Maximum break in snooker

NO… it’s certainly not 147 – far from it! Actually the biggest break ever recorded in snooker is 155 – and three players – Mark Rowing, the Irishman Alex ‘ Hurricane’ Higgins and Staffordshire- born Jamie Cope – have all registered this terrific maximum.

It appears that the relatively unknown Rowing was the first to achieve this feat – doing so in a handicap tournament for non- professionals at Doncaster in 1988.

Higgins claimed his 155 break in a charity event in Belfast in 1996, while Cope hit the headlines with his maximum effort in Stoke- on- Trent in 2005, making him the first player to record a 155 break in a competitive tournament anywhere in the world.

So, how can it be achieved?

Firstly, your opponent has to concede a foul stroke with his first shot, leaving you snookered on all 15 reds. Therefore you can choose which ball you play with your first shot – and having stated a colour to the referee, you duly pot the ball of your choice to get off the mark.

Then you step up and sink the black… so that’s 8 on the board. And after that it’s red, black, red, black, and so and on, followed by the six colours, which will give you a final tally of 155 as you complete one of snooker’s rarest breaks. Got it?

Fourteen- time world snooker champion Joe Davis ( UK) was the first player to achieve a 147 break – potting 15 reds ( 15 points), followed by 15 blacks ( 105 points) and then the six colours ( 27 points). Joe did this against Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall in January 1955. And the first televised 147 break was claimed by another Davis – Steve - at the Lada Classic in Oldham in January 1982.