When it comes to betting on snooker there are far fewer markets than you will find in many other sports. Traditionally, most punters have opted for just two on the whole, with bets on a player to win a match, or alternatively wagers in the outright market – for a player to win a tournament – dominating and attracting the majority of the money.
In recent years the range of markets has certainly expanded with lots of short-term in-play options in particular. However, for many matches, especially outside the biggest tournaments, there may just be one extra option, aside from betting on who will make it through to the next round. That, is the correct score market, but what is it and how does it work?
Correct Score Market in Snooker
Those unfamiliar with betting on snooker but who bet on other sports may wonder how exactly this market works and what it means. In other words, what score are you trying to get correct? Is this market a prediction about the score in a given frame, the score as measured by frames in the whole match, or something else entirely?
Well, the answer, and indeed the market, is simple enough – snooker’s version of correct score betting entails predicting the frame score at the conclusion of the match. For example, if we consider the final of the 2023 World Snooker Championship, the winning selection was Luca Brecel to win 18-15. The final of the game’s biggest event is always a best-of-35 affair, or in simpler terms, the first player to 18 wins.
As such, all possible outcomes will be “18-something” to one player or the other. For a match like this many betting sites will offer all scores from 18-0 right through to 18-17, and from 0-18 to 17-18. There are no draws in standard tournaments, although such correct scores will be offered in league formats or round-robin affairs where a draw is a possibility.
So, all you are doing in general is predicting which player will win a game and what score – in frames – they will win by. It is that simple and there isn’t all that much to add. This market is, like its football equivalent, a fantastic option when you are looking for a bet at lengthy odds that can deliver a very handsome win from a relatively small stake.
Example Odds for Snooker Correct Score Bets
The prices in this market will vary depending on a range of factors, the most obvious being who is expected to win. Longer clashes, such as those at the Worlds and other big events, will generally have bigger odds because there are more possible outcomes. So, for example, even the most likely correct score in the World Championship final will be priced at longer odds than an outside pick in a best-of-seven clash, because there are just so many more different possible final scores.
Let us consider the correct score odds for a first-to-five match where there is one strong favourite. At the 2023 European Masters, David Gilbert was 2/5 to beat Oliver Lines, with the outsider at 7/4. Below you can see the odds for all possible outcomes on this match in terms of correct score betting.
| Score | Gilbert Odds | Lines Odds |
|---|---|---|
| 5-0 | 9/1 | 22/1 |
| 5-1 | 5/1 | 12/1 |
| 5-2 | 4/1 | 9/1 |
| 5-3 | 9/2 | 7/1 |
| 5-4 | 11/2 | 7/1 |
Rules to Look Out For
There are no real rules that might catch punters out when it comes to correct score betting on snooker. The only slight points of note concern unusual scenarios where a player does not start a match, or begins but is unable to complete it, for example due to injury or illness. Typically, in the first situation all bets will be void. A player might be awarded the match as a 5-0 walkover for technical purposes but if the game never began, bets will be voided.
In the event of a match commencing but not being completed for any reason, wagers will be voided unless they have been “unconditionally determined”. Essentially this means that if the bet had already lost, you will not get a lucky break and get your money back. For example, if you backed a player to win 5-2, and the score is 3-3 when illness means their opponent has to withdraw, your bet will be a loser. It had already lost, even if it hadn’t fully settled, and so the abandonment of the match is of no real consequence.
Correct Score Betting Strategy
When it comes to betting on a market like this, the first thing to accept is that the chances are that you are probably going to lose. Even in a short (not many frames needed to win) match as detailed above, the correct score deemed most likely is still priced at odds of 4/1. Even discounting the overround (bookmaker’s profit margin), that is a bet you should expect to lose 80% of the time.
As such, correct score betting is, for most punters, not the time for large stakes. It is a low-chance, high-reward wager, so you should bet accordingly, aware that even if you correctly predict the winner and the general shape of the match, just one bad miss or one brilliant safety somewhere along the way could lead to your wager missing out.
All that said, it is not simply a case of picking a score at random and hoping for the best. As with any bet, you need to do as much research as possible, considering form, head-to-head records, tournament history, fatigue and anything else you deem relevant. It is also worth noting that, especially in bigger contests, where the pressure is greater, getting over the line is often the hardest part. As such, matches can often end with correct scores closer than you might predict, with the final frame to secure the match often the trickiest to win.