Touching Ball/Snooker

[MrTDiddy]

Hi guys,

Just a quick question. In a recent game, all the reds had been potted, so just yellow to black remaining. My opponent played a shot that resulted in the ball coming to rest touching the green. The ball on is yellow. Given the layout of the rest of the colours, the yellow is impossible to hit (bar an absolute fluke). Am I snookered and therefore the frame is over??

Cheers

[jrc750]

No
You have to try and get out of it, and if you dont then foul shot 4 away and your oponent continues as normal. If you mean its impossible to avoid hitting the green, then as long as you play the shot with enough speed that it would of hit the yellow if the green wasnt there, then thats ok - but still foul etc
Hope that sounds clear

[sharkster63]

Hello MrTDitty,

Are you playing the miss rule.? I never play the miss rule in clubs. When you say that the game is over, is it because you will never be able to hit if miss rule is applied.?

Cheers,

[MrTDiddy]

Thanks jrc, I guess things are hard to explain without pictures. But picture this - the white, green and yellow are all against the top rail. The white is in the corner pocket, resting on the green, which is about 5mm from the yellow. I'm not jawed by the pocket, but to avoid playing a push shot, i must play away from the green down the table to attempt to hit the yellow - which in turn is obscured by the brown, blue and pink.
In the situation, it is impossible to avoid hitting a ball not on or pushing the green without divine intervention. My opponent continued to respot the balls and made me take the shot over and over - which didn't seem right to me. How many times do I need to attempt to hit the yellow???

[nevets]

You only need to try (your best) to hit the yellow once, unless you were playing the miss rule. Was there a referee? If not you cannot really play the miss rule.

[The Statman]

The Miss Rule (by which the balls can be replaced if you fail to hit the intended ball) has a proviso that, if the ball is impossible to hit, the Miss cannot be called - as long as you play with correct pace and direction to have struck the ball on if it hadn't been for the impossible scenario.

It may pay to think that on television, these are professional players who are capable of escaping pretty much all but the most fiendish of snookers. A Miss is almost always called in professional matches for this reason. But we are not professionals so those interpretations of ability need not apply. In short, you should not be replacing the balls willy-nilly without some thought to the difficutly of the escape and the validity of the attempt made.

Further to that, the situation you described would not have been called a Miss even on the telly, because you were in a position where there was no path in which contact with a non-ball on could be avoided. (As long as you made an 'attempt' that was siufficient to satisfy my opening paragraph.)

If it wouldn't be called on the telly, you certainly shouldn't be calling it down the club.

It would still be a foul of course, for failure to hit the ball on - but no Miss could be called, meaning that retaking the shot is not an option.

[MrTDiddy]

Thanks Statman, much obliged.