O'Sullivan Wins Players Championship Snooker w/ 1000th Century Break

[William Seger]

Ronnie O'Sullivan, the greatest snooker player of all time, won the Players Championship today in the greatest possible way: scoring his 1000th career century break (100 points or more in one turn at the table) in the last frame. (The second highest on that list is Stephen Hendry at 775.) There are lots of good snooker players, but nobody makes this very difficult game look so easy:

ETA for those unfamiliar with the game: The player must shoot a red ball first, and potting it scores one point. Any colored ball must be shot next, and they are worth two to seven points in the order of yellow, green, brown, blue, pink, and black. As long as there are red balls left, potted color balls are re-spotted, and a red ball must be shot next, followed by a color, and so on. When all reds are gone, the colored balls must be shot in the yellow-to-black order, and they stay down.

[walkingman]

1. Amazing player of an amazing game!!!!

[PJMcK]

2. That was a master class!

The final shot was too funny.

Congratulations, Mr. O'Sullivan!

[William Seger]

3. Ever the showman

... and cocky as all hell! But really, he shoots as well left-handed as he does right, which is a huge advantage instead of using the rest.

[PJMcK]

8. Yeah, he's a showman alright

But that was fun as hell to watch.

I couldn't help but think what his opponent was thinking as he sat in the corner.

Thanks for sharing the video, Mr. Seger. I enjoyed it immensely!

[William Seger]

9. One thing Neil was thinking was he was gonna lose the high-break bonus, too

That last black that Ronnie made gave him a score of 141, which edged out Robertson's 140 for the £5,000 high-break bonus. However, the reason he doubled over after Ronnie pocketed the black was that Ronnie shot it so hard that the cue ball went around the table and "in off" in the middle pocket. That's a foul, so Ronnie finished with 134 and Neil gets the £5,000.

[paulkienitz]

17. fouling the cueball, if intentional, was the perfect way to combine showboating with class.

[Clash City Rocker]

4. On one of our many trips to London, I got hooked on watching snooker

It’s on TV all the time. It really is fascinating, and Ronnie is just a machine. What a way to that milestone, by basically running the table. Very impressive.

[William Seger]

10. I got hooked watching on YouTube

Fortunately, BBC and Eurosport seem to be cool with that, so most of the best matches get posted. It's a shame, but it seems to be impossible to get snooker on US cable. I think they're missing a good market -- it's addictive!

[Journeyman]

5. The table appears wider than a standard billiards table. Is it? . . .

[William Seger]

6. It's the wide-angle lens they use

... which also makes the table look much shorter than it is. It's a standard 12' by 6' snooker table, which is absolutely huge compared to what we play pool on in the US. Bar tables are usually 7' by 3.5', but you may find some 9' tables in pool halls, and very rarely 10' tables.

[unblock]

7. If you've never tried it, it's hard to appreciate the precision required

Smaller balls and bigger table amplify the slightest inaccuracy.

Then the rules are designed to further reward exactness and punish randomness.

American pool games generally reward randomness and extra balls going in and do on. Snooker demands you make very specific shots and set up the next shot or leave your opponent with an impossible shot.

I can run the table in American pool (well, on rare occasions) but found snooker damn near impossible.

Wish I had the room for a table, it's a lot of fun and would love to practice enough to get good at it.

[George II]

12. If I recall the pockets are narrower, too. I tried it a few times, but being a decent pool player..

....anyway I stuck with that. I haven't played in about 20 years or more, though.

[William Seger]

13. Yes, narrower and with rounded "jaws"

... instead of the angle-cut used on our pool tables, which makes them very unforgiving, and increasing so depending on the angle going in.

[unblock]

15. they are indeed narrower. again, more need precision.

[George II]

11. Here in the US, snooker is not a very popular game nor is it common, either. At one time....

....in the 1980s, an athletic club that I belonged to in Manhattan had the only regulation snooker tables east of the Mississippi (maybe the entire country) That may have changed, but I'm sure it's still not as popular as it is in the UK.

As you point out, it's a lot more involved than just shooting balls into pockets.

[William Seger]

14. There's a pool hall in my town that has 2

... a full-size 12' and a 10'. (They also have a three-cushion billiards table, no pockets, which is probably even rarer in the US.) I've heard the local Elks Lodge has a 10' table. Dave & Busters (gaming arcade) in Denver had one, years ago -- not sure if they still do. Still, it's a fun game to watch even if you don't play -- I don't play basketball, ether.

[paulkienitz]

16. Watching Ronnie the Rocket makes it very difficult to be impressed by pool players.