Maximum break

The maximum <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> in snooker under normal circumstances is 147. This is often known as a maximum, a 147, or orally a one-four-seven. The 147 is amassed by potting all 15 <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">reds</dfn> with 15 <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">blacks</dfn> for 120 points, then all six <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">colours</dfn> for a further 27 points. The maximum break has been achieved 85 times in professional competition. Ronnie O'Sullivan has compiled 11 official maximum breaks, the most ever by any professional player.^[1] Scores above 147 are possible in the case of <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">free ball</dfn> due to fouling by the opponent.

In six-red snooker, the maximum break is 75 points (83 with free ball), as there are fewer reds and thus fewer black-scoring opportunities. In snooker plus, the maximum is 210 (221 with free ball) due to the additional, high point-value colours.

Prizes

In professional tournaments, there was usually a substantial prize awarded to any player achieving a 147 break until 2010, typically an amount contained "147", e.g. £147, £1,470, £14,700 or £147,000 depending on the prestige of the tournament. As an extreme case, Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum at the 1997 World Championship earned him £165,000 (£147,000 of this was for making the 147 break and another £18,000 was for achieving the highest break of the tournament).^[2] This was however abolished in the 2010/2011 season. For the 2011/2012 season World Snooker has introduced a roll-over system for the maximum break prize money.^[3] A maximum break is worth £5000 in the televised stages and £500 in qualifying stages of major ranking events. There is a £500 prize money in Players Tour Championship events from the last 128 onwards.^[4] If a maximum isn't made, than the prize will roll-over to the next event until somebody wins it.^[3] In six-red snooker only the fastest maximum earns prize money.

List of official maximum breaks

A total of 85 official maximum breaks have been achieved in professional competition.^[5][6]

Statistics

Records

• The first maximum break was made by Murt O'Donoghue at Griffith, New South Wales, Australia on 26 September 1934.^[13][14]
• Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised 147 against Willie Smith in an exhibition match on 22 January 1955 at Leicester Square Hall, London.^[14][15]
• The first officially ratified maximum in competition was made by Rex Williams in the match, Professionals v. Amateurs, on 23 December 1966 in Cape Town.^[14]
• The first maximum compiled in professional competition was made by John Spencer on 13 January 1979 at the Holsten Lager Tournament against Cliff Thorburn, but it was not officially ratified due to oversized pockets.^[13] His achievement also wasn't recorded, as the TV-crew were away on a tea-break.^[14][16]
• The first televised 147 was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Classic.^[13]
• In 1983, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships, a feat that has since been repeated by Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry (twice), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Mark Williams and Ali Carter.^[17]
• Cliff Thorburn is the first player to have made more than one competitive maximum break and Stephen Hendry is the first player to have made more than one televised maximum break.^[5][6]
• O'Sullivan compiled the fastest maximum break in snooker, which took 5 minutes and 20 seconds recorded in the first round of the 1997 World Championship.^[18] Michael White compiled the fastest maximum break in six-red snooker, it took 2 minutes and 28 seconds in the group stage of the 2009 Six-red World Championship.^[18][19]
• Hendry, O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins, Matthew Stevens and Ding Junhui are the only players who have made maximums to win matches. Hendry compiled a maximum in the final at the 1997 Charity Challenge winning him the title,^[20] Williams in the first round at the 2005 World Championship,^[21] O'Sullivan in the semi-finals at the 2007 UK Championship,^[22] in the first round at the 2008 World Championship^[23] and in the last 64 at the 2010 World Open,^[24] Hawkins in the last 32 at the Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3,^[25] Stevens at the last 128 of the FFB Snooker Open,^[10] and Ding in the first round of the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11.^[11] Two of these were made in the deciding frame of the match: Hendry's at the 1997 Charity Challenge and O'Sullivan's at the 2007 UK Championship.
• Only Hendry and John Higgins have made maximums in finals of tournaments. Hendry has made three, the first in the final of the 1997 Charity Challenge,^[20] the second at the 1999 British Open^[26] and the third at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix.^[27] Higgins made a maximum in the final of the 2003 LG Cup.^[28]
• Higgins and O'Sullivan are the only players to record maximum breaks in consecutive ranking events. Higgins made one during his defeat by Mark Williams in the LG Cup final,^[28] and then one in his second round match at the British Open,^[29] in 2003. O'Sullivan made one at the Northern Ireland Trophy^[30] and another at the UK Championship,^[22] in 2007. Since top 16 players were seeded through to the second round at the 2003 British Open, Higgins' maximums also came in consecutive ranking matches, albeit not in the same tournament.
• Higgins' maximum breaks at the 2003 LG Cup and 2004 Grand Prix made him the first and only player to record maximums in the same tournament in successive years (the LG Cup being the sponsor's name for that year's Grand Prix). Since Higgins made the maximums in the 2003 final and the 2004 first round, he made maximums in successive rounds of the same tournament but not at the same event.^[31]
• The youngest player to make an 147 in any competition is Judd Trump at the Potters Under-16 Tournament at the age of 14 years and 206 days.^[18] The youngest player to make an official 147 in professional competition is Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon at the Euro Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3 at the age of 16 years and 312 days.^[18] The youngest player to have made a televised 147 is Ding Junhui at the age of 19 years and 7 months in the 2007 Masters.^[32][33]
• The oldest player to make a maximum in professional competition is Stephen Hendry, who made his maximum break at the 2011 Welsh Open at the age of 42 years and 35 days.^[18][34]
• More than one official maximum break has been made in the same event on ten occasions: two maximums were compiled during the 1992 Matchroom League,^[35] the 1999 British Open in April,^[36] the 2000 Scottish Open,^[37] the 2007 Grand Prix,^[31] the 2008 World Championship,^[38] the 2008 Bahrain Championship,^[39] the 2010 Rhein–Main Masters,^[40] the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 10,^[41] the 2012 FFB Snooker Open,^[42] and the Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11.^[43] Of these, only the maximums compiled at the 2008 World Championship, the 2010 Rhein–Main Masters, the PTC 2011/2012 – Event 10, the 2012 FFB Snooker Open and the PTC 2011/2012 – Event 11 were made at the same venue.^{[5][41][42][43]} The 2008 World Championship is the only event where both maximum breaks (made by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter just a day apart) were televised.^[44] The 2012 FFB Snooker Open is the only event where two maximums were made on the same day.^[10]
• Mark Williams became the first person to compile an official maximum break against a woman at the Rhein–Main Masters.^[5][6]
• There have been at least three matches where more than one maximum was compiled. Peter Ebdon compiled two maximum breaks during an 11-frame exhibition match at Eastbourne Police Club on April 15, 1996. In 2003 he also compiled two consecutive maximum breaks against Steve Davis in an exhibition match.^[13][14] Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled consecutive maximum breaks at an exhibition match in Ireland.^[45] Mark King and Joe Jogia made consecutive maximum breaks at the Grove Open.^[46]

Highest break following a foul

The highest <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">break</dfn> possible is 155. This can occur when an opponent <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">fouls</dfn> but leaves the player <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">snookered</dfn> on all 15 reds. The player can nominate one of the other colours as a red, known as a "<dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">free ball</dfn>", which carries the same value as a red for just that shot. By potting the free ball followed by a colour, then all the reds with colours, and then the colours up to the pink or black, the player can compile a break of more than 147. If the free ball is followed by a black, and the player goes on to clear the table taking all reds with blacks and then all six colours, the total score for the break is 155.

Breaks exceeding 147

At least nine breaks in excess of 147 have been recorded.

1. A 151 is reported to have been compiled by Wally West against Butch Rogers in West London's Hounslow Luciana snooker club during a club match in 1976. After Rogers fouled, Wally took the green as his free ball followed by the brown. He then took 14 red and blacks and a pink off the last red. He then cleared up to make the 151.^[13][47][48]
2. In April 1988 Steve Duggan made a 148 in a practice frame against Mark Rowing in Doncaster.^[13][49]
3. In 1993 Stephen Hendry made a 148 in a practice match against Alfie Burden.^[13]
4. In 1995 Tony Drago made a 149 in practice against Nick Manning in West Norwood, London, that was recorded by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest in this category. In that <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">match</dfn> Drago nominated the <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">brown</dfn> as the free ball, to score one point. He then potted the brown again, for four more points, before potting the 15 reds with 13 blacks, a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">pink</dfn> and a <dfn style="border-bottom:1px dotted #0645AD; font-style:inherit;">blue</dfn>, then all the colours.^[13][49]
5. In 1997 Eddie Manning achieved a 149 in a practice match against Kam Pandya at Willie Thorne's Snooker Club in Leicester. Like Drago he took brown, brown, 13 blacks, pink and blue.^[13]
6. In April 2003 Jamie Cope made a 151 break at The Reardon Snooker Club during a practice game with David Fomm-Ward. After a foul by his opponent, Cope was snookered behind the brown ball. He took the brown as the free ball and then potted blue, 13 reds with blacks and two with pinks, then the six colours.^[13]
7. In October 2004, during qualifying for the UK Championship, Jamie Burnett achieved a 148 against Leo Fernandez, becoming the first player to achieve a break of more than 147 in professional competition. He took the brown as the free ball and then potted the brown again, followed by the 15 reds with 12 blacks, two pinks and a blue, then the six colours.^[13][50]
8. Jamie Cope was reported to have made a break of 155 in a practice frame in 2005.^[13][51]
9. In November 2010 Sam Harvey made a 151 in a practice match against Kyren Wilson at his home club in Bedford. Harvey potted the brown as the free ball and then the black, 12 reds with blacks, two with pinks and one with blue, then the six colours.^[13][52]

See also

• Nine-dart finish in darts
• 300-point game in bowling
• Perfect game in baseball
• Golden set in tennis

References

External links

• BBC Sport: World Championship 147s video archive