Snooker

Introduction

Snooker is a cue sport originated in India in the latter half of the 19th century by British Army officers stationed in Jabalpur. The starting game combined the two pocket billiards games played at that time, pyramid and life pool. The game is played on a 6-pocket table using 22 colored balls including one white cue ball and a cue (stick) where players use cues and the cue ball to pocket as many colored balls as possible in the correct order. The player with the highest number of points wins the frame (game). The global governing body of Snooker is World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA) for professionals and International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) for amateur players.

Objective

To win a maximum number of games from a predetermined set of games in a match by scoring maximum points by pocketing the object balls in the correct order.

History of Snooker

The root of snooker goes back to the last 50% of the nineteenth century. In the 1870s, billiards was a well-known activity among British Army officers positioned in India, and a few varieties of the diversion were contrived amid this time. One such variety began at the officers' mess of the eleventh Devonshire Regiment in 1875, which joined the standard rules of two pocket billiards diversions, pyramid and life pool. The previous was played with fifteen red balls and one black situated in a triangle, while the last included the potting of assigned coloured balls. The amusement built up its character in 1884 when its original set of principles was finished by an English officer named Sir Neville Chamberlain who created and advanced the diversion at Stone House in Ooty on a table worked by Burroughes and Watts that was brought over by boat.

"Snooker" was a slang term for rookie cadets and amateur military servicemen, yet Chamberlain would frequently utilise it to depict the clumsy execution of one of his accompanying officers at the table. In 1887, snooker was given its first distinct reference in England in an edition of Sporting Life which caused development in popularity. Chamberlain turned out as the sport's designer in a letter to The Field distributed on 19 March 1938, 63 years after the fact.

Snooker developed in fame over the Indian provinces and the United Kingdom, however, it remained an amusement for the most part for the upper class, and many noble men's clubs that had a billiards table would not permit non-member individuals inside to play. To suit the developing interest, littler and increasingly open, i.e. public, snooker clubs were framed. The Billiards Association and the Billiards Control Board converged to shape the Billiards Association and Control Club (BA&CC) in 1919 and another, the standard arrangement of guidelines for snooker initially progressed toward becoming official.

The round of Snooker developed in the last 50% of the nineteenth century and the mid-twentieth century, and the first World Snooker Championship had been sorted out and organised by Joe Davis in 1927 (who was an expert English billiards and snooker player in himself). He is also regarded as the who moved the amusement from a past time action into a progressively proficient sphere of professional sports. Davis won each world championships until 1946 when he resigned. The game went into a decrease through the 1960s with little intrigue produced outside of the individuals who played. In 1959, Davis presented a variety of the amusement known as "Snooker Plus" to endeavour to improve the diversion's prominence by including two additional colours, yet it never caught on.

A quite remarkable development happened in 1969 when David Attenborough authorised the snooker TV series Pot Black to exhibit the capability of a coloured TV with the green table and multi-hued balls being perfect for flaunting the benefits of shading broadcasting. The series turned into a rating success and was for a period the second-most prominent show on BBC Two. Interest in the diversion expanded and the 1978 World Snooker Championship was the first to be completely televised. The game rapidly turned into a standard game in the UK, Ireland and a significant part of the Commonwealth and has delighted in much accomplishment since the late 1970s, with the greater part of the ranking competitions being broadcast. In 1985, a humongous total of 18.5 million watchers watched the finishing edge of the world championship finals between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis, later known as the "debase final". The loss of tobacco sponsorship amid the 2000s induced a decrease in the quantity of professional competitions, albeit some new backers were sourced; and the fame of the diversion in Asia with rising abilities, for example, Liang Wenbo and progressively settled players, for example, Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, supported the game in the Far East. By 2007, the BBC devoted 400 hours to snooker inclusion contrasted with only 14 minutes forty years earlier.

In 2010, advertiser Barry Hearn picked up a controlling interest for World Snooker Ltd., the pro game's business arm, swearing to rejuvenate the "moribund" professional sport. Under his course, the quantity of professional competitions has expanded, certain competition designs have been changed trying to build their allure, and, by 2013, total prize cash had dramatically increased from £3 million to more than £7 million for the tour.

Variants

American Snooker

American snooker is a simplified version of modern snooker which includes playing on a smaller table with more massive balls and holes. It is played exclusively in the US for a purely recreational purpose and is now suffering a decline in popularity since the current version of snooker has surpassed it.

Power Snooker

Power snooker is a fast-paced variant of traditional snooker. Players compete in a time-limited match of thirty minutes and the one who gets the most number of points scored is declared the winner.

Sinuca Brasileira

Sinuca Brasileira, or Brazilian Snooker, is a Brazilian variant of snooker which consists of players competing in a snooker game with only one red ball and other six set of standard snooker ball as usual. This game is also exclusive to Brazil.

Six-red Snooker

Six-red snooker, as the name suggests, is a variant of snooker with only six red balls instead of the normal fifteen.

Snooker Plus

Snooker plus was a variant of snooker which included two extra balls, i.e. orange and purple - of 8 and 10 points respectively. In contrast to what was generally expected; it failed to gain any significant sort of popularity.

Snookerpool

Snookerpool is a variant of snooker that is played on an American pool table with ten reds arranged in a triangular pack.

Snookerpool Rapide

Snookerpool rapide was a snookerpool variant of normal snooker that included playing with a 15-second shot clock.

Events

Individual​

Team

Participants

Individuals (one player each side) or teams compete to win the game.

Equipment

Snooker - Rest/Bridge

A bridge is a stick with a metal or plastic head which is used to extend a player’s reach on a shot when the ball is too far for the hand to act as a bridge. 

Snooker - Chalk

Chalk is applied to the cue tip before every shot that avoids slippage between the cue tip and the ball. 

Snooker - Triangle/Rack

A wooden, plastic or metal frame is used to place billiards balls in their correct position on the table at the beginning of the game. 

Snooker - Balls

Snooker is played with 22-balls which includes one white cue ball, 15 reds balls (one point each) and six colored balls. The balls have a diameter of 52.5 mm and are generally made of plastic.

Snooker - Cue stick

One or two pieces tapered sticks are used to play snooker whose tip should measure 11-12 mm in diameter and weigh between 16.5-18.5 ounces. The sticks are usually made of hardwood.

Snooker - Table

A six-pocket table is used in snooker which measures around 11.71 x 5.83 feet (commonly 12 x 6 feet). The height from the top of the cushion and the floor is around 2 ft 9.5in to 2ft 10.5in. The snooker table has rubber rails and the slate bed is about 2 inches thick. 

Techniques

Stance

A good stance help the players in achieving the balance needed to play the shots but there is no rule regarding a player’s stance. However, a common stance opted by many players is bending the front leg and keeping the back leg straight so that the body weight of the player is evenly distributed.

Spinning The Ball

Spinning technique is used to control the direction of the cue ball. Hitting the cue ball on different areas generate majorly one of the three spins: sidespin (hitting the ball on left or right of the center), topspin/follow (hitting the ball on above-center) and backspin/draw (hitting the ball on below-center).

Swerve

It is a technique used to make a ball curve in its path to help a player get out of a tricky situation. The shot is played by lifting the back of the cue and hitting the cue ball to the left of the center for a left swerve or hitting to the right of the center for a right swerve.

Playing Area

Snooker is played on a six-pocket table which measures around 11.71 x 5.83 feet (commonly 12 x 6 feet) with the pocket size of around 3.5 inches. The height from the top of the cushion to the floor is around 2 ft 9.5 in to 2 ft 10.5 in. The snooker table has rubber rails known as cushions and the baize-covered slate bed which is about 2 inches thick. A straight line is drawn at 29 inches from one end of the table (the bottom cushion) and is called the Baulk-line and the 29 inches area is known as the Baulk in which a semi-circle of 11.5 inches radius is drawn called a 'D' which has its center in the middle of the baulk-line.

Officials

Referee

Sole judge and controller of the competition who is responsible for the proper conduct of the game.

Recorder

Maintains a record of each stroke played, fouls made and points scored by each player or side.

Marker

Keeps the score on the scoreboard and provides assistance to the referee if required.