🎱 Champion of Champions Snooker, Betting Guide, Stats and Analysis

Champion of Champions 2023: Draw and Results

Mark Allen bounced back to his best form after a slow start to the season to beat Judd Trump 10-3 in the Final of the Champion of Champions 2023.

Final - Best of nineteen frames

Judd Trump 3 Mark Allen 10

Semi-Finals

Judd Trump 6 v Barry Hawkins 3

Mark Allen 6 John Higgins 2

Monday 13th November: Group Four - Group Semi-FInals Best of seven frames 

Mark Allen 4 Jimmy White 1

Mark Selby 3 Ali Carter 4

Group Final - Best of eleven frames 

Mark Allen 6 Ali Carter 2

Mark Allen is the first player through to the semi-finals overcoming Ali Carter in a high-qulity match that saw three century breaks and the highest break of the tournament so far, a 143 from Carter.

Tuesday 14th November: Group Two - Group Semi-FInals Best of seven frames 1pm UK time

Luca Brecel 0 Barry Hawkins 4

Mark Williams 2 Robert Milkins 4

Group Final - Best of eleven frames 

Barry Hawkins 6 Robert Milkins 2

Wednesday 15th November - Group One - Group Semi-FInals Best of seven frames 1pm UK time

Ding Junhui 4 Zhang Anda 3 (Ding replaced Ronnie O'Sullivan who withdrew from the event)

John Higgins 4 Chris Wakelin 0

Group Final - Best of eleven frames

John Higgins 6 Ding Junhui 1

Thursday 16th November - Group Three - Group Semi-FInals Best of seven frames 

Judd Trump 4 Baipat Siripaporn 0

Shaun Murphy 4 Gary Wilson 1

Group Final - Best of eleven frames 

Judd Trump 6 Shaun Murphy 4

Champion of Champions - Previous Winners

Ronnie O'Sullivan has played in the Champions of Champions eight times and has made the final on six of those eight appearances, winning the title four times. 

Are our expert snooker tipsters at OLBG tipping another victory for O'Sullivan? Why not check out all the latest snooker tips on OLBG.

Champions of Champions 2023 Preview

*Ronnie O'Sullivan has withdrawn from the Champions of Champions. Ding Junhui will replace O'Sullivan and will play Zhang Anda in the first round*

The line-up for the 2023 Champions of Champions was finally completed when Zhang Anda overcame Tom Ford 10-6 to win the International Championship in Tianjin.

Zhang will not have much time to travel from China to make it to Bolton to play his first round match on Wednesday against Ding Junhui, who has replaced Ronnie O'Sullivan who withdrew due to mental health problems .

Despite being a professional since 2009, Zhang Anda is a new force in World Snooker after making the Final of the English Open this season as well as taking the International Championship. He also made a 147 in the Final in China so he will be a difficult opponent for anyone this week in Bolton.

Zhang is one of four debutants in this year’s Champion of Champions - the others being Gary Wilson, Chris Wakelin and Baipat Siripaporn.

Favourite for this year’s event is Judd Trump who has been on an amazing run of form, completing twenty-two consecutive victories and the three titles in succession when winning the English Open, the Wuhan Open and the Northern Ireland Open. Stephen Maguire finally brought Trump's winning run to an end when winning 6-3 in the third round of the International Championship. That defeat by Maguire has given Trump a few day’s much needed rest but the bookies are taking no chances offering him at odds of around just 5/2 to take his second Champion of Champions title after victory in 2021. Trump appears to have a decent draw but those odds look very skinny given the quality of the field.

Mark Selby is next in most bookies’ lists but he doesn’t have a great record in this event, failing to record a title in ten attempts. Selby has made one final and two other semi-finals so far this season so could step up and finally win this event but odds of around 7/1 look only fair.

John Higgins makes no appeal at 10/1 given it is nearly three years since his last major title.

Mark Allen is also 10/1 to win his second Champion of Champions (winner in 2020) but Allen’s form this season has been way short of last year's heroics and he needs to show he is back to his best before being a serious betting proposition. Similar comments apply to Shaun Murphy who has really struggled this season and makes no appeal at around 14/1. 

Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins have both won an event this season but Williams has been having some recent eye problems and has only made two previous appearances in this event, losing in the first round both times. Hawkins has made this event five times but has lost in the first round on four occasions so 14/1 about him does not look overly generous either, especially given Hawkins went over five years without a ranking event win till this season's victory in the European Masters.

Ali Carter has made four previous appearances in this event and has won one match. Carter is playing very consistently this season and made the Final of the Wuhan Open but has a tough group to navigate from including Mark Allen and Mark Selby. 

Zhang Anda is a general 25/1 shot but that looks like an overreaction on the part of the bookies. Media interest will be at all time high in the thirty-one-year-old player and he has had an impromptu, gruelling amount of travel from China to incorporate into his preparation for his debut in this event. Throw in opening matches against O’Sullivan and possibly Higgins, then that price doesn’t overly appeal.

Ding Junhui was an eleventh hour replacement for the absent O'Sullivan and only finding out you are playing in a tournament the day before you are due to play and then having to fly over from China can hardly be seen as the ideal preperation. On the other hand, perhaps you could see it as an unexpected opportunity? Hard to know how Ding will perform in an event where he has twice made the semi-final in seven appearances but he faces a tough first round match with the probably similarly jet-lagged Zhang Anda. Given their late entry in the competition and O'Sullivan's withdrawal, this probably gives John Higgins or Chris Wakelin a much improved chance to make it into the semi-final.

Robert Milkins has been in poor recent form and it is difficult to see any of Chris Wakelin, Jimmy White or Baipat Siripaporn even making it out of their respective groups.

Gary Wilson is interesting at 80/1 and whilst no player has won this event on their debut that price looks about twice what it should be. Wilson’s results have not been amazing this year but he has generally only been beaten by the very top players and he tends to prefer the longer format matches. He kicks off against Shaun Murphy which looks a very winnable opener given Murphy’s personal problems, poor form and the undoubted likelihood that the media are going to focus on his continuing social media spat with Ronnie O’Sullivan. If Wilson gets past Murphy he would almost certainly have to face Judd Trump but he has beaten Trump before and gave Trump a very thorough test when they played in the 2019 World Championship Semi-Final. Wilson looks worth a small each-way bet at inflated odds.

The main selection though has to be Luca Brecel. The World Champion is in a group with Barry Hawkins, Mark Williams and Robert Milkins, which looks a very favourable draw. Brecel is not a fan of short-format matches so his initial best of seven match against Hawkins could be the toughest hurdle to overcome from that group. The Belgium player has become a consistent winner, having won three titles in three years and losing in two other finals, including in this season’s Shanghai Masters where he lost out 11-9 to O’Sullivan. The issue is that Brecel has stated he feels he doesn’t need to practise too much but he looked very rusty when going out in the second round of the International Championship 6-3 to veteran Mark Davis. Hopefully, that defeat will have inspired Brecel to go back to the practice table and find the high quality form that saw him sweep to last year’s World Title. Given his recent tournament winning record, 16/1 looks a very big price in this small field event.

Selections:

Luca Brecel 16/1

Gary Wilson EW 80/1

Champion of Champions 2023 qualification

The Champions of Champions 2023 will take place from Monday 13th November until Sunday 19th November 2023 at the University of Bolton Stadium.

Below is the line-up for 2023 and how they have qualified. Such is the competitiveness of snooker at the moment that nine of the sixteen players are different to last year. Ronnie O'Sullivan withdrew from the event on 14th November.

Champions of Champions - Tournament format

The Champion of Champions is always played as a sixteen player event with winners of recent tournaments qualifying to compete. 

If there are less than sixteen individual winners from the previous season the event is topped up using the current World Rankings.

The first round matches are always played over seven frames.

The Quarter Finals and Semi Finals are played over eleven frames.

The Final is played over nineteen frames.

Not sure which player to back for the Champion of Champions? Check out OLBG's Best Snooker Tipsters

Champion of Champions - Facts and figures

• The 2021 Champion of Champions event was played at the Bolton Whites Hotel at the University of Bolton Stadium for the first time
• The first seven Champion of Champions tournaments were played at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
• Due to the Covid pandemic the 2020 Champion of Champions was played at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes
• Only six players have won the Champions of Champions: Ronnie O'Sullivan (4 times), Neil Robertson (twice), John Higgins (once), Shaun Murphy (once), Mark Allen (once) and Judd Trump (once).
• Three time World Champion Mark Selby has only made it as far as the semi-final in ten attempts in the Champion of Champions
• Five of the ten Champion of Champions finals have been close affairs with two of the renewals going to a final frame decider
• All previous finalists (with the exception of the first event in 2013) had played in the event before. 
• 2020 was the first time the Champion of Champions was won by a player (Mark Allen) who had not previously also won the World Championship

Which bookmaker should you use for your snooker bets? Our best bookmakers for snooker betting guide gives you all the answers you need.

Champions of Champions 2022: Draw and Results

Final (19 frames)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 10 Judd Trump 6

Semi Finals (11 frames)

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 v Fan Zhengyi 2

Judd Trump 6 v Mark Selby 3

Group Four

Mark Selby 4 v Lee Walker 0

John Higgins 4 v Hossein Vafaei 2

Mark Selby 6 v John Higgins 4

Group Three

Neil Robertson 3 v Fan Zhengyi 4

Kyren Wilson 3 v Ryan Day 4

Ryan Day 5 v Fan Xhengyi 6

Group One

Judd Trump 4 v Luca Brecel 2

Mark Allen 4 v Joe Perry 2

Judd Trump 6 v Mark Allen 1

Group Two

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 v Robert Milkins 2

Zhao Xintong 4 v Mink Nutcharut 2

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 v Zhao Xintong 1

Other Snooker Articles on OLBG

• The Masters
• British Open
• UK Championship
• European Masters
• Home Nations Series  (covers Northern Ireland Open, Scottish Open, English Open and Welsh Open)
• World Championship
• Best Matches of the 80s and the 90s