Free ball question

[chessking]

In a recent game with the lads, we came across two examples of what I thought was a free ball but there was some argument. I took a picture of both. In each case the situation followed a foul.

http://s1287.photobucket.com/user/so...?sort=3&page=1

In the first photo, red was ball on, and the blue blocked the three close reds, but the farther reds are blocked by other reds. The rule states that the ball on must be blocked by ball or balls not on, so would the farther reds, that you could not hit full ball, be snookered even though they are blocked (the full ball aspect that is) by balls on?

In the second photo, red was on and was the last red on the table. You can hit red dead on, and the yellow is slightly behind red, but you could not hit the extreme right edge of red without hitting yellow first. Is this snooker and thus a free ball?

[DeanH]

[QUOTE=chessking;801406]In the first photo, red was ball on, and the blue blocked the three close reds, but the farther reds are blocked by other reds. The rule states that the ball on must be blocked by ball or balls not on, so would the farther reds, that you could not hit full ball, be snookered even though they are blocked (the full ball aspect that is) by balls on?[QUOTE=chessking;801406]

Freeball
the Blue is the snookering ball, and (from the photo) appears to block any straight line shot to the balls on to the extreme edges of all balls on.
"blocked by other reds" - reds cannot snooker other reds, also you dont thinking "if we remove the Blue what is the situation?" the snookering ball or balls are not removed to decide the free ball.

In the second photo, red was on and was the last red on the table. You can hit red dead on, and the yellow is slightly behind red, but you could not hit the extreme right edge of red without hitting yellow first. Is this snooker and thus a free ball?

Freeball
you are correct, the yellow prevents the extreme edge contact


see the brilliant explanation on the following page
http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/boa...f-you-have-one

[Bigmeek]

If you leave the red on the extreme right of the photo and remove the other 8 reds it looks like you can hit the extreme edges of the remaining red so no freeballl? Difficult to decide from the photo. Would need to be right behind the shot to decide. Sometimes you get these situations where it's very, very tight and the players query the decision.

[DeanH]

been trying to edit the previous post with no joy.

First picture, now it has opened up completely (I was just seeing 3 reds)

no freeball - from the photo it appears that the red to the right of the picture is not snookered by any ball not on. So if indeed without any other red in the way, the extreme edge could be hit, then no freeball.

If ANY Red is NOT snookered - there is no freeball.


(great I can edit this post but not the first one ?)

[SnkrRef]

As has been said, in the first photo there is no free ball because the red to the furthest right could be struck on both edges if the other reds weren't in the way.

In the second photo this is definitely a free ball because from where the cue ball is the red cannot be struck on the extreme edge closest to the yellow. Remember, though, that determining a free ball will depend on how close the cue ball is to the object ball. If, in this second photo, you moved the cue ball to within a few millimetres of the red, then there would be no free ball because the extreme edges will have moved very close to the centre of the ball.

17. Snookered
The cue-ball is said to be snookered when a direct stroke in a straight line to every ball on is wholly or partially obstructed by a ball or balls not on. If one or more balls on can be struck at both extreme edges free of obstruction by any ball not on, the cue-ball is not snookered.
(a) If in-hand, the cue-ball is snookered if it is obstructed as described above from all possible positions on or within the lines of the “D”.
(b) If the cue-ball is so obstructed from hitting a ball on by more than one ball not on:
(i) the ball nearest to the cue-ball is considered to be the effective
snookering ball; and
(ii) should more than one obstructing ball be equidistant from the cue-ball, all such balls will be considered to be effective snookering balls.
(c) When Red is the ball on, if the cue-ball is obstructed from hitting different Reds by different balls not on, there is no effective snookering ball.
(d) The striker is said to be snookered when the cue-ball is snookered as above.
(e) The cue-ball cannot be snookered by a cushion. If the curved face of a cushion obstructs the cue-ball and is closer to the cue-ball than any obstructing ball not on, the cue-ball is not snookered.

[chessking]

Thanks for the help in making sense of this rule. As I understand it, only a ball not on is a blocking ball, and if a ball on can be hit on either extreme edge there is no snooker regardless of other balls on in the way.

Thanks Dean for that link. It was most informative.