Crunch Time At The Crucible
The final of the 2009 World Championships brings the snooker season to a climax over the Bank Holiday Weekend and punters familiar to snooker spread betting will be aware of the number of opportunities for an exciting spread wager both before and during the two-day scheduled, best of 35-frame match. Sporting Index's traders have already seen their highest tournament break spread market settled at 147, after Crucible King Stephen Hendry knocked in a magnificent maximum to the delight of buyers of the spread as well as those who bought the Scotsman's individual high break spread. Buyers of his ton-ups (total points scored above a 100-break) prior to the tournament will be smiling too, of course.
The remarkable number of centuries witnessed in the tournament so far will surely not have bypassed both buyers and sellers of the total tournament ton-ups, with a current spread of 1330-1350, and the total tournament centuries, at 82.5-83, and the Sporting Index traders were quick to adjust these spreads upwards soon after the Championships began. Buyers of the total centuries spread for the final might be surprised at the number of breaks over 100 in finals over the last five years at the Crucible. An average of exactly two have been scored in World finals over that period, at a low of one century break in 2006, when Graham Dott triumphed over Peter Ebdon - regular snooker spread bettors will remember that as the match that outlasted the 1985 classic between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis. Buyers of the spread should not be too dismayed though, as the final in 2007, the year when a record 68 centuries were scored, saw five centuries in the final.
Likewise, the ton-ups in previous finals since 2004 might have been expected to be higher. Last year, the make-up was just 10. However, as a warning to spread bettors of the volatility of this market, the highest spread make-up in this period was 93 in 2005. In 2002, the World Championships which until now shared the highest number of centuries with the 2007 event, there were eight 100-plus breaks in the final, and ton-ups totalled 102. Buyers of the spread were understandably thrilled.
Spread bettors interested in the frame supremacy market or any of the related spreads on the final, including the match supremacy (10pts for the win, plus 3 per frame won by) and the multi-frames, should be interested in the outcomes of the most recent finals. The Ebdon-Hendry final in 2002 was the closest in recent memory, finishing 18-17 to Ebdon, but in the last five years, spread punters have seen bigger victories and defeats, notably last year and in 2004, when the final score was 18-8. However, both of those finals were won by Ronnie O'Sullivan and after his midpoint departure from the competition, buyers or sellers of the supremacy spreads might not expect such a one-sided match. Between 2005 and 2007, when the Rocket did not feature in a final, an average of just 3.7 frames separated the players.
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