The qualifiers are over and with the draw for the 2026 World Championship complete, all eyes are on Sheffield. James Cooper recommends one outright selection.
Snooker betting tips: World Championship
1pt e.w Shaun Murphy to win the World Championship at 20/1 (General 1/2 1,2)
With the first 11 ranking events won by different players this season, the 2026 World Championship was shaping up to be a 5/1-the-field, extremely open renewal.
A spell of brilliance from Mark Selby in late autumn/early winter threatened to propel him to the head of the market while Trump finally snapped a lengthy losing sequence in finals in Berlin to steady a ship that was never really rocking in the first place in truth.
Since then, though, last year’s devastating winner Zhao Xintong has stamped his authority on the campaign in no uncertain fashion, his dominant win in the Players Championship a fourth ranking title this term.
That sustained burst of excellence from Zhao obviously hasn’t gone unnoticed by anyone, he was after all a general 11/2 most of the winter and 9/2 second favourite behind Trump in early spring before usurping the world number one and hardening into 9/4 post-Tour Championship.
The fact that Zhao makes the game appear ridiculously easy is part of his fear factor and it’s true that when he’s on, he has beaten the opposition with plenty to spare (30 of the 38 frames played against Chris Wakelin, John Higgins and Judd Trump respectively).
Yes, it was a high-quality trio he beat but Zhao was 7/2 pre-tournament to win those matches and while it’s undoubtedly true he’s enhanced his claims on the back of that dominant success, I can’t argue a case on my player ratings to suggest he should be this short.
It’s correct to say that Zhao has the wind in his sails and as last season demonstrated, he has the perfect style for this unique physical and mental challenge.
The Crucible Curse has dominated column inches this week and while it's something that has to be considered, that anomaly is more a function of how difficult it is to win this World Championship in successive years, particularly when defending the crown for the first time.
Elliot Slessor (in qualifying) and Peifan Lei were the only two to offer much resistance a year ago to Zhao, who was on something of a redemption arc via the Q Tour. And while beating Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-final and a running-on-fumes Mark Williams in the final easily obviously cannot be held against Zhao, we’ve yet to see him in the cauldron of an 11-11 first-to-13 scenario where raw talent alone may not suffice.
The nub off what I am trying to get at here is that while Zhao is undoubtedly high class, we need to really see what he’s like if and when he comes off the bridle in the most demanding arena we have.
Zhao may well be the second coming in snooker terms but at 9/4, I’m willing to pay to suggest he’s not as far clear of the pack as those odds imply.
Trump still the man to beat in the bottom-half
Judd Trump tops the above table regarding seasonal win percentage and while some of the heavy defeats he’s suffered in finals, most recently to Zhao in Manchester could be damaging psychologically, Trump has clearly not been happy with his cue and or tip in a couple of those, which eases the pain somewhat.
As many will testify, when the apparatus fails, it’s how you bounce back that counts and from a humbling defeat to Mark Selby in the Champion of Champions, Trump dusted himself off and with his old cue, he reached the final of the UK Championship before winning the German Masters.
A case can certainly be made that Zhao and Trump should be closer to each other in the betting, particularly as the bottom-half looks slightly easier, for all Gary Wilson is a tough opening examination for Trump.
Trump has also had his share of issues off the table recently, with current events, brought about by his namesake, forcing him to relocate from his Dubai base.
The limelight shifting from Trump to Zhao in the build up to this may help his cause a little but while I respect his claims enormously, there’s not quite enough juice in the 5/1 for me to recommend him as a bet.
Class of 92's title hopes
With Ronnie O’Sullivan’s appearances fleeting in recent times, John Higgins and Mark Williams have carried the baton in regulations ranking events with distinction.
It’s perhaps lazy to surmise that father time is catching up with the brilliant trio but Higgins and Williams have contested just the one final apiece since their vintage 18-16 showpiece in 2018.
O’Sullivan has added a sixth and modern day record-equalling seventh crowns since then of course but hasn’t reached a final since 2022.
The fire must still burn bright for these born winners; O’Sullivan and Williams are intended runners in the senior equivalent next month while Higgins has entered more than his share of events this season.
O’Sullivan has been a master of his own destiny for some time now and the lopsided £200,000 cheque banked for a runner-up finish in Saudi Arabia Masters certainly helped even further in planning his schedule accordingly.
We all know how good The Rocket is fresh, his 2013 success after a lengthy spell off rams that point home and while he’s 13 years older now, physically, he’s in much better shape than most of his younger competitors.
Whether the belief is really there that one of them can add to their combined 14 titles is impossible to ascertain.
I’d describe Williams as a likeable pessimist but even his interview following his Higgins defeat in Manchester was very dismissive as to his upcoming chances.
A rare foray into the commentary box a fortnight ago Higgins referenced that with advancing age comes the odd inexplicable miss and while his game looks in pretty good shape to me, I do suspect he’ll be vulnerable in a three-session match were it to become a drawn-out affair.
O’Sullivan’s game, as ever, is harder to weigh up but I think his attendance in the John Virgo Trophy over the weekend can be viewed as a positive, particularly as he won the event with plenty to spare.
That isn’t the most credible piece of form on display but it confirms that O’Sullivan’s game is in a pretty good shape and his well-being is now assured.
A potential second-round match against Higgins is a mouthwatering proposition and at 15/2, O’Sullivan is certainly a potential bet (as outlined by colleague Richard Mann in his preview) but I’ve reluctantly omitted him from calculations.
Murphy can weave his magic again
I’d argue that up until Christmas, Mark Selby and SHAUN MURPHY played the best stuff out of everyone and while the latter has been a shade quieter than ideal heading into this since a run to the German Masters Final, he’s drifted as a result to an attractive price.
Having free-rolled his way to glory as a carefree 22-year-old in 2005, Murphy has perhaps surprisingly failed to add to that tally since.
It’s certainly not for the want of trying, with a trio of final defeats since and while no one has a divine right to win multiple (or one, for that matter) World Championships, I am of the opinion Murphy’s game is befitting of a double champion.
Like all of us, Murphy has had his ups and downs off the table and you could argue his slumps in form over the years have been more pronounced than some.
The feeling is though that he’s in a good place at present and as a real snooker aficionado, Murphy will be desperate to get his hands on this trophy again before the current Crucible is tweaked.
I still feel that Murphy is prone to the odd lapse in concentration but mentor Peter Ebdon has unquestionably been good for his game.
The scoring power has never left Murphy but his game management has improved and his spot in the draw suits me, with Fen Zhengyi first up.
The Magician is slight favourite for my money to defeat Xiao Guodong in round two were they to come through their opening fixtures and next up would likely be Zhao Xintong.
The quarter-final stage is still best of 25 frames and the laws of probability tells you that the longer the format, the more chance the favourite has of asserting their superiority.
With that in mind, you have to be more hopeful of Murphy lowering his colours in a first to 13 rather than first to 17 or 18 in the final and were this clash to happen, I would envisage Murphy deploying the odd fist pump and getting the crowd on his side.
A stomping Shaun Murphy is a dangerous beast.
He’s added to his career haul the season and has regularly showcased that his game is in superb order.
With that in mind, he’s my idea of the best bet at the prices.
Other strands
There’s no player I’d like to see lift the trophy more than Ding Junhui but the fact that he’s a three-figure prices on the Betfair Exchange paints a rather sorry picture.
It may have gone unnoticed by some but Ding has played even fewer matches than O’Sullivan this season and that’s also without the Saudi buffer O’Sullivan had to his ranking total.
So blasé has Ding been over his ranking position that he nearly needlessly fell out of the top-16 bracket.
You can draw your own conclusions here and there must be a narrative that Ding has fallen out of love with the game, achieving too much too soon with the weight of a nation weighing heavily on him.
It would be a crying shame were Ding’s name not on the roll-call of winners come the end of his career and there was a tinge of sadness from my perspective when Zhao took the honours as the first Chinese winner instead of him.
As referenced in the Neal Foulds player profile article, I do wonder whether there’s a semblance of a chance that the burden of responsibility will have eased from Ding as a result of last year and he could make a serious run this time as I feel he wouldn’t be a nice second-round opponent for Zhao to face potentially.
Equally, though, David Gilbert is just the sort of opponent Ding could come unstuck against (they haven’t met for a while but Gilbert leads the head-to-head 5-2).
It was great to see both Stan Moody and Liam Pullen qualify for the event proper and the Yorkshire pair certainly won’t lack for support in their opening match.
There’s always been an element of star quality about Moody, who has been well touted from a young age and while life on the main circuit can be a reality check for the up-and-comers, Moody now finds himself hovering around the top 32 bracket and his issues with the yips hopefully firmly under control, an opening match against Kyren Wilson should be an entertaining affair.
Pullen’s opening qualifying match against Alfie Burden was about as good as it gets for that stage of qualifying and he displayed a lot of attributes in coming through that game.
Noppon Saengkham threw everything at him on Tuesday night and that win was another feather in the cap for a player who has cranked his scoring power up several notches this season.
Chris Wakelin wouldn’t be as daunting a proposition as some first-time-up at the Crucible so Pullen could well produce a mini-surprise in that clash but repeating the feat of fellow Yorkshireman Joe Johnson 40 years ago is a stretch.
After much deliberation, I’m sticking with the one arrow this time around, with Shaun Murphy possessing all the attributes requited to join an elite band of multiple World Championship winners.
Posted at 14:55 BST on 16/04/26
More snooker content
- Richard Mann's outright betting preview
- O'Sullivan faces He first up
- Neal Foulds' top 16 World Championship profiles
- Neil Robertson World Championship exclusive
- Nick Metcalfe on 'brilliant news' for snooker fans
- Neal Foulds' hails Zhao Xintong ahead of title defence
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