Most 147's in Snooker

Boro Nut

Boro Nut

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One other interesting comment from the fabulous Grand Prix final the other night - that of the most maximum breaks made by a player in his career. Many professionals of old never got near one.

It has long been known that Willie Thorne was Mr Maximum. He could practically play one on demand if you turned up at his club. They mentioned that his total was now one hundred and ninety eight maximum 147 breaks to date. That's right. 198! Absolutely incredible!!! All the more so because he never won a thing - (who can forget that missed blue)?

The commentators then mentioned that nobody knew exactly how many Stephen Hendry has made, as he couldn't see the point of keeping count after he had reached three hundred. And people still argue who is the greatest player who ever lived.

Boro Nut
 
not highest

Of course, not a single one of those breaks tops the highest break ever made in professional snooker : Jamie Burnett's 148.

148 break
 
What Blue? (he he ;-)

The Guiness Book of world records lists 151 as the highest ever made. Ive asked this before but I still can't beleive that nobody, ever in the history of snooker has made a TRUE maximum, eg 155? Anyone?

Or maybe it has just never been varified? I would like to know from Ronnie or Davis or someone who might know of a player having done it? I will ask some of my local pros next time I see them.
 
TheOne said:
What Blue? (he he ;-)

The Guiness Book of world records lists 151 as the highest ever made. Ive asked this before but I still can't beleive that nobody, ever in the history of snooker has made a TRUE maximum, eg 155? Anyone?

Or maybe it has just never been varified? I would like to know from Ronnie or Davis or someone who might know of a player having done it? I will ask some of my local pros next time I see them.
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I seem to remember many years ago, Kirk Stevens (remember him?) got very close to a 155. I'm not sure where he broke down but it was very late on.

I've also had a 147 myself ... ok so it was on Virtual Pool 3 but even so :)
 
16 Red Ball Clearances

In competition
The highest snooker break is Wally West's 151. He made the break in the final of a club handicap at the Hounslow Lucania Club in 1976 against Derek "Butch" Rogers, in front of about 100 spectators. The qualified referee John Posner was in charge of the match.

Wally won the first frame with the aid of a 104. In the second, Butch clipped the blue and left Wally snookered. Wally potted green as his free ball with a brown to follow. He then took 14 red and blacks and a pink off the last red. He then cleared up to make the 151.

Jamie Burnett (Scotland) made a break of 148 on 16 October 2004, at the Preston qualifiers for the Travis Perkins UK Championship. This was the first break over 147 in professional snooker. Burnett made the break in the 14th frame of his match against Leo Fernandez. He potted the brown as the extra red, then another brown followed by the 15 reds and all the colours. He made a blue on the first red, a pink on the last one and another pink on one of the other reds. The rest went with blacks. He went on to win the match 9-8.

The first 16 red clearance in a tournament was by Steve James (b. 2 May 1961) who made 135 against Alex Higgins in the World Professional Championships at Sheffield, S Yorks on 14 Apr 1990.

Others
On 23 April 2003 Jamie Cope made a 151 break on the match table at The Reardon Snooker Club (Hanley Stoke-on-Trent) during a practise game with David Fomm-Ward. After a foul shot by his opponent Jamie was snookered behind the Brown ball. He took the Brown as the free ball and then potted Blue, 8 Red and 8 Black, 2 Red and 2 Pink, 5 Red and 5 Black. Then cleared all the colours. Jamie is a professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent Staffordshire, England, and was 17 years old at the time.

In 1995 Tony Drago's (Malta) (b. 22 Sep 1965) made a 149 in a practice match against Nick Manning at the West Norwood Snooker Club.

Drago broke off and snookered Manning behind the brown. Manning tried to escape from the snooker but left a free ball. Drago took the brown as the free ball and then the brown again for four more points and followed that with 15 reds, 13 blacks, a pink and a blue and all the colours.

Eddie Manning (Leicester, England) also achieved a 149, in 1997 at Willie Thorne's in Leicester. His practice partner was Kam (or Kan?) Pandya. Manning. Like Drago he took brown, brown, 13 blacks, pink and blue.

Steve Duggan (b. 10 Apr 1958) made a witnessed break of 148 in a practice frame with Mark Rowing in Doncaster, S Yorks on 27 Apr 1988 (or 1992?).

Stephen Hendry made a 148 in practice vs Alfie Burden in 1993.

In 1976 Alex Higgins knocked in a 146 vs Willie Thorne in a Challenge Match. He had brown, green, 10 blacks and 5 pinks.

Cliff Thorburn managed a 139 in practice against Geoff Foulds in 1980.

Source: http://www.snooker.org/plr/newrecords.shtml
 
As to most maximums in practice we'll never know :) Willie Thorne was famous for all his practice maxes but i guess maybe cause he was the only one of the "old school" to make tons of them? I don't know, but I bet Steve Davis had his fair share of practice maximums aswell.

Today theres probably a bunch of players with 100+ maximums in practice. Kurt Maflin made 100+ maximums before he was 18 years old, but still couldn't make it up the proffessional ranks. The quality of british snooker today is just mind boggeling.(was that spelled right? :-) )

What counts is pro-tournament play. Stephen Hendry has 8, Ronnie O'Sullivan 6, and John Higgins 5. In my opinion the 3 best snookerplayers ever and it even shows on the maximum list.
 
nipponbilliards said:
It never ceases to amaze me how they can make it look so effortless. ;)
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I have an older copy of Virtual Snooker, and there is a clip of Steve Davis shooting a 147 in a tournament. While he does make it look easy for the most part, he ended up with a poor angle on a red to the side, and decided to side bank the red ! For those who are not familiar, I'd say you could watch a tournament or two and never see anyone bank a ball, not a common shot at all.

And speaking of memorable 147s, doesn't Cliff Thorburn have the first live televised 147 (from the Crucible ?) ?

Dave
 
DaveK said:
And speaking of memorable 147s, doesn't Cliff Thorburn have the first live televised 147 (from the Crucible ?) ?
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In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to get a maximum 147 break at the World Championships in a match against Terry Griffiths. Not the first 147 televised though...
 
kenl said:
What about the fastest 147? I heard one commentator mention Ronnie doing one in 5 min +
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Yes, around 5 minutes. You can download it from many websites.

Cliff Thorburn's 147 also started with a missed red that then rattled some others and fluked one in.

Steve Davis' 147 at the Lada Classic in 1982 had an awesome shot from pink to black. He left himself right near the pink on the line of all the spots, and had to make the pink with extreme bottom right with the rest to make the pink and hold for the black which was still a tough cutback into the corner.
 
The Hamster said:
In 1983, Thorburn became the first player to get a maximum 147 break at the World Championships in a match against Terry Griffiths. Not the first 147 televised though...
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Thanks for the clarification (you too Buckster).

Dave
 
Talking about maximums in practice. I had a brief conversation about them with a certain snooker pro (has been in top 32) and he told me that Hendry's record is 4 maximums in one day of practice ! This certain pro I was talking with had a record of (only) two 147s per day. If Thorne has made 198 of them, I bet Hendry could break that record anytime... or might have done it already. I still agree though on Willie's special capability of making the maximum "on demand", a certain BBC interview with him making a 147 while being interviewed was something special to be seen.

I also heard some time ago, that getting the maximum during practice isn't so challenging anymore for the top pros. Instead, I've heard that for instance Hendry has a made a total clearance of 82: 15 reds, 15 yellows (!) and all
the colors.

Actually, I think I have the Willie's BBC interview 147 somewhere in my computer... just contact me if you want to see it. The file is large, but can be shared somehow for a short period of time.
 
mjantti said:
Talking about maximums in practice. I had a brief conversation about them with a certain snooker pro (has been in top 32) and he told me that Hendry's record is 4 maximums in one day of practice ! This certain pro I was talking with had a record of (only) two 147s per day. If Thorne has made 198 of them, I bet Hendry could break that record anytime... or might have done it already. I still agree though on Willie's special capability of making the maximum "on demand", a certain BBC interview with him making a 147 while being interviewed was something special to be seen.

I also heard some time ago, that getting the maximum during practice isn't so challenging anymore for the top pros. Instead, I've heard that for instance Hendry has a made a total clearance of 82: 15 reds, 15 yellows (!) and all
the colors.

Actually, I think I have the Willie's BBC interview 147 somewhere in my computer... just contact me if you want to see it. The file is large, but can be shared somehow for a short period of time.
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I remember that interveiw and I hope you saw the end where it showed you the out takes and all the mistakes he made trying to "produce one on deman" ! Very good editing and of course willie is a fine break builder still :0

PS
I think you mean 72 with all the yellows?
 
mjantti said:
If Thorne has made 198 of them, I bet Hendry could break that record anytime... or might have done it already.
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That was my point. He overtook Thorne quite some time ago - he stopped counting maximum breaks when he had achieved 300 of them. He no longer knows exactly how many he has scored, just that it's more than 300.

Boro Nut
 
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