However, the sport's governing body subsequently suspended invitees Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong from professional competition amid a match-fixing investigation.

The Masters is a non-ranking snooker tournament that was first held in 1975 for ten invited players at the West Centre Hotel in London.

John Spencer won the inaugural event, defeating Ray Reardon on a re-spotted black in the deciding frame of the final.

[10] The defending champion was Australia's Neil Robertson, who won the tournament for a second time at the 2022 Masters by defeating England's Barry Hawkins 10–4 in the final.

The next six players in the world rankings were seeded and allocated fixed positions in the draw, with the remaining eight participants drawn randomly against them.

[12][13] The first-round draw was made during the UK Championship final, which was contested by Mark Allen and Ding Junhui on 20 November 2022.

[14] Ding would have re-entered the top 16 and been invited to the event had he won the UK Championship, but Allen defeated him, so the last Masters spot went to 2021 champion Yan Bingtao, who was ranked 16th in the world at the cutoff.

[17] On 3 January 2023, the WPBSA suspended the world number nine Zhao Xintong, who had been drawn against third seed Mark Selby in the first round, as part of the same investigation.

[23] On the opening afternoon, 2015 winner Shaun Murphy faced the defending champion Robertson, who won the first frame.

However, Robertson won the next three frames, including a maximum break attempt in the ninth, which ended when he missed the 14th red ball.

Robertson had chances in the tenth to force a deciding frame but missed a key shot on the blue ball after potting the penultimate red, which allowed Murphy to clinch the match 6–4.

[28] Vafaei paid tribute to Selby, calling him a "tough opponent" and a "legend", and commented: "Am I asleep or awake?

[29] Luca Brecel faced world number one O'Sullivan, who took the opening frame with a 97 break and won both the second and third on the colours after errors from his opponent.

[30] O'Sullivan commented: "It is not easy to play under pressure and I sensed that Luca felt a little uncomfortable and I tried to make the most of that and punish every mistake he made".

[31] In the evening, Jack Lisowski, who had won just four frames across his three previous Masters appearances, faced two-time winner John Higgins, who was playing in the tournament for a record-extending 29th time.

[32] The 2018 winner Allen faced two-time runner-up Hawkins, who trailed by 55 points in the opening frame but recovered to win it on the colours.

In the sixth, Allen missed a rest shot while on a 45 break and then made a safety mistake with two reds remaining that let Hawkins close out a 6–0 whitewash.

[36] In the evening, two-time winner Williams faced Gilbert, who had reached the semi-finals on both his previous appearances in the tournament.

After Gilbert missed a rest shot on the penultimate red in the fourth, Williams cleared to lead 4–0 at the interval.

In the deciding frame, Day played a cannon into the pack while potting the black but fouled when a red dropped into the middle pocket.

Day could have won the match by clearing from the free ball but missed his nominated brown to the middle pocket, and Trump potted the last red to win 6–5.

[40] In the final first-round match, 2018 runner-up Kyren Wilson faced 2020 winner Stuart Bingham, who won the first two frames with back-to-back centuries of 102 and 109.

[42] Calling the match one of his best performances, Williams said: "In the first three frames I didn't have a shot, he tied me up in knots but I felt the crowd wanted me to win towards the end, that is unbelievable."

Lisowski, who suffered from a migraine in the hours before the match, made breaks of 96 and 76 to win the first two frames, but Vafaei responded with a 68 and a total clearance of 143 to level the scores at the mid-session interval.

Vafaei led in the seventh but missed a shot on the yellow with the rest, and Lisowski cleared to win the frame.

However, Lisowski won the ninth after a safety exchange on the blue and took the tenth with a break of 74 to win the match 6–4 and advance to his second Triple Crown semi-final, after reaching the same stage at the 2022 UK Championship.

In the fifth, Hawkins led by 39 points when he missed a black off the spot, allowing Trump to win the frame with a 61 break.

Speaking as a pundit for the BBC, six-time winner Stephen Hendry praised Trump's performance, saying: "A sign of a true great and a world-class player is to produce the best snooker when you have your back against the wall.

The fourth frame was decided when Bingham went in-off after a lengthy safety exchange on the green, enabling Trump to take a 3–1 lead at the mid-session interval.

He made a 58 break in the seventh before missing a red; Bingham obtained two snookers before Trump closed out a 6–1 victory on the colours.