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Freeball on red - pot another Red instead

Postby FunkyTownPhil

Cant find the answer this anywheer on the web so i thought i would ask you guys.

I was playing last night and after a foul was snookered on the final red.

I nominated the Green ball as "a red"

i hit the green ball but this then hit the final red and the red went into the pocket

should i have got the point for the red and carried on or was it a foul.

we decided to play the shot again as we could not find the correct answer

Re: Freeball on red - pot another Red instead

Postby Andre147

It's a perfectly legal shot, because red is now the ball on, so it counts as 1 point in that situation.

And imagine both red and green had been potted, it would still be a legal shot, counts as 2 points and green goes back to it's own spot.

Re: Freeball on red - pot another Red instead

Postby acesinc

I will add to this thread a commonly misinterpreted nuance of the Free Ball Rule to help all avoid a pitfall in the future. When a Free Ball is awarded by the Referee and nominated by the striker, the striker is obliged to strike that Free Ball with first contact. If a Free Ball is nominated and the first contact is made instead with the natural Ball On (Red in this case), it is a foul.

For example, imagine one of those situations where two balls, say Red and Green, are very near each other and the Red will cut very easily into a nearby pocket except for the fact that it is possible that Green might be contacted first. So if you have that situation AND you have a Free Ball, then it's easy, right? It doesn't matter if you hit Red first or Green first, or in fact hit them both simultaneously, right? Wrong! The Free Ball must be first contact of White. (Technically, it is a fair stroke if Free Ball and natural ball on are contacted simultaneously. But true simultaneous contact is about as rare as a full solar eclipse...don't count on it.)

So it is perfectly fine to call Free Ball Green and plant the Green onto a Red into a pocket, but it is a foul to call Free Ball Green then plant a Red onto Green into a pocket.


   

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