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BGonline.org Forums
On Snooker - "The Miss Rule"
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: On Snooker - "The Miss Rule" (Mr Majestyk)
Date: Thursday, 5 May 2011, at 7:16 a.m.
Majestyk, I'm not agreeing 100% that the rule is idiotic for professional players.
Very very often indeed, these players - when snookered - are not trying their best option to hit the object ball, or they even aim at a ball that is not the easiest one to hit. Simply for the reason that if they hit it "the wrong way", they will leave an open table for their professional opponent who will then clear the table and win the frame. Instead they opt for a more difficult play, with a higher chance of missing, knowing that if they miss, it will only cost them 4 points, not the frame!
One very good example of this, is when they go 2 or 3 cushions from the top of the table, to hit a red ball (or the pack) from behind, with just enough speed to leave the cueball right there almost touching. They know if they hit too hard and put too much room between the cueball and the object ball, they will loose the frame. It's the very same shot, but they risk missing it by playing too soft a shot, thus even though they really tried their best to hit that ball with the shot, they chose (on purpose) a shot that was more difficult. Had they just whacked it towards the pack they would surely have hit the reds.
Now you have two additional rules you need to consider, in relation to the "miss rule" as you state it:
1) If you miss playing for an object ball that is snookered, while there were an alternative ball present which you could hit directly, you are only allowed two misses. The referee will alert you and if you miss the 3rd time you loose the frame. This is to prevent players from trying a very difficult shot (that cannot loose the frame) maybe 10 times, at the cost of 40 penalty points rather than to make the straight forward shot available, risking the frame. It rewards players who make these very clever "non-snooker snookers" ;-) In the recent WC Higgins was warned after missing such two shots and then opted to make the easy shot in the 3rd go.
2) If by missing you incur penalty points that will "swing" the frame (eg. you are leading with 28 points, having 27 points left on the table, with your opponent needing one snooker), then you are not called for a miss when you miss. Everyone knows that the player in question was actually trying his very best to make the shot connect, anything else doesn't make sense.
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