<P> Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised maximum break in a 1955 exhibition match in London . In 1982, Steve Davis achieved the first official maximum in professional competition, which was also the first televised one . The following year, Cliff Thorburn became the first player to make a maximum in the World Championship . Ronnie O'Sullivan holds the record of thirteen competitive maximum breaks, and he also has the record for the fastest competitive maximum break at 5 minutes 20 seconds, set at the 1997 World Championship . </P> <P> Maximum breaks have gradually become more commonplace in professional snooker . Only 8 maximums were achieved in the 1980s, but 26 were attained in the 1990s and 35 in the 2000s . Thus far in the 2010s, over 50 maximums have been achieved . The 100th official maximum break in professional competition was achieved by Mark Selby at the UK Championship on 7 December 2013 . </P> <P> Breaks greater than 147 are possible in a free ball situation . This has been achieved only once in professional competition, when Jamie Burnett made a 148 break in the qualifying stages of the 2004 UK Championship . </P> <P> Joe Davis compiled the first officially recognised maximum break on Saturday 22 January 1955 in a match against 68 - year - old fellow Englishman Willie Smith at Leicester Square Hall, London . The Billiards Association and Control Council initially refused to accept the break since the match was not played under their rules . At the time the professionals played using a rule (now standard) whereby after a foul a player could compel the offender to play the next stroke . It was only at a meeting on 20 March 1957 that they recognised the break . Davis was presented with a certificate to commemorate his achievement . The match between Davis and Smith was played as part of a series of events marking the closure of Leicester Square Hall . The hall, known as Thurston's Hall until 1947, had hosted many important billiards and snooker matches since its opening in 1901, including 12 World Snooker Championship finals . The final match was a snooker contest, played on level terms, between Joe and Fred Davis from 24 to 29 January but from 17 to 22 January Joe Davis played Willie Smith at both billiards and snooker . In the snooker match Smith received 28 points in each frame but, despite this handicap, Davis won the match by 23 frames to 13 . </P>

Who has the most maximum breaks in snooker