Ssb - a random idea

[MySockPuppet]

In an idle moment I found myself thinking about the 147 prize, or rather lack of one.

As you will know, this season World Snooker scrapped the bonus prize for a maximum because it was costing them fortunes to ensure against it.

All this culminated in Ronnie O'Sullivan not wanting to pot the final black at the World Open by way of protest.

So I had the following idea: World Snooker puts £1,000 into each event for a televised 147. If one is not made it gets rolled over to the next tournament where it would be worth £2,000. If nobody makes one there then at the next event it's worth £3,000 and so on.

Since no one has made a maximum since O'Sullivan's in Glasgow the maximum prize at the German Masters would be £3,000. If no one makes one in Berlin then at the Welsh Open it would be worth £4,000.

This is still not as much as the players used to get but is certainly better than nothing.

And there should be a financial reward for a 147. It remains a praise-worthy achievement that is still relatively rare.

Who knows, the rolling maximum jackpot could even attract a sponsor. Even if it doesn't it would cost World Snooker no more than around £12,000 a year.

Anyway, just a thought.


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[nevets]

I think that's a very good random idea!

I wonder how many roll-overs it would take before Ronnie happily pots the final black?

[Neil Taperell]

Great idea . But you could always boost the pot by reducing the high break prize for each tournament and adding this to the 147 pot ..

[Jools]

Whats to stop players deliberately not finishing a 147 break when the pot is low until it has snowballed for a couple of years?

[jrc750]

Whats to stop players deliberately not finishing a 147 break when the pot is low until it has snowballed for a couple of years?

The risk of another player not doing the same thing and taking whatever money is on offer ?

[DeanH]

A good idea, rolling the pot over to the next competition. As Neil said, reduce the "highest break" prize to a lower amount, adding to the 147 pot would be good. To ensure that even after a claim the 147 pot is enough to get the players attention.
A defined list of applicable competitions would be required and that the highest break prize should the same across all of these for consistency.

[wildJONESEYE]

to be honest i dont think a 147 cash cow is or should be what focuses sportsmen.

[thinsy]

The problem with taking some of the high break prize from each tournament to go towards WHEN a 147 IS made will be that the sponsors won't like THEIR money being put towards possible 'media coverage' for a competition NOT sponsored by them!!!!

[Gerry Armstrong]

That's exactly what happens in the PDC with the 9 dart finish for most of the smaller events that have no specific 9 dart finish prize.

[Andy Spark]

It seems to me that there should be some financial reward for a max but a problem with this roll-over concept, is that should a player hit a "hot streak" and hit say back to back maxmums in consecutive events then he probably won't receive any more money than if he'd made just made the last one. Also a player can just get "lucky" with the timing of their max win say £5,000. Why not just give the money to the man that's made the most at the end of the season or split the pot evenly if nobody has made more than one.

[Giggity1984]

Maybe put some ranking points on a televised 147?!

Just a crazy thought?!!!!

[ADR147]

additional ranking points for a maximum would make it interesting!

[snookerpoolman]

additional ranking points for a maximum would make it interesting!

I like that idea, particularly if you include the qualifying rounds then it would be an incentive for the lower ranked players too and potentially give them a leg-up. I know in the past 147's have been made in the pre-televised stages and the player only given a small prize...

[chasmmi]

How about the player who makes the highest break in an event gets a prizes of:

The value of his break multiplied by a set constant depending on the level of tournament.

So maybe with a smaller event he earns 10 pounds per point, and for the worlds maybe 20 or 30 pounds per point.

Therefore Ronnie will definately pot the black as there could potentially be up to 200 quid at stake.