Title-holder Shaun Murphy is a 15/2 chance with Betfred to retain the Pukka Pies UK Championship title at Telford International Centre.
The 2005 World Champion, who begins his defence on Saturday against Gerard Greene, was a 10-9 winner over Marco Fu in last year’s final. Fu is 33/1 to go one better on December 13.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, winner of snooker’s second most prestigious ranking tournament on four occasions, is the 4/1 favourite to add to his successes of 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2007.
Betfred.com world champion John Higgins is second in the list at 13/2. The only other player at single-figure odds, apart from Shaun Murphy, is the 2004 hero Stephen Maguire at 8/1.
A total of five other previous UK champions are in the 32-man Telford line-up this time.
Two of them, who have 11 UK crowns between them, meet in the first round. Stephen Hendry is 40/1 to win this year and match the six titles achieved by his initial opponent Steve Davis, a 200/1 shot.
Welsh duo Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens also have their names on the UK Championship roll of honour. Williams is 28/1 to make it three victories and Stevens a 66/1 shot to repeat his 2003 success.
Ding Junhui became the first non-British or Irish man to win the UK Championship in 2005 and the top-ranked Chinese player is a 12/1 shot this time.
Apart from Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, other players from overseas in the Telford field are Grand Prix champion Neil Robertson, a 14/1 chance, and Roewe Shanghai Masters runner-up Liang Wenbo, who is 33/1.
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