Higgins Wins Snooker World Championship

John Higgins was crowned as Snooker world champion Monday night. The prestigous event is held every year in Sheffield, England, at the Crucible Theatre.

Snooker is very different from the better-known pool. Snooker is played on a larger table, with more balls. Each ball worths a certain amount of points, and the aim is to outscore the opponent in a particular "frame"(the name of a round). The starting table consists of 15 red balls(each worth one point) , six "colored" balls(2-7 points), and, of course, a white ball to play with. But there are rules how to pot the balls(put them into the holes). The main rule is that you have to first pot a red ball, then a colored ball(any of the six). Then another red, another colored, and it goes on and on. Once you pot a red ball, you start a "break," which keeps on as long as you hit the right balls. Potted red balls stay in the holes while the colored ones are put back by the referee. When all the red balls are gone, players have to pot the colored balls in a particular order.

However, snooker is far from being only a simple game of hitting balls in a certain order. Strategy and technique also play a huge role in the game. Players have to see the whole table and think in advance, just like in chess. It is not enough to pot a red ball, you have to get a good position with the white ball in order to also pot a colored ball with your next shot and continue your break. If they cannot continue their breaks, players must be able to hit a safety shot that prevents opponents from starting their own breaks.

The maximum break is 147 points. That means you have to always sink red-black combos as long as there are red balls on the table. It is quite a feat to achieve one: the top 25 players have a combined nine maximum breaks at the world championships. This year Stephen Hendry got one, last year Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter both had one. The prize money for a maximum break is £147,000, which is split if there are multiple occurrences. Shaun Murphy, the runner-up, won £125,000, Higgins won £250,000.