As the curtain falls on the 2024 Wuhan Open, the snooker world shifts its focus to Belfast for the eagerly awaited Northern Ireland Open. Named in honor of the legendary Alex Higgins, this tournament boasts a star-studded lineup of the sport’s top players, all vying for the prestigious title. Be sure to check out our 2024 Snooker NI Open predictions before the week-long snooker showcase gets underway.
From October 20 to 27, the beautiful Waterfront Hall will once again open its doors to snooker fans for the main event of the 2024 Northern Ireland Open. It will be the second Home Nations series in the 2024–25 snooker season. Like all Home Nations Series events this season, the 2024 Northern Ireland Open offers an increased total prize fund of £550,400, with £100,000 awarded to the winner.
| ℹ️ Tournament: | 2024 Northern Ireland Open, World Snooker Tour 2024-25 (Ranking event) |
| 🎱 Venue: | Waterfront Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland |
| 🗓️ Dates: | Saturday, 20 October to Sunday, 27 October, 2024 |
Eligibility for the Northern Ireland Open, like all Home Nations Series events, was open to all professional tour card holders. The original number of participants was 128, but after two rounds of qualifications that took place in September, the current field consists of 64 players.
Defending champion and current world number one, Judd Trump is set to begin his title defense with a challenging third-round clash against India’s Ishpreet Singh Chadha.
Belfast will also welcome the iconic Ronnie O’Sullivan alongside several other high-profile players, including world champion Kyren Wilson, British Open winner Mark Selby, ex-Northern Ireland Open champion Mark Williams, and former world champion Luca Brecel. Local hero Mark Allen will once again contend for the Northern Ireland Open title. The Northern Irish star first claimed the trophy in 2021 and successfully defended it in 2022.
High snooker odds for betting are out ahead of the 2024 Northern Ireland Open. Before we get to our in-depth 2024 snooker Northern Ireland Open betting preview, let’s have a look at the early favorites.
Unsurprisingly, Judd Trump comes to the tournament with the shortest 2024 Northern Ireland Open snooker odds. Trump could not make it past the semi-finals at the Wuhan Open, but he will still feel confident about winning the fifth trophy of the year before catching the flight to Belfast.
Ronnie O’Sullivan was not a part of the proceedings in Wuhan, but he will be back in action at the upcoming Northern Ireland Open. ‘The Rocket’ is one of the most accomplished players in snooker history, making it hard to overlook him in the 2024 Snooker NI Open predictions, despite him not having the best season by his usual high standards.
Mark Selby’s early exit from the Wuhan Open qualifiers came as a surprise. However, if you’re weighing up your options to bet on the snooker NI Open 2024, don’t count out the four-time world champion to make a strong comeback in Belfast.
Kyren Wilson could not overcome his round of 32 hoodoo in Wuhan as he failed to make the last 16 for the fifth successive time. However, legal bookies in Northern Ireland still consider the reigning world champion as one of the biggest Northern Ireland Open 2024 contenders, as the latest World Snooker Tour 2024-25 odds suggest.
Neil Robertson took home the first Home of Nations trophy of the year when he won the 2024 English Open and ended his two-year wait for a ranking title. The recent premature Wuhan Open exit, however, will make him a tricky pick for Northern Ireland Open 2024 snooker predictions.
After dissecting the 2024 Northern Ireland Open snooker odds, we are now ready to share our expert picks for the tournament. Here they are:
2 (100%)
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After a dominant performance in the final, Judd Trump won the Northern Irish Open title for an unprecedented fourth time in 2023. He got his hands on the Alex Higgins Trophy following his 9-3 victory over Chris Wakelin. Now, nearly 12 months on, ‘The Ace in the Pack’ has largely sustained that impressive level of play on the World Snooker Tour.
Since the turn of the year, he has won the German Masters, World Open, Shanghai Masters, and the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters. Impressively, he hasn’t finished outside the quarter-finals in any tournament he’s played during this time. As the most successful player in the history of this competition, Trump is undoubtedly a strong favorite to win again, as reflected in the World Snooker Tour 2024-25 odds.
1 (50%)
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As per the 2024 Northern Ireland Open snooker odds, Mark Selby is the second favorite to win the second quarter of the tournament. Ronnie O’Sullivan is the only one with shorter odds to do so, but current form suggests Selby is a safer pick here. Even though he had a terrible Wuhan Open campaign, ‘The Jester from Leicester’ will hope to rediscover the form he showed earlier this year that led him to British Open and Championship League glory.
Judd Trump appears to be on the right path to adding another Northern Ireland Open title to his collection. While there are plenty of strong contenders for the trophy, we prefer to back some of them to winning their responsive quarters. So, expect the favorites to shine in Belfast, which is our final Northern Ireland Open 2024 snooker predictions.
