Pot/potting, not put/putting. That's golf

Also, @BicycleRepairMan don't forget that he plays both left and right handed shots, finishes with a left handed black to increase the difficulty for himself. Practically no one does this, and certainly not at his level. It's widely accepted that O'Sullivan is the best player the game has ever seen, and he'd still be one of the best solely with his left hand.

@A10anis - pub closures are nothing to do with that. Kids aren't even allowed in pubs, so i don't know what on earth you're basing that on. The economic crisis and subsequent austerity issues are the cause of pub closures; that's why it's been in the news recently that the government needs to do more to help pubs out because they're closing at a rapid rate. I can't honestly believe you're suggesting that banning indoor smoking is causing pub closures. Or snooker hall closures, but i'm afraid i don't have any current knowledge to counter that argument as i do with pubs.

I used to love the smokey, boozy, atmosphere in snooker halls. A, usually, male arena filled with characters. A great game which, tactically, could be as intriguing as chess. But when smoking and, in many clubs, drinking was banned, the atmosphere became sanitised; kids were running around, and the clubs started to die off. Not unlike, it has to be said, the British pub trade, which has declined for similar reasons.

Your video, Snooker - Ronnie O'Sullivan final frame in Welsh Open Final, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Man, Snooker really needs a Happy Gilmore.

Astonishing. Shows how exciting snooker can be. That black to make it 96 was so skillful.

I am copy-pasting my previous comment from here:

For those totally unfamiliar with Snooker, let me explain a couple of points: Putting the black earns you 7 points, but you'll have to put one red before putting another.

So there really is only ONE way to get 147. you have to put all the balls in exactly this order. red,black,red,black.... and so on until all reds are down, then you HAVE to do yellow,green,brown,blue,pink and finish it of with black. ONLY that order. He could NOT, for instance, pop down the blue or something in the middle there, it HAS to be in this particular order.

Now, most of you have probably tried pool. And if you think pool is hard (like me) try just looking at a snooker table, its about twice as big, and the balls are smaller, and the holes are f¤%&&ing IMPOSSIBLE to put into. Not only are they smaller, but unlike a pool table, they have these rounded edges that makes it even harder.

So when I said this is hard, I really, really mean it. Only an elite few in the world can do this, and it doesnt happen often. Even in big star games like this reaching 100 is considered really, really good. The fact that O'sullivan does this one in 6 and a half minutes, and another one in 5 minutes and 20 seconds, makes him one of the coldest sons'o'bitches on the whole planet IMO, and its one of the greatest sports achievements ever.

Points for the various colors:

red-1

yellow-2
green-3
brown-4
blue-5
pink-6
black-7

Every color, except red, gets placed back on the table, for as long as there are reds left, so you COULD do red-blue,red-yellow, red-black and so on, except then you are "using up" reds to put low-scoring balls, so to make 147, you have to start with red-black,red-black etc.

When all the reds are down, the remaining balls, have to be done in the order of their points, from 2 to 7

Project Snooker: Real Game Detection - Testing has been added as a related post - related requested by oritteropo on that post.

So do flukes still play in snooker? I know in 8/9 ball billiards sometimes people won't take flukes, though not sure if that actually applies at tournament levels...

Mmmm, they are on to something. It would make Snooker more interesting if you didnt have to wait for the ball to stop.

Brian Blessed would have made a great Captain a few years ago.

http://www.robotvsbadger.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Brian-Blessed-does-snooker-commentary.png

>> ^Kofi:

Next up, chess streaking.


Video Games too!

I love the "custard pie to the face vs. snooker cue to the bollocks" line. First time he's got a genuinely good laugh from me since he broke onto the scene!

Shorter version: 147 is the practical maximum in snooker. There are some theoretically possibilities of getting a higher score
1. Your opponent makes a mistake (like putting balls in the wrong order or not hitting anything) will give you points. that of course requires your opponent actually plays some shots, and with people on this level, they usually end up earning points instead of losing them, which means no 147 can happen.

2. The referee makes a mistake: this happens even more rarely (such as putting the colored balls in the wrong place etc) theoretically, if the judge is on a really bad acid trip or blind or mental or something, this can give you nearly an infinite amount of points, but I've never seen anyone get any points like this on TV-matches.

Both these scenarios are very rare tho, and I dont even know if >147 has ever happened in televised games

As a guy who's played a lot of 8-ball, 9-ball and dabbled with Snooker, this man's skill is absolutely sickening.

What a cocky son of a bitch, and he has the game to back it up.

Thank you BicycleRepairMan for that explanation. While the skill was obvious, even to those of us who don't play snooker, it is good to see a nice explanation of exactly what was going on and why.