Clearing the Colours

[Bigmeek]

Here's a "how long is a piece of string" question for the experts and amateurs alike. All comments will be much appreciated.
We all see the pros clearing the colours from the spots effortlessly but my question is how difficult is this for a very average player. Say somebody who is capable of a 50 a couple of times a year.
Number of times out of ten would do as an answer.

[JayDee]

50 breaks are minimum 14 balls in a row with blacks, as opposed to colours are on their spots and just 7 balls to play, if 50 is your level then they should be relatively easy for you if they are on the spots, 75%. Although I've hit a 50 and I would get closer to 25% success, given I always mis sight the brown -.- otherwise i'd be way higher.

[mattyshinobi22]

am prob at same standard, get odd 50's but 30's-40's regular

can clear the colours quite easy, what i do is stun the yellow off the cushion, slight screw the green on - off the cushion. depending on angle stun brown in and off cushion or if straight screw back off cushion for blue.

this is where most probs occur if am straight or near abouts i just roll it through, of it is below blue i stun with touch of right hand side off top cushion down for pink then slight screw for pink and just pot black.

i try and keep it simple but thats how i usually clear colours when on spots, but there us many ways of doing this

[inevermissblue]

Clearing the colours!

What you should do is practise clearing the colours whatever standard you are. Mainly because a player who can confidently clear the colours consequently takes those extra steps in the right direction in terms of progress within the game.
The way i do it is to place all the colours on their spots and just randomly place the cueball for the black to yellow shot,clearing them and counting their values as i go. i.e. 7+9+12+16+21 and so on, trying to reach 100+.
:snooker: :snooker: :snooker:

[ADR147]

most players will be able to clear the colours pretty well before they ever make a 50+ break because the easiest way to make a 50+ break is with the colours!

[warren132]

When i clear the colours i do so without the use of the cousions...just some stun and screw..this makes for good cueball control.

[ADR147]

When i clear the colours i do so without the use of the cousions...just some stun and screw..this makes for good cueball control.

same for me other than normally green to brown.

[legod]

Read "Spencer on Snooker" for good diagrams and explanations on 'how to clear the colours', covering every scenario. :snooker:

[snookerfan91]

"how long is a piece of string"

The correct answer is twice the distance from the centre, don't you learn something new everyday

[brendan147]

I have no consistent result with this routine even though it is 1 of my favourite.
Sometime I can clear them and sometime I lost position for blue. I am not surprise though because I have very little time to practice these days. Busy with other commitment, which is DAILY JOB.

[Terry Davidson]

Although clearing the colours is a great practice routine as it does fit into a normal frame, there's one big secret to it which if a player can master then he will clear the colours virtually every time he tries it, let say 9 out of 10 attempts.

Getting from yellow to green is no problem, but getting the correct position on the brown is the secret to a clearance. The correct and easiest spot is about 2in below the green spot for the stun on the brown to the side cushion and off so the cueball is about 2in on the baulk side of the blue.

If a player can master that stun brown shot from 2in off the green spot he should easily run the colours as the blue, pink and black become very easy roll-in shots or soft stun shots depending on the angle you get on the pink

Terry

[Bigmeek]

Thanks to everyone for their comments. The purpose of my post was a small bet I was planning. A friend of mine is an OK player who makes the odd 50 break and beats me regularly. I was going to bet him that he couldn't clear the colours 7 times out of 10. Maybe I should keep my money in my pocket........however..........his cue ball control IMO is poor and his breaks usually comprise a variety of colours with the odd double thrown in!! I was kinda gambling on the fact that making a 50 when there's loads of reds to go for and 6 colours to get on is a bit easier than having to get precise position on one particular ball. Maybe I'll risk a fiver! Thanks guys.

[brendan147]

Nice tips from Terry once again. Thanks.

[nightman26]

hes a little practice routine i came up with the other day, start off clearing all the colours then if sucessfull set them back up but add a red wherever you want and clear them with the red and then a colour, if you miss at any time remove 1 ball i.e. if its just the colours and you miss take the yellow away then try and clear from the green, if you still don't clear them take away the green, etc after each clearance add another ball and see how many reds you can get on the table, dont forget if you miss start again with 1 ball less, after each clearance and you have added a red you can put the white wherever you want, but play in sequence red then colour ,it really teaches you to concentrate