So the stage is set.
After 15 days and 30 matches down, there is one match left to determine who will be crowned World Snooker Champion 2024.
And it’s not the final anyone could have possibly predicted in their wildest dreams. A first-time winner is guaranteed – it pits 2020 runner-up, Kettering’s number 12 seed, Kyren Wilson and qualifier 30-year-old Jak Jones from Cwmbran. Who would have believed this pair who first met as amateurs at Qualifying School in 2011, 14 years on, are playing for the biggest prize in the sport.
Hot favourite to lift the title on Bank Holiday Monday, Wilson has always been a world champion in waiting and it’s maybe surprising it hasn’t come sooner. His game is taylor-made for format and session snooker rarely playing a bad game at the Crucible.
Along with our Snooker World Championship betting tips, we have made a user-friendly list of all the best free betting offers, including the top bet builder sites, to go alongside our expert predictions and both pages are worth visiting ahead of the final for some extra value.
Kyren Wilson v Jak Jones Best Bets
➡️ Wilson Over 2.5 Centuries @ 1.66 on bet365
➡️ Wilson to win 18-10 @ 13.0 on Betfair
➡️ Wilson (-4.5) Frame Handicap @ 2.10 on bet365
Kyren Wilson v Jak Jones Head-to-Head
Odds: Wilson 1.33, Jones 3.40
Head-to-head record: Wilson leads 4-1, winning the most recent meeting in the 2021 UK Championship.
Wilson’s Route to the final:
R1: Dominic Dale 10-1
R2: Joe O’Connor 13-6
QF: John Higgins 13-8
SF: David Gilbert 17-11
Jones’ Route to the final:
QR3: Jamie Clarke 10-6
QR4: Zhou Yuelong 10-4
R1: Zhang Anda 10-4
R2: Si Jiahui 13-9
QF: Judd Trump 13-9
SF: Stuart Bingham 17-12
Season century stats:
Wilson has 4 in the event and 65 for the season. Averaging a century every 4.76 frames he wins.
Jones has 3 in the event and 17 for the season. Averaging a century every 10.29 frames he wins.
Fun stat: It’s the first time since 1990 that both semi-final winners failed to make a century in their last four contest.
Winners pay cheque: £500,000
Referee: Paul Collier
Kyren Wilson
It was somewhat surprising to see him as big as 25/1 in the Snooker World Championship betting odds after being drawn with Dale in the first round, though he was 28/1 before the draw. In previous years he’s been round 14/1-16/1. That was largely down to a poor season where he made just one ranking semi-final.
In the Covid hit 2020 Championship, it was perhaps a year too soon for the Warrior and the heroics of his semi-final over Anthony McGill would have mentally drained him. Playing Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final didn’t help matters either and he was comfortably beaten 18-8. That experience will hold him in good stead here. He’s been known to have the proverbial ‘clincher’s disease’ on occasions in the past but he’s been nothing short of clinical in every department this World Championship.
No O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, or Mark Selby in his way now, and unlike in 2020, in front of a packed crowd, he is primed to land a first world crown.
Jak Jones
The most unlikely finalist, a ninth qualifier to make the final in 47 years, Jak Jones. Coming through two rounds of qualifying to make it to the venue, he was a disregarded 250/1 shot in the Snooker World Championship betting to become the fourth Welshman to land the Championship after Ray Reardon, Terry Griffiths and Mark Williams. He’s trying to emulate Griffiths (1979) and Shaun Murphy in 2005 who won the competition as qualifiers.
Perhaps we should have been warned. Last year he made the quarter-final after qualifying, losing to Mark Allen 13-10 after beating Barry Hawkins, Ali Carter and Neil Robertson en route. This season has been a bit of a disaster, not going past the last 16 in any ranking event and his highest pay cheque is just £9000 for a last 32 defeat.
Here he’s guaranteed £200,000.
His no nonsense, gritty and determined style has been too much for Zhang, Si, Trump and Bingham, where he didn’t care about their bigger reputation. He’s not easy on the eye, but Jones’ safety game has resembled some of the greats in that department and he rarely misses a bad ball. He epitomises solid match play, a trait all champions here have had in the past. The win over Bingham, in his first venture to the one-table setup deserves an upgrade. He trailed 3-0 and looked destined for 4-0 until snatching the fourth on the black. He didn’t look back winning 16 of the next 25 frames.
He’s had this ability all event of knocking players sternly out of their rhythm. Si, Trump and Bingham have similar styles of play and they just haven’t coped with Jones’ mechanisms. He’s been like an irritating wasp throughout, never giving a player a chance to breathe and take stock. The whole event, Jones has only been behind on three occasions: 0-1 and 7-8 to Trump and 3-0 to Bingham. It will be interesting to seehow he copes if he falls a bit further behind here.
Kyren Wilson v Jak Jones Best Bets
Wilson will have to stay patient and take his chances. His power-scoring will be a key component here, he knows Jones cannot compete in that regard – it’s down to the Welshman to yet again make his opponents think twice or three times.
Jones has defied the odds time and time again these past few weeks. He has been second favourite in five of his six wins and will relish being the underdog again.
A small carrot is being dangled in the offering of 1.66 on Wilson making over 2.5 centuries on bet365. Granted, he’s hit just four so far, failed to make one in the semi-final and has only hit two or more in the quarter-final but how he’s not made at least double that amount, we’ll never know. He’s struck 5x 90s, 6x 80s and spurned a multitude of century chances. He hit four in the last 32 match of best-of-19 last year and four in the 2020 and 2021 semi-final (best-of-33) in this setup. He can go ton-crazy and on 12 occasions this season in best-of-5 to 11, he’s hit two or more centuries.
2010 was the last final where no player made a century. In the next 13 years, the winner has hit 3 or more centuries seven times, with Luca Brecel hammering down five last year.
Since the final became best-of-35 in 1980, only nine times has a player who lost won under 10 frames so you have to fancy Jones to make it to 10 but amazingly, a final has never finished 18-10 previously in 43 attempts. We’ll go with this year to buck that trend. Jones’ mental fitness has been exceptional, and it’s no surprise given he’s a fitness addict, however, this could go a similar way to Kyren’s first final four years ago where the words ‘too far’ and ‘bridge’ come to mind. There is 13.0 available on Betfair for Wilson to win 18-10.
Wilson displayed an undeterred calmness in beating Gilbert in the semi, who hit four centuries and didn’t lay a glove down the straight. We have a feeling Wilson will pick Jones off at will. 18-13 or better in Wilson’s favour will land the -4.5 handicap and 23 of the 43 finals have gone under 32 frames. There’s value in backing Wilson (-4.5) Frame Handicap on bet365 at 2.10.
* I recommend waiting for confirmed team line-ups before placing any bets.
* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
Written by an Andy verified content writer
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