The biggest invitational tournament in the game of snooker gets underway on Sunday when The Masters kicks off at Alexandra Palace in London. 16 of the biggest names in the sport head to London looking to nail the prestigious title and the £200,000 first prize that comes with it.
Ronnie O’Sullivan returns to defend the title he won 12 months ago but there are plenty of star names looking to dethrone him so we’re set for another fantastic tournament.
Recent Winners
2016 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2015 – Shaun Murphy
2014 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2013 – Mark Selby
2012 – Neil Robertson
2011 – Ding Junhui
2010 – Mark Selby
2009 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
2008 – Mark Selby
2007 – Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Format
The 16 men have already been pre-drawn into the tournament bracket and the competition is knockout right from the beginning. Each match in the tournament is the best of 11 frames until the final when the tournament will be decided in a best of 19 frames final. There is just one table in use in this tournament so each match gets top billing.
Top Half
The top half of this draw is a tournament within itself. Ronnie O’Sullivan is in it as the defending champion and the number one seed and he is joined by Neil Robertson, Judd Trump and John Higgins in terms of the top eight players.
Those outside the top eight in this section are no walkovers either. Mark Allen is in there as is the Scottish Open champion Marco Fu. English Open winner Liang Wenbo is in this half of the draw as is Ali Carter.
Bottom Half
World champion Mark Selby is the highest seed in this half. Stuart Bingham is also here as the third seed with the other two top eight seeds in this part of the draw being former champions Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy.
The lower seeds in this half are Joe Perry, former world champion Mark Williams, last year’s runner-up Barry Hawkins and the sole debutant in the field this year in Kyren Wilson.
Betting
I’m giving the top half of the draw a miss from a betting standpoint. There are too many top names in it both in the top eight and the lower eight and coming through that is like a tournament in itself.
The bottom half looks much more open and while Mark Selby will be expected to come through not many in the game have held the world title, UK title and the Masters title at the same time so he might need to defy a bit of history to win this. Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui can’t be ruled out but I like one other.
Stuart Bingham has never shown his full potential in this tournament but he finally won a match in it last year en route to the semi-final where he was beaten by the eventual champion Ronnie O’Sullivan. Life is good for Bingham right now as he became a father again on Saturday and there are countless instances of new fathers landing big titles in sport recently so I wouldn’t rule Bingham out on that.
The Englishman has had a good season so far and looks back to the form which saw him win the World Championship two years ago. With probably the best draw he’s ever had here he is overpriced on current form at 25/1.
Tips
Back S.Bingham to win The Masters (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
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