-
The World Championship uses a longer format, with matches ranging from the best of 19 frames in the first round to best of 35 for the final, which is played over four sessions
of play held over two days. -
[96] As of the 2020–21 season, there are 128 places available on the World Snooker Tour,[97] with players either in the top 64 on the official ranking list, or finishing as
one of the top eight prize money earners during the most recent season, guaranteed a tour place for the next season, this being assessed after the World Championship. -
[25][26] However, snooker declined in popularity in the post-war era; the 1952 World Snooker Championship was contested by only two players and was replaced by the World Professional
Match-play Championship, which was also discontinued in 1957. -
[19][6] In an effort to boost popularity of snooker, Davis introduced a variation known as “snooker plus” in 1959, which added two extra colours, but this version of the game
was short-lived. -
[82] Players on the World Snooker Tour generally gain a two-year “tour card” for participation in the events.
-
Additionally, “one-year” and “two-year” ranking lists are compiled at the end of every season, after the World Championship; these year-end lists are used for pre-qualification
at certain tournaments and for tour-card guarantees. -
Evans has also participated on the World Snooker Tour and has taken part in the qualifying rounds of the main world championship on five occasions, reaching the second round
in 2017. -
The popularity of snooker has led to the creation of many variations based on the standard game, but using different rules or equipment, including six-red snooker, the short-lived
“snooker plus”, and the more recent Snooker Shoot Out version. -
A two-tier structure was adopted for the 1997–98 snooker season; comprising six tournaments known as the WPBSA Minor Tour was open to all professionals, but only ran for one
season. -
[121][122] A trial for the format for cue sports to be played at the 2024 games was put forward at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also featuring nine-ball and carom billiards.
-
[92] The current world rankings are determined using a two-year rolling points system, where points are allocated to the players according to the prize money earned at designated
tournaments. -
[95] Certain other events, such as those in the Players Series, use the one-year ranking list to qualify; these use the results of the current season to denote participants.
-
[79] Some early world finals had much longer matches, such as the 1947 World Snooker Championship, which was played over the best of 145 frames.
-
The World Championship, the UK Championship, and the Masters together make up the Triple Crown Series, considered by many players to be the most highly valued titles.
-
Top professional players compete in regular tournaments around the world, earning millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour, a circuit of international events featuring
competitors of many different nationalities. -
[134] In 2012, O’Sullivan played fewer tournaments to spend more time with his children, and ended the 2012–13 season ranked 19th in the world; he played only one tournament
in 2013, the World Championship, which he won. -
Jamie Cope was the first player to achieve a verified 155 break during a practice frame in 2005, with other players such as Alex Higgins claiming to have made a similar break.
-
[62][f] If there are not enough points remaining on the table for a player to win the frame, that player may offer to concede the frame while at the table (but not while their
opponent is still at the table); a frame concession is a common occurrence in professional snooker. -
Joe Davis, a key figure and pioneer in the early growth of the sport, won fifteen successive world championships between 1927 and 1946.
-
If both players agree, the balls are returned to their starting positions and the frame is restarted (known as a “re-rack”), with the same player taking the break-off shot
as before. -
[111] These two events, and the annual non-ranking Masters tournament, make up the Triple Crown Series;[112][113] being some of the oldest competitions on the professional
circuit, the Triple Crown events are valued by many players as the most prestigious. -
Most matches in current professional tournaments are played as the best of 7, 9, or 11 frames, with finals usually the best of 17 or 19 frames.
-
[64] The winner of the World Women’s Snooker Championship now receives a two-year tour card to the main professional tour.
-
Breaks of 100 points or more are referred to as a century break, and are recorded over the career of a professional player.
-
[109][110] The UK Championship, held annually since 1977, is considered to be the second most important ranking tournament, after the World Championship.
-
If the referee has also called a “miss”—meaning that the referee has deemed the opponent not to have made their best possible attempt to hit the object ball—the player has
the option of having the balls replaced to their original positions and forcing the opponent to play the shot again. -
[62] At the start of each player’s turn, the objective is to first pot a red ball, unless all reds are off the table, or the player has been awarded a free ball, which allows
them to nominate another object ball instead of a red. -
The shot-timed Premier League Snooker was held between 1987 and 2012, with seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues, is televised on Sky Sports.
-
[82] Beginning in the 2014–15 season, some players have also received invitational tour cards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the sport; these cards are
issued at the discretion of the World Snooker Board, and have been awarded to players including Steve Davis, James Wattana, Jimmy White, and Stephen Hendry. -
In this situation, called a “re-spotted black”, the black ball is returned to its designated spot and the cue ball is played in-hand, meaning that it may be placed anywhere
on or within the lines of the “D” to start the tiebreak. -
Cigarette brand Embassy sponsored the World Snooker Championship for 30 consecutive years from 1976 to 2005, one of the longest-running deals in British sports sponsorship.
-
[62] If a player is awarded a free ball with all 15 red balls still in play, they can potentially make a break exceeding 147, with the highest possible being a 155 break,
achieved by nominating the free ball as an extra red, then potting the black as the additional colour after potting the free-ball red, followed by the 15 reds with blacks, and finally the colours. -
[47][48][49] Since then, the number of professional tournaments has increased, with 44 events held in the 2019–20 season.
-
[62][71] Players will often play on even when there are not enough points available for them to win, hoping to force their opponent into playing foul shots by laying snookers.
-
Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white cue ball to pot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful
pot and for each time the opposing player or team commits a foul. -
[41][42] The sport had become more popular in Asia with the emergence of players such as Ding Junhui and Marco Fu,[43][44] and still received significant television coverage
in the UK—the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker in 2007, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier. -
The game continues until one of the players either pots the black ball to win the frame, or commits a foul (losing the frame).
-
The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one visit to the table is known as a “break”.
-
Although the main professional tour is open to women, female players also compete on a separate amateur women’s tour organised by World Women’s Snooker.
-
[93] This “rolling” list is maintained and updated throughout the season, with points from tournaments played in the current season replacing points earned from the corresponding
tournaments of two seasons ago. -
The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in the semicircle (known as the “D”) at the start of the game.
-
Players can qualify for the tour by virtue of their position in the world rankings from prior seasons, by winning continental championships, or through the Challenge Tour
or Q School events. -
[e] If successful, the value of the potted colour is added to the player’s score, and the ball is returned to its designated spot on the table.
-
[54] However, lower-ranked professional players struggle to make a living from the sport, especially after paying tournament entry fees, travel, and other expenses.
-
[69] A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles an abacus and records the points scored by each player for the current frame in units and twenties, as well as the frame scores.
-
[84][85] A similar secondary UK Tour was first played from the 1997–98 season, which was renamed the Challenge Tour in 2000, Players Tour Championship in 2010 and returned
as the Challenge Tour in 2018. -
[5] Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj, and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for military officers and the
gentry;[15] many gentlemen’s clubs that had a snooker table would not allow non-members inside to play. -
The players then take alternating turns at playing shots,[b] with the aim of potting a red ball into a pocket and thereby scoring one point.
-
[91] World rankings[edit] Main article: Snooker world rankings Every player on the World Snooker Tour is assigned a position on the WPBSA’s official world ranking list, which
is used to determine the seedings and the level of qualification each player requires for the tournaments on the professional circuit. -
All competitions are open to professional players who have qualified for the tour, and selected amateur players, but most events include a separate qualification stage.
-
-
[3][4] A similar game, which originated at the Officers’ Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875,[5][6] combined the rules of two pool games: pyramid pool, played with
fifteen red balls positioned in a triangle; and black pool, which involved the potting of designated balls. -
The World Snooker Championship first took place in 1927.
-
The player must then pot another red ball followed by another colour.
-
[106][107] The World Championship is the most highly valued title in professional snooker,[108] both in terms of financial reward (the tournament has carried a £500,000 winner’s
prize since 2019), ranking points, and prestige. -
[50] Snooker tournaments have been adapted to make them more suitable for television audiences, with some tournaments being played over a shortened duration,[51] or the Snooker
Shoot Out, which is a timed, one-frame competition. -
The latter is a common foul committed when a player fails to escape from a “snooker”, where the previous player has left the cue ball positioned such that no legal ball can
be struck directly in a straight line without being wholly or partially obstructed by an illegal ball. -
[98] Tournaments[edit] See also: List of snooker tournaments World Snooker Championship trophy The oldest current professional snooker tournament is the World Snooker Championship,[79]
which has taken place as an annual event most years since 1927. -
[52] The prize money for professional events has increased as the sport continues to grow, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers.
-
The standard rules of the game were first established in 1919 when the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed.
-
The World Snooker Championship moved in 1977 to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has been staged ever since, and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first
to receive daily television coverage. -
[33] Snooker quickly became a mainstream sport in the United Kingdom,[34][35] Ireland, and much of the Commonwealth, and has remained consistently popular since the late 1970s,
with most of the major tournaments being televised. -
[117] The event saw players qualify by virtue of winning other events in the season, with 16 champions competing.
-
[c] The player must then play away from that ball without moving it, or else the player will concede penalty points.
-
[132] The most prestigious amateur event in England is the English Amateur Championship; first held in 1916, this is the oldest snooker competition still being played in the
world. -
The responsibilities of the referee include announcing the points scored during a break, determining when a foul has been committed and awarding penalty points and free balls
accordingly, replacing colours onto their designated spots after they are potted, restoring the balls to their previous positions after the “miss” rule has been invoked (see Scoring), and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request
by the striker. -
[123] Snooker has been contested at the World Games since 2001, and was included as an event at the 2019 African Games.
-
The reigning champion is Reanne Evans who has held the women’s world title twelve times since first winning the championship in 2005.
-
First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with twenty-two balls, comprising a cue ball, fifteen red
balls, and six other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black—collectively called the colours. -
[110] Players had twenty-five seconds to take each shot, with five time-outs per player per match.
-
[119][120] Another bid has been put forward for the 2024 Summer Olympics through the World Snooker Federation, founded in 2017.
-
[62] If dissatisfied with the position left after a foul, the next player may nominate the opponent who committed the foul to play again from where the balls have come to
rest. -
Key figures in the game were Ray Reardon in the 1970s, Steve Davis in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s, each winning the World Championship at least six times.
-
[61] A player could achieve a break of 15, for example, by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red.
-
Although some success was achieved with this format, it did not receive the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments.
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‘]
-
The World Championship uses a longer format, with matches ranging from the best of 19 frames in the first round to best of 35 for the final, which is played over four sessions
of play held over two days. -
[96] As of the 2020–21 season, there are 128 places available on the World Snooker Tour,[97] with players either in the top 64 on the official ranking list, or finishing as
one of the top eight prize money earners during the most recent season, guaranteed a tour place for the next season, this being assessed after the World Championship. -
[25][26] However, snooker declined in popularity in the post-war era; the 1952 World Snooker Championship was contested by only two players and was replaced by the World Professional
Match-play Championship, which was also discontinued in 1957. -
[19][6] In an effort to boost popularity of snooker, Davis introduced a variation known as “snooker plus” in 1959, which added two extra colours, but this version of the game
was short-lived. -
[82] Players on the World Snooker Tour generally gain a two-year “tour card” for participation in the events.
-
Additionally, “one-year” and “two-year” ranking lists are compiled at the end of every season, after the World Championship; these year-end lists are used for pre-qualification
at certain tournaments and for tour-card guarantees. -
Evans has also participated on the World Snooker Tour and has taken part in the qualifying rounds of the main world championship on five occasions, reaching the second round
in 2017. -
The popularity of snooker has led to the creation of many variations based on the standard game, but using different rules or equipment, including six-red snooker, the short-lived
“snooker plus”, and the more recent Snooker Shoot Out version. -
A two-tier structure was adopted for the 1997–98 snooker season; comprising six tournaments known as the WPBSA Minor Tour was open to all professionals, but only ran for one
season. -
[121][122] A trial for the format for cue sports to be played at the 2024 games was put forward at the 2019 World Team Trophy, also featuring nine-ball and carom billiards.
-
[92] The current world rankings are determined using a two-year rolling points system, where points are allocated to the players according to the prize money earned at designated
tournaments. -
[95] Certain other events, such as those in the Players Series, use the one-year ranking list to qualify; these use the results of the current season to denote participants.
-
[79] Some early world finals had much longer matches, such as the 1947 World Snooker Championship, which was played over the best of 145 frames.
-
The World Championship, the UK Championship, and the Masters together make up the Triple Crown Series, considered by many players to be the most highly valued titles.
-
Top professional players compete in regular tournaments around the world, earning millions of pounds on the World Snooker Tour, a circuit of international events featuring
competitors of many different nationalities. -
[134] In 2012, O’Sullivan played fewer tournaments to spend more time with his children, and ended the 2012–13 season ranked 19th in the world; he played only one tournament
in 2013, the World Championship, which he won. -
Jamie Cope was the first player to achieve a verified 155 break during a practice frame in 2005, with other players such as Alex Higgins claiming to have made a similar break.
-
[62][f] If there are not enough points remaining on the table for a player to win the frame, that player may offer to concede the frame while at the table (but not while their
opponent is still at the table); a frame concession is a common occurrence in professional snooker. -
Joe Davis, a key figure and pioneer in the early growth of the sport, won fifteen successive world championships between 1927 and 1946.
-
If both players agree, the balls are returned to their starting positions and the frame is restarted (known as a “re-rack”), with the same player taking the break-off shot
as before. -
[111] These two events, and the annual non-ranking Masters tournament, make up the Triple Crown Series;[112][113] being some of the oldest competitions on the professional
circuit, the Triple Crown events are valued by many players as the most prestigious. -
Most matches in current professional tournaments are played as the best of 7, 9, or 11 frames, with finals usually the best of 17 or 19 frames.
-
[64] The winner of the World Women’s Snooker Championship now receives a two-year tour card to the main professional tour.
-
Breaks of 100 points or more are referred to as a century break, and are recorded over the career of a professional player.
-
[109][110] The UK Championship, held annually since 1977, is considered to be the second most important ranking tournament, after the World Championship.
-
If the referee has also called a “miss”—meaning that the referee has deemed the opponent not to have made their best possible attempt to hit the object ball—the player has
the option of having the balls replaced to their original positions and forcing the opponent to play the shot again. -
[62] At the start of each player’s turn, the objective is to first pot a red ball, unless all reds are off the table, or the player has been awarded a free ball, which allows
them to nominate another object ball instead of a red. -
The shot-timed Premier League Snooker was held between 1987 and 2012, with seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues, is televised on Sky Sports.
-
[82] Beginning in the 2014–15 season, some players have also received invitational tour cards in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the sport; these cards are
issued at the discretion of the World Snooker Board, and have been awarded to players including Steve Davis, James Wattana, Jimmy White, and Stephen Hendry. -
In this situation, called a “re-spotted black”, the black ball is returned to its designated spot and the cue ball is played in-hand, meaning that it may be placed anywhere
on or within the lines of the “D” to start the tiebreak. -
Cigarette brand Embassy sponsored the World Snooker Championship for 30 consecutive years from 1976 to 2005, one of the longest-running deals in British sports sponsorship.
-
[62] If a player is awarded a free ball with all 15 red balls still in play, they can potentially make a break exceeding 147, with the highest possible being a 155 break,
achieved by nominating the free ball as an extra red, then potting the black as the additional colour after potting the free-ball red, followed by the 15 reds with blacks, and finally the colours. -
[47][48][49] Since then, the number of professional tournaments has increased, with 44 events held in the 2019–20 season.
-
[62][71] Players will often play on even when there are not enough points available for them to win, hoping to force their opponent into playing foul shots by laying snookers.
-
Using a cue stick, the individual players or teams take turns to strike the white cue ball to pot other balls in a predefined sequence, accumulating points for each successful
pot and for each time the opposing player or team commits a foul. -
[41][42] The sport had become more popular in Asia with the emergence of players such as Ding Junhui and Marco Fu,[43][44] and still received significant television coverage
in the UK—the BBC dedicated 400 hours to snooker in 2007, compared to just 14 minutes 40 years earlier. -
The game continues until one of the players either pots the black ball to win the frame, or commits a foul (losing the frame).
-
The total number of consecutive points (excluding fouls) that a player amasses during one visit to the table is known as a “break”.
-
Although the main professional tour is open to women, female players also compete on a separate amateur women’s tour organised by World Women’s Snooker.
-
[93] This “rolling” list is maintained and updated throughout the season, with points from tournaments played in the current season replacing points earned from the corresponding
tournaments of two seasons ago. -
The cue ball (white) may be placed anywhere in the semicircle (known as the “D”) at the start of the game.
-
Players can qualify for the tour by virtue of their position in the world rankings from prior seasons, by winning continental championships, or through the Challenge Tour
or Q School events. -
[e] If successful, the value of the potted colour is added to the player’s score, and the ball is returned to its designated spot on the table.
-
[54] However, lower-ranked professional players struggle to make a living from the sport, especially after paying tournament entry fees, travel, and other expenses.
-
[69] A traditional snooker scoreboard resembles an abacus and records the points scored by each player for the current frame in units and twenties, as well as the frame scores.
-
[84][85] A similar secondary UK Tour was first played from the 1997–98 season, which was renamed the Challenge Tour in 2000, Players Tour Championship in 2010 and returned
as the Challenge Tour in 2018. -
[5] Snooker became increasingly popular across the Indian colonies of the British Raj, and in the United Kingdom, but it remained a game mainly for military officers and the
gentry;[15] many gentlemen’s clubs that had a snooker table would not allow non-members inside to play. -
The players then take alternating turns at playing shots,[b] with the aim of potting a red ball into a pocket and thereby scoring one point.
-
[91] World rankings[edit] Main article: Snooker world rankings Every player on the World Snooker Tour is assigned a position on the WPBSA’s official world ranking list, which
is used to determine the seedings and the level of qualification each player requires for the tournaments on the professional circuit. -
All competitions are open to professional players who have qualified for the tour, and selected amateur players, but most events include a separate qualification stage.
-
-
[3][4] A similar game, which originated at the Officers’ Mess of the 11th Devonshire Regiment in 1875,[5][6] combined the rules of two pool games: pyramid pool, played with
fifteen red balls positioned in a triangle; and black pool, which involved the potting of designated balls. -
The World Snooker Championship first took place in 1927.
-
The player must then pot another red ball followed by another colour.
-
[106][107] The World Championship is the most highly valued title in professional snooker,[108] both in terms of financial reward (the tournament has carried a £500,000 winner’s
prize since 2019), ranking points, and prestige. -
[50] Snooker tournaments have been adapted to make them more suitable for television audiences, with some tournaments being played over a shortened duration,[51] or the Snooker
Shoot Out, which is a timed, one-frame competition. -
The latter is a common foul committed when a player fails to escape from a “snooker”, where the previous player has left the cue ball positioned such that no legal ball can
be struck directly in a straight line without being wholly or partially obstructed by an illegal ball. -
[98] Tournaments[edit] See also: List of snooker tournaments World Snooker Championship trophy The oldest current professional snooker tournament is the World Snooker Championship,[79]
which has taken place as an annual event most years since 1927. -
[52] The prize money for professional events has increased as the sport continues to grow, with the top players earning several million pounds over the course of their careers.
-
The standard rules of the game were first established in 1919 when the Billiards Association and Control Club was formed.
-
The World Snooker Championship moved in 1977 to the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, where it has been staged ever since, and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first
to receive daily television coverage. -
[33] Snooker quickly became a mainstream sport in the United Kingdom,[34][35] Ireland, and much of the Commonwealth, and has remained consistently popular since the late 1970s,
with most of the major tournaments being televised. -
[117] The event saw players qualify by virtue of winning other events in the season, with 16 champions competing.
-
[c] The player must then play away from that ball without moving it, or else the player will concede penalty points.
-
[132] The most prestigious amateur event in England is the English Amateur Championship; first held in 1916, this is the oldest snooker competition still being played in the
world. -
The responsibilities of the referee include announcing the points scored during a break, determining when a foul has been committed and awarding penalty points and free balls
accordingly, replacing colours onto their designated spots after they are potted, restoring the balls to their previous positions after the “miss” rule has been invoked (see Scoring), and cleaning the cue ball or any object ball upon request
by the striker. -
[123] Snooker has been contested at the World Games since 2001, and was included as an event at the 2019 African Games.
-
The reigning champion is Reanne Evans who has held the women’s world title twelve times since first winning the championship in 2005.
-
First played by British Army officers stationed in India in the second half of the 19th century, the game is played with twenty-two balls, comprising a cue ball, fifteen red
balls, and six other balls—a yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black—collectively called the colours. -
[110] Players had twenty-five seconds to take each shot, with five time-outs per player per match.
-
[119][120] Another bid has been put forward for the 2024 Summer Olympics through the World Snooker Federation, founded in 2017.
-
[62] If dissatisfied with the position left after a foul, the next player may nominate the opponent who committed the foul to play again from where the balls have come to
rest. -
Key figures in the game were Ray Reardon in the 1970s, Steve Davis in the 1980s, and Stephen Hendry in the 1990s, each winning the World Championship at least six times.
-
[61] A player could achieve a break of 15, for example, by first potting a red followed by a black, then another red followed by a pink, before failing to pot the next red.
-
Although some success was achieved with this format, it did not receive the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments.
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2. ^ Snooker is played by two independent players or by more than two players as “sides”, e.g. four players constituting two sides of two players.[62]: 16, 33
3. ^
since 1927[16]
4. ^ The striker is the person whose turn it is at the table, either currently in play or about to play.[62]: 11
5. ^ The term colour is understood to mean one of the six remaining object balls that are not red, i.e.
yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black.[62]: 16
6. ^ When black is the only object ball remaining on the table, the striker can claim the frame if more than seven points ahead of the opponent.[62]
7. ^ An object ball is involved
in a foul if it is either the nominated ball on, or the highest-value ball unintentionally contacted or pocketed as a result of the foul.[62]: 26–28
8. ^ Until the 1920s, there was no minimum penalty, with a foul on a red ball being worth
one point in penalties.[18]
9. ^ Under certain circumstances, some runners-up participate at the event.[118]
10. ^ Despite its name, American snooker is not governed or recognised by the United States Snooker Association, but by the Billiard Congress
of America.[167]
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