Snooker's Biggest Quiz

[snookersfun]

I can throw some names around and try to eliminate from there:
In Statman's stats I found the following to 1 wins against:
85: Barry West (can't find anything about him though)
88: Dennis Taylor (was too young)
84: Alex Higgins (too young)
85: Reardon (too old)
85: O'Kane (too young)
91: Bond (too young)
92: Robidoux (too young)
88: Steve James???

just leave the question, somebody will get there, no worry

[Monique]

Steve James, born 1961

[davis_greatest]

I'll give you a clue: it's not one of the names up there!

[davis_greatest]

I can throw some names around and try to eliminate from there:
In Statman's stats I found the following to 1 wins against:

OK - another clue... it wasn't at the Crucible...

[snookersfun]

oh, none of those were at the crucible!
So, how about Jimmy White, last year in the league.
Did his son watch????

[davis_greatest]

Not the Whirlwind. OK, the son is better known than the dad!

[chasmmi]

He beat Geoff Foulds while Neal was winning something better?

[davis_greatest]

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY

Who, on his 44th birthday, won only one frame while being defeated by Steve Davis in a major professional snooker championship, and what was his (the mystery player's, not Davis's) son doing at the time?

He beat Geoff Foulds while Neal was winning something better?

Not quite, but I’ll give you the point!

The 1983 Coral United Kingdom Championship was the first time that a father and son had both reached the final stages of the same major professional snooker championship.

While Geoff Foulds was being beaten 9-1 by former England team-mate Steve Davis in the first round, son Neal was playing on the adjacent table, on his way to a 9-4 early exit at the hands of David Taylor.


So here is the scoreboard after round 170:

Pos. . . . . . . . Score . . . . . . Player
..1 . . . . . . . . . 28. . ... . . . . snookersfun
..2 . . . . . . . . . 14½ .. . . . . . Robert602
..3 . . . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . . . davis_greatest
..4 . . . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . . . Cessy143
..5 . . . . . . . . . 14 . . . . . . . . Lindea
..6 . . . . . . . . . 12½. . . . . . . Alex0Paul
..7 . . . . . . . . . 11½. . . . . . . chasmmi
..8 . . . . . . . . . 10½. . . . . . . Mitsuko
..9 . . . . . . . . . . 7½. . . . . . . The Statman
10 . . . . . . . . . . 6½. . . . . . . Cyril
11 . . . . . . . . . . 5½. . . . . . . Ginger Freak
12 . . . . . . . . . . 4½. . . . . . . PaulTheSoave
13 . . . . . . . . . . 3½. . . . . . . rambon
14 . . . . . . . . . . 3½. . . . . . . hegeland
15 . . . . . . . . . . 3½. . . . . . . JPK123
16 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . Monique
17 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . semih_sayginer
18 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . Valderie
19 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . kellie-text
20 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . April Madness
21 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . Ellena
22 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . Obligation
23 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . berolina
24 . . . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . . . . . Mal
25 . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . pat39
26 . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . JoanneT63
27 . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . In-off
28 . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . mcmanusrules
29 . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . Ronnieisthebest
30 . . . . . . . . . . . ½. . . . . . . abextra

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE
... anyone?

[davis_greatest]

OK!

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT

I was really worried! Charlie, Oliver and Gordon had disappeared! Finally, after much frantic searching, I found them – they had just popped out of the Puzzles with numbers and things thread and appeared next door, here in Snooker’s Biggest Quiz!

“Where have you been?” I asked Oliver.

“We went to watch the Pro-Am Ape-Man Snooker Apen,” he replied.

“Oh? Whom did you see?”

“Well, it wasn’t that good,” chipped in Gordon, “’cos we didn’t get to see any gorillas playing. Just two men – one called Ding and one called Davis.”

“How did Davis play?” I asked.

“Oh,” said Oliver. “We didn’t see much of him. In fact, we only stayed for about 10 minutes of the match and only saw him play one shot – the break off!”

“And Ding?” I asked.

“Well,” piped up Charlie. “Ding wasn’t too bad. We saw him pot 15 reds, all with blues, and the first five colours (yellow to pink)!”

“Anything else?”

“No,” said Charlie. “That’s all we saw – just those 36 shots!”

“So what was the final score?” I asked.

“Well,” replied Charlie. “We didn’t see the whole match of course, but we did just look up the final score on the Chimpernet. It seems that Davis didn’t play too badly in the rest of the match.”

“So…. the score?” I asked again.

“Davis,” answered Gordon, “won 10-0. Of course.”

How did the match finish in such a way?

ROUND ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE

I am so proud - my little apes Gordon and Oliver reached the Final of the Pro-Am Ape-Man Snooker Apen!!! Charlie went to watch his frends, but got waylaid with some bananas on the way, and only managed to see the final, deciding frame! I ask him for a report.

“Any maximums?” I ask him.

“Afraid not,” he sighs.

“Total clearances?”

“Strictly, no,” he says, “but listen to this,” and Charlie proceeds to tell me a story that sounds remarkably like what they had seen in the Davis-Ding Whitewash of round 168!

“After Oliver’s break-off in the deciding frame,” starts Charlie, “which knocked both black and pink safe, I saw Gordon knock in 3 reds with 3 blues. As Gordon was lining up the 4th red, I had to nip out for a quick toilet-break, due to having had perhaps one banana too many (if there can be such a thing), but when I came back in, Gordon was just about to start the final colours. Barry the Baboon whispered to me that Gordon had indeed potted 12 more blues while I had been out, and then I watched little Gordon wallop in yellow, green, brown, blue and pink with 5 lovely pots. Then, he lined up the black for the clearance, but decided to play an exhibition shot – although the black went in, off 17 cushions, the white went in too (off 9 cushions)! So, strictly, that last shot of Gordon’s was a foul (in fact, his only foul in the entire 19 frames)!”

“Oh well, never mind.” I said. “The final black doesn’t matter really.”

“Doesn’t matter?” piped up Gordon, tearfully. “I lost the match!”

“Lost the match??!” I exclaimed. “How did you manage that?

How did Gordon lose to Oliver?

[Monique]

I don't know Barry the Baboon very well, only that he is not as sharp minded as the other three ...
How accurate is he with the wording?

Gordon had indeed potted 12 more blues

can we trust him that these were legal pots? Blues meaning blues (with value 5) or just blue balls (that could be a free ball)?

[davis_greatest]

I don't know Barry the Baboon very well, only that he is not as sharp minded as the other three ...
How accurate is he with the wording?
can we trust him that these were legal pots? Blues meaning blues (with value 5) or just blue balls (that could be a free ball)?

Not sure, as I wasn't there. You'd have to ask Barry himself or Charlie. I think he must at least mean that the colour of the ball potted was blue.

I think that when Barry was first introduced, it was mentioned that he owns Barry The Baboon's Ball Shop (that's where Charlie, Oliver and Gordon get all their balls from) - so he certainly knows enough about snooker to know what a pot is: we can trust him that a pot is a legal shot.

[Robert602]

Oliver broke off, Gordon potted red-blue x3 for a break of 18. He fails to pot the fourth red but leaves the situation safe. Oliver plays a safety and manages to leave a free ball, Gordon follows it with a blue as a free ball then a 'real' blue for 10 more points, but then has to play safe. That's repeated 5 more times, Score now 78-0 to Gordon.

A safety battle ensues and the pink and black are developed. Oliver gets the upper hand and pulls out a fantastic 91 break using the remaining 12 reds with pinks and blacks, but fails to get on the yellow. Score now 78-91. Gordon clears to pink, with the score 98-91. With the frame appearing to be safe (ish ) Gordon decides to play to the crowd and sends the black off 17 cushions, but going in off leaves a respotted black situation, and Oliver pots it to win.

?

[davis_greatest]

Oliver broke off, Gordon potted red-blue x3 for a break of 18. He fails to pot the fourth red but leaves the situation safe. Oliver plays a safety and manages to leave a free ball, Gordon follows it with a blue as a free ball then a 'real' blue for 10 more points, but then has to play safe. That's repeated 5 more times, Score now 78-0 to Gordon.

A safety battle ensues and the pink and black are developed. Oliver gets the upper hand and pulls out a fantastic 91 break using the remaining 12 reds with pinks and blacks, but fails to get on the yellow. Score now 78-91. Gordon clears to pink, with the score 98-91. With the frame appearing to be safe (ish ) Gordon decides to play to the crowd and sends the black off 17 cushions, but going in off leaves a respotted black situation, and Oliver pots it to win.

?

Congratulations, Robert602! This is perfectly plausible.

There are variations on this, all of which I would have accepted.

For example, Oliver did not need to use any pinks - he could have potted 12 reds with blacks for a break of 96, and would have then won 103-98 without needing the respotted black.

Alternatively, instead of 6 fouls by Oliver, each time followed by blue (as free ball) + blue by Gordon, to give Gordon 60 points (6 x (4+1+5)) from 18-0 to 78-0, we could have had 12 fouls by Oliver, each time followed by blue (as free ball) by Gordon, which also would have given 60 points (12 x (4 + 1)).

Someone to update the scoreboard...?

[Robert602]

Thanks DGE. Just wasn't sure about the rules at the end. If Gordon had potted the pink and been 8+ points ahead, then wouldn't he be declared the winner even if the white had gone in off?

The rules have:

4. End of Frame, Game or Match
(a) When only the Black is left, the first score or foul ends the frame excepting only if the following conditions both apply:
(i) the scores are then equal, and
(ii) aggregate scores are not relevant.

Which confused me a bit .

[davis_greatest]

Thanks DGE. Just wasn't sure about the rules at the end. If Gordon had potted the pink and been 8+ points ahead, then wouldn't he be declared the winner even if the white had gone in off?

Yes, he would have been - but he wasn't 8+ points after potting the pink. Under the scenario I gave (Oliver potting 12 reds with blacks), Gordon was only 2 points ahead after the pink (98-96) up. Under your scenario (Oliver's break being only 91), Gordon was 7 points ahead (98-91). Either way, he needed to play the black.