The Triple Crown winner is one of 11 past champions competing at the York Barbican - he is bullish about his chances of triumphing once again
A global game, yes, but snooker’s core remains in the UK.
So while the 2015/16 season has already visited Australia, Latvia, Germany, Thailand, China and Bulgaria, it is the Triple Crown events that remain the sport’s most prestigious.
The first of the season – the UK Championship – takes place at the York Barbican from 24 November to 6 December and, as well as being shown on Eurosport, will be broadcast live on the BBC.
The 11/2 tournament favourite is last year’s beaten finalist, Judd Trump.
Against Ronnie O’Sullivan 12 months ago, Trump levelled the match from 9-4 down – making successive century breaks in the process – before ultimately losing the deciding frame.
But the 26-year-old won in York four years ago – the same year he reached the World Championship final – and produces his best snooker in front of capacity crowds and terrestrial TV audiences.
Second favourite at 6/1, meanwhile, is Neil Robertson.
Robertson won the UK Championship in 2013 to become the first overseas player to win the Triple Crown, having triumphed at the World Championship and Masters in 2010 and 2012 respectively.
The 33-year-old Australian is one of the event’s form players, too, after being crowned the Champion of Champions – his first title of the season – in Coventry earlier this month.
Like Robertson, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and John Higgins have all won snooker’s three majors and are likely to challenge once again.
Selby is 7/1 to repeat his 2012 triumph, while Murphy (2008) and Higgins (1998, 2000 and 2010) are 9/1 and 14/1 respectively.
The resurgence of the latter at the age of 40 has been one of the most significant stories of the season.
Higgins has two victories already this campaign, winning the Australian Goldfields Open before doing so at the International Championship to move alongside Steve Davis on 28 career ranking titles.
For Selby, he believes the first major of the season brings out the best in snooker’s leading players.
“It’s always nice when they come around,” said the world No. 1.
“The UK Championship is one of the three biggest tournaments we play in. It’s a huge event.
“All the top players seem to get motivated by it more and get more up for it. It’s one of the big tournaments and it’s live on BBC, so they take it a lot more seriously.”
A first-time winner of the event is 6/4, but that is unlikely considering the calibre of past champions in the draw.
The player most likely is probably world champion Stuart Bingham.
The tournament’s top seed is 20/1 to record back-to-back majors, although he has not performed anywhere near his best since winning at the Crucible in May.
There have, however, been three first-time victories already this season – most notably when qualifier Kyren Wilson defeated Trump 10-9 in the final of the Shanghai Masters in September.
Wilson, who had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals of a ranking event before China, is 66/1 to win the UK Championship.
Yet the prospect of a similar shock in this event is less likely.
Because while many regular tour events are contested over seven frames, matches at the UK Championship are best of 11 – with the final extended to 19.
Selby, who is yet to win a tournament in 2015/16, believes that difference will be decisive.
“Because a lot of the tournaments we play in are best of seven, it’s quite difficult to judge your game and see where it’s at,” said the Jester from Leicester.
“You don’t have to be doing that much wrong in the best of sevens to lose the game.
“So you have to take those games for what they are and use them as match practice leading up to the big tournaments.”
Selby completed his Triple Crown after winning the World Championship in 2014 and is bullish about his chances at this year’s UK.
“I’ve been practising hard and my form is good,” he said.
“I’m always confident going into a tournament. You have to be, otherwise it’s pointless.
“Whether I go on and win it is a different thing, but I’ll go there as confident as ever.
“My practice has been good, I’m working hard and giving myself the best chance. That’s all you can ask for.”
One player noticeably absent from this year’s 128-man field is, of course, the defending champion.
O’Sullivan, who has not played since exiting the World Championship in April, will be in York, but only as a pundit for Eurosport.
The decision to not even attempt to retain the title he won for the fifth time last year surprised Selby.
“I thought he would play in the UK with it being such a big tournament,” he said.
“I know he’s not played in the other competitions, but I thought he’d probably play in the UK.
“That’s down to himself. Everyone at the start of the season has a choice to play in them or not and obviously Ronnie’s chosen not to.”
O’Sullivan, naturally, will be missed.
But not even the self-enforced absence of one of the game’s greatest players can undermine the prestige and glamour of the UK Championship.
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