ORGANIZATION

See also: List of snooker tournaments and Snooker organisations

The World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA, also known as World Snooker), founded in 1968 as the Professional Billiard Players' Association,^[22] is the governing body for the professional game.^[23][24][25] The amateur game is governed by the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF).^[26]

Tournaments[edit]

Professional snooker players can play on the World Snooker main tour ranking circuit. Ranking points, earned by players through their performances over the previous two seasons, determine the current world ranking.^[27] A player's ranking determines what level of qualification he or she requires for ranking tournaments. The elite of professional snooker is generally regarded as the "Top 16" ranking players,^[28] who are not required to pre-qualify for any of the tournaments.^[29] The tour contains 96 players — the top 64 from the previous two seasons, the 8 highest ranked professional players on the Players Tour Championship Order of Merit who are not in the top 64, 12 players from the Q School, and various regional, junior and amateur champions.^[30]

The most important event in professional snooker is the World Championship,^[31] held annually since 1927 (except during World War II and between 1958 and 1963). The tournament has been held at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England since 1977, and was sponsored by Embassy from 1976 to 2005.^[17] Since 2005, tobacco companies have not been allowed to sponsor sporting events in the United Kingdom, and the World Championship had to find a new sponsor. It was announced in January 2006 that the 2006–2010 world championships would be sponsored by online casino 888.com. The Championship is currently sponsored by BetFred.com after 888.com pulled out of their five year sponsorship deal after three years.^[32] On 15 April 2009 the World Snooker Championship website announced that Betfred.com would be the new sponsor of the World Championship for the next four years.^[33][34]

The status of winning the World Championship is great, and it is the most highly valued prize in professional snooker,^[35] both in terms of financial reward (£250,000 for the winner)^[36] as well as ranking points and prestige. The World Championship is televised extensively in the UK by the BBC^[37] and gains significant coverage in Europe onEurosport^[38] and in the Far East.

The group of tournaments that come next in importance are the other ranking tournaments. Players in these tournaments score world ranking points. A high ranking ensures qualification for next year's tournaments, invitations to invitational tournaments and an advantageous draw in tournaments.^[28] The most prestigious of these after the World Championship is the UK Championship. Third in line are the invitational tournaments, to which most of the highest ranked players are invited. The most important tournament in this category is The Masters,^[39] which to most players is the second or third most sought-after prize.^[40]

In an attempt to answer criticisms that televised matches can be slow or get bogged down in lengthy safety exchanges and that long matches causes problems for advertisers,^[41]an alternative series of timed tournaments has been organised by Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn. The shot-timed Premier League Snooker was established, with seven players invited to compete at regular United Kingdom venues, televised on Sky Sports. Players have twenty-five seconds to take each shot, with five time-outs per player per match. While some success has been achieved with this format, it generally does not receive the same amount of press attention or status as the regular ranking tournaments.

There are also other tournaments that have less importance, earn no world ranking points and are not televised. These can change on a year-to-year basis depending on calendars and sponsors.

Criticism[edit]

Multiple players, like Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Steve Davis, warn that there are so many tournaments that players risk burning out. In 2012, O'Sullivan played fewer tournaments in order to spend more time with his children, and is now ranked No. 20 in the world. Furthermore, he did not play any tournament in 2013 except the World Championship, which he ended up as the winner.^[42]

Equipment[edit]

This section requires expansion with: a sentence or two about the balls & table; link to the main articles on these topics..(September 2010)

Chalk and cue

Chalk

The tip of the cue is "chalked" to ensure good contact between the cue and the cue-ball.

Cue

A stick, made of wood or fibreglass, the tip of which is used to strike the cue-ball.

Extension

A shorter baton that fits over, or screws into, the back end of the cue, effectively lengthening it. Is used for shots where the cue-ball is a long distance from the player.

Rest

A stick with an X-shaped head that is used to support the cue when the cue ball is out of reach at normal extension.

Rest head adaptor

An attachment that slips onto a conventional rest head to make a spider or just to give a slightly different bridge.

Hook rest

Identical to the normal rest, yet with a hooked metal end. It is used to set the rest around another ball. The hook rest is the most recent invention in snooker.

Spider

Similar to the rest but with an arch-shaped head; it is used to elevate and support the tip of the cue above the height of the cue-ball.

Swan (or swan-neck spider or giraffe)

This equipment, consisting of a rest with a single extended neck and a fork-like prong at the end, is used to give extra cueing distance over a group of balls. If not available, a regular X rest can be placed on a spider so it in turn hangs the required distance beyond to provide similar support.

Triangle/Rack

The piece of equipment is used for gathering the red balls into the formation required for the break to start a frame.

Extended rest

Similar to the regular rest, but with a mechanism at the butt end which makes it possible to extend the rest by up to three feet.

Extended spider

A hybrid of the swan and the spider. Its purpose is to bridge over large packs of reds. Is less common these days in professional snooker but can be used in situations where the position of one or more balls prevents the spider being placed where the striker desires.

Half butt

Usually housed underneath the side of the table, the half butt is a combination of a table length rest and cue which is rarely used unless the cue ball needs to be struck in such a way that the entire length of the table is the actual obstacle.

Ball marker

A multi-purpose instrument with a "D" shaped notch, which a referee can (1) place next to a ball, in order to mark the position of it. They can then remove the ball to clean it; (2) use to judge if a ball is preventing a colour from being placed on its spot; (3) use to judge if the cue ball can hit the extreme edge of a "ball on" when awarding a free ball (by placing it alongside the potentially intervening ball).

Cloth

The cloth is usually a green baize with a directional nap. The nap will affect the direction of the cue ball depending on which direction the cue ball is shot and also on whether left or right side (spin) is placed on the ball. Even if the cue ball is hit in exactly the same way, the nap will cause a different effect depending on whether the ball is hit down table (towards the black ball spot) or up table towards the balk line. The cloth on a snooker table should never be vacuumed as this can destroy the nap, especially if the vacuum head has beater brushes. The best method is to brush the cloth in a straight line from the balk end to the far end. Multiple brush strokes are fine as long as they are straight in direction (i.e. not across the table). Some table men will also then drag a dampened cloth wrapped around a short piece of board (like a two by four) to collect any remaining fine dust and help lay the nap down. The cloth is made of up 95% Merino Wool / 5% Nylon.^[43]

Notable players[edit]

Ronnie O’Sullivan won most titles in the last decade (2001, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2013).

See also: List of snooker players by number of ranking titles and List of snooker players with over 100 century breaks

In the professional era that began with Joe Davis in the 1930s and continues up until the present day, a relatively small number of players have succeeded at the top level.^[44] Reaching and maintaining a place amongst the snooker elite is a tough task, with the standards of the game being such that it requires many years of dedication and effort as well as natural ability.^[45]

Certain players have tended to dominate the sport through the decades. John Pulman is generally regarded as the principal player through the 1960s, Ray Reardon through the 1970s, Steve Davis through the 1980s and Stephen Hendry through the 1990s. Reardon won 6 (1970, 1973–1976 and 1978), Davis also 6 (1981, 1983, 1984 and 1987–1989) and Hendry 7 (1990, 1992–1996 and 1999) World Championships. No one dominated in the 2000s, however Ronnie O'Sullivan won the title on three occasions during that decade (2001, 2004 and 2008) and Mark Williams and John Higgins won twice (2000, 2003 and 2007, 2009 respectively). Higgins has four world titles in total, having also won in 1998 and 2011, while O'Sullivan has five having added further titles in 2012 and 2013. By retaining his title in 2013, O'Sullivan became the first player to successfully defend the World Championship since 1996 when Hendry won the sixth of his seven titles; his fifth in a row.^[46]

Variants[edit]

See also: Snooker variants

• American snooker, a variant dating to 1925, usually played on a 10 by 5 foot table with 2 ¹⁄₈ inch balls, and a simpler rule set influenced by pool (despite its name, American snooker is not governed nor recognised by the United States Snooker Association).
• Power Snooker, a variant with only nine reds, in a diamond-shaped pack, instead of 15 in a triangle, and matches limited to 30 minutes.
• Sinuca brasileira, a Brazilian version with only one red ball, and divergent rules.
• Six-red snooker, a variant played with only six reds in a triangular pack.
• Snooker plus, a variant with two additional colour balls balls (8pt orange and 10pt purple), allowing a maximum break of 210.^[47][48] Created by Joe Davis in 1959 but failed to gain popularity.
• Ten-red snooker, a variant played with only ten reds in a triangle.
• Volunteer snooker, a variant from the early 1900s.