Free ball pot?

[fred.england]

Ive played snooker all my life and have never seen the following scenario....until last week...what is the ruling please.

1. Brown, blue, pink and black left on the table. The player at the table misses the brown, and snookers his opponent behind the black resulting in a free ball. The player nominates the black as his free ball and attempts a pot. The black rattles in the jaws and then cannons the brown which drops in the pocket. Is it a foul or a legitimate shot???

2. All the reds are on the table and my opponent has just fouled and knocked the black over the pocket. He has snookered me behind the green resulting in a free ball. Can I play the green to pot the black which is over the pocket??

thanks in advance guys

Fred

[jrc750]

1. As you are playing the black as a brown in this case i think it would be ok if brown gets pocketed (like playing a red onto a red)

2. No ! because you are playing the green as a red ball, so cannot pot the black, foul, 7 points (you can play the green onto a red tho no problem)

[fred.england]

1. As you are playing the black as a brown in this case i think it would be ok if brown gets pocketed (like playing a red onto a red)

2. No ! because you are playing the green as a red ball, so cannot pot the black, foul, 7 points (you can play the green onto a red tho no problem)

thanks JRC......but in reply to question 2. is it not the case that for the free ball shot every ball on the table in theory becomes a red until the shot has ended, which should mean that I could pot the black via the green......just a bit confused on the 2nd question

[jrc750]

thanks JRC......but in reply to question 2. is it not the case that for the free ball shot every ball on the table in theory becomes a red until the shot has ended, which should mean that I could pot the black via the green......just a bit confused on the 2nd question

Only one ball is the "free ball" i'm afraid, (would be nice tho if you could just smash into the balls and if one drops in you can continue ) ps i meant if a colour drops in, obviously its ok if a red goes in

[fred.england]

Cheers JRC.....we have a framed rules sheet dating from many years ago and there was nothing on it regarding this scenario.....thanks a million. fred

[Souwester]

In answer to the original question, the important thing to remember about a free ball is that it is the ball you nominate you will first strike with the cue ball. So in scenario 1, if the black ball is nominated as the free ball, then as long as the black is struck first, it is a perfectly legal shot if, somehow (whether directly hit by the black or in some other way) the brown is also potted.

From my comment in the previous paragraph it will evident that whilst you have a choice of colours to nominate as your free ball, once you have nominated or declared, then there can only be one free ball on the table, so in the second scenario it would be a fould if the green was nominated to play a plant and pocket the black.

A further point to note about free balls: if a free ball and a red are potted in the same stroke then two points (or correctly, one point for each ball potted) are scored. However, if the ball on is a colour and both colour and free ball are potted then only the value of the ball on is scored, and only the free ball is spotted, the actual ball on remaining off the table.

The full new (2011) rules can be found here: http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFi...~167232,00.pdf but this extract is relevant to the OP's questions:
12. Nominated Ball
(a) A nominated ball is the object ball which the striker declares, or indicates to the satisfaction of the referee, he undertakes to hit with the first impact of the cue-ball.
(b) If requested by the referee, the striker must declare which ball he is on.
13. Free Ball
A free ball is a ball which the striker nominates as the ball on when snookered after a foul (see Section 3 Rule 12).

[fred.england]

cheers Souwester..........

[Bigmeek]

Souwester What is "free ball" situation when only pink and black remain. (I'm happy enough with the rule that you can use the free ball to snooker behind).
I'm interested in a couple of pink/black free ball situations:-
1) Player nominates black as free ball and plants black onto pink. Assume ok. 6 points scored. Does the pink stay down or get re-spotted?
2) As for 1 but black follows pink into pocket. Assume ok. 6 point scored. What gets re-spotted? Just black?

[Souwester]

Souwester What is "free ball" situation when only pink and black remain. (I'm happy enough with the rule that you can use the free ball to snooker behind).
I'm interested in a couple of pink/black free ball situations:-
1) Player nominates black as free ball and plants black onto pink. Assume ok. 6 points scored. Does the pink stay down or get re-spotted?
2) As for 1 but black follows pink into pocket. Assume ok. 6 point scored. What gets re-spotted? Just black?

Right on both counts.

With a free ball, the important thing is that the nominated ball is the one that is struck first (or, to be pedantic, first simultaneously with the ball on). Just because you nominate black as your free ball doesn't stop pink from being the ball on (hence a 6 point penalty for any foul being committed). Therefore, if the stroke results in the pink being potted than 6 points will be scored, and the pink stays down.

If both pink and black are potted in the same stroke then only 6 points will be scored, the pink stays down (because you've potted the ball on) and the black will be respotted, and you're then 'on' the black.

[Bigmeek]

Thanks Souwester. I've seen this situation a couple of times. Pink ends up right over the pocket and black is right up against pink. Can be tricky.

[The Statman]

Yes, this situation caused a heated argument in one of our league matches not long ago.

The green ended up right over the pocket and the player, with a free ball and fully aware of the rules, nominated the brown to plant the green deadweight, leaving the brown over the pocket for his next shot.

The player acting as referee was quite satisfied that the shot was legal, and called the score of 3, but insisted that the green be re-spotted, which in fact left the player snookered on the green, quite apart from the fact that it was wrong.

I was not there, but as League Secretary I received a call about it an hour or so after it had happened, by which time it is too late to do anything other than allow the final decision and the match result to stand.

The best way to remember it is that the colours NEVER return to the table when being potted in ascending order at the end of a frame.