Snooker

World Snooker Championship Judgement Day: Predictions, tips, odds and how to watch

Henry Hardwicke Updated: 15 Apr 24 15:36

The 16 players who come through Judgement Day will go through to the Crucible to join the top 16 seeds and there will no doubt be plenty of thrills and spills along the way.

The 16 fourth-round qualifying matches get underway at 11am on Tuesday and the field contains 2015 world champion Stuart Bingham, 2010 Crucible king Neil Robertson and a whole host of top-level potters.

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Matthew Stevens to beat Jack Lisowski - 11/4

Matthew Stevens joined the action at the third-round of qualifying and the Welshman put in a good performance to beat the Capable Jimmy Robertson 10-6.

The two-time World Championship runner-up isn’t a consistent force at this stage of his career, but the Carmarthen cueman looks capable of upsetting Jack Lisowski and 11/4 looks a generous offer.

Stevens hasn’t achieved anything of note this season, but the World Championship is an event the 46-year-old will commit to and the Welsh Dragon has qualified for three of the last six Sheffield showdowns.

The Carmarthen cueman beat Ali Carter at this stage of the qualifiers two years ago, and while Lisowski is a top-level operator on his day, the fact that the Gloucester potter is in the qualifiers tells you that it hasn’t been a great time for the 32-year-old.

Jackpot has won only two matches in the last five ranking events he has contested and that includes a first-round defeat to Jamie Jones in the prestigious UK Championship.

Lisowski is certainly the right favourtie, but at 11/4, Stevens looks the value play.

Mark Davis to beat Ricky Walden - 2/1

Mark Davis has already pulled off two big wins to move within touching distance of a return to the Crucible and the Sussex cueman looks ready to complete the job against Ricky Walden.

Clearly, the 51-year-old’s peak is in the past, but there has been enough good performance this season to suggest Davis could outrun odds of 2/1.

Mark Davis beat world champion Luca Brecel in the International Championship earlier this season - the Hastings potter got past Robert Milkins 4-0 in the first-round of the Scottish Open and Ashley Hugill and Barry Hawkins fell to the 51-year-old in the German masters.

Davis made breaks of 61, 66, 74, 75, 99 and 130 in a superb 10-8 victory over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the previous round of World Championship qualifying and that followed a 10-2 thumping of Andrew Pagett.

A quarter-final run to the Northern Ireland Open in October is the best effort on Walden’s record this term and he could be made to work by his experienced opponent.

He Guoqiang -1.5 frames v Dominic Dale - 5/6

He Guoqiang pulled off a huge shock when defeating 2020 World Championship semi-finalist Anthony McGill 10-5 in the third-round of qualification and the Chinese cueman can reach the Crucible in his first season as a professional.

That impressive victory over McGill, came after another strong performance against Ross Muir and the 23-year-old has made an impressive start to his career.

Guoqiang has beaten Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson, Ryan Day and Hossein Vafaei in the current campaign, and not only does it show that the Hunan star is a serious performer, but also that there is no fear when taking on snooker’s elite in pressure situations.

Dominic Dale has failed in the World Championship qualifiers for the past nine seasons and there is little reason to think the 52-year-old is suddenly going to return to the form that saw the Spaceman reach the quarter-finals of the 2014 Sheffield showpiece.

Guoqiang is the 8/13 favourtie on Judgement Day, but the Chinese cueman should be shorter than mark and he makes plenty of appeal given Dale a 1.5-frame start on the handicap.