I hope someone else finds this interesting...
I agree with all of the posters in this thread, except for the above statement. Snooker's safety game is very one-dimensional and nowhere near as intricate as that required for games like nine-ball or one pocket. Every snooker player in the world could improve their safety by spending a few days a week playing pool.
I'm not too familiar with one pocket (I've seen a little but not really enough to comment here) but I'll go ahead and disagree with you on snooker and nine-ball.
I don't see how you could think safety in snooker is 'nowhere near as intricate' as in nine-ball - snooker is generally a more complex game all around and this would include safety in my opinion.
It might look at the start of the frame like they're just lagging the cue ball to the end rail each time, but this really isn't the case. They're often blocking off avenues back to the baulk end when they leave their opponent a clear shot at a red, placing the cue ball in a specific area to achieve this. You'll see any number of complicated escapes from snookers if you watch for long enough, from straightforward rolls into the pack to glancing escapes off two cushions, bringing the white back to baulk, or coming off three or four cushions to nestle up to a ball and leave no shot.
The score becomes another factor in how many shots are played. With a large lead and a bunch of reds on the cushion, the leading player will try to tie up balls and put colours out of commission, while the trailing player aims to open everything up without giving up a shot. Players simultaneously playing the same set of balls with different goals results in greater tactical depth, and this can also be said for one-pocket.
In nine-ball you're more likely to see the incoming player snookered after a safe but it's the nature of the game that this is easier to accomplish, with distance being less of a factor than in snooker and with both players always shooting at the same ball.
When all the reds are on the table a player has more options to choose from, which (like straight pool) does not mean you can expect to just shoot any ball and be successful. If a frame reaches the point where only the colours are left and the frame is still 'alive', you'll have a situation like in nine-ball where there is only one ball to be played, but it's usually the case that one player will need more of the remaining balls than the other, again adding another element to the shot selection of both players. Exchanges in nine-ball are generally very short; safety definitely plays a bigger part in snooker.
Then there are 'shots-to-nothing' where a player can go for a ball, leaving himself a shot if it goes in and leaving his opponent nothing if he misses. These can be very creative, and are just another example of shots that do not feature quite so much in a rotation game like nine-ball.
With more balls on the table to choose from and a points system to consider, tactical play in snooker will always be more complex than in nine-ball...and just sending the cue ball anywhere down the other end of the table simply won't cut it.
