World Snooker Tour 2022/23 Mid-Season Update – Allen & O’Sullivan Shine

We are now at around the midway point of the 2022/23 World Snooker Tour, the highest level of professional snooker and it has been a very interesting six months or so of tournament play which has seen a number of interesting winners of some of the key events.

Those results have also affected the World Rankings, and that is important with the forthcoming World Snooker Championship set to take place from the 15^th April through to the 1^st May.

Only the top 16 ranked players in the world will qualify automatically for the tournament, which is traditionally the final ranking tournament of the year.

The remaining players outside the top 16 will then have to play through a series of qualifiers from which only 16 other players will make it through to the first round.

Before that though, there are a significant number of ranking events on the World Snooker Tour where players can earn points and propel themselves into that top 16, and of course you can find extensive betting on these tournaments with bet365 Sport.

That also includes in play betting when the games are taking place, as well as plentiful outright markets and pre-match betting too.

So let’s begin with a quick look at the tournaments already played on the World Snooker Tour this season, as well as which players reached the final and who eventually won the tournament.

World Snooker Tour 2022/23 – Schedule & Results

The World Snooker Tour comprises of a number of ranking events, for which players can earn rankings points that affect their WPSBA ranking, and non-ranking events for which no ranking points are available to win.

Ranking Tournaments Already Played

• 28^th Jun – 29^th Jul – Champions League (Leicester) – Luca Brecel 3-1 Lu Ning
• 16^th – 21^st Aug – European Masters (Furth) – Kyren Wilson 9-3 Barry Hawkins
• 26^th Sep to 2^nd Oct – British Open (Milton Keynes) – Ryan Day 10-7 Mark Allen
• 16^th – 23^rd Oct – Northern Ireland Open (Belfast) – Mark Allen 9-4 Zhou Yuelong
• 12^th – 20^th Nov – UK Championship (York) – Mark Allen 10-7 Ding Junhui
• 28^th Nov – 4^th Dec – Scottish Open (Edinburgh) – Gary Wilson 9-2 Joe O’Connor
• 12^th – 18^th Dec – English Open (Brentwood) – Mark Selby 9-6 Luca Brecel

Non-Ranking Tournaments Already Played

• 24^th – 25^th Sept – World Mixed Doubles (Milton Keynes) – Robertson & Nuncharut 4-2 Selby & Kenna
• 6^th – 9^th Oct – Hong Kong Masters (Hong Kong) – Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 Marco Fu
• 31^st Oct – 6^th Nov – Champion of Champions (Bolton) – Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-6 Judd Trump
• 8^th – 15^th Jan – The Masters (London) – Judd Trump 10-8 Mark Williams

Ranking Tournaments To Be Played or Concluded

Ronnie O’Sullivan 1️⃣-0️⃣ Barry Hawkins

Century for the Rocket! 🚀

Brilliant from our man as he starts off his defence of his World Grand Prix title with a century break of 108!#WorldGrandPrix pic.twitter.com/2fGA16aQrZ

— Ronnie O'Sullivan Tracker (@RonnieTracker) January 17, 2023

• 16^th – 22^nd Jan – World Grand Prix (Cheltenham) – Currently in progress
• 25^th – 28^th Jan – Shoot Out (Leicester)
• 1^st – 5^th Feb – German Masters (Berlin)
• 13^th – 19^th Feb – Welsh Open (Llandudno)
• 20^th – 26^th Feb – Players Championship (Wolverhampton)
• 13^th – 19^th Mar – Turkish Masters (Antalya)
• 27^th Mar – 2^nd Apr – Tour Championship (Hull)
• 15^th Apr – 1^st May – World Championship (Sheffield)

Non-Ranking Tournaments To Be Played Or Concluded

• 19^th Dec – 2^nd Mar – Champions League Invitational (Leicester)
• 6^th – 11^th Mar – Six-red World Championship (Bangkok)

Big hello to all my snooker fans in Thailand, I am delighted to be coming in March for the 6 Red World Championship in Pathumthani for the first time!!

— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) January 13, 2023

As you can see Mark Allen has won two rankings events this year and reached the final of a third, which has seen him rocket up the rankings over the past six months. No other player has won more than one ranking tournament event, although Ronnie O’Sullivan has won two non-ranking events.

How have these results affected the top 16 rankings since the start of the 2022/23 season?

In the list below we have shown you the current list, together with any positional changes within the top 16.

Key: = same position as start of season, +x Moved up rankings x places, -y – moved down rankings y places.

World Snooker Rankings 2022/23

1. Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) =
2. Mark Selby (Eng) +1
3. Neil Robertson (Aus) +1
4. Judd Trump (Eng) -2
5. Mark Allen (N.Ire)
6. John Higgins (Sco)
7. Mark Williams (Wal) +1
8. Kyren Wilson (Eng) -1
9. Zhao Xintong (Chn)
10. Luca Brecel (Bel) +1
11. Shaun Murphy (Eng) +1
12. Jack Lisowski (Eng) -2
13. Barry Hawkins (Eng) =
14. Stuart Bingham (Eng) =
15. Ryan Day (Wal) =
16. Yan Bingtao (Chn) =

Is Anyone Close To Breaking Into The Top 16?

At the moment there is a points difference of 21,000 between 16^th ranked Yan Bingtao and 17^th ranked Gary Wilson, however, with a number of tournaments still to play and the World Grand Prix taking place right at this moment, these rankings could change.

Does The World Championship Use These Rankings For Their Seeding System?

Partly, but the World Championship seeding system is based on the final nine ranking events of the season, which is from the Scottish Open onwards. That means just two of the nine ranking events have been played, with the third currently ongoing.

Removing the early ranking events does change things when it comes to those players ranked in the top 16 for the World Championship to the following:

Please note that as defending Champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan will be the number 1 seed regardless of where he stands in terms of points won over the nine events.

Provisional World Championship Seedings

1. Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng)
2. Mark Selby (Eng)
3. Mark Allen (N.Ire)
4. Judd Trump (Eng)
5. Neil Robertson (Aus)
6. Zhao Xintong (Chn)
7. Mark Williams (Wal)
8. Kyren Wilson (Eng)
9. Luca Brecel (Bel)
10. John Higgins (Sco)
11. Shaun Murphy (Eng)
12. Stuart Bingham (Eng)
13. Jack Lisowski (Eng)
14. Yan Bingtao (Chn)
15. Gary Wilson (Eng)
16. Barry Hawkins (Eng)

However, with hundreds of thousands of ranking points up for grabs over the remaining tournaments, these provisional rankings for the World Championship in April and May will no doubt change over time, especially for players ranked anywhere from 8^th downwards.

And with two players in the top 16 charged with fixing matches (Zhao Xintong and Yan Bingtao) those players face being banned from tournaments.

The 2 players i thought would never commit an offence
Yan Bingtao is charged with
Fixing Matches on The World Snooker Tour and betting on Snooker
Zhao Xintong is charged with
Being concerned in fixing matches on The World Snooker Tour and betting on Snooker
Im in shock#Snooker pic.twitter.com/iXJDZUuezZ

— Phil Mudd (@MuddPhil) January 18, 2023

Current World Grand Prix Odds

Masters champion Judd Trump faces Hossein Vafaei in Cheltenham.

We're Live Streaming every frame from the World Grand Prix.

Customers must have a funded Sports account or have placed a bet within the last 24 hours.

— bet365 (@bet365) January 17, 2023

The World Grand Prix is currently in action with matches being shown live on ITV and Eurosport and live streaming available in some regions at bet365 Sport.

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the 11/4 favourite with bet365 Sport to win this event, with Judd Trump 7/2 and in form Mark Allen 7/1.

Kyren Wilson is 9/1, Jack Lisowski 10/1 and Mark Williams and Ding Junhui both 11/1 shots.

Current World Championship Odds

If you fancy an early bet on the World Championships then Ronnie O’Sullivan is the 4/1 favourite to win for a second successive year. Judd Trump is 9/2, with Neil Robertson at 5/1, Mark Selby 7/1, Mark Allen 12/1 and Mark Williams 16/1.

So if snooker is your game, then why not put your judgement to the test and see if you can back a winner at any of the forthcoming major events in the calendar over the next four months or so.