snooker rules

[jadoma]

what is the penalty for a deliberate foul?
ie: if you do not see a good shot to get the cue ball
back behind the balk line so you scratch off a red ball on purpose.
Or you decide to combination a brown on to the blue, pocketing the blue
knowing it is a foul.

[jrc750]

The penalty would be 4 points for scratching, 5 points for potting the blue, but i guess what you were really asking is what can be done about it ?? you could/should be warned for "ungentlemanly conduct" and possibly in extreme cases forfeit the frame (i think)

[DeanH]

In snooker there is no specific ruling regarding deliberate fouls except to say that it would come under the following:
Section 4 The Players, 1. Conduct:
1(a)(ii) any conduct by a Player which in the opinion of the referee is wilfully or persistently unfair; or
(iii) any other conduct by a Player which otherwise amounts to ungentlemanly conduct;
…
the referee shall either:
(v) warn the Player that in the event of any such further conduct the frame will be awarded to his opponent; or
(vi) award the frame to his opponent; or
(vii) in the event that the conduct is sufficiently serious, award the game to his opponent.

In your first scenario, pocket the cue-ball in off the red, this could be difficult to determine that the player did this deliberately, the referee would have to consider this carefully, as this is not an usual scenario. The foul would be four points to the opponent, ball in hand.
Your second scenario, brown onto blue and pocketing the blue, this I believe would come under 1(a)(ii) and a first warning issued, or if already warned - loss of frame, possibly loss of game as possibly the players conduct was sufficiently serious.
If a warning issued, the Blue is spotted and five points to the opponent.

[The Statman]

I agree with Dean.

However, in your second example, it would be a very unusual scenario for this to be in the player's interest to actually do deliberately. I can't think of such a scenario or table layout off the top of my head.

[jadoma]

the blue was sitting on the edge of the corner pocket ready to fall in.
the brown (ball on with only the 4 colors left) was almost touching the blue.
If I hit the brown directly I would sink the blue. I tried twice unsuccessfully to contact it after
hitting rail first. If I miss again it is a loss so I wanted to take the deliberate foul and send the
brown up nearer the pink and black. I was told I could not do that. Hence my question here.
Thanks for any help.

[Souwester]

As long as you hit the ball on first, and then the blue goes on then although it's a foul, which is almost unavoidable, there's little a referee could do, other than award five points to the opponent. It's perfectly possible that you were hoping the blue would rebound out of the pocket, and not drop... the referee second guessing what the striker's intentions were is fraught with danger.

[The Statman]

the blue was sitting on the edge of the corner pocket ready to fall in.
the brown (ball on with only the 4 colors left) was almost touching the blue.
If I hit the brown directly I would sink the blue. I tried twice unsuccessfully to contact it after
hitting rail first. If I miss again it is a loss so I wanted to take the deliberate foul and send the
brown up nearer the pink and black. I was told I could not do that. Hence my question here.
Thanks for any help.

Ah, ok.

Even then, you might be better trying to hit the brown dead-weight. Even if the blue goes in you might leave it touching ball, so even with the brown over the pocket the opponent hasn't got an attractive shot at it.

[DeanH]

the blue was sitting on the edge of the corner pocket ready to fall in.
the brown (ball on with only the 4 colors left) was almost touching the blue.
If I hit the brown directly I would sink the blue. I tried twice unsuccessfully to contact it after
hitting rail first. If I miss again it is a loss so I wanted to take the deliberate foul and send the
brown up nearer the pink and black. I was told I could not do that. Hence my question here.
Thanks for any help.

Ok, better description, apologies but my first reading was that Reds where still on the table and the player played the brown onto the blue, in line with your first line of doing a deliberate foul
As mentioned previously, Foul, Blue spotted, Five points away. Not the ungentlemanly conduct as discussed, as long as the player has clearly attempted to play the shot as best as the balls lie.