In what has been a cracking month for sport already, the intimate surroundings of the Crucible Theatre take centre stage for the next 17 days when snooker's finest battle it out on the green baize, with 32 players vying to be crowned champion of the world.
NIne of those have already had their hands on the famous trophy, with Steve Davis winning the event before some of the players were even born way back in 1981. He won it another five times, while fellow competitor Stephen Hendry remains the greatest cueman of the modern era with seven titles, the last of which he won in 1999.
Romantics can back the pair at 600-1 and 45-1 respectively to rule the roost again, although defending champion John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan are more realistic ventures at 5s and 4-1 to come out on top. They have both won the tournament three times and victory for either man would put him in fourth place on the all-time 'modern' list behind Hendry, Davis and Ray Reardon.
Recent China Open winner Mark Williams is a best price of 14-1 to join Higgins and O'Sullivan on the three mark, while Shaun Murphy can be backed at similar odds to repeat his 2005 success. That leaves 66-1 Peter Ebdon, 100-1 Ken Doherty and 125-1 Graeme Dott as the other former winners among the pack.
But who should you really be backing this year? Well, in current form, DING JUNHUI stands out at 9-1 with Paddy Power and Ladbrokes to become the first Asian player to win the World Championship. He has been to three finals this season, winning the UK Championship and just missing out at the Grand Prix and China Open, and he looks ready to play a big part in proceedings this year.
The Crucible hasn't been a happy hunting-ground for Ding, having failed to progress past the second round in three previous attempts. But the eye-twitching Chinese star has looked a man possessed this season after re-discovering his golden touch around the table and if he plays like he did when winning the UK then he will be hard to beat.
He opens up with what should be an easy win against Stuart Pettman and then has a possible clash with Shaun Murphy. But I don't think he'll have any major problems until the semi-final when he is due to face John Higgins and that will be a real test of his character, but one which he can rise to the challenge.
Higgins will have his posse of backers after an excellent campaign in which he will finish streets clear in the number one spot in the rankings. He's bagged the Welsh Open this season, while he has also reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix, and lost in the final of the UK Championship. The only blot on his copybook was a second round defeat to Mark Williams at the most recent China Open, but that defeat could be just enough to instill doubts in punters' minds.
As always, O'Sullivan begins an event as the favourite, but it has not been the best of campaigns for the Rocket wining just the Shanghai Masters, although he did reach the final of the Masters, losing 10-9 to Mark Selby.
He did, however, get to the semi-finals of both the UK Championship and Welsh Open, but crashed out to unknown Chinese qualifier Tian Pengfei in the first round of the China Open, but I shouldn't read too much into that result as he rarely seems bothered in that event. He does, though, have an awfully tough first round opponent in Liang Wenbo, and may then have to play the resurgent Mark Williams in round two and possibly Mark Selby in the quarter-final, so he's going to have to do it the hard way if he wants to be top dog again. Of course, Ronnie may steamroll all opposition, like he is well capable of, but he's so hard to predict nowadays that for me he is not a viable proposition.
A lot of punters have already piled on to Selby for this year's tournament and he is a best price of 9-1 with Victor Chandler and sportingbet to win his first world title. He is a brilliant player, but the 'Jester from Leicester' seems to be turning into something of an enigma, brilliant one tournament, poor the next. For example, he lost in the first round in both the Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix, but then reached the quarter-final of the UK and won the Masters, before bowing out in the Welsh Open quarter-final and second round in the China Open. Too inconsistent for my liking, but I would love to see him win it.
On his Grand Prix form, Neil Robertson has to be worth a second look at 12-1, but two mediocre performances in Wales and China raises doubts about good his game is at present, plus he comes up against Higgins too early on.
Mark Williams has roared back up to seventh in the provisional list after his best season for a number of years and he is too dangerous to write off. At 14-1 he may prove a better bet than Selby and Robertson, but China Open winners rarely go on to win the World Championship.
At 18-1 with Stan James, Stephen Maguire looks over-priced but he has had a distinctly average campaign, reaching just the one semi-final, the UK. A player of his ability should really have won more than four ranking tournaments and he is winless since claiming the 2008 China Open and that losing streak may count against him here.
So having virtually put the proverbial line through all the main players apart from Ding Junhui, he looks the man to back at what could be a decent price.
But what about any outsiders? Hendry may be worth a quid at 45-1 with Skybet, but his glory days are long since gone and the 2010 version looks a pale imitation of the Stephen Hendry that swept all before him in the 1990s. I thought Marco Fu was a good bet at the China Open as he seemed to be finding his feet again after a poor run and a quarter-final appearance will put him back in good heart and he could be worth a small each-way saver at 70-1 with Boylesports.
