free ball situation

[halken]

this happened in a match i played last year in my local league and we still argue about it now, reds are left on the table and after a foul a free ball is awarded i can see a red but its a very tight shot. the brown is on its spot and with the white placed next to the brown i think i can pot the red. i nominate the brown as a free ball ( in my eyes i am making the brown another red ) the i pot the red and my opponent called a foul saying i didnt take the nominated ball, my answer was that the brown was a red and that the ball on is a red so i cant have made a foul. the referee agreed with me and play continued. lads in my team still argue to this day about this situation and i wonder if anyone can clarify the situation
cheers Kenny

[craigslater]

I would say that was a foul, if you nominate a ball you have to go for it, what i dont understand is why would you nominate the brown as a red and then go for an actual red unless you needed an extra red i.e if you needed points?

[halken]

as i said it was a very tight shot and i may have brushed past the brown to hit the red so by nominating the brown as a red if i had touched the brown it wouldnt be a foul

[The Statman]

You have a free ball, you nominate Brown as an extra red.

I am not sure whether you are saying you used the brown or not, so let's look at both:

You then play a plant, brown onto red into the pocket. That is a fair shot, one point and your next shot is on a colour. (If the brown had also gone in, you'd have got two points for potting two reds.)

If you played straight for the red and potted it, that is a foul because you have nominated brown and you failed to hit it. You should have just declined the free ball, in which case you were on a red anyway.

======

Once you have nominated a free ball, that becomes an extra red (or yellow etc. if reds have gone). EXCEPT that you must actually hit the free ball first (or simultaneously first with a red).

So you can choose brown and plant brown onto red into pocket, but you cannot choose brown and plant red ont brown into pocket because you MUST HIT THE BROWN FIRST.

If you had been down to the final yellow, the same thing applies, but you only score once if both balls are potted. In this case the 'real' colour stays down and you play on to the next colour.

[kiely]

Hi folks, I was playing a few rounds earlier this evening and we had a freeball situation which caused a bit of confusion.
1 red left on the table, I was on a colour after potting the previous red & I fouled by missing. The remaining red was 50% hampered by the black ball at the top of the table.
We called that a freeball because we understand you could not see 1 side of the ball.
He plays a freeball, nominates the brown, goes to pot in in the middle and misses the pot. But now the remaining red ball is still 50% hampered by the black ball.

Do you call a foul and pick up 4 points not being able to fully see the red, whilst being able to call ANOTHER freeball of your choice? Or does it have to be 100% snookered, or not matter at all (ie I have to play the red like a normal shot)

Thanks in advanced.

[dantuck_7]

1 red left on the table, I was on a colour after potting the previous red & I fouled by missing.

I take it you mean missed the colour altogether, not the pot?!

After your opponent missed the brown - play continues as normal, no foul.

If the brown came to rest between the cue ball and red then it would be a foul and a free ball again.

[The Statman]

...
He plays a freeball, nominates the brown, goes to pot in in the middle and misses the pot. But now the remaining red ball is still 50% hampered by the black ball.

Do you call a foul and pick up 4 points not being able to fully see the red, whilst being able to call ANOTHER freeball of your choice? Or does it have to be 100% snookered, or not matter at all (ie I have to play the red like a normal shot)

No.

When you have a free ball, you cannot snooker your opponent BEHIND THE BALL YOU NOMINATED. So in the situation you describe, it is no foul. It is quite in order to choose one colour and snooker behind another.

As Dan says, if the brown had come along and snookered you, then that would have been a foul. And, as you almost worked out, it does not have to be a complete snooker, just that you can't hit both extreme edges.

[kiely]

Thanks guys, next time I won't have to worry about the left over white then. Got to start considering screwing off a free ball and leaving it snookered behind something else for a change.
Cheers.

[The Statman]

Thanks guys, next time I won't have to worry about the left over white then. Got to start considering screwing off a free ball and leaving it snookered behind something else for a change.
Cheers.

A quick thing to add here: If there is more than one colour snookering your opponent on the same ball, it is the one NEARER to the white which counts.

So if you nominate brown as a free ball on the last red, and the balls land in a line:

white - black - brown - red — this is not a foul since the black is the snookering ball; but

white - brown - black - red — this IS a foul because the brown is the snookering ball.



If you snooker your opponent on one red using the brown, and on another using the black (say the two reds are in opposite directions), then that is fine, because no ball is snookering on every red.

[C-J]

Thanks for the full explanation on this Statman.

[The Statman]

One other thing which should be added to this discussion:

When only pink and black are remaining, you CAN nominate black and snooker your opponent on the pink using the black.