Maximum break

File:Ronnie O'Sullivan's first maximum break.gif

Ronnie O'Sullivan's maximum at the 1997 World Championship

The maximum break in snooker 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. In total, only 58 snooker players have achieved maximums in professional competitions, totaling 116 such breaks. 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, 46 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.

Milestones

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 the event. 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, during 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 116 times in professional competition, half of which were achieved by English players. 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, respectively seven maximums, and China's Ding Junhui with five. 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.

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.

Official list

Table legend

TV	Televised
(Q)	Qualifying rounds

A total of 116 official maximum breaks have been achieved in professional competition by December 2015.

Ratified maximum breaks in professional competition

No.	Date	Player	Age	Opponent	Event	Video
001	11 January 1982	Steve Davis		John Spencer	ClassicTV
002	23 April 1983	Cliff Thorburn		Terry Griffiths	World ChampionshipTV
003	28 January 1984	Kirk Stevens		Jimmy White	MastersTV
004	17 November 1987	Willie Thorne		Tommy Murphy	UK Championship
005	20 February 1988	Tony Meo		Stephen Hendry	Matchroom League
006	24 September 1988	Alain Robidoux		Jim Meadowcroft	European Open (Q)
007	18 February 1989	John Rea		Ian Black	Scottish Professional Championship
008	8 March 1989	Cliff Thorburn (2)		Jimmy White	Matchroom League
009	16 January 1991	James Wattana		Paul Dawkins	World Masters
010	5 June 1991	Peter Ebdon		Wayne Martin	Strachan Open (Q)
011	25 February 1992	James Wattana (2)		Tony Drago	British OpenTV
012	22 April 1992	Jimmy White		Tony Drago	World ChampionshipTV
013	9 May 1992	John Parrott		Tony Meo	Matchroom League
014	24 May 1992	Stephen Hendry		Willie Thorne	Matchroom League
015	14 November 1992	Peter Ebdon (2)		Ken Doherty	UK Championship
016	7 September 1994	David McDonnell		Nic Barrow	British Open (Q)
017	27 April 1995	Stephen Hendry (2)		Jimmy White	World ChampionshipTV
018	25 November 1995	Stephen Hendry (3)		Gary Wilkinson	UK ChampionshipTV
019	5 January 1997	Stephen Hendry (4)		Ronnie O'Sullivan	Charity ChallengeTV
020	21 April 1997	Ronnie O'Sullivan		Mick Price	World ChampionshipTV
021	18 September 1997	James Wattana (3)		Pang Wei Guo	China International
022	16 May 1998	Stephen Hendry (5)		Ken Doherty	Premier LeagueTV
023	10 August 1998	Adrian Gunnell		Mario Wehrmann	Thailand Masters (Q)
024	13 August 1998	Mehmet Husnu		Eddie Barker	China International (Q)
025	13 January 1999	Jason Prince		Ian Brumby	British Open (Q)
026	29 January 1999	Ronnie O'Sullivan (2)		James Wattana	Welsh OpenTV
027	4 February 1999	Stuart Bingham		Barry Hawkins	UK Tour – Event 3
028	22 March 1999	Nick Dyson		Adrian Gunnell	UK Tour – Event 4
029	6 April 1999	Graeme Dott		David Roe	British OpenTV
030	19 September 1999	Stephen Hendry (6)		Peter Ebdon	British OpenTV
031	21 September 1999	Barry Pinches		Joe Johnson	Welsh Open (Q)
032	13 October 1999	Ronnie O'Sullivan (3)		Graeme Dott	Grand PrixTV
033	4 November 1999	Karl Burrows		Adrian Rosa	Benson & Hedges Championship
034	22 November 1999	Stephen Hendry (7)		Paul Wykes	UK ChampionshipTV
035	21 January 2000	John Higgins		Dennis Taylor	Nations CupTV
036	24 March 2000	John Higgins (2)		Jimmy White	Irish MastersTV
037	28 March 2000	Stephen Maguire		Phaitoon Phonbun	Scottish Open (Q)
038	5 April 2000	Ronnie O'Sullivan (4)		Quinten Hann	Scottish OpenTV
039	25 October 2000	Marco Fu		Ken Doherty	Scottish MastersTV
040	7 November 2000	David McLellan		Steve Meakin	Benson & Hedges Championship
041	19 November 2000	Nick Dyson (2)		Robert Milkins	UK Championship
042	25 February 2001	Stephen Hendry (8)		Mark Williams	Malta Grand PrixTV
043	17 October 2001	Ronnie O'Sullivan (5)		Drew Henry	LG CupTV
044	12 November 2001	Shaun Murphy		Adrian Rosa	Benson & Hedges Championship
045	28 October 2002	Tony Drago		Stuart Bingham	Benson & Hedges Championship
046	22 April 2003	Ronnie O'Sullivan (6)		Marco Fu	World ChampionshipTV
047	12 October 2003	John Higgins (3)		Mark Williams	LG CupTV
048	12 November 2003	John Higgins (4)		Michael Judge	British OpenTV
049	4 October 2004	John Higgins (5)		Ricky Walden	Grand PrixTV
050	17 November 2004	David Gray		Mark Selby	UK Championship
051	20 April 2005	Mark Williams		Robert Milkins	World ChampionshipTV
052	22 November 2005	Stuart Bingham (2)		Marcus Campbell	Masters Qualifying Event
053	14 March 2006	Robert Milkins		Mark Selby	World Championship (Q)
054	23 October 2006	Jamie Cope		Michael Holt	Grand Prix
055	14 January 2007	Ding Junhui		Anthony Hamilton	MastersTV
056	15 February 2007	Andrew Higginson		Ali Carter	Welsh OpenTV
057	19 September 2007	Jamie Burnett		Liu Song	Grand Prix (Q)
058	14 October 2007	Tom Ford		Steve Davis	Grand Prix
059	8 November 2007	Ronnie O'Sullivan (7)		Ali Carter	Northern Ireland TrophyTV
060	15 December 2007	Ronnie O'Sullivan (8)		Mark Selby	UK ChampionshipTV
061	29 March 2008	Stephen Maguire (2)		Ryan Day	China OpenTV
062	28 April 2008	Ronnie O'Sullivan (9)		Mark Williams	World ChampionshipTV
063	29 April 2008	Ali Carter		Peter Ebdon	World ChampionshipTV
064	2 October 2008	Jamie Cope (2)		Mark Williams	Shanghai MastersTV
065	29 October 2008	Liang Wenbo		Martin Gould	Bahrain Championship (Q)
066	8 November 2008	Marcus Campbell		Ahmed Basheer Al-Khusaibi	Bahrain ChampionshipTV
067	16 December 2008	Ding Junhui (2)		John Higgins	UK ChampionshipTV
068	28 April 2009	Stephen Hendry (9)		Shaun Murphy	World ChampionshipTV
069	5 June 2009	Mark Selby		Joe Perry	Jiangsu ClassicTV
070	1 April 2010	Neil Robertson		Peter Ebdon	China OpenTV
071	25 June 2010	Kurt Maflin		Michal Zielinski	Players Tour Championship – Event 1
072	6 August 2010	Barry Hawkins		James McGouran	Players Tour Championship – Event 3
073	20 September 2010	Ronnie O'Sullivan (10)		Mark King	World OpenTV (Q)
074	22 October 2010	Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon		Barry Hawkins	Rhein–Main Masters
075	23 October 2010	Mark Williams (2)		Diana Schuler	Rhein–Main Masters
076	19 November 2010	Rory McLeod		Issara Kachaiwong	Prague Classic
077	17 February 2011	Stephen Hendry (10)		Stephen Maguire	Welsh OpenTV
078	26 August 2011	Ronnie O'Sullivan (11)		Adam Duffy	Paul Hunter ClassicTV
079	22 November 2011	Mike Dunn		Kurt Maflin	German Masters (Q)
080	27 November 2011	David Gray (2)		Robbie Williams	Players Tour Championship – Event 10 (Q)
081	29 November 2011	Ricky Walden		Gareth Allen	Players Tour Championship – Event 10
082	15 December 2011	Matthew Stevens		Michael Wasley	FFB Snooker Open
083	15 December 2011	Ding Junhui (3)		Brandon Winstone	FFB Snooker Open
084	17 December 2011	Ding Junhui (4)		James Cahill	Players Tour Championship – Event 11TV
085	18 December 2011	Jamie Cope (3)		Kurt Maflin	Players Tour Championship – Event 11
086	14 January 2012	Marco Fu (2)		Matthew Selt	World Open (Q)
087	11 April 2012	Robert Milkins (2)		Xiao Guodong	World Championship (Q)
088	21 April 2012	Stephen Hendry (11)		Stuart Bingham	World ChampionshipTV
089	1 July 2012	Stuart Bingham (3)		Ricky Walden	Wuxi ClassicTV
090	24 August 2012	Ken Doherty		Julian Treiber	Paul Hunter Classic
091	23 September 2012	John Higgins (6)		Judd Trump	Shanghai MastersTV
092	16 November 2012	Tom Ford (2)		Matthew Stevens	Bulgarian OpenTV
093	21 November 2012	Andy Hicks		Daniel Wells	UK Championship (Q)
094	22 November 2012	Jack Lisowski		Chen Zhe	UK Championship (Q)
095	5 December 2012	John Higgins (7)		Mark Davis	UK ChampionshipTV
096	14 December 2012	Kurt Maflin (2)		Stuart Carrington	Scottish Open
097	16 March 2013	Ding Junhui (5)		Mark Allen	Players Tour Championship – FinalsTV
098	28 May 2013	Neil Robertson (2)		Mohamed Khairy	Wuxi Classic (Q)
099	15 November 2013	Judd Trump		Mark Selby	Antwerp Open
100	7 December 2013	Mark Selby (2)		Ricky Walden	UK ChampionshipTV
101	11 December 2013	Dechawat Poomjaeng		Zak Surety	German Masters (Q)
102	12 December 2013	Gary Wilson		Ricky Walden	German Masters (Q)
103	8 January 2014	Shaun Murphy (2)		Mark Davis	Championship League
104	9 February 2014	Shaun Murphy (3)		Jamie Jones	Gdynia Open
105	2 March 2014	Ronnie O'Sullivan (12)		Ding Junhui	Welsh OpenTV
106	22 August 2014	Aditya Mehta		Stephen Maguire	Paul Hunter Classic
107	23 October 2014	Ryan Day		Cao Yupeng	Haining Open
108	23 November 2014	Shaun Murphy (4)		Robert Milkins	Ruhr OpenTV
109	4 December 2014	Ronnie O'Sullivan (13)		Matthew Selt	UK ChampionshipTV
110	12 December 2014	Ben Woollaston		Joe Steele	Lisbon Open
111	5 January 2015	Barry Hawkins (2)		Stephen Maguire	Championship League
112	11 January 2015	Marco Fu (3)		Stuart Bingham	MastersTV
113	6 February 2015	Judd Trump (2)		Mark Selby	German Masters
114	10 February 2015	David Gilbert		Xiao Guodong	Championship League
115	6 December 2015	Neil Robertson (3)		Liang Wenbo	UK ChampionshipTV
116	11 December 2015	Marco Fu (4)		Sam Baird	Gibraltar Open

Statistics

Players with multiple maximum breaks

No.	Player	Number	Most recent 147
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	13	2014
2	Stephen Hendry	11	2012
3	John Higgins	7	2012
4	Ding Junhui	5	2013
5	Shaun Murphy	4	2014
	Marco Fu	4	2015
7	James Wattana	3	1997
	Jamie Cope	3	2011
	Stuart Bingham	3	2012
	Neil Robertson	3	2015
11	Cliff Thorburn	2	1989
	Peter Ebdon	2	1992
	Nick Dyson	2	2000
	Stephen Maguire	2	2008
	Mark Williams	2	2010
	David Gray	2	2011
	Robert Milkins	2	2012
	Tom Ford	2	2012
	Kurt Maflin	2	2012
	Mark Selby	2	2013
	Barry Hawkins	2	2015
	Judd Trump	2	2015

Maximum breaks by country

No.	Country	Players	Total 147s	Most recent 147
1	England	31	58	2015
2	Scotland	8	25	2012
3	China	2	6	2013
4	Thailand	3	5	2013
5	Canada	3	4	1989
	Wales	3	4	2014
	Hong Kong	1	4	2015
8	Australia	1	3	2015
9	Norway	1	2	2012
10	Cyprus	1	1	1998
	Northern Ireland	1	1	1999
	Malta	1	1	2002
	Ireland	1	1	2012
	India	1	1	2014

Players with multiple televised maximum breaks

No.	Player	Number	Most recent 147
1	Ronnie O'Sullivan	13	2014
2	Stephen Hendry	10	2012
3	John Higgins	7	2012
4	Ding Junhui	4	2013
5	Mark Selby	2	2013
	Marco Fu	2	2015
	Neil Robertson	2	2015

Televised maximum breaks by country

No.	Country	Players	Total 147s	Most recent 147
1	England	10	23	2014
2	Scotland	5	20	2012
3	China	1	4	2013
4	Canada	2	2	1984
	Hong Kong	1	2	2015
	Australia	1	2	2015
7	Thailand	1	1	1992
	Wales	1	1	2005

Table legend

TV	Televised
(Q)	Qualifying rounds

Multiple maximum breaks in tournaments

No.	Tournament	Player(s)	Venue(s)	Year
1	Matchroom League	John Parrott	Jimmy White Snooker Lodge, Aldershot	1992
		Stephen Hendry	Rhondda Sports Centre, Rhondda
2	British Open	Jason Prince (Q)	Hazel Grove Snooker Club, Stockport	1999 (Spring)
		Graeme DottTV	Plymouth Pavilions, Plymouth
3	Scottish Open	Stephen Maguire (Q)	A.E.C.C, Aberdeen	2000
		Ronnie O'SullivanTV
4	Grand Prix	Jamie Burnett (Q)	World Snooker Centre, Prestatyn	2007
		Tom Ford	A.E.C.C, Aberdeen
5	World Snooker Championship	Ali CarterTV	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield	2008
		Ronnie O'SullivanTV
6	Bahrain Championship	Liang Wenbo (Q)	World Snooker Centre, Prestatyn	2008
		Marcus CampbellTV	Bahrain International Exhibition Centre, Manama
7	Rhein–Main Masters	Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon	Walter Kobel Sporthalle, Rüsselsheim	2010
		Mark Williams
8	Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 10	David Gray (Q)	World Snooker Academy, Sheffield	2011
		Ricky Walden
9	2012 FFB Snooker Open	Matthew Stevens	World Snooker Academy, Sheffield	2011
		Ding Junhui
10	Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11	Ding JunhuiTV	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	2011
		Jamie Cope
11	World Snooker Championship	Robert Milkins (Q)	English Institute of Sport, Sheffield	2012
		Stephen HendryTV	Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
12	UK Championship	Andy Hicks (Q)	World Snooker Academy, Sheffield	2012
		Jack Lisowski (Q)
		John HigginsTV	Barbican Centre, York
13	2014 German Masters	Dechawat Poomjaeng (Q)	Barnsley Metrodome, Barnsley	2013
		Gary Wilson (Q)

Table legend

TV	Televised
(Q)	Qualifying rounds
(D)	Deciding frame

Match-winning maximum breaks

No.	Player	Tournament	Year	Round
01	Stephen Hendry	Charity Challenge	1997	FinalTV (D)
02	Mark Williams	World Championship	2005	Last 32TV
03	Ronnie O'Sullivan	UK Championship	2007	Semi-finalTV (D)
04	Ronnie O'Sullivan	World Championship	2008	Last 16TV
05	Barry Hawkins	Players Tour Championship 2010/2011 – Event 3	2010	Last 32
06	Ronnie O'Sullivan	World Open	2010	Last 64TV (Q)
07	Matthew Stevens	Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 12	2011	Last 128
08	Ding Junhui	Players Tour Championship 2011/2012 – Event 11	2011	Last 128TV
09	Andy Hicks	UK Championship	2012	Last 80 (Q)
10	Shaun Murphy	European Tour 2013/2014 – Event 8	2014	Last 16
11	Ronnie O'Sullivan	Welsh Open	2014	FinalTV
12	Ryan Day	Asian Tour 2014/2015 – Event 2	2014	Last 32
13	Ronnie O'Sullivan	UK Championship	2014	Last 16TV

Records

Firsts

• 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 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.
• In 2014, Shaun Murphy became the first player to make three maximums in a calendar year at the Ruhr Open, having made one at the Championship League in January and another at the Gdynia Open in February.

Multiple maximums

• More than one official maximum break has been made in the same event on thirteen occasions. However, the 2008 World Snooker Championship is the only event where both maximum breaks were televised, and the 2012 FFB Snooker Open is the only WPBSA (World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association) event where two maximums were made on the same day. Three maximum breaks were compiled on 8 February 1998 during the Buckley's Bitter Challenge, by Matthew Stevens, Ryan Day and Tony Chappell. The only time this has been achieved during a WPBSA event was at the 2012 UK Championship, when Andy Hicks and Jack Lisowski compiled one each in qualifying, and John Higgins compiled one at the last 16 of the televised stages.
• 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.

Final frames and matches

• Hendry, Mark Williams, O'Sullivan (on five occasions), Barry Hawkins, Matthew Stevens, Ding Junhui, Andy Hicks, Shaun Murphy and Ryan Day have all made maximums to win matches. Only two of these have come in final-frame deciders, however: Hendry's at the 1997 Charity Challenge and O'Sullivan's at the 2007 UK Championship. See #Match-winning maximum breaks for complete list.
• 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.

Chronometrical

• 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 7 months in the 2007 Masters.
• The oldest player to make a maximum in professional competition is Stephen Hendry, who made his maximum break at the 2012 World Snooker Championship at the age of 43 years and 99 days.

Prize money

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.

Breaks exceeding 147

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 summer 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.

See also

• Nine-dart finish in darts
• Perfect game in bowling
• Perfect game in baseball
• Golden set in tennis