Ronnie doing Ronnie Things - Highest Break Ever

[Sheldon]

“It was a pretty cool moment,” said O’Sullivan, nicknamed The Rocket, in a humorously laidback reaction video filmed in the back of a car. “Really happy to do it. So yeah, keep enjoying the snooker.”

If a player is left snookered by an opponent’s foul shot — and is subsequently unable to directly hit a red with a straight shot — they can then elect to play what is known as a “free ball”. This temporarily turns a colour of their choosing into a red, which can then be followed by another colour. In theory, for the purposes of break-building, this means there are 16 possible reds and colours on the table — raising the potential high break from 147 to 155. This situation was what created the sport’s previous high break — 148 by Scotsman Jamie Burnett in 2004.

His first 14 colours were blacks, leaving him on for a 155. However, a five-centimetre positioning error on the penultimate red meant that he was forced into potting two pink balls to continue the break — leaving his maximum possible break as 153.

 

[BeiberLvr]

If some brit bookie was layin long odds on him you'd almost fire a little at it.

I bet a little on him every year no matter the odds.

Last year's winner, Zhao looks to be in proper form to repeat though. He's got 2 ranking titles this season and 1 invitational. He's also in the lead for century breaks with 68 (Ronnie has 31).

 

[skogstokig]

I bet a little on him every year no matter the odds.

Last year's winner, Zhao looks to be in proper form to repeat though. He's got 2 ranking titles this season and 1 invitational. He's also in the lead for century breaks with 68 (Ronnie has 31).

yea, ronnie has been inconsistent for 2-3 years now. i'm too out of the loop on the snooker with so much pool going on, gonna have to do some homework before betting the WC this year

 

[GideonF]

I bet a little on him every year no matter the odds.

Last year's winner, Zhao looks to be in proper form to repeat though. He's got 2 ranking titles this season and 1 invitational. He's also in the lead for century breaks with 68 (Ronnie has 31).

Will he be the first to break the Crucible Curse? No first time winner has ever successfully defended his crown since the WC moved to the Crucible in 1977.

 

[skogstokig]

Will he be the first to break the Crucible Curse? No first time winner has ever successfully defended his crown since the WC moved to the Crucible in 1977.

either way he's a very entertaining world champion.. joy to watch. same with luca brecel, but he fizzled out. zhao seems to have his mind right

 

[Poolplaya9]

He didn't even pause to consider shooting the black after the 15th red. He is a different breed, a genius.

As amazing as a 153 is - then guaranteed he's a bit gutted that it wasn't a 155. It was on.

He talks about his decision making process on that in the first few seconds of the video below although I'm not 100% sure if he was talking about the first or second time he chose pink instead of black. Basically he just says that he decided it was more important to get the record of being the first person to make a break above 147 on TV than it was to risk it all by going for the tougher black to slightly increase the point total. He doesn't seem to be regretting the choice or upset about not getting 155 best I can tell.

 

[alphadog]

A true joy to watch.

 

[7stud]

Not a snooker player so please explain just how the scoring on this went. This cat is just fkn timeless. May never see another like him.

I think it went something like this:

1. Ronnie snookered his opponent behind the Green.
2. His opponent presumably tried to kick at a Red, and when he failed to hit a Red, that was a foul.
3. Because Ronnie could not directly hit a Red from where the cue ball came to rest, and his opponent had fouled, the Free Ball rule came into play. The Free Ball rule allows a player to designate any Colored ball as a Red, and when Ronnie sunk his designated Red (the Green), that gave Ronnie 1 pt. And, when you sink a Colored ball and there are Reds left on the table, the Colored ball gets replaced on its designated spot.
4. Then Ronnie sunk the Black for 7 pts.
5. When the Ref replaced the Black on the table, that left all the Red balls and all the Colored balls on the table. When all the Reds and all the Colors are on the table, a player can score a maximum of 147 points--if each Red is followed by the Black. That means with Ronnie already having scored 8 pts, the maximum possible score was 147 + 8 =155 pts.
6. Late in the frame, when Ronnie was shooting at a Red, he had to cannon the cue ball into some other Reds in order to break them up, he didn't get great position on the Black, so he chose to shoot the Pink instead, which is 1 pt less than the Black, so his max on the frame dropped by 1pt to 154 pts.
7. Ronnie then shot another Red/Pink sequence, which dropped the maximum score another 1pt to 153 pts.
8. Ronnie finished out the frame, sinking all the Colors and finished with a score of 153 pts.

I have my own questions about the scoring:

1. Why didn't Ronnie score 4 pts when his opponent fouled in step #2?
2. Why did the Scoreboard show Ronnie with 16 pts before shooting the Free Ball? Did his opponent foul 4 times?

 

[Swighey]

He talks about his decision making process on that in the first few seconds of the video below although I'm not 100% sure if he was talking about the first or second time he chose pink instead of black. Basically he just says that he decided it was more important to get the record of being the first person to make a break above 147 on TV than it was to risk it all by going for the tougher black to slightly increase the point total. He doesn't seem to be regretting the choice or upset about not getting 155 best I can tell.

Yep, he doesn't care. It's a bit like me the first time I didn't care about making a break and run at 8 ball after going a little out of shape on my 7th ball and played safe instead . Except it's a million levels above that and then some, and the game is already won.

Every other player, even Stephen Hendry, would have paused to weigh up the black there. And I still do the same when I run out of position on the 8 or my key ball.....

 

[markjames]

why didn't Ronnie score 4 pts when his opponent fouled in step #2?

i think his choice is to either put him back in, get 4 points, or shoot from where it lay as a free ball

 

[7stud]

i think his choice is to either put him back in, get 4 points, or shoot from where it lay as a free ball

I looked a the tape again, and before Ronnie's opponent kicked at the Red, the score was 12(Ronnie) - 0. After his opponent kicked at the Red and missed, creating the Free Ball situation, the score changed to 16(Ronnie) - 0, so Ronnie did get 4 pts for his opponent's foul (did his opponent foul 4 times?). But if it was 16-0 for Ronnie before he shot the Free Ball, why wasn't his score higher at the end, e.g. 16 + 1(Free Ball) + 7(Black) + 145(the rest) =169?

 

[markjames]

seems that the score on the screen was different from what the ref was announcing after each shot for the whole frame

 

[Bob Jewett]

... But if it was 16-0 for Ronnie before he shot the Free Ball, why wasn't his score higher at the end, e.g. 16 + 1(Free Ball) + 7(Black) + 145(the rest) =169?

The foul points are not counted towards the break (run). The final score was 169-0 for that frame.

 

[iusedtoberich]

seems that the score on the screen was different from what the ref was announcing after each shot for the whole frame

The score being announced was for the inning, not the whole game. The screen score was the whole game.

 

[iusedtoberich]

that was cool, thanks for the link

at some points in the run he was taking full advantage of the generous pockets the chinese (and saudis) have in their events. incredible achievement either way, of course

I know in the past snooker tables were governed by non-published templates controlled by the WST (or other snooker org) that would verify the pockets were all in spec. Did that practice stop?

 

[7stud]

The foul points are not counted towards the break (run). The final score was 169-0 for that frame.

Aaahhh, most points scored for *one* turn at the table v. the total score for that frame/rack. The foul in step #2 happened before Ronnie got to the table, so the 4 points for the foul didn't count towards the 153 points he scored during his turn at the table.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I know in the past snooker tables were governed by non-published templates controlled by the WST (or other snooker org) that would verify the pockets were all in spec. Did that practice stop?

Here is a previous thread about the pocket templates. The WPBSA is the governing body for pro snooker, the WST is the tour. The IBSF is the amateur body and is a member of the WCBS. I wonder what the template situation is now.

P

Thread 'Snooker pocket templates'

Mar 8, 2022

Where can I download a 3D file for snooker pocket templates or purchase templates.
Club cut rather than tournament cut if possible.
Thanks in advance, Paul.

• pauljcork
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Snooker

 

[Bob Jewett]

Ronnie is playing Wu Yize in 23 minutes for those of you who have a wst.tv subscription. A plain 147 would be nice.

 

[GideonF]

Ronnie is playing Wu Yize in 23 minutes for those of you who have a wst.tv subscription. A plain 147 would be nice.

Or two - he set the standard at 2 147s in Saudi.

 

[straightline]

I know in the past snooker tables were governed by non-published templates controlled by the WST (or other snooker org) that would verify the pockets were all in spec. Did that practice stop?

There was a good shot of a ball entering down the side of a corner and it looked like a miniature ball on a Valley.