Those of you that are keen snooker players will dream about making century breaks regularly like the professionals but are not quite able to fulfill the dream. I’m now going to talk about how to make a century break in snooker and discuss what is required.
Knowing how to make a century break is a fantastic feeling when achieved. You feel like a proper snooker player when you hit this milestone.
If you are a person that is making 30/40/50 breaks on a regular enough basis, then there is very little reason why you cant go a step further and start making century breaks. The problem is, most people don’t know how to make a century break because they don’t understand the art of break building.
Making a 30 or 40 break can be pretty straight forward if enough reds are out in the open but to go one step further to getting high breaks (70+) requires forward planning and thought processes which are geared up to clearing the table.
Generally speaking, most frames of snooker will see reds spread mostly around the pink and black spot areas which is ideal. But there is very rarely a frame of snooker where you won’t see reds against cushions or clusters of reds all blocking each other from being potted. When you want to know how to make a century break, these problematic reds need to be developed into potable balls and that is the art of break building.
Snooker players should be trying to think 2 shots ahead of themselves so the player can plan for what order to pot the balls that maximizes the chances of a high break.
Example: Player is on a red just below the pink spot with a nice angle to drop on the black ball. The last red on the table is directly below the black on the top cushion. If the player is thinking two shots ahead, then he will want to pot the red ball and leave himself high on the black so he can get to the red along the top cushion. Leaving yourself low on the black means you cannot get on the red and end of the break.
At the start of the frame we can afford to make more positional shot errors because we have more chance of dropping on a red because there are simply more of them. When we are down to the final few reds, things become quite difficult because more precise positional shots are required. So if you want to know how to make a century break, then firstly make sure your positional play is in good order.
Most professionals players will be playing for an area on the table instead of an exact position. Additionally they play in a way that if they mess up the positional shot, then they have an option of another red. Believe me, easier said than done!!
Getting balls into open play is very important when we want to make big breaks and know how to make a century break. The more balls in play = the more options for getting onto those balls. So if there is a cluster of reds below the pink all covering each other, then ideally we want to get them open as soon as possible. There are a number of ways to achieve this. The most popular way at the moment is to leave one red out in the open, drop on the colour nicely with a good angle into the reds. Pot the colour, hit the reds in the desired way and if you don’t manage to get on a red from the pack, then chances are you’ll be left on the red that’s been left in the open. This is a far better method than potting all the open reds before busting the pack.
In theory, if you want to know how to make a century break, then the simple rule is, play the easy balls very well and then in theory you should never have a hard shot. Much easier said than done, so practice playing relatively easy balls perfectly.
Here is a checklist of things you need to do in order to know how to make a century break:
Make sure your technique is correct (cue action, stance, timing etc)
Pot the opening ball.
Think two shots ahead.
Get the balls as open as quickly possible.
Concentrate on making the next shot as easy for yourself as possible.
Practice those tricky balls along the cushions.
Be confident.
If you get all these things right, and continue to improve on each of these, then sooner or later you will see your breaks increase, your confidence will rise and before you know it, you’ll know exactly how to make a century break. Approach the table in a way where you want to clear the entire table, not just pot a few balls and then hope for the best. Play positively.
