World Championship qualifiers predictions and snooker betting tips

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for the World Championship qualifiers, which get underway at the English Institute of Sport on Monday.

When to bet by

9.30am Monday

Best bets

Ali Carter to qualify for the main draw
3pts 8-11 Hills

Hossein Vafaei to qualify for the main draw
2pts 5-6 Hills

Zhou Yuelong to qualify for the main draw
1pt 11-8 bet365, Hills

Ben Woollaston to qualify for the main draw
1pt 2-1 bet365, Hills

Betting preview

A field of 128 players will be whittled down to just 16 over the next ten days at the English Institute of Sport in qualifying for this year’s Betfred World Championship.

Those successful will earn themselves a ticket for the Crucible showpiece and the format of qualifying certainly favours higher-ranked players.

The 16 highest-ranked players taking part will need to win just two matches to secure a place in the main draw, while those towards the lower end of the rankings must win as many as four matches.

Some players have more favourable paths than others, and two-time World Championship runner-up Ali Carter should make his Crucible return.

The Captain made back-to-back quarter-finals at the Welsh Open and the Turkish Masters in March and plays either Dylan Emery, Mitchell Mann or Gao Yang in the third round of qualifying.

Carter should successfully pass that test and shouldn’t fear Mathew Stevens or Sam Craigie in a best-of-19 decider for a Crucible berth.

Hossein Vafaei became the first Iranian to win a ranking title at this season’s Snooker Shoot-Out and can continue his rise up the rankings with a first Crucible appearance.

Vafaei has been one of the sport’s big improvers in recent seasons and has shown that he has the game to mix it with the elite.
Two other cueman worth considering to make the main draw are Ben Woollaston and Zhou Yuelong.

Woollaston, who made the last 16 of the UK Championship earlier in the campaign, is far more capable than a world ranking of 45 suggests and on this season’s evidence would be fancied to defeat Martin Gould were they to meet in a best-of-19 decider.

Yuelong is housed in the same section as Stephen Maguire but a third-round meeting with either Andy Hicks or Zhang Anda is easier than the test Maguire may receive from Thailand’s Sunny Akani.

Even so, Maguire has played just five matches in 2022, losing four times, whereas Chinese star Yuelong appears to be hitting form at the opportune moment.

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