2023 UK Snooker Championship Preview: Judd Trump to come out on top

The 2023 UK Championship commences on Saturday, with 32 contenders bidding for glory at the Barbican Centre in York.

A qualifying phase for the opening Triple Crown event of the 2023/24 snooker season took place in Leicester this week, with 16 qualifiers joining the top 16 seeds in the main draw.

Top Half

Reigning champion Mark Allen was paired with Ding Junhui in the first-round draw, marking a repeat of last year's title-deciding encounter.

On that occasion, three-time UK champion Ding blew a 6-1 lead as his Northern Irish opponent stormed back to claim the prestigious crown for the first time in his career.

After a quiet spell, Allen (11.5) is back in form following his triumph at the Champion of Champions a week ago. 

But a poor overall head-to-head record against Ding means he could be someone to avoid pinning your hopes on in this tournament for the time being.

Mark Williams and Kyren Wilson are formidable competitors to keep an eye on in this quarter as well.

Among the other stars in the draw are world champion Luca Brecel, world number one Ronnie O'Sullivan, and player of the campaign Judd Trump.

At 5.7, Trump is the favourite to capture the title for a second time, having previously won the ranking event in 2011.

The Englishman, who plays qualifier Pang Junxu, has reached five finals on the main tour this season and is expected to go deep again here.

Mark Selby and Barry Hawkins, who Trump lost to in the European Masters final, could be potential threats before the semi-finals.

Bottom Half

O'Sullivan and Brecel, meanwhile, are on the opposite side of the 2023 UK Championship draw to Allen and Trump.

While the pair contested the Shanghai Masters final in September, it hasn't been a particularly memorable season for either so far.

In Anthony McGill, the Rocket (6.8) has one of the more difficult first-round opponents on paper, albeit he has a very strong head-to-head record against the Scot.

Three-time UK champions Neil Robertson and John Higgins are in the same section as O'Sullivan, but neither has been producing at the standards we have come to expect over the years.

Brecel's quarter features this season's surprise package Zhang Anda (29), who won the International Championship earlier in November to become an unlikely member of the top 16.

Brecel and Zhang would clash in the second round if they were to safely advance from their initial ties against Yuan Sijun and Elliot Slessor respectively.

Hossein Vafaei, who edged Scott Donaldson 6-4 in the final preliminary round, could represent a dark horse in this section at 28.

In the first-round proper, the talented Iranian faces a challenging prospect in the form of 2008 champion Shaun Murphy.

However, the latter has found positive results hard to come by of late, and a win for Vafaei could open the door to him featuring at the latter stages.

The 2023 UK Championship concludes on Sunday, December 3rd with the champion pocketing £250,000.

Recommended Bets

Back Judd Trump @ 5.7
Back Hossein Vafaei @ 28