neville Chamberlain, as an army officer stationed in India. ‘Snooker’ used to refer to inexperienced personnel in the army, but the name was given to the game which combined the rules of pyramid and black pool. In 1919, the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed, now governed by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA).

Snooker Explained

Snooker is played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth, with pockets at each of the four corners and in the middle of each long side. Using a cue stick and 21 coloured balls, players must strike the white ball (or ‘cue ball’) to pocket the remaining balls in the correct sequence, accumulating points for each pot. An individual game (or frame) is won by the player scoring the most points. A match is won when a player wins a pre-determined number of frames.

Snooker tournaments

The Big Three tournaments are the UK Championship in December and the Masters in January (exclusively for the world’s top 16 players) with the World Snooker Championship the main event. The championship has taken place since 1927, with the ‘modern era’ snooker starting in 1969 and professional players now competing worldwide for millions of rands on the World Snooker Tour. The event involves 17 days of snooker, starting with the best-of-19 frame matches, ending with the final best-of-35 frames.

Alongside these three ranking tournaments are a further eight ranking snooker tournaments in Germany, Wales, Australia and China. Then there are 13 Players Tour Championships worldwide, with ranking points available as players aim to finish as high up as possible.

Snooker betting

• Tournament winner – place a bet before the tournament starts or even during the tournament
• Outright bets – bet on ‘reaching the final, ‘winning quarter’ or ‘highest break’
• Match betting – bet on a particular snooker player to win; or place an accumulator bet for bigger odds
• Frame handicap betting – this is great for snooker betting, especially when it’s going to be a one-sided game

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