It was held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, the 33rd consecutive year that the World Snooker Championship was staged at the venue.

The 16 qualifiers and the top 16 players from the snooker world rankings reached the tournament's main stage at the Crucible.

A total of 83 century breaks were compiled during the event's main stage, the highest being a 147 made by Stephen Hendry.

Organised by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, the 2009 tournament was sponsored by online betting shop Betfred for the first time.

[4] The defending champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan, made breaks of 61, 140, 104, 73, 78, 94, 100 and 97 for a 10‍–‍5 victory against Stuart Bingham, although he rated his performance with a five out of ten.

[6] In a duel between two former world champions, Stephen Hendry won 10‍–‍7 over Mark Williams, who had to have his cue stick repaired in the middle of the match.

[8] Gould defeated the 2000 and 2005 runner-up, Matthew Stevens, in the qualifiers to earn a place at the Crucible,[10] but he could not make it past Mark Allen, who knocked him out in the first round with a 10‍–‍6 result.

[11] As he went into his first-round match against Higginson, Shaun Murphy, the 2005 winner, was threatened by his wife to be presented with the divorce papers at the Crucible.

[12][13] Walden, champion of both the invitational 2008 Six-red Snooker International and the ranking 2008 Shanghai Masters earlier in the season, lost 6‍–‍10 to Mark Selby, runner-up in 2007.

[15] The runner-up in the previous edition, Ali Carter, had won his first ranking event earlier in the season, the 2009 Welsh Open.

[13] John Higgins, world champion in 1998 and 2007, fell 2‍–‍4 behind Michael Holt during the first session, but he only conceded one more frame as he completed the comeback for a 10‍–‍5 win.

[46][47] The draw for the televised stage of the World Snooker Championship was made on Wednesday, 11 March 2009 at 9:45 a.m. GMT on Radio Sheffield.