Published 16 October 2026. Analysis and views here are our opinion,
not a guarantee of anything. 18+, please gamble responsibly.
18 October 2026 – 25 October 2026 · Waterfront Hall, Belfast · UK time
The Northern Ireland Open starts at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Sunday 18 October and runs for eight days, with the final on Sunday 25 October. It is a full ranking event, the seventh of the 2026-27 season and the second of the four Home Nations tournaments, and this is its 11th staging since it was first held in 2016. The winner lifts the Alex Higgins Trophy and takes £100,000 from a total prize fund of £550,400.
The format rewards a fast start. Every match up to the last 16 is best of seven frames, which leaves very little room to recover from a slow session. The quarter-finals are best of nine, the semi-finals best of 11, and the final is best of 17 over two sessions. There is also £5,000 for the highest break of the tournament.
Why this year matters
The story coming in is China. Wu Yize, the world champion since May, won the Shenzhen Open on 4 October, beating Yuan Sijun 10-5 in the final after a 6-1 semi-final win over Judd Trump. It was his first ranking title since the Crucible, and it lifted him to a career-high second in the world rankings. Zhao Xintong is world number one, which means Chinese players hold the top two places in the rankings for the first time. Both are seeded in the bottom half of the Belfast draw, with Wu as the number 2 seed and Zhao as number 3.
Jack Lisowski is the defending champion and top seed. He beat Trump 9-8 in last year’s final, and he heads a top half that also includes Neil Robertson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter. Carter comes in as the most recent Home Nations champion, having beaten Mark Williams 9-6 to win the English Open in September.
The bottom half is the stronger of the two on paper. As well as Wu and Zhao, it contains Trump, John Higgins, Williams, Barry Hawkins, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen. Trump has won this event four times and was runner-up a year ago, so Belfast has been good to him. Allen, from Antrim, is the home player, and the Waterfront Hall crowd will be behind him every time he comes to the table. Ding Junhui is the one member of the world’s top 16 who has not entered.
What looks the smart angle
We have not been able to source a partner bookmaker’s outright prices for the event, so this page carries no odds block, and we will not quote a price we cannot stand behind. Without one, here is the view on the draw rather than the numbers.
The best-of-seven format makes this the hardest kind of event to call. A top seed needs to win four short matches before the quarter-finals, and one bad session is enough to go out. That tends to favour players in form over players with the best long-term record, and nobody in the field has better recent form than Wu, who has just won a ranking event and beaten Trump comfortably on the way. The case against him is the draw: Zhao, Trump, Higgins and O’Sullivan are all in his half. Lisowski’s half looks the more open route to the final, and Robertson and Selby are the most experienced players in it.
Outright prices tend to firm up once the first round is played, and they will move sharply as the seeds come in. All of this is opinion and analysis, not a tip.
Elsewhere
The tournament opens on the same day as Leeds v Manchester United at Elland Road and the Houston Texans against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Wembley. The Dutch Darts Championship finishes on Sunday, and Saturday has British Champions Day at Ascot.
The sportsbook offers for a week of snooker
All three of our sportsbook partners price snooker, and each welcome offer counts on it, but the qualifying odds matter more here than on football. In a best-of-seven match between a top seed and a qualifier, the favourite is often odds-on.
Ad: Betfred’s bet £10, get £50 in free bets is the biggest package, but its first bet has to be £10 or more at Evens (2.0) or bigger and settle within seven days. A short-priced seed in an early round will not clear that. A match bet where your pick is the underdog is the simplest way to qualify. You get £30 in sports free bets and £20 in Bet Builder free bets within 24 hours of settlement, valid for seven days, and the deposit has to be by debit card.
William Hill’s bet £10, get £30 in free bets sets a bar of 1/2 (1.5) on any sports market, so most first-round favourites count. Register with promo code R30, deposit £10 or more and place a £10 single from your main balance. Three £10 free bets follow once it settles, valid for seven days, which is enough to use them through the rest of the tournament. PayPal, Apple Pay, Skrill, NETELLER and several other deposit methods are excluded.
Virgin Bet’s welcome offer uses the same 1/2 bar. Deposit £10, then within 14 days of registering place a £10+ bet on any sportsbook market, and you get 2 x £10 sportsbook free bets plus 2 x £5 Bet Builder tokens. The 14-day window covers the whole tournament, so there is no need to rush the qualifying bet.
Between sessions, William Hill’s 50 free spins on Mining Pots of Gold needs code M50 and a £10 stake, with 24 hours to use the spins and a £30 cap on what you can redeem. Virgin Bet’s 100 free spins on Eye of Horus and 100 free spins on King Kong Cash Even Bigger Bananas 2 pay winnings as cash with no cap after a £10 deposit and £10 wagered on slots.
If you fancy an underdog to cause an early upset in Belfast, claim the Betfred welcome offer here, where a price of Evens or bigger qualifies for the largest package. Bet only what you can afford to lose.
