Snooker superstar Ronnie O'Sullivan is playing an exhibition match of 9-ball pool against WPBA star Xiaoting Pan of Yanzhou, China. After a safety battle, Pan has left the solid yellow 1-ball open, and Ronnie sinks it. Next, he must hit the solid blue 2-ball first, and plans a 2>5 combination (the 5 is solid orange). But to his surprise, he flukes (accidentally pockets) the blue 2 ball as well, in the far side pocket. However, he has also unintentionally snookered himself for position on the solid red 3, which he must hit first next. Watch what he does then.
By giving the cue ball right sidespin, he makes it bounce "back" off the short rail. It's quite difficult to judge this sort of spin—I can make a shot like that (with more of a hanger, meaning a ball over the pocket) about 1 out of 12 times!
Mike
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When this post showed up.on my phone, my eye went straight to the name "Xaoting Pan," and my first reaction was to wonder what you had to say about the new Chinese panchromatic film.
Posted by: Bill Tyler | Tuesday, 10 November 2015 at 08:31 PM
I dunno... this shot is even more impressive to me:
https://33.media.tumblr.com/53c87f26d47218bb5faca57848685a50/tumblr_nh3cgmKCPH1qksk74o1_400.gif
Posted by: Peter | Tuesday, 10 November 2015 at 09:26 PM
Xaoting Pan is no relation to super x pan and royal x pan then?
Posted by: hugh crawford | Tuesday, 10 November 2015 at 11:14 PM
Peter,
That is AB-SO-LUTE-LY hilarious. Well played, sir, well played.
Thanks!
Adam
Posted by: adamct | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 01:51 AM
I assume you know all about Ronnie "The Rocket" O'Sullivan, but the wider readership may not. He is a titan in snooker, and earned his sobriquet by feats such as this - the fastest 147 maximum break in history.
Sometimes the cue ball hasn't really stopped before he strikes it again. Truly astonishing. Bear in mind that this table is 12 feet long...
https://youtu.be/bpeBugHSCnU
Posted by: benny_pea | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 02:44 AM
Emulating Ansel Adams or even HCB is easy-peasy compared to my ongoing pursuit of 1/1000 of Rocket Ronnie's prowess. His exploits are other-worldly and he is so enjoyable to watch.
Mas
Posted by: Mas Young | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 04:12 AM
Ronnie is top of the tree. He seems to see (and be able to execute) even harder shots without much thought.
Great to watch.
Posted by: Dave Pawson | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 06:19 AM
Very nice indeed.
The way he shot the 2-5 combination is not something I would have thought of. He shot it with enough power to send the 2-ball and cue ball around the table, presumably to shoot the 2 in the same corner where he pocketed the 1-ball.
Personally, I would have played the 2-5 with a lot less power to set up a 2-3 combination.
Posted by: Matthew | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 07:41 AM
Ronnie's brain is uniquely wired. His number sense (geometry, trigonometry, physics) is keen. I venture to guess that his flicker rate (amount of frames per second he senses and perceives) is on the right-side of the bell curve. On top of that, he's practiced and played well over 10,000 hours. His ability exemplifies a perfect balance of nature and nurture.
OT: I wonder if highly skilled photographers are above average at billiards/snooker/pool.
Posted by: Bob Rosinsky | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 09:32 AM
So is Ronnie slumming? After seeing his exploits on the snooker table, to him 9-ball must seem ridiculously easy.
Posted by: Richard Hargrove | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 10:24 AM
Ronnie's also quite good left-handed and is a bit of a "character"...
https://youtu.be/Vs-nUiRq_GE
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/anger-over-left-leaning-osullivan-1306125.html
The date in the newspaper article for this incident is wrong, the YouTube video is correct, it was 1996. The newspaper apepars to suggest it was 2011.
In addition he managed a 100 break left-handed in tournament play.
https://youtu.be/IrfLch52g4Y
Amazing player.
Posted by: Stuart | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 04:18 PM
I recently made a shot like this. It was a) the first game of pool I've played in years, and 2) pretty much the only shot I made. Speaking of flukes, were we?
Posted by: Marshall | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 04:23 PM
When does this feat occur in this 1 hour38 minute 'clip'? Thanks!
Araon
Posted by: aaronL | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 05:42 PM
This is a compilation of Ronnie's best shots from the 2014 World Snooker Championship. I think Mike will particularly appreciate the shot shown at 10:31 :)
https://youtu.be/9j842uAOV08
Posted by: Gill R | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 06:19 PM
1 in 12? I've played recreationally for 35 years and I'm 1 in 40 on that shot (maybe)! It was beautiful.
Posted by: Malcolm Leader | Wednesday, 11 November 2015 at 06:23 PM
ahem. Xiao, not Xao. When in doubt, you can always look up Pinyin syllables.
[Thanks Kathy. Fixed now. --Mike]
Posted by: Kathy Li | Friday, 13 November 2015 at 07:54 PM