In snooker, the maximum break under normal circumstances is 147. This is often known as a maximum, a 147, or verbally a one-four-seven, and is amassed by potting all fifteen reds with fifteen blacks for 120 points, followed by all six colours for a further 27 points.
Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised maximum break in a 1955 exhibition match in London. In 1982, Steve Davis achieved the first official maximum in professional competition, which was also the first televised one. The following year, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum in the World Championship. Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record of thirteen competitive maximum breaks, and he also has the record for the fastest competitive maximum break at 5 minutes 20 seconds, set at the 1997 World Championship.
Maximum breaks have gradually become more commonplace in professional snooker. Only 8 maximums were achieved in the 1980s, but 26 were attained in the 1990s and 35 in the 2000s. Thus far in the 2010s, over 50 maximums have been achieved. The landmark 100th official maximum break in professional competition was achieved by Mark Selby at the UK Championship on 7 December 2013.
Breaks greater than 147 are possible in a free ball situation. This has been achieved only once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 break in the qualifying stages of the 2004 UK Championship.
Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised maximum break on Saturday 22 January 1955 in a match against 68-year-old fellow Englishman Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall, London. The Billiards Association and Control Council initially refused to accept the break since the match was not played under their rules. At the time the professionals played using a rule (now standard) whereby after a foul a player could compel the offender to play the next stroke. It was only at a meeting on 20 March 1957 that they recognised the break. Davis was presented with a certificate to commemorate his achievement. The match between Davis and Smith was played as part of a series of events marking the closure of Leicester Square Hall. The hall, known as Thurston's Hall until 1947, had hosted many important billiards and snooker matches since its opening in 1901, including 12 World Snooker Championship finals. The final match was a snooker contest, played on level terms, between Joe and Fred Davis from 24 to 29 January but from 17 to 22 January Joe Davis played Willie Smith at both billiards and snooker. In the snooker match Smith received 28 points in each frame but, despite this handicap, Davis won the match by 23 frames to 13.
The first official maximum break in professional competition was by Steve Davis in the 1982 Classic at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham, against fellow Englishman John Spencer winning a car for the achievement. This was also the first televised maximum. The following year, Canada's Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum at the World Championship, in the fourth frame of his second round match against Welsh player Terry Griffiths.
For the next 11 seasons, only 14 other official maximum breaks were scored. Starting with 1994/1995, a maximum break has been achieved every single season, with a peak of twelve maximums during the 2011/2012 season. The 100th officially recognised maximum break in professional competition was made on 7 December 2013 by Mark Selby in the 7th frame of his semi-final match at the UK Championship against Ricky Walden. The maximum break has now been officially achieved over a hundred times in professional competition. England's Ronnie O'Sullivan has compiled thirteen ratified competitive maximum breaks, the most by any professional player. Following him are Scotsmen Stephen Hendry and John Higgins with eleven and eight respectively and China's Ding Junhui with six. O'Sullivan also holds the record for the fastest competitive maximum break at 5 minutes 20 seconds, which he set at the 1997 World Championship.
At least six players have missed the final black on 140: Robin Hull, Ken Doherty, Barry Pinches, Mark Selby, Michael White and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (twice in the 2015–16 season).
Breaks above 147 are possible when an opponent fouls and leaves a free ball with all fifteen reds still remaining on the table. A break greater than 147 has happened only once in professional competition, when Scotland's Jamie Burnett made a 148 at the qualifying stage of the 2004 UK Championship. England's Jamie Cope attained a break of 155, the highest possible break including a free ball, in a practice frame in 2005. Alex Higgins was said to have attained the same feat.
In other variants of snooker the value of the maximum break is different. In six-red snooker, the maximum is only 75 points, as there are fewer reds and thus fewer black-scoring opportunities. In snooker plus the maximum is 210 due to the additional, two high point-value colours, but this has never been achieved due to the distance between the highest value ball and the reds.
The following table is a list of the official maximum breaks that have been achieved in professional competition.
The first known maximum break was made by Murt O'Donoghue at Griffith, New South Wales, Australia on 26 September 1934.
Joe Davis compiled the first officially ratified 147 against Willie Smith in an exhibition match on 22 January 1955 at Leicester Square Hall, London.
The first officially ratified maximum in competition was made by Rex Williams against Manuel Francisco in a match, Professionals v. Amateurs, on 23 December 1965 in Cape Town.
The first maximum compiled in professional competition was made by John Spencer on 13 January 1979 at the Holsten Lager Tournament against Cliff Thorburn, but it was not officially ratified due to oversized pockets. His achievement also wasn't recorded, as the television-crew were away on a tea-break.
The first official maximum break in professional competition was made by Steve Davis in the 1982 Classic against Spencer. This was also the first televised 147.
In 1983, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum break at the World Championships, a feat that has since been repeated by Jimmy White, Stephen Hendry (three times), Ronnie O'Sullivan (three times), Mark Williams and Ali Carter.
Cliff Thorburn became, in March 1989, the first player to have made more than one competitive maximum break, while Stephen Hendry became, in November 1995, the first player to have made more than one televised maximum break.
Mark Williams became the first person to compile an official maximum break against a woman, at the Rhein–Main Masters in October 2010.
More than one official maximum break has been made in the same event on fifteen occasions. However, the 2008 World Snooker Championship is the only event where both maximum breaks were televised, and the 2012 FFB Snooker Open and 2017 German Masters are the only WPBSA (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) events where two maximums were made on the same day. Three official maximums at the same WPBSA event have been achieved twice: at the 2012 UK Championship, when Andy Hicks and Jack Lisowski both compiled one each in qualifying and John Higgins compiled one at the last 16 of the televised stages, and similarly at the 2017 German Masters where Ali Carter and Ross Muir both compiled one each during qualifying and Tom Ford during the televised stages. Three non-ratified maximum breaks were compiled on 8 February 1998 during the Buckley's Bitter Challenge, by Matthew Stevens, Ryan Day and Tony Chappell, the only known occasion where three competitive maximums have been made on the same day.
There have been at least four matches where more than one maximum was compiled. Peter Ebdon compiled two maximum breaks during an 11-frame exhibition match at Eastbourne Police Club on 15 April 1996. In 2003 he also compiled two consecutive maximum breaks against Steve Davis in an exhibition match. In 2009 Jimmy White and Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled consecutive maximum breaks at an exhibition match in Ireland. Mark King and Joe Jogia achieved the same feat at the Grove Open later in the same year. The only player known to compile more than two maximum breaks on a single occasion is Adrian Gunnell, who compiled three maximums in four frames at a club in Telford in 2003 while practising against Ian Duffy.
Higgins and O'Sullivan are the only players to record maximum breaks in consecutive ranking events. Higgins made one during his defeat by Mark Williams in the LG Cup final, and then one in his second round match at the British Open in 2003. O'Sullivan made one at the Northern Ireland Trophy and another at the UK Championship in 2007. Since top 16 players were seeded through to the second round at the 2003 British Open, Higgins' maximums also came in consecutive ranking matches, albeit not in the same tournament.
Higgins' maximum breaks at the 2003 LG Cup and 2004 Grand Prix made him the first and only player to record maximums in the same tournament in successive years (the LG Cup being the sponsor's name for that year's Grand Prix). Since Higgins made the maximums in the 2003 final and the 2004 first round, he made maximums in successive rounds of the same tournament but not at the same event.
Mark Davis became the only player to make two ratified maximum breaks in professional competition at the same event when he compiled two 147s at the 2017 Championship League.
Final frames and matches
Hendry, Mark Williams, O'Sullivan (on five occasions), Barry Hawkins, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui, Andy Hicks, Shaun Murphy, Ryan Day, John Higgins and Mark Davis (on two occasions) have all made maximums to win matches. Only four of these have come in final-frame deciders, however: Hendry's at the 1997 Charity Challenge, O'Sullivan's at the 2007 UK Championship and both of Davis' at the 2017 Championship League.
Only Hendry, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson have made maximums in finals of tournaments. Hendry has made three: the first at the 1997 Charity Challenge, the second at the 1999 British Open and the third at the 2001 Malta Grand Prix; Higgins has made two: the first at the 2003 LG Cup and the second at the 2012 Shanghai Masters; Bingham at the 2012 Wuxi Classic; O'Sullivan at the 2014 Welsh Open; Murphy at the 2014 Ruhr Open and Robertson at the 2015 UK Championship. Robertson's maximum is the only one to be compiled in the final of a Triple Crown event.
Ronnie O'Sullivan compiled the fastest maximum break in snooker, which took 5 minutes and 20 seconds recorded in the first round of the 1997 World Championship. Michael White compiled the fastest maximum break in six-red snooker, it took 2 minutes and 28 seconds in the group stage of the 2009 Six-red World Championship.
The youngest player to make a 147 in any competition is Judd Trump at the Potters Under-16 Tournament at the age of 14 years and 206 days. The youngest player to make an official 147 in professional competition is Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon at the 2010 Rhein–Main Master at the age of 16 years and 312 days. The youngest player to have made a televised 147 is Ding Junhui at the age of 19 years and 9 months in the 2007 Masters.
The oldest player to make an official maximum in professional competition is Mark Davis, who compiled one in the 2017 Championship League at the age of 44 years old.
In professional tournaments there was usually a substantial prize awarded to any player achieving a 147 break. For example, Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum at the 1997 World Championship earned him £165,000. Of this, £147,000 was for making the 147 break and £18,000 was for achieving the highest break of the tournament. This was however abolished in the 2010/2011 season.
In the 2011/2012 season World Snooker introduced a roll-over system for the maximum break prize money, the "rolling 147 prize". A maximum break is worth £5,000 in the televised stages and £500 in qualifying stages of major ranking events. There is a £500 prize in the Players Tour Championship events from the last 128 onwards. If a maximum is not made then the prize rolls over to the next event until somebody wins it.
At the 2016 Welsh Open, Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Barry Pinches 4–1 in the first round. In the fifth frame of the match, O'Sullivan declined the opportunity to make a maximum break, potting the pink off the penultimate red and completing a break of 146. He stated afterward that the prize money of £10,000 was not worthy of a 147. World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn called the decision "unacceptable" and "disrespectful".
A break higher than 147 can be achieved when an opponent fouls and leaves the incoming player snookered on all 15 reds. The player can nominate one of the other colours as a red, known as a "free ball", which carries the same value as a red for just that shot. By potting the free ball followed by a colour, then the reds with colours and the colours up to the pink or black, the player can compile a break of more than 147. If the free ball is followed by a black, and the player goes on to clear the table taking all reds with blacks and then all six colours, the total score for the break is 155. In six-red snooker this is 83 and in snooker plus 221.
In October 2004, during qualifying for the UK Championship, Jamie Burnett became the first player to record a break of more than 147 in tournament play, when he scored 148 against Leo Fernandez. He took the brown as the free ball, then potted the brown again followed by the 15 reds with 12 blacks, two pinks and a blue, then the six colours.
There are also at least eight breaks exceeding 147 that have been recorded in non-tournament settings:
A 151 is reported to have been compiled by Wally West against Butch Rogers in West London's Hounslow Luciana snooker club during a club match in 1976. After Rogers fouled, West took the green as his free ball followed by the brown. He then took 14 reds and blacks and a pink off the last red. He then cleared up to make the 151.
In April 1988 Steve Duggan made a 148 in a practice frame against Mark Rowing in Doncaster.
In 1993 Stephen Hendry made a 148 in a practice match against Alfie Burden.
In 1995 Tony Drago made a 149 in practice against Nick Manning in West Norwood, London, that was recorded by the Guinness Book of Records as the highest in this category. In that match Drago nominated the brown as the free ball, to score one point. He then potted the brown again, for four more points, before potting the 15 reds with 13 blacks, a pink and a blue, then all the colours.
In 1997 Eddie Manning achieved a 149 break in a practice match against Kam Pandya at Willie Thorne's Snooker Club in Leicester. Like Drago he took brown, brown, 13 blacks, pink and blue.
In April 2003 Jamie Cope made a 151 break at The Reardon Snooker Club during a practice game with David Fomm-Ward. After a foul by his opponent, Cope was snookered behind the brown ball. He took the brown as the free ball and then potted the blue, 13 reds with blacks and two with pinks, then the six colours.
In the middle of 2005, Jamie Cope made snooker's first maximum 155 break in a witnessed practice frame.
In November 2010 Sam Harvey made a 151 break in a practice match against Kyren Wilson at his home club in Bedford. Harvey potted the brown as the free ball and then the black, 12 reds with blacks, two with pinks and one with blue, then the six colours.
