Snooker in details

Snooker is a kind of billiards game that attracts players and viewers with a variety of tactical options. From this article, you can learn about the basics of the sport.

Terminology

The aim of the game is to score as many points as possible within the rules of the game. Snooker is an intellectual game, in which skilled players calculate their actions several moves ahead. Snooker is a game of “outs”. By “outs” we mean that it is not enough to hit the pocket by yourself, after another shot you have to put the die in a position, from where it’s convenient to hit the next ball.

Snooker is a serial game. Mastery of exits and position calculation leads to the player’s ability to build a long uninterrupted series of shots and win the game.

To better understand the meaning of this game, it is necessary to learn the basic terms.

• Break (series) is a continuous sequence of balls scored by one player.
• Frame is a single game of snooker.
• Miss is a failure to hit a hit on a sighted ball.
• Cluster is a cluster of two or more balls standing tightly together.
• Century break (hundred-ball series) is a continuous series of 100 or more points. The record holder for this is Stephen Hendry, who has made 732 hundredth series in his career.
• The maximum (maximum break) is a continuous series of 15 red balls + 15 black + 6 colored = 147 points. Total in the history of snooker maximum break in official competitions was recorded 68 times. The leaders in the number of maximums are Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O’Sullivan, who have nine such breaks each.
• The die is the white ball used to hit the ball.
• Aiming ball is the ball at which the shot is taken.
• Snooker is a position on the playing table when the die is blocked from the aiming ball by another ball and cannot pass to it in a straight line. Snooker is one of the important tactical techniques. Specifically, when one of the players does not have enough points to win, he uses snooker to try and force his opponent to make a mistake.

Types

Snooker is a game known in many countries. There are several varieties of this game.

• Snooker Plus (a variant of snooker with extra balls);
• Sinuca brasileira (Brazilian snooker variant);
• American Snooker (a snooker game played on a “small” table, common in North America);
• Volunteer snooker (a variant of snooker, popular in the mid-twentieth century);
• Snooker with six reds (a shortened version of snooker, instead of 15 reds in the starting position there are only six);
• Power Snooker (a new experimental version of the game).

Rules

Snooker rules are rather complicated, which distinguishes it from other types of billiard games.

The game is played on a rectangular table. Its length is about 12 feet and 8 inches (just under 4 meters) and width is 5 feet 10 inches (just under 2 meters). The set for the game consists of 15 red balls, 6 colored balls, and one white ball. The colored balls are placed on their mark on the table and the red balls are placed in a triangular pyramid closer to the far side. The fixture for the game is a cue, which must be no shorter than 91.4 cm.

Each ball has its own value:

• red – 1 point;
• yellow – 2 points;
• green – 3 points;
• brown – 4 points;
• blue – 5 points;
• pink – 6 points;
• black – 7 points.

The main feature of snooker is the order in which the balls are scored. When the right to strike goes to the player, his task as the first ball to score a red ball. If he succeeds, his next goal is to score any of the colored balls. Red balls are not returned to the table, unlike colored balls, which are placed on their marks. When only colored balls remain on the table, the player must put them in the pocket in order of increasing ball value.

An important distinguishing feature of snooker is that points can be scored not only by scoring balls, but also at the expense of errors of the opponent. The minimum penalty for a “foul” is four points, which are awarded to the opponent of the player who committed the violation of the rules.

The highest possible number of points per series is 147 (without the “free ball”) and 155 (with the “free ball”). A series of 147 points (or 155 points with a loose ball) is called a “maximum series” or “maximum break”.

To get the maximum number of points a player must score all the red balls, scoring a black ball after each red ball, and then score in order of seniority all colored balls. The snooker player who scores the most points by the end of the frame wins it.

History

The creator of snooker is considered to be Sir Neville Chamberlain, who served as a colonel in the British colonial army in India. The birth of the new game took place in 1875, at that time in the British army billiards was very popular. The original version had four colored balls (black, pink, green and yellow), and only a little later two more (blue and brown) were added.

The name of the game was born in a rather amusing way. Once, during a game under the new rules, Colonel Chamberlain called his opponent a “real snooker” when he failed to score a ball. It was a nickname for first-year cadets at the time.

An important role in the formation of snooker was played by John Roberts, the British billiards champion. All in the same 19th century, while traveling, he met Chamberlain in India and learned about the novelty from him. After returning home, Roberts began to popularize snooker in Great Britain.

The rules of the game were officially recorded in 1919, and eight years later the first World Snooker Championship was held in Birmingham. Future legend Joe Davis helped to organize the tournament, which he himself won. He received a six pounds’ prize for his victory!

In the mid-20th century, the game suffered a crisis. It was all hindered by the lack of money and unified organization. As a result, for several years even the world championships were not held.

Salvation for the game was the television broadcast of a small tournament on the BBC in 1969. The program was a great success, and after that, snooker began to revive. The number of fans of the game grew rapidly, and sponsors finally appeared.

Another historic event happened in 1977: the World Snooker Championship began to be played at the Crucible Theater in the center of Sheffield. It has been a long time since then, but the greatest players still come to Sheffield every year to play for the world title.

Famous players

• Joe Davis is a 15-time world champion. He had his 15 wins in a row and, with his 15th, left the sport undefeated.
• Ray Reardon is a six-time world champion. He earned the nickname Dracula, because of his permanent hairstyle – dark, slicked-back hair.
• Stephen Hendry is a seven-time world champion. For his achievements in snooker, he was nicknamed The Great. He won his first world championship victory at age 21. He holds the record for the most highs and 100th series.
• Ronnie O’Sullivan is a three-time world champion. Because of his fast style of game, he is nicknamed the “Rocket”. Ronnie is very popular among fans, and many, despite the small number of wins relative to Hendry or Davis, call him the greatest player in the history of snooker. O’Sullivan currently leads the world rankings.

All in all, snooker is one of the most difficult variations of the pool games, but it is becoming more and more popular.