Defending champion Mark Selby was the number 1 seed with World Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan seeded 2. Places were allocated to the top 16 players in the world rankings. Players seeded 15 and 16 played in the wild-card round against the winner of the qualifying event, Judd Trump (ranked 41), and wild-card selection Ricky Walden (ranked 35). Mark Allen, Judd Trump and Ricky Walden were making their debuts in the Masters.