Everything you need to know as Judd Trump and Mark Williams bid for the second Triple Crown title of the season at London's Alexandra Palace.
The invitational event, which is undertaking its 49th staging, is one of the highlights of the snooker calendar and always ensures a vociferous London crowd.
Neil Robertson was the defending champion, having beaten Barry Hawkins 10-4 in last year's final, but the Australian has already been dumped out of this year's competition by Shaun Murphy.
Here is everything you need to know about the 2023 Masters.
| What | The Masters |
| Where | Alexandra Palace, London |
| When | 8th-15th January, 2023 |
| How to watch | bet365 Live Streaming, BBC & Eurosport |
| Odds | Judd Trump 8/11, Mark Williams 11/10 |
Masters schedule and results:
Final:
Sun 15th January - Judd Trump 10-8 Mark Williams
Semi-Finals:
Sat 14th January - Jack Lisowski 0-6 Mark Williams
Sat 14th January - Judd Trump 6-1 Stuart Bingham
Quarter-finals:
Thurs 12th January - Mark Williams 6-5 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Thurs 12th January - Hossein Vafaei 4-6 Jack Lisowski
Fri 13th January - Barry Hawkins 5-6 Judd Trump (13:00)
Fri 13th January - Shaun Murphy 0-6 Stuart Bingham (19:00)
Watch all games live at bet365 (Live Streaming rules apply)
Round 1:
Sun 8th January - Neil Robertson 4-6 Shaun Murphy
Sun 8th January - Mark Selby 2-6 Hossein Vafaei
Mon 9th January - Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-1 Luca Brecel
Mon 9th January - John Higgins 3-6 Jack Lisowski
Tue 10th January - Mark Allen 0-6 Barry Hawkins
Tue 10th January - Mark Williams 6-2 David Gilbert
Wed 11th January - Judd Trump 6-5 Ryan Day
Wed 11th January - Kyren Wilson 3-6 Stuart Bingham
View latest odds for the Masters
How can I watch the Masters?
The tournament will be streamed live here at bet365 - live streaming rules apply.
Alternatively, the entire event can be watched via broadcasters BBC and Eurosport.
When is the Masters?
The Masters is a fixture of not just the snooker calendar, but the wider sporting landscape, with the Triple Crown event taking place between Sunday 8th January - Sunday 15th January 2023.
The defending champion traditionally gets the tournament underway and this year that honour fell to Robertson, who was edged out 6-5 in Round 1 by Murphy.
The eight first-round matches, quarter-finals and semi-finals are played over a best-of-eleven-frame format, with the final a race to ten frames.
The event runs from Sunday to Sunday and the one-table set up means that fans can catch all of the action.
Where is the Masters held?
The Masters is held at the iconic Alexandra Palace in London.
Bar a switch to Leicester in 2021, the tournament has been held in the English capital since its inception in 1975.
First played at the West Centre Hotel and then the New London Theatre, the Masters found its spiritual home at the Wembley Conference Centre in 1979.
The competition remained at that famous venue until 2006, but was then switched to Wembley Arena after the demolition of the Conference Centre in the same year.
Alexandra Palace picked up the baton in 2012, and the Haringey venue has done a good job of replicating the special atmosphere that was produced at the Wembley Conference Centre.
Many of the world's best players now point to Ally Pally as the venue with the best atmosphere in snooker.
How many times has the Masters taken place?
The Masters was first introduced into the snooker calendar in 1975. It's the second-longest running tournament behind the World Championship, and alongside the Sheffield showpiece and the UK Championship, and forms part of the Triple Crown series of events.
The tournament originally featured a field of 10 players before that was then expanded to 12 cue-men in 1981 and then 16 potters in 1983.
It's an invitational event, meaning that it has become standard that the top 16 ranked players are given the opportunity to compete in the feature competition.
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Who has won the Masters on the most occasions?
It won't come as a surprise to find out that Ronnie O'Sullivan has claimed the most Masters crowns.
The Rocket has won the event seven times, but the Chigwell cueist hasn't lifted the trophy since 2017.
Stephen Hendry won five consecutive Masters titles between 1989 and 1993, with the Scotsman having won the tournament six times in total.
Mark Selby has won the Masters on three occasions and John Higgins, Mark Williams and Neil Robertson have a brace of titles on their records.
Williams, after his last eight success over favourite O'Sullivan, is still in the running to collect another Masters trophy this month.
With three titles, Paul Hunter's name is synonymous with this event.
He famously collected his Masters wins in 2001, 2002 and 2004 - all of them via 10-9 scorelines and featuring notorious comebacks from the Leeds-born talent, who sadly passed away in 2006 following an illness.
Fittingly, since 2016, the world's best now compete for the Paul Hunter Trophy in honour of the three-time champion at snooker's most prestigious invitational event.
