Amazing safety sequence from snooker WC

Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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Here is a sequence from the finals of the Snooker World Championships that shows how consistently some of those players hit the ball. (At snooker, if you fail to hit the ball you have to hit -- any red in this case -- your opponent can usually have the balls replaced and force you to play the shot again.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RY2-zy244&feature=youtu.be&t=514

Watch through the fourth attempt.
 
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The 4th attempt was simply superb. It was quite a funny moment though, and it reminds me once again many of us pool players can learn a thing or two from snooker players when it comes to attitudes and behaviors in professional matches.
 
Frankenstroke said:
Is there a penalty in addition to the do-overs?
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I believe that those were 4 point fouls. Mark got 4 points each time John missed a red. If John would have hit a red and then had an in-off or scratch, that would be 4 points for Mark as well.
 
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HurdyGurdy said:
I believe that those were 4 point fouls. Mark got 4 points each time John missed a red. I could be wrong about that as some fouls are more than 4 points, and I don't know all of the different permutations.
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It depends on what colour you hit. Example if you are playing a red, don't make contact with a red and hit the black instead, that would be a 7 point foul. The point value of the color. Hope that is clear..

Sent from my Pixel XL using Tapatalk
 
These guys are generally pretty good at thin kicking off a red to get back to baulk. So the 3 in-offs in a row is much more impressive to me :)
 
Bob Jewett said:
Here is a sequence from the finals of the Snooker World Championships that shows how consistently some of those players hit the ball. (At snooker, if you fail to hit the ball you have to hit -- any red in this case -- your opponent can usually have the balls replaced and force you to play the shot again.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9RY2-zy244&feature=youtu.be&t=514

Watch through the fourth attempt.
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A Tin Cup moment.

I am still digesting all that I saw in the World Championship.

Your tip on the four points of contact was excellent.:yes:
 
The other thing that I noticed besides the consistency, is the discipline involved. Even after 3 failed attempts, he didn't succumb to the temptation of making sure on his next shot that he hit the rail farther up to make sure he got the hit and thereby hit the red too full.

In other words, he didn't exaggerate the hit, but mentally kept it as a thin hit and only adjusted a tiny amount off the first rail.
 
I am currently watching the match on Utube. The accuracy of some of the things these guys do is absolutely amazing. I would love to go over and watch them in person, and maybe I will once I retire.
 
Neil said:
... Even after 3 failed attempts, he didn't succumb to the temptation of making sure on his next shot that he hit the rail farther up to make sure he got the hit and thereby hit the red too full. ... .
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There is another relatively obscure (to non-snookerers) rule that if there is a red that he could hit directly and full (but maybe it would have been a sure sell-out if he had done so), he must hit a red within three tries or he forfeits the frame. In a case like that, the player will usually play the sell-out shot after two misses although there are cases where they have fouled on a third missed attempt and taken the loss.
 
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Black-Balled said:
Can it be on one of the color...err colours?
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A common play after potting a red and sending the white to the baulk end is to just roll up from behind to one of the baulk colours, such as the brown, and barely touch it. I think Selby tried to do that once and fell an inch short so Higgins had him shoot from there (for the reds).

Not only do the British spell baulk wrong they also pronounce the L! :nono:
 
Bob Jewett said:
A common play after potting a red and sending the white to the baulk end is to just roll up from behind to one of the baulk colours, such as the brown, and barely touch it. I think Selby tried to do that once and fell an inch short so Higgins had him shoot from there (for the reds).

Not only do the British spell baulk wrong they also pronounce the L! :nono:
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Damn, bob. You had a bit of a grammar crisis last night, didn't you?!
 
gregcantrall said:
A Tin Cup moment.

I am still digesting all that I saw in the World Championship.

Your tip on the four points of contact was excellent.:yes:
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Man!!!....I enjoyed that Tin Cup scene all over again...that was me as a kid...
....drove a few par fours.....lost a lotta balls.


The 12 points Higgins lost was well worth it...a thick hit would've cost a lot more.
 
voiceofreason said:
No we don't.

Leastways, not in the South East ;)
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Both baulk and balk are perfectly acceptable spellings in British English - probably never became standardized one way or the other because it's such a rarely used word, unlike the ubiquitous colour/color and most of the other -our/-or words. The US was certainly more efficient at abandoning alternative spellings than the UK. "Baulk" is generally the preferred term and it is, in my experience much like voiceofreason's, pronounced without the "L" when used as a noun (when some old-timers use it as a verb you can just about hear the L, but only just and you probably wouldn't notice) My educated guess is that the L was originally spoken very softly so that you could hardly tell the difference and over time it has largely disappeared by imitation of the apparent pronounciation. North Americans generally pronounce Ls (and Rs) more fully than Brits - so in a round about way that might explain why the spell it "balk".
 
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Swighey said:
... North Americans generally pronounce Ls (and Rs) more fully than Brits - so in a round about way that might explain why they spell it "bauk".
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Well, I could have sworn some of the commentators were putting in an L sound. As for us 'Mericuns, we spell it balk and pronounce it bawk, as in the game of balkline which few here play now and perhaps no Englishman has ever seen. More commonly here the word appears in baseball where a balk is a kind of foul.
 
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