TeddyT

John Higgins hadn't won a ranking event for over four years before his victory in the World Open in March. For all of that time, the bookies rarely made Higgins bigger than 16/1 despite his long run without a trophy. Since winning the World Open, the Scot has won again at the Tour Championship, when in doing so he said that was the best win of his career. In winning that event, he came back from 8-5 down to Mark Selby and produced some amazing snooker. The bookies don't seem that impressed, however, and 12/1 (and bigger) has been freely available despite the major upturn in form. I'm not worried Higgins is nearly 50 and that the 17 days will be too much for him, as some are suggesting, as he seems fitter now than when he made the final in 2017, 2018, and 2019. For me, he is pushing to be the player in the best current form and, as such, I think he rates a really good each-way bet.

I think there are two ways into betting on this tournament: go with current form, as I have with John Higgins, or side with a player who has had a relatively light campaign. For that approach, I favor Mark Allen. Allen has not had a good season, but avoiding the Players and Tour Championships seems to have worked well in recent years, and Allen will have had plenty of time to prepare for Sheffield. The likes of Trump and Wilson look to have reached overload, and their last few matches have indicated fatigue. Not ideal when approaching The Crucible marathon. Allen will be desperate to improve his poor Crucible record, and if he can get near his top form, he is certainly up there with the best in the world. Odds of over 20/1 are something of an insult and look excellent value.