Betfred World Championship specials predictions & snooker betting tips

Free snooker specials tips, best bets and analysis for the Betfred World Championship, which starts in Sheffield on Saturday.

Where to watch

BBC & Eurosport, from 10am Saturday

Best bets

Highest break 145 or more
1pt 4-6 Betfred

Jamie Jones qualifier to win most frames
1pt 15-2Betfred

Preview

There could well be bigger and better specials to come in this year's Betfred World Championship, but the sponsors' offer of 4-6 about a break of 145 or higher being made looks worth taking.

That mark has been attained in four of the last six years at the Crucible, where John Higgins last year made the first 147 break since Stephen Hendry's maximum in 2012.

With the standard rising rapidly, there should be ample opportunity for seeds and non-seeds to post some big runs and that was certainly the case in the tournament's qualifiers in recent days, when breaks of 143, 142 and a trio of 140s were compiled.

Jamie Jones has been advised as value to win the first quarter of the draw, but punters can also definitely back the Welshman at 15-2 with Betfred to win more frames than any other qualifier.

Openers against Stephen Maguire and Ding Junhui or Stuart Bingham are winnable and the Welsh Warrior has a big opportunity to return at least to the quarter-finals, the round he reached on his Crucible debut in 2012.

The sponsors are also betting on an intriguing match on which of this year's two Crucible debutants Sam Craigie and Mark Joyce wins more frames in the tournament.

Neither player is likely to win his opening clash - Joyce starts out against defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan while Craigie takes on three-time Crucible king Mark Williams - but Betfred rate Craigie an 8-13 shot to win more frames.

Joyce is a 2-1 chance, while it's 8-1 that both players win the same number of frames, which cannot be discounted given that both look likely to have short stays in Sheffield.

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