The opening event of Snooker's Triple Crown begins on Saturday at the York Barbican as the venue plays host to the UK Championship – the eighth ranking event of the 2023-24 season.
The world's top 16 players, and 16 qualifiers, will take part in the main draw beginning on Saturday, November 25, with the final scheduled for Sunday, December 3.
Northern Ireland's Mark Allen is the #1 seed as he looks to defend the title he won 12 months ago. Allen defeated China's Ding Junhui 10-7 in last year's final – avoiding the world's biggest names on route to victory as qualifiers caused havoc throughout the draw.
The likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Mark Williams, Luca Brecel and Stuart Bingham were knocked out by tournament qualifiers in 2022 – so there should be plenty of opportunities for punters to back the underdog this week.
Allen is a 10/1 shot to retain his title, which could be considered an excellent price considering his victory at the Champion of Champions tournament last week. Allen defeated Jimmy White, Ali Carter, John Higgins and Judd Trump in consecutive matches, winning 26 frames and losing just eight in a dominating performance.
He led the tournament with five century breaks and defeated Judd Trump, the current one-year ranking list leader, 10-3 in the final, reeling off a stretch of six consecutive frames during the first session of the final.
Trump, meanwhile, Is the 4/1 favourite in York given that he has won three of the seven ranking events so far this season – the English Open, Wuhan Open and Northern Ireland Open. Trump is a three-time finalist at the UK event but boasts just a single victory back in 2011.
The Englishman has an 82.22% match-win percentage on the Tour in the 23-24 season, winning 64.94% of his frames. Trump is in a tough quarter of the draw, however, with Mark Selby (7/1), Barry Hawkins (16/1) and Jack Lisowski (25/1) all capable of advancing through the top part of the draw.
The third quarter looks equally as daunting with Ronnie O'Sullivan (9/2), John Higgins (12/1) and Neil Robertson (12/1) seeded in the section – three of the top six players in the betting. Higgins and Robertson have failed to reach a tournament final this year, however.
The prodigal talent that is O'Sullivan has entered just four tournaments this campaign, but boasts a match-win percentage of 84.21% and claimed victory at the Shanghai Masters in September. He has, however, been knocked out in two of his past three tournaments by Zhang Anda – a potential semi-final opponent of the 'Rocket'.
Speaking of Anda (40/1), the Chinaman, who took victory at the International Championship on home soil in early November, forms part of a quartet of seeds in the bottom quarter of the draw with Shaun Murphy (14/1), Ali Carter (25/1) and Luca Brecel (14/1)
In addition to success at the International Championship, Anda reached the final of the English Open in October, losing out 9-7 to Judd Trump . A bet on him to reach semi-final could certainly offer some value compared to his opposing seeds in that section of the tournament.
