Barry Hawkins vs Shaun Murphy, Preview, Predictions and Tips

Barry Hawkins and Shaun Murphy face off at the 2024 Snooker Shoot Out in a highly anticipated showdown between one of the best snooker players in the world. Snooker betting fans are diving into the odds ready to place their bets. 

Hawkins comes in hot form having recently defeated Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-4 in the first round of the 2024 UK Championship, sending the defending champion home early.

Murphy himself pulled off a 6-5 first-round win in the same tournament against a worthy opponent in Zhao Xintong and ironically secured his place in the quarterfinals against Hawkins after beating China’s Junhui Ding.

Hawkins and Murphy to Face Off at 2024 Snooker Shoot Out

This year’s Snooker Shoot Out tournament is set to take place from 4 December to 7 December, and a Hawkins vs Murphy showdown is one of the highly anticipated matches on the cards.

Both players will be looking to dethrone Mark Allen who is the defending champion having beaten Cao Yupeng 65-4. The two have locked horns on the green table numerous times before.

Betting Odds and Markets and Win Probability: Murphy Slight Favourite

*Forecast betting below. Odds available closer to the event

Barry Hawkins: 3/2 (2.50) – 40%

Shawn Murphy: 53/100 (1.53) – 65,4%

Head-to-Head Record 

Hawkins and Murphy have faced off against each other nineteen times since their first encounter in 2006 in the Welsh Open which was convincingly won 6-1 by Shaun Murphy. His dominance continued ever since then.

The subsequent four matches to that further prove that fact. In all those encounters Murphy exercised pure dominance over his opponent as most of the matches were not that close. 

For instance, two of those matches were resounding victories of 4-0 and 5-2. Hawkins was only able to beat Murphy once in that period, in the Champions League by a score of 3-0. 

Overall, Murphy has eleven victories as compared to Hawkins’ eight, who was victorious the last time they met in 2022. 

Their 2024 UK Championship quarterfinal encounter is set to precede the Snooker Shoot Out and might just be an indicator for what to expect. 

Accolades Won by Either Player in Their Careers

Shaun Murphy is the more accomplished player in terms of ranking titles, which is the number of titles won in tournaments that contribute to the Snooker World Rankings.

Murphy has competed in twenty-six ranking finals and won twelve of those with the latest three coming in 2023, a year in which he won the Players Championship, Tour Championship and the Champions League.

He’s also accomplished in non-ranking finals, amateurs and Pro-am finals. Hawkins on the other hand has not been as successful as his counterpart but has been crowned a champion also.

He has competed in ten ranking finals and won only four of them. His latest title came in 2023 as well, where he won the European Masters against Judd Trump, whom he defeated 9-6.

*For Shaun Murphy, we decided to feature only his ten most recent finals and titles as he has more under his belt compared to Barry Hawkins with just 10 finals and 4 wins. Its for purposes of brevity.

Respective Form Coming into Their Next Match

It’s often said that ‘you are only good as your last game’. With that taken then both Hawkins and Murphy are worthy opponents as they both won their last matches which were contested in the 2024 UK Championships against very tough opposition.

Hawkins was able to beat the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the opening round preceded by two victories in the qualifying quarterfinals and semi-finals against Alfred Burden and Wang Yuchen respectively.

Whilst Murphy didn’t need to go through the qualification phase, he nonetheless beat Zhao Xintong in a very tight encounter and secured the quarterfinal spot in the subsequent match. 

Playing Styles

Both players have distinct playing styles and psychological approaches to the game. We look at them briefly to see what sets them apart.

Barry Hawkins

Hawkins is naturally right-handed but prefers to use his left-hand. He switches the cue to his stronger hand when using the rest to get a better handle. Alternating as such allows him to have a better aim with his right-eye, which is his objective eye.

He is known to acknowledge the importance of the mental aspect to the game, especially regarding the ability of maintaining focus and avoiding unnecessary pressure

Shaun Murphy

“The Magician” as he’s been affectionately nicknamed is known to have a very aggressive style of play and his ability to read the table is one of the attributes that sets him apart from most.

Murphy is further known for his straight cue action, said to be “the best cue action” by Steve Davis. His long potting and break-building are other notable attributes in his lengthy arsenal.

Value Bets 

Total Frames- Under 10.5

Historically these two snooker players have contested each other in matches that were settled in under 10 frames. Barry Hawkins’ most recent matches, four out five have been settled under 10 frames.

Either Player to Win Successive Frames – Shaun Murphy

In his most recent UK Championship match Murphy won successive frames two times. The first was two successive frames followed by a period where he won three successive frames. 

Total Frames Even/Odd - Odd

Both players’ most recent game results finished in odd scores of 6-5, 6-3 and the like. So, we believe that the outcome is most likely to repeat itself here.