Is It helpfull to my game to play on a snooker table

[MilwShooter]

Also, see if you can get three or four old guys to play some GOLF with you...you'll learn more than you could imagine....

lol...I had to check and see if you were from Milwaukee after I read the first sentence. There is a group of (really nice) guys who always seem to be playing golf. Last night, in 9ball leagues, the guys we were shooting against were playing Golf all the way up until it was 7 and time to start shooting...

They actually were doing a lot WORSE than they usually do. There were plenty of easy banks that they'd over bank, several cuts that they'd cut too thin, etc...Not saying this is because of the snooker table, but it makes you wonder.

 

[bnkunderme]

dont bring your pool balls onto my snooker table...youll kill the pockets ! lol


I have found two things with playing more snooker then pool in the last 3 years.

1. Straight shots on a pool table are not even a concern, even "long" ones.

2. My cue ball control and use of english on a pool table has gone down, snooker you usually just use top, bottom and very slight side, it takes me a while to get into gear on a pool table with my positioning.

 

[Impact Blue]

Simply put (IMHO):

Playing "pool" on a snooker table, giving it 100%, and you're bound to good results on a 9ft table. Try those rotation games on a fast table, the focus it commands for likeable results will make you love it or hate it.

Playing snooker, or snooker-like sports, i.e., golf, liability..., will just kill your stroke. And it'll get in your head.

Don't forget! the pocket facings are a big factor as well. Golf tables and snooker tables have different cuts, from what I understand. The 10ft dedicated golf tables I've played on, if an object ball is frozen to the rail, it will NOT go. My 12ft table experience, if the ball is frozen to the rail, you have to hit it pretty damn good for it to even want to go. But, it will.

Again, just odd examples while rambling.

 

[Cameron Smith]

Simply put (IMHO):

Playing "pool" on a snooker table, giving it 100%, and you're bound to good results on a 9ft table. Try those rotation games on a fast table, the focus it commands for likeable results will make you love it or hate it.

Playing snooker, or snooker-like sports, i.e., golf, liability..., will just kill your stroke. And it'll get in your head.

Don't forget! the pocket facings are a big factor as well. Golf tables and snooker tables have different cuts, from what I understand. The 10ft dedicated golf tables I've played on, if an object ball is frozen to the rail, it will NOT go. My 12ft table experience, if the ball is frozen to the rail, you have to hit it pretty damn good for it to even want to go. But, it will.

Again, just odd examples while rambling.

I disagree about snooker killing your stroke. I suppose if you only play the game now and then i might agree as people have the tendency to become tentative. However consistent practice will cause you to become far more comfortable with the game which will translate to the pool table.

Pool players who have a background in snooker tend to be more comfortable with distance, which simplifies position play if 7 foot shots are within your comfort zone.

 

[ShootingArts]

several years of practice

Just wondering everyones opinions i was bored and jumped on a snooker table with a regular rack of balls and every shot was about impossible. Couple hours later when i got on a barbox i couldn't miss i know the pockets are a lot bigger on the 7ft. Just wondering should i stay with a smaller tables because i feel that i have to change my stroke 100% to make anything on the snooker table is this hurting me or helping?

I practiced two or three hours a day on a snooker table for several years. I used a standard pool cue and snooker balls. I also shot on bar tables every day and pro eights or nines most days. Mixing it up like this, playing on the snooker table did absolutely nothing to hurt my game and a lot to help it.

I really wish that I had a snooker table available to practice on now. In my opinion they are the best stroke and aim trainers in the world. I used to be able to run six reds and six blacks pretty much at will. I could and did run more but that was what I usually ran to get a little cushion and then I would "miss" sending the cue ball up to the poor boy's end of the table. Even that level of play on a snooker table made the bar tables little fun to play on and the nine footers much easier than they were before I played a lot of snooker.

Hu

 

[worriedbeef]

playing snooker to improve your pool game is pointless for the most part.

if you wanna get better at pool - practice your weak areas of pool!

playing a different game which requires a completely different style to psychologically con your mind into believing pool is then easier than it is is not the right way to improve - you're not actually developing your skills properly.

one of the most beautiful things about pool is the way english is used for most shts. adding a touch of outside depending on the severity of the cut for example. but in snooker you don't really do this - you just hit centre ball.

and the argument that this improves the straightness of your stroke and helps you find centre ball doesn't cut it with me either - just play the same shot on a pool table and learn how to do it in pool! same with long straight-in corner to corner shots - instead of practicing them on a snooker table set them up repeatedly on a pool table instead and see how many times you can split the pocket with them, then add draw and follow!

 

[midwest__player]

Thanks everyone

I practiced two or three hours a day on a snooker table for several years. I used a standard pool cue and snooker balls. I also shot on bar tables every day and pro eights or nines most days. Mixing it up like this, playing on the snooker table did absolutely nothing to hurt my game and a lot to help it.

I really wish that I had a snooker table available to practice on now. In my opinion they are the best stroke and aim trainers in the world. I used to be able to run six reds and six blacks pretty much at will. I could and did run more but that was what I usually ran to get a little cushion and then I would "miss" sending the cue ball up to the poor boy's end of the table. Even that level of play on a snooker table made the bar tables little fun to play on and the nine footers much easier than they were before I played a lot of snooker.

Hu

After reading everyones post on here i kinda got the feeling its good for certain parts of my game. So now im looking forward to getting back on that snooker table im going to try and just pocket balls for a hour or 2 then go back to a 9ft and end up on a barbox hopefully running out

 

[OBX]

I'm the other way around. I enjoy playing snooker on a pool table (There aren't any snooker tables around anywhere). Still trying for a 147 break.

 

[tksix]

I guess the question here is a little deeper................meaning that if you want to be good at the game of "pool" then practice pool. The same goes for snooker, or billiards.

But if you want to be a good "cueist" you need to do it all. All of the games are intertwined.....................There is no better way to develop consistent straight cueing mechanics, than hitting snooker balls. By the same token, spinning balls around a table will be learned in billiards. Playing bar boxes will help develop a better ability to break clusters, and minimize your cue ball movement.

All the old timers in the room I played at when I was younger, could bounce from table to table and be effective. It would make me nuts!!! 100 ball runners, making 5-6 billiards in a row, and running 60 -70 breaks on a snooker table. The one thing that was constant was there stroke. It would be the same no matter what game they played!

The problem as I see it is TIME!!!!!! My God, we need to all quit our jobs, and leave our families to be as good as they were!!

So in the quest to be better players, I think we can pull elements from all the cue sports!

Mike

 

[MJR77]

I love to play snooker and I defiantly think it helps with my game. The only problem is now that I moved I have to find a new snooker table to play on . I use my pool cue when I play snooker as well. I use a Z 2 shaft so the difference is around 2 mm but I shoot just fine with it. I like the feel of my cue so I see no point changing it up for every game.

 

[WoodyJ]

Also, see if you can get three or four old guys to play some GOLF with you...you'll learn more than you could imagine....

I wholeheartedly agree.

As for playing real snooker. I've only played snooker a few times and can't comment on that.

Back in the early 1960s when I was a kid and first started shooting pool, the pool hall manager would give me free rack time to play Golf with him on a snooker table (using regular pool balls -- larger than the snooker balls). No other regulars were willing to play him Golf and learn enough about it to be any challenge to him. Those priceless hours and hours of free play translated into a much improved pool game for me. I learned finesse, pocket speed, safeties, defensive strategy, etc. and the pockets on a regular pool table began to look HUGE. It increased my confidence on regular pool tables to the point that cheating a pocket to get shapes and/or adding right/left english became routine.

Plus, whenever someone was able to take me down playing 8-ball or 9-ball I would cut my losses quickly by quitting those games. And, after letting them woof at me for being a chicken, etc., I could often talk someone who was a better player than me (and who knew it deep down in their bones) into a game of Golf (or a race to 2 or 3) for double or nothing on what I'd lost. It used to just frustrate the heck out of power players that were great at running out racks to let me get even and/or walk out with their cash.

P.S. If they did beat me at Golf, the manager was usually waiting in the wings salivating and ready to take on whoever I was playing at pretty much any price. Many a poor fish that were better pool players walked out broke and cursing the "horrid" game.

 

[HomeBrewer]

Absolutely put in time on that snooker table. Why pass up any chance to experience something new?

Living overseas and playing only snooker and English billiards now, I feel:

1. It is a shocking, but true, indicator of how straight you're cueing. I wouldn't tell an A player to jump on a 12 foot table to straighten out their stroke, but for a regular Joe like me or you it is a great surprise to see how badly we really are hitting them.

2. As has been said the balls just don't roll the same, but as long as you keep that in mind while playing and don't try to play shape the same way I don't see how it's a problem. I'm gonna give you credit here for being smart enough to see straight away that it's not pool and that although you have to make adjustments, it's not going to chew up your pool game.

3. Banking balls is funky. Players here seem to play them all short and as a 'high percentage' shot, hoping that if they miss on the inside then the ball will straighten out and go in on the second bounce. Sometimes it happens.

Have fun. It's addictive.

 

[raybo147]

hahaha!
Rays just saying that so no one else here in the U.S. will practice Snooker.....then he will be the king!


Actually I used to play a lot of snooker. Like everyone sais, if you play ONLY snooker, your cueball on the pool table will suffer because you don't spin the CB as much on a snooker table.......no matter how hard I tried :thumbup:...but the pockets will seem like BUCKETS.

A great thing to practice on a snooker table is shooting straight in cross corner shots!......

Then I will be king??? Who is the king right now Gerry and when you find him I want to play him!!! Any and all challenges are welcome.

 

[scruffy1]

I think a little knowledge from all the cuesports will definitely improve your game. I practice on a american 9ft. snooker table at home and definitely
see a dramatic improvement. Throw in some three cushion with some
russian pyramid and NOW you got a game!!!

 

[GFC]

The place I used to shoot in while I was in college had a regular pool ball set that was made the proper size for a snooker table. That way we could play 8ball,9 ball, etc on the snooker table and not mess up the pockets or rails. This way we practiced our regular game on a bigger table where the balls were harder to pocket.

Playing snooker messed my game up for a while because I was not shooting with the same aggressive shooting and position play. Playing 9 ball on those tables improved my game. The snooker table did not mess my game up, it was the way I shot on the snooker table compared to my regular game that messed my game up.

 

[Siz]

After reading everyones post on here i kinda got the feeling its good for certain parts of my game. So now im looking forward to getting back on that snooker table im going to try and just pocket balls for a hour or 2 then go back to a 9ft and end up on a barbox hopefully running out

I think that this is probably right. Snooker is good for straightening up your stroke - and teaching you to keep still on the shot. If you can get to a table, it is worth spending a week or two every year playing it just for that. But other than that, the best way to improve your pool is to spend (quality) time on a pool table IMHO.