Century break

In snooker a century break refers to scoring 100 points or more within one visit at the table, without missing a shot. The player does this by potting red balls and coloured balls alternately. Scoring 100 points over the course of a whole frame is not a century, as it must be done during one turn at the table (although you can have more than one turn). Points for a foul shot by the opponent do not count in a player's break.

The highest possible century in snooker is 147 (a "maximum break"), composed of 15 reds, 15 blacks and the six remaining colours; yellow, green, brown, blue, pink and black potted consecutively. Under exceptional circumstances, it is possible to score a break of 155. Should a player come to the table after a foul shot by the opponent and is unable to hit both sides of any red ball, he may nominate one of the colours as a red. Under these circumstances, it is possible to pot 16 reds and blacks, plus 27 points for the six remaining colours, totalling 155 points.

To score a century, there must be at least ten reds (or nine in a free ball situation) on the table when the player comes to play. If there are nine reds, then the most points that can be scored is 99 (= 9 x 8 + 27).

Records

• Horace Lindrum became the first player to record 1000 centuries in public performance.

• Stephen Hendry holds the record for century breaks in professional tournament play, having made over 700.

• Hendry also holds the record for making the most centuries in a single match, compiling seven during the final of the 1994 UK Championship. During this match, Hendry compiled six centuries in a span of eight frames.

• Hendry holds the record for the most century breaks made in a ranking event having made 16 centuries during the 2002 World Championship.

• The quickest recorded century break in tournament play was by Tony Drago. In the 1996 UK Championship, he took just 3 minutes 31 seconds (211 seconds) to score a hundred.

• There have been five consecutive centuries in a match on two occasions. Ronnie O'Sullivan and Stephen Hendry made five consecutive centuries between them during the final of the 2003 British Open, and Stephen Maguire and Neil Robertson achieved the same feat at the 2009 Masters in the quarter-final.

• Stephen Maguire made five consecutive centuries at the 2004 British Open comprising the last three frames of his quarter final and the first two frames of the semi-final.

• Only two players have made four consecutive centuries in a match: John Higgins in the final of the 2005 Grand Prix and Shaun Murphy at 2007 Welsh Open.

• Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record for making the most centuries in a best-of-9 match compiling five centuries (including a 147) to beat Ali Carter 5–2 at the 2007 Northern Ireland Trophy. O'Sullivan is the only player to win a match in a ranking tournament by making a century in every single frame that he won.

• Mark Selby set the record for the most century breaks compiled in a World Championship match at the 2011 World Championship, where he made six in total. It was also a record for a best-of-25 match.

• Mark Selby holds the record for compiling the most centuries in a single season, making 54 centuries in the 2010/11 season.

List of players with at least 100 century breaks

The list includes players who have achieved at least one hundred century breaks in professional snooker tournaments with the number of professional seasons, and the number of maximum breaks the player has achieved. As of 23 October 2011, 42 players compiled more than hundred century breaks in professional competition and every World Champion since 1987 is on this list.

Rank	Player	Number of centuries	Number of seasons as Pro	Number of maximums
1	Hendry, StephenStephen Hendry	762	27	10
2	O'Sullivan, RonnieRonnie O'Sullivan	666	20	11
3	Higgins, JohnJohn Higgins	486	20	5
4	Davis, SteveSteve Davis	325	34	1
5	White, JimmyJimmy White	289	32	1
6	Ebdon, PeterPeter Ebdon	286	21	2
7	Doherty, KenKen Doherty	285	22	0
8	Williams, MarkMark Williams	284	20	2
9	Fu, MarcoMarco Fu	226	15	2
10	Ding Junhui	221	9	4
11	Parrott, JohnJohn Parrott	221	27	1
12	Stevens, MatthewMatthew Stevens	220	18	1
13	Hamilton, AnthonyAnthony Hamilton	218	22	0
14	Selby, MarkMark Selby	214	14	1
15	Murphy, ShaunShaun Murphy	210	15	1
16	Maguire, StephenStephen Maguire	200	15	2
17	Robertson, NeilNeil Robertson	200	14	1
18	Day, RyanRyan Day	162	15	0
19	Lee, StephenStephen Lee	160	20	0
20	McManus, AlanAlan McManus	159	22	0
21	Bingham, StuartStuart Bingham	156	17	2
22	Wattana, JamesJames Wattana	149	23	3
23	Hicks, AndyAndy Hicks	134	21	0
24	Carter, AliAli Carter	131	16	1
25	Dott, GraemeGraeme Dott	129	18	1
26	Harold, DaveDave Harold	126	21	0
27	Thorne, WillieWillie Thorne	126	26	1
28	Perry, JoeJoe Perry	124	20	0
29	Trump, JuddJudd Trump	123	7	0
30	O'Brien, FergalFergal O'Brien	123	21	0
31	Allen, MarkMark Allen	120	10	0
32	Dale, DominicDominic Dale	117	20	0
33	Drago, TonyTony Drago	116	27	1
34	Hull, RobinRobin Hull	115	16	0
35	Davis, MarkMark Davis	115	21	0
36	Hunter, PaulPaul Hunter	114	11	0
37	Pinches, BarryBarry Pinches	113	23	1
38	Morgan, DarrenDarren Morgan	111	18	0
39	Burnett, JamieJamie Burnett	109	20	1
40	Walden, RickyRicky Walden	108	13	1
41	Cope, JamieJamie Cope	105	11	3
42	Ford, TomTom Ford	102	12	1
Last updated on 23 October 2011.

Notes

• ^a Jimmy White is the player with the most centuries who has never won a world title, although he has reached 6 finals and won the World Seniors Championship.
• ^b Ken Doherty is the highest player on the list never to have made a maximum break.
• ^c Anthony Hamilton is the highest player on the list never to have won a ranking title.
• ^d Andy Hicks is the highest player on the list to have never been ranked within the top 16.