The World Snooker Tour heads up the road this week, as the best players in the world shift from York to Edinburgh for the 2023 BetVictor Scottish Open beginning Monday. Another notch of the Home Nations Series is on the line, plus a good chunk of prize money and some worthy WST ranking points, making this an exciting tournament to both watch and bet on.
With Ronnie O’Sullivan getting himself back in the winners’ circle at the UK Championship last week, can the Englishman go back-to-back in Scotland? Or will the doubts about his participation in Edinburgh this week prove to be correct? And what about Judd Trump, the man who just weeks ago was the hottest thing in snooker? Throw in the x-factor of China’s Ding Junhui, who went on a powerful run in York this time last week, and there’s plenty to break down ahead of the Scottish Open 2023.
We do exactly that looking at the latest betting odds from bookmaker William Hill and outlining the best bets to make on this tournament ahead of the first break on Monday.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: December 9th, 12:15 A.M. (GMT)
Looking at the outright betting odds, despite failing to fire last week, Judd Trump still sits number one at bookmaker William Hill. The Englishman returns just 5.00 to win in Edinburgh, a smidge ahead of his rival Ronnie O’Sullivan, who comes to Scotland off the back of a win in York and returns 6.00 this week. Behind these two, two-time winner Mark Selby is keeping them honest at 7.50, before the odds fall off for a three-way tie between Mark Allen, Ding Junhui and John Higgins.
In terms of the best bets to make on the Scottish Open 2023, first, we say steer away from Ronnie O’Sullivan. This week he spoke to the press and said his participation is in doubt and given his patchy track record of stringing tournaments together in the past six months, we say a wager on the Englishman isn’t worth the hassle.
Speaking of in-form players to be avoiding, we expect Ding Junhui to misfire this week as well after his finals run in York. Instead, back Judd Trump—recent winner of three tournaments in a row, and semi-finalist at the UK Championship last week—to return to glory in Edinburgh. The Englishman has never lifted the title here in Scotland and with the kind of form he’s been showing in recent weeks, now is as good a time as any for Trump to finally prevail at the Scottish Open.