For a man who has tasted victory in the B&H Masters, the record of John Higgins in the tournament has been mixed.

"I've won it once and been to the final, but apart from that it's not really been that great. I've lost in the first round five times," he said.

But the 25-year-old Scot, whho savoured his B&H victory in 1999 and was runner-up four years earlier, knows how important the competition is.

"It's one of the tournaments everyone looks forward to. It's got bigger, more competitive and has a larger prize fund," he said.

Higgins is not satisfied overall with his performances this season despite winning the Liverpool Victoria UK Championship.

"The season has been OK. I won the UK Championship, but apart from that I've not had a great season, only getting to one other semi-final," he said Higgins.

"But at least I've won one big one so far this year."

Top four

The four highest-ranked players - Mark Williams, Higgins, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry - have begun to hog the major prizes.

And Higgins knows it is likely the B&H tournament winner will come from that list.

"Stephen has a great record there, Ronnie is playing on home soil and Mark is always a danger," he said.

"The top four are always the ones to beat, and after them there is maybe a little gap to the rest of the players, although there is still a lot of class there."

While accepting he is unlikely to rack up enough points to overtake Mark Williams as world number one this term, Higgins wants more success.