How many attempts are you allowed at a shot in snooker?
THERE are not many sports where a player needs to attempt the exact same shot or play under the exact same conditions.
Penalties in football are always taken 12 yards from the goal line but there is huge variance in the conditions – different goalkeepers, stadiums and scorelines.
Snooker is one such sport where it frequently happens.
Why do players get multiple attempts at the same shot in snooker?
Sometimes, a player will find themselves is in a particularly tricky position.
This typically happens when they have been ‘snookered’ – when multiple balls are in the way of the cue ball and a red ball.
A snooker makes it difficult for a player to play a legal shot and, in some cases, even the world’s top players miss the ball.
Snookering is a go-to defensive tactic if there are no pots on to make things tricky for an opponent and attempt to rack up points from their missed shots.
If a frame is on the verge of being lost, and/or if there are limited points remaining on the table in a tight frame, players will attempt to snooker their opponent as a way of getting back to a winning score.
How many shots can players attempt on the same snooker?
In theory, players can be ordered to retake a specific shot as many times as it takes to win a frame.
So that would mean 37 missed shots (37 x 4 = 148) on a snooker would win the non-striker the frame.
In reality, that would not happen.
At amateur and club level, a three-strike rule is employed to ensure frames don’t drag on forever.
The high bar has not been tested in a professional setting, but most pro players would likely concede a frame before missing that many shots in a row.
A referee would also likely intervene and award a frame to the non-striker if a player was unable to escape the snooker after a large number of attempts.
Importantly, when a player misses a shot after a snooker the referee will say ‘foul’.
There is also another rule – ‘foul and a miss’ – which applies to non-snookered shots.
What is a ‘foul and a miss’ in snooker?
When a player is not snookered and deliberately miss a shot, the referee will call ‘foul and a miss’.
Unlike with the above, where shots can continue to be attempted, a player can only deliberately miss a playable shot three times before the frame is given to the opponent.
The rule was only introduced in 1995 as a way to stop players from committing ‘professional fouls’.
Previous to the rule being introduced, players could totally ignore the coloured balls and just aim and strike the cue ball into a safe space without disturbing the table.