Are you a potter or a snookerer ?

[trains]

Its the deciding frame of a best of seven wst match , you’re 20 points ahead with 35 left , a couple of colours aren’t on their spots but no colours are safe , the last red is pottable but also very missable and you’re fearful of leaving it over the pocket for your opponent should you miss.

Do you grab the bull by the horns and go for the pot and position to win the match or do you go for a snooker , the snooker wouldn’t be that difficult to escape from but you’re hoping your opponent leaves it on or leaves the red a little easier from his escape attempt , do you trust your potting to win the match or are you fearful of passing control of the table over to your opponent so you go for the snooker instead ?

[balkend]

Discretion is always the better part of valor. I would ask myself "what would John Higgins do here?" safety first

[trains]

Discretion is always the better part of valor. I would ask myself "what would John Higgins do here?" safety first

i get you but i've seen so many matches lost with the player in the predicament never getting another chance , and the pot wasn't even that hard , i think sometimes at the height of these matches the said player can be a little too worried about his opponent and forgetting the saying never look a gift horse in the mouth , its also perfectly possible the escape attempt can even fluke a snooker itself , from what i've observed more often than not i'd go for it.

[Danger Steve]

Hard to say.. Depends how well I’ve been playing, I’d probably take the shot if feeling confident. Or at least a shot to nothing? Try and and get the white as far from the red as possible if I did miss it.

What would you do Mr T?

[trains]

i'd go for it , i've still got liam highfield's loss in mind a few weeks ago where he was 30 up with 35 left with a very getable red and black to beat ben woollaston , went for the snooker and lost , i'd go for it.

edit it wasn't to beat woollaston it was to make it 5 - 5 , instead he lost 6 - 4 .

[guernseygooner]

Always go for the pot for me. Would rather losing having a go then messing up a safety. But then, I'm not playing for my living!

[trains]

Always go for the pot for me. Would rather losing having a go then messing up a safety. But then, I'm not playing for my living!

i agree , less to beat yourself up about if you knew you had a chance and gave it your best attempt instead of relying on the snooker gods and luck , i think some players do go a bit too default safety though.

[Shockerz]

It's a difficult one to call without seeing the balls and knowing how the frame has gone.

I have a pretty good safety game so if the angles look good for a snooker then I'd go for the snooker; if I see it as a shot to nothing then definitely, if I see it as a go for broke with a decent chance of sticking it and it's only a 6/10 chance then probably not.

I agree with being cheesed off if I played safe and didn't get another chance and would be inclined to want to take the chance but it wouldn't be a caution to the wind decision as I've won too many frames playing badly and knowing when to be patient.

Being open, I've probably won more frames through a decent safety game at the end of frames than I have going for every one. Just me.

[Odrl]

Snooker.

[mikee]

Happened last night to me ,potted the brown ,blue was an inch away from side cushion down the yellow pocket about 3 feet away ,cue ball just past the blue spot ,up the table ,smacked the blue down the rail and screwed back for the pink in the middle to win ,got the pot and won with the pink ,high risk shot but the world won’t end if you miss ,so yeah go for it

[trains]

Happened last night to me ,potted the brown ,blue was an inch away from side cushion down the yellow pocket about 3 feet away ,cue ball just past the blue spot ,up the table ,smacked the blue down the rail and screwed back for the pink in the middle to win ,got the pot and won with the pink ,high risk shot but the world won’t end if you miss ,so yeah go for it

that was about the same distance from the cushion as highfields red and it was a natural to get on the black , also just googling now the chinese player chen zifan had a half ball red or yellow over about 8 feet in another match to the black pocket from the tv viewers view , refused the pot and went for the ' safe ' snooker , the problem as they find out with these ' safe ' snookers is they aren't that great or hard to get out of and they easily can never be any better off

[Cue crafty]

Go for the pot! (Said in Stephen Hendry accent with a shrug and raised eyebrows!)

[trains]

Go for the pot! (Said in Stephen Hendry accent with a shrug and raised eyebrows!)

i asked stephen hendry about his famous blue with the rest against steve davis in the 1990 uk championship final to help take it to a deciding frame , whether he would still play that shot today , thats the reaction he made to me and he said the pockets aren't that much smaller now than then , i looked at him and just nodded , i'm still not sure about whether he would play it now , with the rest i think i'd have to go for the safety

[Cue crafty]

i asked stephen hendry about his famous blue with the rest against steve davis in the 1990 uk championship final to help take it to a deciding frame , whether he would still play that shot today , thats the reaction he made to me and he said the pockets aren't that much smaller now than then , i looked at him and just nodded , i'm still not sure about whether he would play it now , with the rest i think i'd have to go for the safety

I think he'd probably still play it but I'm far from convinced he would get it.

[fkhan]

Depends how I am feeling. If I am confident I can pot it then I would go for it otherwise a snooker.