Talk:Snooker rules

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Contents 1 Question 2 Merge from Free ball 3 Merge from Miss (snooker rule) 4 Foul and a miss 5 155 Maximum Break 6 Why is black ball 7 points?

[edit] Question

What is the definition of "no room" in:

"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 it has already been established that it cannot be put on its spot. Do you mean towards top or bottom cushion whichever is closer? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.246.189.179 (talk) 15:59, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

The confusion may arise due to the reverse definition of top and bottom that Snooker uses - the top cushion is the black end and the bottom cushion is the baulk end (which is generally the reverse of how the table is shown). So normally if there are no spots available then it is put as near its spot as possible towards the black end of the table. But if all that area is covered (for example if it is the black ball and its spot and all cloth towards the cushion has reds on it) then it will be placed as near as possible towards the baulk end of the black spot. Hope that clears things up. SFC9394 (talk) 16:10, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

Yes, thank you. The "black end" of the central line is indeed not unlikely to be covered by other balls. Maybe that sentence can be rewritten to make that a bit more clear?

[edit] Merge from Free ball

The free ball article has no particular reason to exist as its own miniarticle. — SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 01:55, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Merge from Miss (snooker rule)

The miss article has no particular reason to exist as its own miniarticle. — SMcCandlish [talk] [contrib] ツ 01:59, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Foul and a miss

The article says that a foul and a miss will be called if a player is deemed not to have made a serious attempt to hit the ball. However, from watching snooker on TV it looks like they call foul and a miss every time the players fail to hit the ball on, regardless of whether a serious attempt was made. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.229.231.115 (talk) 20:30, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

It is all a bit open to interpretation. On TV a miss will almost always be called - because almost all of the time the player will be playing a more tricky escape than they need to, and at a far slower pace than they need to - all so they don't leave any reds on. If the player takes the easiest escape (say off one cushion - careering into the pack - instead of two - nestling against one on the top cushion) and if the player played it at full pace rather than as a slow nestling drag - then a miss won't be called. Very few professional snooker players do this, because they may throw away the frame if they leave something on - hence the referee is left with no option but to call a miss. SFC9394 (talk) 20:36, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] 155 Maximum Break

Regarding the 155 maximum break, I think one of the BBC commentators said that this had been done by Mark Selby, but I'm not sure whether it was during a tournament. Ianhowlett (talk) 17:57, 16 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Why is black ball 7 points?

In the first phase of the game the balls potted are either red or black, because black is the easiest colour. Seldom other colours than black are potted. Why is the player rewarded with the highest points available (7) when potting the easiest colour? Why is black not worth 2p only? (and pink 3, blue 4, green 5, yellow 6, brown 7)

In the second phase of the game the black ball become the most difficult one, and to keep the excitement high the highest point ball should be potted as the last one, so in the second phase black ball should be 7p.

If black was 2p in the first phase the total points of todays maximum break would not be 147, it would be 72. 147 points would still be possible to make, but certainly no one would have made it yet. The highest break record would still be climbing today and not be stuck since 1955. Najro (talk) 19:02, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

and tell me how would you judge difficulty of each ball -.- West Brom 4ever (talk) 00:32, 3 May 2008 (UTC)

When potting red balls the coloured balls closest to the red cluster is the easiest. This is because the white has to travel the shortest distance when preparing for the next shot. Imagine doing red-brown 15 times. The white has to travel across the whole table every shot. This has to be more difficult than red-black because it is more difficult to position the white ball, the further the distance is.

The pink is closer to the red cluster than the black, but it is too close because it is jammed with the reds before the frame has even started, so I think black is easier than pink. Black also has a tendency of getting jammed with the reds. The blue never gets jammed. Possibly blue is easier than black, but still the three most difficult ones is green, brown and yellow. (Well, moving the white towards green, brown, yellow give three choices which is perhaps more easy than the one choice of the black. But in getting the white back to the red cluster is difficult across the whole table, and the red choices might not be that many). Najro (talk) 11:07, 6 May 2008 (UTC)

Holding position and continuing the break make potting black [between reds] far more difficult than you think [avoiding undesirable contact with other reds after potting the black adds further to the challenge]. The schema as it is works very well; what you suggest would result in a very different game, and probably not very exciting to watch.

As for why they pot the black, it is precisely because it is the highest scoring ball! The players intention is to win the game. If the rules were changed to make, say, yellow worth 7 points, that is what players would attempt, in order to get the highest score. Myredroom (talk) 15:36, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

What colour is easier than black when having to do 15 reds? Blue because it not gets jammed?

If yellow was 7p, I dont think the players would try and do it very often because the risk of failure is so high. I think the players instead would try the more safe colours, and stay alive in the shot and not give it away to the opponent. It is better to score a low value than score nothing at all.

And the players interest in the yellow ball maybe also depend on how much prize money is put on the highest break, in comparison with prize money for acheiveing a good result in the tournament. A good tournament should really be more desirable than the highest break. Najro (talk) 11:07, 6 May 2008 (UTC)