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 on a single turn at the table during a game. 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 be unable to hit both sides of any red ball directly, 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 775.

• 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, and was the first player to compile five centuries in seven frames.

• 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.

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

• Eight centuries were compiled by Hendry and Peter Ebdon during the final of the 2002 World Snooker Championship, which was a record for a world final at the Crucible Theatre. This record was tied by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Barry Hawkins in the final of the 2013 World Snooker Championship.

• 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 three players have made four consecutive centuries in a match: John Higgins in the final of the 2005 Grand Prix, Shaun Murphy at the 2007 Welsh Open and Neil Robertson at the 2013 Ruhr 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.

• Only Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan have compiled six centuries in a world championship match at the Crucible. Selby set the record in a second round match at the 2011 World Championship, which was also a record for a best-of-25 match. O'Sullivan tied it when he compiled six centuries during the final of the 2013 World Snooker Championship, setting a record for a world final at the Crucible; the record for a final previously stood at five, jointly held by Hendry (in 1997), John Higgins (1998) and Matthew Stevens (2000).

• O'Sullivan has compiled more century breaks than any other player in world championship competition at the Crucible. His tally stands at 131 centuries, having broken Hendry's record of 127 at the 2013 championship.

Season record

Stephen Hendry's tally of 53 century breaks from the 1994/1995 season stood as the record until the 2010/2011 season, where it was finally broken by Mark Selby. Prior to the 2010/2011 season—the season that saw the Players Tour Championship established—there were far fewer tournaments on the calendar, with Hendry never having the chance to contest over one hundred matches, unlike Selby did when he broke Hendry's record; in fact, prior to 2010/2011, Hendry was the only player to have compiled over 50 century breaks in a single season (53 and 51) with Ronnie O'Sullivan coming closest with 48 in the 2006/2007 season. Ironically, Selby equalled Hendry's record at the 2011 World Snooker Championship during his second round tie with Hendry, and another century in his quarter-final match took his total for that season to 54 centuries; Selby went on to break his own record with 55 century breaks in the 2011/2012 season. Judd Trump set a new record in the 2012/2013 season when he compiled his 56th century break of the season in his first round match at the 2013 World Snooker Championship; he compiled a further five centuries in his second round, quarter-final and semi-final matches to set a new season record of 61 century breaks.

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 6 October 2013, 49 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	2013/14 season centuries	Number of maximums
1	Stephen Hendry	775	–	11
2	Ronnie O'Sullivan	704	9	11
3	John Higgins	538	13	7
4	Steve Davis	337	1	1
5	Ding Junhui	317	17	5
6	Peter Ebdon	308	3	2
7	Ken Doherty	307	1	1
8	Mark Williams	303	6	2
9	Marco Fu	300	14	2
10	Jimmy White[a]	299	1	1
11	Mark Selby	299	10	1
12	Neil Robertson	286	28	2
13	Shaun Murphy	275	11	1
14	Stephen Maguire	260	7	2
15	Matthew Stevens	251	2	1
16	Anthony Hamilton[b][c]	242	6	0
17	Judd Trump	226	9	0
18	John Parrott	221	–	1
19	Stuart Bingham	203	5	3
20	Ryan Day	202	8	0
21	Mark Allen	197	10	0
22	Stephen Lee	184	–	0
23	Alan McManus	172	1	0
24	Ali Carter	166	2	1
25	Joe Perry	164	5	0
26	James Wattana	156	0	3
27	Ricky Walden	155	10	1
28	Fergal O'Brien	150	7	0
29	Mark Davis	150	6	0
30	Graeme Dott	149	2	1
31	Barry Hawkins	148	6	1
32	Andy Hicks[d]	144	0	1
33	Dominic Dale	144	4	0
34	Dave Harold	137	0	0
35	Tom Ford	135	3	2
36	Jamie Cope	134	4	3
37	Michael Holt	127	4	0
38	Willie Thorne	126	–	1
39	Tony Drago	125	1	1
40	Jamie Burnett	122	2	1
41	Barry Pinches	122	1	1
42	Robin Hull	117	0	0
43	David Gilbert	116	14	0
44	Paul Hunter	114	–	0
45	Darren Morgan	111	–	0
46	Nigel Bond	107	0	0
47	Ian McCulloch	105	–	0
48	Liang Wenbo	105	5	1
49	Joe Swail	104	3	0
As of 6 October 2013

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 Anthony Hamilton 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.