The European Masters is Europe’s premier semi-professional snooker tournament, seeing the best teams from each country come together to represent their nation. Following the initial play-in stage, which sees the teams get drawn into four groups before establishing the top performing teams from each, the knockout stage sees the participants battle to see who advances to the main event. The main event consists of sixteen teams who are drawn into four groups from different regions, and the matches are best of one, with the top two teams making it to the knockout stage. Once down to eight final teams, the single elimination bracket is carried out, and the matches are best of five.
For snooker fans all over, the event is one to remember and sees bookies filling up as people look to place their bets on the favorites. Popular gambling sites, such as online gambling in Maryland, have been seeing a rise in those interested in The European Masters as people closely follow the happenings from the major event. The tournament sees an impressive range of snooker professionals, with bag names from all across Europe getting involved.
The £80,000 winner’s cheque and the desirable title of European Master create a highly desirable prize that sees the competitors battle for the win. When it comes to bookie favorites, there are a few staple names we never fail to see on the screen as popular players such as Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and John Higgins create tough competition for everyone else looking to take on the challenge.
Mark Selby is the reigning champion and will definitely be looking to reignite his position going forward, making a comeback from his struggles to reclaim the title. The Jester is another name who we are expecting to see more of going forward; after having only reached one semi-final last term, he is desperate to reclaim some form and get himself back up on the leader board.
Leading the books with odds of 4/1 is Judd Trump, the Englishman who is not only a former world champion but also a former world number one. Widely regarded as one of the sport’s most talented players, he is currently sixth on the list of all-time ranking event winners, with 23 ranking titles to his name.
The form player in World Snooker right now, Neil Robertson, is looking to be another favorite going forward, having impressive odds of 9/2 against his name. The 40-year-old from Australia has had an impressive run so far this year and has picked up his third title of the year at the Players Championship, following the Masters and the English Open, as well as reaching the final of the World Grand Prix. Following so many successes, he actually said that the pressure is now off, and he’s just playing for fun, arguably increasing his chances as any nerves are out of the equation. On his way to his latest two triumphs, Robertson has even beaten Barry Hawkins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, and Kyren Wilson, amongst other popular names, so his chances are looking pretty promising.
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