Sports Blog 12/01/2015: Tournament Preview – Masters Snooker, Monday 12th – Sunday 18th January 2015

The Masters got off to an explosive start that saw World Champion Mark Selby crash out to Shaun Murphy in a tense 5-6 win, and Marco Fu hit only the 3rd ever 147 maximum at the tournament in his victory against Stuart Bingham. The competition continues this week and, in addition to in-play fixed odds and spread betting on every game, Spreadex is providing Outright Index spread betting odds on all remaining competitors.

The Masters is the second longest running tournament in snooker, behind the World Championship, and as was shown yesterday, has the capacity to surprise even the most seasoned of players.

Our Outright Index offers the chance to make money off of a player’s finishing position, rather than merely if they win the tournament as offered in our Fixed Odds Outright Market. The winner receives 50 points, the runner-up 30, losing semi-final 20, losing quarter-final 10, with all other finished receiving 0.

With this in mind, the first game this Monday sees Judd Trump take on Stephen Maguire at 1.00pm. Trump, who won the Australian Goldfields Open 2014, wants to cap off his best ever year by winning the tournament at Ally Pally, and is at an Outright Index spread of 13-16. Maguire will be looking to put his demolition at the hands of Ronnie O’Sullivan in last year’s semi-final behind him, and is at an Outright spread of 6-8.



Monday’s 7.00pm match-up sees Neil Robertson, 2012 champion and 2013 runner-up, face Robert Milkins, in a game that Robertson is expected to win. Robertson won the 2014 Wuxi Classic, and was runner-up in the Goldfields Open, and is an Outright spread of 15-18; Milkins, who bar losing the final of the Ruhr Open to Murphy had a quiet 2014, is at a spread of 4-6.

2014 Master Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan returns on Tuesday to face 2014’s International Championship winner Ricky Walden. O’Sullivan, unsurprisingly, has the highest Outright spread at 24-27; winning this tournament would see O’Sullivan equal Stephen Hendry’s record 6 Masters wins. This is a repeat of last year’s quarter-final where O’Sullivan saw off Walden 6-0, hitting a record 556 points without a reply; Walden is definitely the underdog at an Outright spread of 4-6.

Tuesday evening then sees Barry Hawkins against Ali Carter. Carter missed the start of the 2014/15 season due to treatment for lung cancer, but made an excellent re-entry winning the General Cup against Shaun Murphy. However, Hawkins has an Outright index spread of 10-12 compared to Carter’s 6-8.



The final day of round one matches sees 2014 Paul Hunter Classic winner and Shanghai Masters runner-up Mark Allen compete against 2 time Masters Winner John Higgins at 1.00pm. Higgins has struggled with form recently, and had feared missing out on securing his place at the Masters; he enters the tournament at an Outright spread of 6.5-8.5, compared to Allen who begins on 9-12.

Finally, the last game of the first round sees 2011 Masters champion Ding Junhui face England’s Joe Perry. Ding Junhui was briefly world number 1 in 2014, but slipped after a string of disappointing finishes. He will be hoping to change his fortunes at the Masters at an Outright spread of 14.5-17.5; Perry, who finally reached his first career ranking final in 13 years at the 2014 Wuxi Classic, is at a spread of 4-6.