The Tour Championship gets underway in Manchester on Monday, with only the 12 best-performing players of the season involved.
It is the penultimate event of the season, with the World Championship at the Crucible now right around the corner.
The top 12 on the one-year ranking list are in the field at Manchester Central, so you may well expect these to be the leading contenders when they get to Sheffield.
Strange things happen on the table, though, as reigning world champion Kyren Wilson didn’t qualify for the Tour Championship last year before conquering the Crucible, while Sheffield runner-up Jak Jones wasn’t in Manchester either.
There has also been little success at the Crucible for those who have gone well at the Tour Championship.
The long-frame matches in Manchester would seem like the perfect warm-up for Sheffield, but no one who has reached a Tour final has done the same at the Worlds so far.
Anyway, the Crucible is still to come but there is a fascinating week ahead at the Tour Championship before then.
Tour Championship Draw and Schedule
Monday March 31
Round One
1pm
Shaun Murphy vs Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong vs Wu Yize
7pm
Shaun Murphy vs Barry Hawkins
Mark Williams vs Ding Junhui
Tuesday April 1
1pm
Xiao Guodong vs Wu Yize
Mark Selby vs Si Jiahui
7pm
Mark Williams vs Ding Junhui
Mark Selby vs Si Jiahui
Wednesday April 2
Quarter-finals
1pm
Judd Trump vs Murphy/Hawkins
John Higgins vs Xiao/Wu
7pm
Judd Trump vs Murphy/Hawkins
Neil Robertson vs Selby/Si
Thursday April 3
1pm
John Higgins vs Xiao/Wu
Kyren Wilson vs Williams/Ding
7pm
Neil Robertson vs Selby/Si
Kyren Wilson vs Williams/Ding
How to watch the Tour Championship
The tournament will be shown live on ITV 4 and ITVX in the UK.
Tour Championship prize money
Winner: £150,000
Runner-up: £60,000
Semi-final: £40,000
Quarter-final: £30,000
First round: £20,000
Highest break: £10,000
Tour Championship odds
Judd Trump 13/8
Kyren Wilson 7/2
Neil Robertson 11/2
Mark Selby 7/1
John Higgins 15/2
Shaun Murphy 16/1
Mark Williams 25/1
Xiao Guodong 25/1
Ding Junhui 25/1
Wu Yize 33/1
Barry Hawkins 33/1
Si Jiahui 50/1
Odds courtesy of Betfair
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