Snooker UK Championship 2024 Predictions: Ding can win again in York

It's one of the biggest ranking events of the year, as we travel to snowy Yorkshire for the UK Championship.

As always we have our snooker expert Dean Strand (@DSSnookerTips) on hand, with his comprehensive preview and Snooker UK Championship 2024 Predictions.

History, Location and Format

The UK Championship is one of the longest running and most prestigious of all the tournaments on the snooker calendar and forms part of the Triple Crown, alongside the World Championship and the Masters.

Originally held in Blackpool in 1977, the tournament is entering its 48th year and has been held all over England, but eventually settled at the Barbican Theatre in York in 2001 and bar one year in Milton Keynes during the COVID pandemic has held the event ever since.

This year's event runs from Saturday 23rd November to Sunday 1st December. The event will be broadcast on the BBC, Eurosport and discovery+ in the UK.

The field consists of 32 players, including 16 qualifiers from a four-round qualifying in Leicester, with the top 16 seeds randomly drawn against the qualifiers.

The defending champion is Englishman Ronnie O'Sullivan, who won a record-extending eight title, after beating Ding Junhui from China, 10-7 in the 2023 final.

Other multiple winners include Steve Davis (six times), Stephen Hendry (five), John Higgins, Junhui and Neil Robertson (all three times).

Prize Money

UK Championship Odds

1 pt - Ding Junhui to win Outright @ 14/1

Ding loves playing at this venue and has a great record here in recent years.

He came here as a qualifier in the last two years and reached the final on both occasions. In 2022 beating Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-0 on his way to the final and in last year's event he beat a top 16 player in every round, before losing out to O’Sullivan in the final, with notable wins over Mark Allen, Mark Williams and Judd Trump.

He’s also won this tournament three times in the past - the most recent in 2019 beating Stephen Maguire in the final.

This year he enters the event as a top 16 player once again after rising back up to eighth in the world rankings and showed great form last time out to win the International Championship.

The Chinese ace faces Robert Milkins first up on Saturday, a player whom he’s won his last four matches against.

0.5 pts Si Jiahui each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 20/1

It looks to be only a matter of time until Si Jiahui wins his first ranking title.

There’s no doubting the talent is there, he’s just struggled to get over the line at times. Last year he came very close to reaching the final of the World Championship, losing a big lead to Luca Brecel in the semis.

Since then he’s reached another two ranking event finals, including a brilliant 6-2 win over Trump in this season Wuhan Open semi final with five 70+ breaks including a 147, 144 and 108.

First up he faces Wu Yize, a player he beat 10-4 when the two met earlier this year and the seeds in this quarter have all been struggling this season, Allen, Mark Selby and Ali Carter.

0.25 pts Peifan Lei each-way (1/2 - 2 Places) @ 150/1

0.5 pts Peifan Lei to win Quarter 3 @ 28/1

My final pick is a big priced outsider but at odds of 100/1, I think it’s worth a small each way punt on Peifan Lei.

Lei was on tour a couple of years ago but struggled to find much consistency as a teenager, however, he’s definitely a talented player and break builder and his form this season has looked very good.

He's won an impressive 15 of his last 19 matches, including his last six and looked very good beating Tom Ford and Ben Woollaston in qualifying this week with three centuries.

Faces Zhang Anda first, definitely one of the weaker seeds in the draw and should be confident heading into the event on recent form.

Check out the rest of our Snooker Betting Tips over at Betfred Insights.