The most important event in professional snooker is the World Championship, held annually since 1927 (except between 1958 and 1963). The tournament has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield (England) since 1977, and was sponsored by Embassy from 1976 to 2005. Due to the fact that tobacco companies are no longer allowed to sponsor sporting events in the United Kingdom after 2005, the World Snooker Championship had to find a new sponsor. It was announced in January 2006 that the 2006-2010 world championships would be sponsored by online casino 888.com [1].

Discussion has occurred about the whereabouts of future World Championships, focussing on the possibility of moving the tournament to another city (either in the UK or overseas), or to a bigger venue to accommdate the high spectator demand. This was concluded in 2005 with confirmation that the event will stay in Sheffield for at least a further five years. However, there are plans still to replace The Crucible in Sheffield, by building a new, high capacity, billiards arena.

The group of tournaments that come next in importance are the ranking tournaments. Players in these tournaments score world ranking points. A high ranking ensures qualification for next year’s tournaments, invitations to invitational tournaments and an advantageous draw in tournaments.

Third in line are the invitational tournaments, to which most of the highest ranked players are invited. The most important tournament in this category is The Masters, which to most players is the 2nd or 3rd most sought-after prize.

There are also other championships that have less importance, which don’t give any world ranking points and aren’t televised. These can change on a year-to-year basis depending on calendars and sponsors but the World Snooker website has full details.

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The highest break that can be made under normal circumstances is 147. To achieve that, the player must pot all 15 reds, with the black after every red, followed by potting the six remaining colours. This “maximum break” of 147 rarely occurs in match play.

If an opponent fouls before any balls are potted, and leaves the player a free ball, the player can then nominate a colour and play it as a red ball. Then, black can be nominated as the next colour. This means it is actually possible to score the value of 16 “reds” and blacks, which equals 155 points. This has never been done. The highest break in tournament play is 149, the highest break in professional matchplay is 148.

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A frame normally ends in one of four ways:

1. a concession, when one player gives up due to being too far behind to have a realistic chance of winning the frame.
2. when the pink is potted and the difference between the players’ scores is more than 7 points. The frame is over and, while the striker may pot the black (for a clearance break, for example), no further shots are allowed.
3. the black is potted AND the 7 points scored puts one player ahead
4. a foul on the black AND the 7-point penalty puts one player ahead. (It is sometimes wrongly assumed that play continues after a foul on the black if there is then less than seven points in the scores. This is not the case: the player who has made such a foul has lost the frame.)

If, however, the black is fouled and the 7-point penalty brings the scores level, the black is respotted. Play continues from in-hand, with the players tossing a coin for the choice of playing first or making the opponent play first. Potting or fouling a respotted black ends the frame.

Occasionally, but very rarely, a player will forfeit a frame due to a failure to hit a ball “on” three times in a row (provided the player was not snookered, in which case the player has as many opportunities as is required); and should a player refuse to take his turn at any stage, the referee would have the right to declare the frame over. This would be a most unlikely occurrence.

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Action from The Masters Tournament in 2007

A foul is a shot or action by the striker which is against the rules of the game.

When a foul is made during a shot, the player’s turn is ended and he will receive no points for the foul shot. The other player will receive penalty points.

Common fouls are:

• first hitting a ball “not-on” with the cue ball
• potting a ball “not-on”
• potting the white (in-off)
• hitting another ball than the white with the cue
• making a ball land off the table
• touching a ball with something else than the tip of the cue
• playing a “push shot” – a shot where the cue, cue ball and object ball are in simultaneous contact
• playing a “jump shot”, which is where the cue ball leaves the bed of the table and jumps over a ball (even if touching it in the process) before first hitting another ball
• playing a shot with both feet off the ground

Whereas in other games, such as pool, if the cue ball is touched with the tip of the cue when it is in baulk after being potted then a foul is committed, in snooker if the cue ball is touched with the tip after being potted and in the D, a foul is not committed as long as the referee is satisfied that the player was only positioning the ball, and not playing, or preparing to play, a shot.

When a foul is made, the other player will receive penalty points. Penalty points are at least 4 points and at most 7 points. The number of penalty-points is the value of the ball “on”, or any of the “foul” balls, whichever is highest. When more than one foul is made, the penalty is not the added total, but the most highly valued foul.

The foul of not hitting the ball “on” first is the most common foul. The name of the game originally comes from the verb “snooker” which means to bully, or to put in trouble. Players can put other players in trouble by making sure they can not hit the ball(s) “on” in a direct line from the next shot. This is called a “snooker”.

Since players receive points for fouls by their opponents, snookering your opponent is a possible way to win a frame when potting all the balls on the table would be insufficient for you to win.

If a player commits a foul, and his opponent considers that position left is unattractive, he may request that the offender play again from that position.

If a foul has been committed by not hitting a ball “on” first, or at all, and the referee judges that the player has not made the best possible effort to hit a ball “on”, and neither of the players are in need of snookers to win the frame, then ‘foul, and a miss’ is called and the other player may request that all balls on the table are returned to their position before the foul, and the opponent play the shot again. (In top class play, this will usually require only the cue ball and a couple of other balls to be moved). It should be noted that this rule is often applied less stringently, if at all, in amateur matches.

When a player leaves an opponent unable to hit both sides of at least one ball “on” after a foul, the other player will receive a free ball. This means any colour can be nominated and played as the ball “on”. The number of points for potting the free ball is not the worth of the nominated ball but of the original ball “on”. For example, is the ball “on” is a red, and the free ball is a pink, the player will receive one point for potting the pink. after potting the free ball as a red, a player can nominate and pot a colour as usual.

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Objective

The objective of the game of snooker is to strike the white cue ball with a cue in the direction of other object-balls and to pot these object balls in one of the six pockets. This must be done according to the rules of the game, which are described below. By potting object balls points can be scored. The player who scores most points wins the frame, and the player who wins most frames wins the match.

A Snooker Match

A snooker match usually consists of an odd fixed number of frames. A frame begins with setting up the balls as described above. A frame ends when all balls are potted, or when one of the players gives up because he is too far behind in score to equal or beat the score of the other player.

A match ends when one of the players has won the majority of the set number of frames and the other player can therefore not equal this. For example, when a match consists of 19 frames, the match ends when one of the players has reached 10 frames.

Gameplay

At the beginning of each frame the balls are set up by the referee as explained. This will be followed by a “break-off” shot, on which the players take turns. At the break-off, the white cue ball can be placed anywhere inside the “D”, although it is common for players to start by placing the ball on the line, between the brown ball and either the green or yellow ball.

Players take turns in visiting the table. When one player is at the table, the other cannot play. A “break” is a number of points scored by one player in one single visit to the table. A player’s turn and break end, when he fails to pot a ball, when he does something against the rules of the game, which is called a foul or when a frame has ended.

When a player strikes the white, according to the rules of the game the white can only first hit certain object balls. If the white first hits another ball, this is considered a foul. The ball or balls that can be hit first by the white in a certain stroke are called the ball(s)-on for that particular stroke. The balls-on are the only balls that can be potted by a player. The player receives points for this. If another ball not-on is potted, this is considered a foul.

The game of snooker generally consists of two phases. The first phase is the situation in which there are still red balls on the table. In the first phase, at the beginning of a player’s turn, the balls “on” are all remaining red balls. The player must therefore attempt to first hit and pot one or more red balls. For every red ball potted, the player will receive 1 point. When a red has been potted, it will stay off the table and the player can continue his break. If no red has been potted or a foul has been made, the other play will come into play.

In case one or more red balls have been potted, the player can continue his break. This time one of the six colours (yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black) is the ball “on”. Only one of these can be the ball “on” and the rules of the game state that a player must nominate his desired colour to the referee although often it is clear which ball the striker is playing and it is not necessary to nominate.

When the nominated colour is potted, the player will be awarded the correct number of points (Yellow, 2; Green, 3; Brown, 4; Blue, 5; Pink, 6; Black, 7). The colour is then taken out of the pocket by the referee and placed on its original spot. If that spot is covered by another ball, the ball is placed on the highest available spot. If there is no available spot, it is placed as close to its own spot as possible in a direct line between that spot and the top cushion, without touching another ball. If there is no room this side of the spot, it will be placed as close to the spot as possible in a straight line towards the bottom cushion, without touching another ball.

Because only one of the colours is the ball “on”, it is a foul to first hit multiple colours (and reds) at the same time, or pot more than one colour (or red).

If a player fails to pot a ball “on”, it being a red or nominated colour, the other player will come into play and the balls “on” are always the reds, as long as there are still reds on the table.

The alternation between red balls and colours ends when all reds have been potted and the second phase begins. In this phase, all colours have to be potted in the correct order (yellow, then green, then brown, then blue, then pink, then black). They also become the ball “on” in that order. During this phase, when potted, the colours stay down and are not replaced on the table, unless a foul is made when potting the colour and the colour is respotted.

When all colours are potted, the frame is over and the player who has scored most points has won the frame. When only the black remains, the difference in score is more than the 7 points the black is worth, and the striker decides that the 7 points of the black are of no value to him or his break, the frame is also ended. When a foul is made on the black, the frame also ends.

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Snooker table, drawn to scale

Snooker is played on a rectangular 6′ by 12′ (about 1.83m by 3.66m) table with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. At one end of the table (the ‘Baulk End’) is the so-called ‘baulk line’, which is 29 inches from the baulk end cushion. A semicircle of radius 11½ inches, called the “D”, is drawn behind this line, centred on the middle of the line. The cushion on the other side of the table is known as the ‘Top Cushion’.

At the beginning of a frame, the balls are set up in the arrangement shown. The six colours (a term referring to all coloured balls but the white and the reds) are placed on their own spots. On the baulk line, looking up the table from the ‘baulk end’, the yellow ball is located where the “D” meets the line on the right, the green ball where the “D” meets the line on the left, and the brown ball in the middle of the line. This order is often remembered using the mnemonic ‘God Bless You’, the first letter of each word being the first letter of the three colours. At the exact centre of the table sits the blue ball. Further up the table is the pink ball, which sits midway between the blue spot and the top cushion, followed by the red balls, arranged in a tightly-packed triangle behind the pink (the apex must be as close as possible to the pink ball without touching it). Finally, the black ball is placed on a spot 12¾ inches from the top cushion.

Because of the large size of “full sized” snooker tables, smaller tables are common in domestic situations and other situations where space is limited. These are often around 6 feet in length, and all the dimensions and markings are scaled down accordingly. The balls used are sometimes also scaled down.

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Action from The Masters Tournament in 2007

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), founded in 1968 as the Professional Billiard Players’ Association, is the governing body for the professional game. Its subsidiary, World Snooker, organises the professional tour. The organisation is based in Bristol, England. Some consider that the world governing body has been racked by in-fighting for a number of years.

The amateur game is governed by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).

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Illustration of a game of three ball pocket billiards in early 19th century Tübingen, Germany

The game of billiards dates back to the 15th century but snooker is a more recent invention. In the late 19th century billiards games were popular among British army officers stationed in India, and players used to experiment with variations on the game. Due to the fact that billiards was a two-player game, multi-player variations such as life pool (where different coloured balls were use as cue and/or object balls, depending on the situation or number of players) and pyramid pool (fifteen red balls racked in a triangle where each player received a point per ball potted) became popular. Black pool was a form of pyramid pool that took the black ball from a life pool set so a player could pot a red then the black for more points. The most commonly accepted story is that, at the officers’ mess in Jabalpur some time in 1875, a Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain suggested adding coloured balls to black pool so that the variation featured fifteen reds, a yellow, green, pink and black (blue and brown were added some years later). The word ‘snooker’ was army slang for a first-year cadet. During a game a cadet missed a shot and Chamberlain said to him: “Why you’re a regular snooker!” After explaining the meaning to his fellow peers, Chamberlain added that they were perhaps all snookers at this game. The term was adopted for the new variation and has been in use ever since.^[1] British billiards champion John Roberts travelled to India in 1885, where he met Chamberlain. Chamberlain explained the new game to him, and Roberts subsequently introduced it to England.

Snooker championships date back to 1916. In 1927, Joe Davis helped establish the first professional world championship, and won its prize of £6.10s (£6.50, equivalent to about £200 or $348 today). He went on to win every subsequent world championship until 1946, when he retired from tournament play. The trophy he donated all those years ago is still awarded to the world champion.

A dispute between the professionals and the Billiards Association & Control Council (BA&CC, the game’s then-governing body) meant that there were only two entrants for the ‘official’ world championship – Horace Lindrum (Australia) beat Clark McConachy (New Zealand). However, the professionals organised their own ‘world championship’ (termed the Professional Match-Play Championship) between 1952 and 1957, and the winners of this version are generally accepted as the World Champion. Nevertheless, it is Lindrum’s name that is engraved on the familiar trophy.

Snooker suffered a decline in the 1950s and 1960s, so much so that no tournament was held from 1958 to 1963. In 1969, the BBC, in order to demonstrate their new colour broadcasts, launched a new snooker tournament, called Pot Black. The multi-coloured game, many of whose players were just as colourful, caught the public interest, and the programme’s success wildly exceeded expectations. Ted Lowe, the commentator famous for his whispering delivery, was the driving-force behind Pot Black, which survived until well into the 1980s.

In the early 1970s, the world championship received little TV coverage. However, in 1976 it was featured for the first time and very quickly became a mainstream professional sport. World rankings were introduced in 1977. Money poured into the game, and a new breed of player, typified by Steve Davis, young, serious and dedicated, started to emerge. The first maximum break of 147 in televised tournament was made by Davis against John Spencer in the Lada Classic, Oldham, in 1982. The first 147 at the World Championships (Crucible, Sheffield) was by the Canadian Cliff Thorburn. The top players became sterling millionaires. There was even a comic snooker song in the pop charts: Snooker Loopy by Chas and Dave, featuring contributions from a host of players including Steve Davis and Willie Thorne.

Perhaps the peak of this golden age was the World Championship of 1985, when 18.5 million people (one third of the population of the UK) watching BBC2 saw Dennis Taylor lift the cup after a mammoth struggle against Davis that finished with the potting of the last possible ball (with the exception of a re-spotted black), at 00:20 after a gruelling Sunday night. The 2006 final has since surpassed this with Graeme Dott beating Peter Ebdon at 00:53. To this day, polls rank the 1985 World Snooker Championship final amongst UK TV’s most memorable all-time moments. With seven wins in the modern era, Stephen Hendry is often considered the most successful player ever.

Snooker remains immensely popular in the United Kingdom, second only to football amongst television viewers. Indeed, it has recently been referred to as “the most mesmerising sport on television” by a BBC advert for their coverage of the 2006 World Championships.

References

1. ^ Billiards – The Official Rules & Records Book, US ISBN 1558211896

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Snooker is a billiards sport that is played on a large (12′ × 6′) baize-covered table with pockets in each of the four corners and in the middle of each of the long side cushions. It is played using a cue, one white ball (the cue ball), 15 red balls (worth 1 point each) and 6 colours: a yellow (2 points), green (3 points), brown (4 points), blue (5 points), pink (6 points) and black ball (7 points). A player wins a frame of snooker by scoring the most points, using the cue ball to pot the balls in the manner described below. A match consists of an agreed number of frames. Snooker is particularly popular in English-speaking and Commonwealth countries, and the Far East.

Links

• IBSF – International Billiards & Snooker Federation
• World Snooker
• UK Snooker portal
• UK National Amateur Snooker Leagues Website
• Snooker results site
• Snooker stats site

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Video: 2008 World Snooker Championship – O’Sullivan/Carter x26 #1