Mastering snooker | Day 68/100

The Masters snooker tournament has been on all this week. Currently, while writing this blog, I'm catching up on the Robertson v Trump match that was on this afternoon. I'm also drinking ale and eating blue cheese. I promise, I'm not an old man in disguise.

I know, snooker isn't everyone's cup of tea when it comes to sport, but over the last few years I've been really enjoying it. I love the suspense, the rivalries, the strategy and the players' ability to make totally un-pottable balls, pottable*. It's also really therapeutic. Like cricket, it's one of those sports that you can have on in the background, the comforting sound of the hushed commentators' voices and clatter of the snooker balls filling the silence while you carry on with other jobs. A glance back at the screen now and then will tell you if you need to pay more attention or not. It's the perfect winter sport to snuggle down to.

Yeah, I'm sure there are lots of well-versed fans that won't think of it like that, but that's what I enjoy about the game.

Anyway, as I watch it more I've been trying to become versed in the rules. I get the basics, but there are still laws in snooker that I don't get. I'm a long way off being sharp enough to do all the maths and work out when there are "snookers required". But there are other rules, like when one player fouls and then they're either made by the other player to replay the shot, or the non-hitting player (for lack of not knowing what else to call them) can come to the table and take the shot from the new position that the cue ball is in.

Does that make sense? Oh, ok I just looked it up. It's the rule of a foul or a miss leading to a free ball (seriously confusing). Turns out that the free ball rule is possibly the most complex, but here's what I've managed to find this evening to further my snooker education. A free ball is:

When a player is snookered on the reds after a foul shot by their opponent, they can nominate any colored ball on the table as a red. If that ball then gets potted, it counts as one point, it is respotted in its correct place on the table, and a color can then be nominated in the normal way. (taken from Sportsdefinitions.com) 

So now we know what a free ball is, when is it a foul and miss? And when can the non-striking player request the striker to replay it?

From what I can gather, a 'miss' comes down, in part, to the referee's discretion. If they don't think a player has made enough of an effort to hit a ball that's hittable, then it's called as a miss and a foul. It gets complicated from here, but luckily the BBC are on hand to clear it up and have done a way better job at explaining:

After a foul and a miss has been called, the next player may ask the offender to play again from the position left or, at his discretion, from the original position. (taken from BBC Sports)

Now I'm somewhat better versed, I shall return to the snooker, and my ale, for the rest of the evening. If you don't think you're a snooker fan, but you're saying that without really having watched it, then I challenge you to spend just 15 minutes watching the final on Sunday. I reckon you'll be hard pushed to not be a little bit impressed with the skill you'll see and the suspense of 'will they, won't they make the pot?!' that will leave you feeling just a bit excited about snooker.

*If you watch snooker enough, then you'll come to accept that this is a perfectly acceptable word in the English language.