UK Championship predictions, snooker betting tips & winner odds: Hit the Jackpot

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for the UK Championship, which starts in York on Saturday.

Where to watch

Eurosport 1, from 1pm Saturday

Best bets

Jack Lisowski to win UK Championship
2pts each-way 40-1 Betfred

Mark Williams to win UK Championship
1pt 22-1 Betfair, Paddy Power

Outright preview

In what was a landmark campaign, Zhao Xintong was a quite stunning winner of the UK Championship last season.

But while many of the top young Chinese players are making rapid progress, the nation may not yet be ready to find one of their own to succeed Zhao as champion in York this year.

Zhao, who hit an outright high quote of 400-1 on the way to lifting the Barbican crown last season, fully deserved that triumph. But this year's batch of Chinese market outsiders may not possess the all-round quality in their games to boss their peers in the sport's second most important ranking tournament.

With that in mind, the best policy could be to back a couple of performers whose games are either on the up or still up there with the best and who are good enough to take advantage should other market-leaders fall by the wayside early on.

Humphries's top tip

Jack Lisowski 40-1

It's difficult trying to decide whether to side with Jack Lisowski or his good pal Judd Trump for York this year but the less experienced performer is worth chancing.

Trump may have slightly less to do in earlier rounds and stepped things up nicely in the recent Champion of Champions, when only Ronnie O'Sullivan was his superior, but the fact that the Bristolian has only one UK title to his name is a bit of a concern.

Lisowski is definitely capable of landing a first major title at the Barbican Theatre this year after finding new levels at the Crucible in April.

Should he open positively against promising youngster Xu Si as expected, Lisowski would most likely face a date in round two with four-time world champion and dual UK winner Mark Selby, who has made a positive start to the campaign.

The Jester could obviously be a dangerous opponent, but if Lisowski has carried over the self-belief he displayed in Sheffield outings against baize titans Neil Robertson and John Higgins this year then he should prove a serious threat to Selby and Trump, who Jackpot could run into in the quarter-finals.

Next best bet

Mark Williams 22-1

O'Sullivan will be all the rage in the bottom half of the draw, particularly after his triumph in the Champion of Champions, but it might not pay to dismiss the chances of his fellow Class of 1992 legend Mark Williams.

The 47-year-old Welshman has, quite amazingly, been getting better with age and he arguably played the best snooker at the Crucible this year without winning the title.

Williams remains in awe of O'Sullivan, whom he could meet in the last eight in York, but it might not need much for the Welsh Potting Machine, a dual UK champion, to find that bit extra he needs to defeat the Rocket.

Williams opens with a winnable outing against compatriot Jamie Clarke, and could then have too much for Barry Hawkins or Ding Junhui, who hasn't been at his best in recent campaigns.

Robertson and Higgins face some potentially tough early assignments and Robbo, who is vying for outright favouritism, can just about be opposed in his quest for a fourth UK crown.

Players to note

Lyu Haotian
Should China keep hold of the UK title, Lyu Haotian may be best placed of the country's outsiders to go closest. Lyu has made a positive start to the campaign and looks as if he is hitting new levels of achievement this term.

Jimmy White
Jimmy White's effort in reaching the UK finals was superb and it's just possible that the 60-year-old Whirlwind could carry on the good work at the Barbican. He's in the weaker half of the draw and arguably the weakest quarter, and given the scoring he produced in the qualifiers and that fact that Zhao, Mark Allen and Kyren Wilson may not be the most solid of seeds, his fun run may continue for a while longer.

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