World Snooker Championship Tips, Preview & Draw 2026
After a week of qualifying chaos, the stage is now set for the 2026 edition of the World Snooker Championship.
Snooker’s premier tournament returns to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield for the 50th consecutive year, pitting 32 of the best names in the sport against each other for a shot at glory over a fortnight of action.
To keep up to date with it all, here's the Free Bets Snooker World Championship preview.
World Snooker Championship Tips & Betting Preview
Zhao Xintong is the man with a target on his back this year in Sheffield.
The 29-year-old Chinese player won his maiden title at the Crucible last May and returns as the defending champion, and has been handed a tricky opening tie against England’s Liam Highfield.
Elsewhere down the draw we have a selection of usual suspects looking to add to their tallies of World Championship wins.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Mark Williams and John Higgins bring 18 combined titles to the baize in Sheffield, but will all be wary of the improvements made across the tour from the Chinese players.
World number one Judd Trump is another man that has arguably underperformed at the World Championship.
The 31-time ranking tournament winner only has one world title to his name (2019) and has since only reached one more final, losing to Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2022 final.
Let’s take a closer look at this year’s draw and format:
World Snooker Championship Draw
(1) Zhao Xintong v Liam Highfield
(16) Ding Junhui v David Gilbe
(9) Xiao Guodong v Zhou Yuelo
(8) Shaun Murphy v Fan Zhengyi
(5) John Higgins v Ali Carter
(12) Ronnie O'Sullivan v He Guoqia
(13) Chris Wakelin v Liam Pullen
(4) Neil Robertson v Pang Junxu
(3) Kyren Wilson v Stan Moody
(14) Mark Allen v Zhang Anda
(11) Barry Hawkins v Matthew Stevens
(6) Mark Williams v Antoni Kowalski
(7) Mark Selby v Jak Jones
(10) Wu Yize v Lei Peifan
(15) Si Jiahui v Hossein Vafaei
(2) Judd Trump v Gary Wilson
Tournament Format
- 1st Round: Best of 19 frames
- 2nd Round: Best of 25 frames
- Quarter-finals: Best of 25 frames
- Semi-finals: Best of 33 frames
- Final: Best of 35 frames
World Snooker Championship Tips
Here's my four betting tips for the tournament outright.
Zhao Xintong to win the 2026 World Snooker Championship at 2/1 with bet365
Snooker just seems to come so easy to the Chinese youngster Zhao Xintong.
Since winning his maiden World Championship title last year, the 29-year-old has struggled on the main tour failing to get out of second gear, but he appears to be peaking at the right moment.
Xintong has won three of the last five ranking tournaments at the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship, setting him up beautifully for a decent crack at retaining his crown and breaking the ‘Crucible Curse’.
Xintong opens his campaign in Sheffield against Liam Highfield and could well be on a collision course with Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semi-finals if the seven-time Crucible king is able to navigate the early rounds.
With the likes of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson and Mark Selby sat in the bottom half of the draw, there is a strong case for Xintong to glide to back-to-back finals in Sheffield and be within punching distance of retaining his crown.
Judd Trump to win his Quarter at 11/8 with bet365
There is no doubt that a player as good as Judd Trump should have bagged more than one World Championship title across his career.
The “Ace in the Pack” is joined by the likes of Mark Selby, Wu Yize and Jak Jones in the 4th Quarter, but he has shown enough in recent weeks to suggest he is on for one of his more successful Crucible campaigns this year.
Trump has made semi-final, semi-final and final in his last three ranking tournament outings, and has had a recent taste of success after bagging the German Masters at the start of February.
His campaign starts uphill against the talented and dangerous Gary Wilson, but the 36-year-old has bucket-loads of experience now and should be able to notch up his seventh semi-final outing at the Crucible in a fortnight’s time.
John Higgins to win his Quarter at 9/2 with bet365
John Higgins has shown more than enough this season to suggest he has yet another World Championship run in him.
The 50-year-old is a four-time winner and four-time runner-up at the Crucible, and after running well at the Players Championship, Welsh Open and Tour Championship in recent weeks, you’d be a fool to write off the “Wizard of Wishaw”.
Three quarter-final exits in a row at the Worlds would have whet the whistle of Higgins as he returns for a 32nd shot at glory in Sheffield, and he’ll be relishing the opportunity of battling it out with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson to win the 2nd Quarter.
The fifth seed opens his campaign up against Ali Carter — a man he has bested 23 times in 38 meetings — and will be favoured in the long, gruelling format that saw him dominate the sport two decades ago.
A 147 break to be made in the tournament at 10/11 with Paddy Power
We’ve had a record number of maximums throughout the 2025-26 season — 24 at the time of writing! — and the pattern of play suggests we’ll get another one at this year’s World Championship.
We’ve seen eight 147 breaks across the last four editions of the World Championship, with Graeme Dott, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Kyren Wilson, Noppon Saengkham, Mark Allen and Jackson Page all recording a maximum (or two!) so the data suggests we are on for another across the next fortnight.
