Stephen Hendry

Stephen Hendry MBE (b. January 13, 1969), is a professional Snooker player.

Born in Edinburgh, he was brought up in Fife, where he attended Inverkeithing High School. Stephen now lives in the small town of Auchterarder.

In 1983, aged 14, Hendry won the National Under-16 Championship and also appeared for the first time on the BBC's Junior Pot Black. At 15, he was the Scottish Amateur Champion and also became the youngest ever entrant in the World Amateur Championships. Stephen retained his Scottish title in 1985 and at just 16 years and 3 months old, he became the youngest ever professional.
Hendry first won his first World Championships title in 1990 at the age of 21, becoming the youngest player ever to win the event.

Hendry holds several records. He has scored the most 147 breaks (eight) [1], and was the first player to have scored one in the deciding frame of a match; the final of the 1997 Liverpool Victoria Charity Challenge. He has also compiled the most century breaks, currently 698, and he holds the most ranking event titles (36).

He is considered to be the greatest break builder the game has ever seen, having compiled a stunning 698 centuries in professional play as of the 17th December 2006. Unlike Steve Davis who, in the preceding decade, was strong in every department of the game, Hendry relied solely on his long potting and break building which were so formidable at the time that they compensated for his other deficiencies.

Hendry tends to play at a moderate pace, displaying complete ease throughout a frame, and methodically working through the vast majority of break building opportunities.

Rules of Snooker

Type of Game: International or "English" snooker is the most widely played form of snooker around the world. It is generally played on 6'x12' English billiard tables, with cushions that are more narrow than on pocket billiard tables and which curve smoothly into the pocket openings. 5 x 10 and snooker tables of even smaller playing dimensions may be used for the game. On a 6 x 12 snooker (English billiard) table the playing area within the cushion faces shall measure 11' 8.5" x 5' 10" with a tolerance on both dimensions of +/-0.5". The height of the table is measured from the floor to the top of the cushion rail, and the height shall measure 34" with an allowable variance of +/-0.5".

Players: 2

Balls Used: Set of Snooker balls: fifteen object balls that are not numbered and are solid red (called reds), six object balls of other colors that are not numbered (called colors) and a cue ball (called the white ball). Point values for object balls: red-1, yellow-2, green-3, brown-4, blue-5, pink-6, black-7. In International Snooker the balls used are 2-1/16" diameter.

The Rack: Play begins with the balls placed as in the diagram above. The pink is spotted on the Pyramid Spot. The apex ball of the triangle of reds is racked as close as possible to the pink without touching it.

Baulk-line and Baulk: A straight line drawn 29" from the face of the bottom cushion and parallel to it is called the Baulk-line and the intervening space termed the Baulk.

The Half Circle: The Half Circle is a semi-circle described in Baulk with its center at the middle of the Baulk-line and with a radius of 11.5". When the striker has cue ball in hand within the Half Circle he may place the base of the cue ball anywhere on the line or within the Half Circle, and may use his hand or any part of his cue (including the tip) to position the cue ball--as long as it is judged he is not attempting to play a stroke.

Object of the Game: To score a greater number of points than opponent.

Scoring: Points are scored in two ways: players are awarded points for fouls by the opponent (see Penalties For Fouls below), and by legally potting reds or colors. Each legally potted red ball has a point value of one; each legally potted color ball has a point value as indicated (Balls Used above). A frame ends when all balls have been potted, following the Rules of Play; if, however, only the black (7) ball is left on the table, the frame ends with the first score or foul. If the players' scores are equal after that scoring, the black is spotted on its original position and the layers lag or draw lots for the choice of playing at, or assigning opponent to play at, the black ball with the cue ball in hand within the Half Circle, first score or foul then ends the frame.

Opening Break: Players lag or draw lots for choice of break in the opening frame. In a match format the players alternate the break in subsequent frames. Starting player has cue ball in hand within the Half Circle. He must cause the cue ball to contact a red ball. It is not necessary to send a ball to a rail or into a pocket. Failure to meet this requirement is a foul (see Penalties For Fouls) A foul is scored and--with all fouls--the incoming player has a choice of (1) accepting the table and becoming the striker, or (2) requiring the offender to break again.

Rules of Play... more here

Crucible highs and lows in 2006

It's been a rollercoaster ride of drama and emotion at this year's World Snooker Championship.

So we asked celebrities, fans and our users to pick out their highs, lows and their most memorable moments from the last two weeks at The Crucible.

Dennis Taylor, BBC commentator, at The Crucible

Simon Hickman, from Dudley, at The Crucible

Q-double-T-P from the 606 messageboards

Alex Ananstasiou, aged 14, Derby, at The Crucible

Sonny Varma, from Nottingham, at The Crucible

Wildsnooker_loopy from the 606 messageboards

Former England cricketer Jack Russell painting The Crucible stage

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WIN TICKETS

Worldsnooker.com has two pairs of tickets to give away to the final of the SAGA Insurance Masters.

Find out more here: WIN TICKETS TO THE SAGA INSURANCE MASTERS FINAL (free reg. req.)

The 2007 SAGA Insurance Masters Snooker

The 2007 SAGA Insurance Masters Snooker comes to Wembley Arena. Masters Snooker has been staged at Wembley since 1975 however after loosing its traditional home at the Conference Centre last year it makes the short journey across the road to Wembley Arena.

Last year’s tournament was a thrilling event with John Higgins finally winning the title in a dramatic 10-9 victory over Ronnie O’Sullivan. The world’s top 16 players qualify automatically, including the likes of Higgins, O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry, Ken Doherty, Steve Davis and 888.com World Champion Graeme Dott.

However, this year the usual two wildcards are increased to three with the hugely popular Jimmy White being awarded one, Ding Junhui confirmed as the second and the third being Stuart Bingham.