The 2022 World Snooker Championship gets underway on Saturday at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre and there will be no shortage of drama over the two weeks of action as 32 players chase one prize.

The world’s top 16 are the seeded players and they will be joined by the 16 players that successfully navigated their way through the qualifying process.

Mark Selby is the defending champion after he defeated Shaun Murphy 18-15 to clinch his fourth world title last year, but there are plenty of dangers to the Jester from Leicester.

World Snooker Championship Betting Odds

Neil Robertson is 4/1 favourite to reign supreme in Sheffield following an excellent season that has featured three big titles in the Players Championship, Tour Championship and the Masters.

Judd Trump, champion in Sheffield three years ago, is 9/2 while 2020 winner Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has recently returned to world number one, is a 6/1 chance.

Selby is 9/1? to successfully defend his crown while it is 12/1 about John Higgins claiming a fifth world title.

Kyren Wilson, who was runner-up in 2020 and a semi-finalist last year, is 16/1, while UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong and his Chinese compatriot Yan Bingtao are 22/1.

World Snooker Championship Schedule

Qualifying for the Crucible finishes on Wednesday, 13 April, with the 16 players who advance joining the top 16 seeds in the Sheffield showpiece.

The draw will take place at 11am on Thursday, 14 April and the tournament will run from Saturday, 16 April until Monday, 2 May. 

The opening round is played over a best-of-19 format, whereas the second round and quarter-finals are held over a best-of-25. The semi-finals are best-of-33 and the final, which is held over two days, is best-of-35.

From 16 to 27 April, two matches take place at the same time but the semi-finals and final are played on a one-table format.

World Snooker Championship Prize Money

The champion will take home £500,000 in prize money, while the runner-up will collect a consolation prize of £200,000.

Players beaten in the first round will still earn £20,000, with quarter-finalists winning £50,000 and semi-finalists £100,000.

There is £15,000 up for grabs for the highest televised break and £40,000 if there is a 147 maximum break.

World Snooker Championship Prediction

John Higgins to win - BET NOW

There are reasons to take on each of the big four in the betting and Higgins and Wilson look the two most likely to prosper if the favourites fail to fire.

Defending champion Selby has had a tough year on and off the table, while market leader Robertson has not reached a world final since his sole title triumph in 2010 and has admitted he is no fan of the long-form Crucible slog.

O’Sullivan can lose his focus and 17 days is an awfully long time for the Rocket to stay on track, whereas Trump has been wildly inconsistent this season and may not be playing well enough to claim a second world crown.

Higgins has lost in five finals this season but he has landed in the right section of the draw - Brecel, Lisowski and Robbo are the seeds in his section - and is a master of long format matches at the Crucible.

The Scot is a four-time world champion and he finished runner-up three years in a row from 2017 and 2019. At 12/1, he makes great each-way appeal once more.

Kyren Wilson to win - BET NOW

The other to consider is world number five Wilson, a fine match player who has also shown his aptitude for a gruelling battle.

The Warrior had made at least the quarter-final in each of his last six visits to the Crucible, with him finishing runner-up to O’Sullivan in 2019. He is housed in the same quarter of the draw as Stuart Bingham, Anthony McGill and Trump and looks a solid each-way play at 16/1.

2022 World Snooker Championship Betting Tips

1.John Higgins to win - BET NOW
2.Kyren Wilson to win - BET NOW

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