[1] Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was the number one seed, with remaining places being allocated to players based on the world rankings after the 2017 UK Championship.

A notable absentee was former Masters champion Neil Robertson, who had participated in every Masters tournament since 2006, but had failed to be ranked high enough in time for the event, at rank 20;[6] Robertson would return to the event the following season.

[10] Playing in his first Masters tournament in eight years, the other Welsh player in the draw, Ryan Day, came from 0–3 down to beat World number four and former champion, Ding Junhui, 6–4.

[12] Former World Championship finalist, Judd Trump, defeated Liang Wenbo by a score of 6–4 in the first round.

[13] Mark Allen safely reached the second round by defeating Masters debutant Luca Brecel 6–3.

He defeated former Masters finalist, Barry Hawkins, 6–4 in the first round of this edition of the tournament.

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan was knocked out of the tournament by Mark Allen, who won their quarter-final match 6–1.

[17] Having suffered his first loss at the Masters since 2015, O'Sullivan claimed afterwards that he had been feeling ill before the match and was "glad" to be out of the competition.

[18][deprecated source] After the match, Allen mentioned the negative crowd reaction, saying that his playing style had been affected by some of O'Sullivan's fans.

In the first semi-final, Kyren Wilson defeated Judd Trump 6–5 to reach his first Triple Crown final.

[25] In the second semi-final, Mark Allen dispatched another former multiple World and Masters Champion, John Higgins, 6–3.

[33] The tournament was broadcast live in the United Kingdom by BBC Sport, as well as on Eurosport in Europe.

Masters winner Mark Allen was defeated in the first round, losing 4–5 to Matthew Selt.

[37] At the following year's event, the 2019 Masters, both finalists would lose in the first round: Mark Allen 5–6 to Luca Brecel, and Kyren Wilson 2–6 to Judd Trump.