Why contrive games like Bonus Ball...

[bmccaslin]

As for Bonus Ball, it may seem like a lot at once, but it actually has fewer rules than Snooker. It's simply new, and new things take time to become familiar.

This is very true; there have been numerous times when I've been out playing, and set up to play either 9 or 10 ball, and someone comes up and asks me what game I'm playing, and what are the rules. I'm always surprised that people don't know what 9 ball is; granted, it's probably a little easier to explain to a newbie how to play, but the point is that seeing a new game still piques their interest. Bonus Ball could be very similar.

I admit, I'm definitely skeptical myself, but am supporting it nonetheless, as many of the top pros are also putting their weight behind it to promote it. I say let's see how it goes!

-Brian

Edit: This is not to say I don't like Snooker; I actually love watching and playing the game. But as many on here have already noted, the real estate needed to provide for a good Snooker room probably would not make it worth their while. It's hard enough getting newbies to play on 9 footers too!

 

[sjm]

...if we can just institute Snooker?

What I'm asking is this: many suggest 8-ball, 9-ball, and even 10-ball are too easy for the elite players these days; if we're looking for a tougher game, why not have these guys play Snooker? It's a tough game that requires a load of skill and a match takes a lot longer than a rack of nine or eight.

Are we so averse to European games that we avoid it here? Let's face it, we've seen Ronnie O come over and play 9 and 8, but how much have we seen Strickland, Archer, van Boening etc play Snooker?

I'm not saying they don't have it in them; if they played it, I think they'd be adroit. But instead we're trying to drum up Bonus Ball which, let's face it, will fail (nobody in bars will ever play it nor will try to understand it; Snooker also would have a really tough road in the states but at least it already has a big following elsewhere). Why not just get our elite players into Snooker?

Great user name. Didn't fool anyone, I suspect, since you left out the apostrophe and also referred to Ronnie O in the third person in your post.

I don't see this your way. Snooker and pool are very different games that require very different training and practice, and the transition from one to the other is tough. Snooker requires greater pocketing skills than pool, of course, so the transition is quite a bit easier for a snooker player wanting to try pool than for a pool player considering snooker.

I think the real question you should be considering is "why not get our young players into snooker?" It's a perfectly reasonable question since snooker is so remunerative. Here in America, though, the answer is because snooker tables take up so much space and, at a time when poolrooms face tough economic realities, the switch is not logical.

Still, I'd like to see some of our young talent trained for snooker. I think that once they are among pool's elite, it may be too late.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Great user name. Didn't fool anyone, I suspect, since you left out the apostrophe and also referred to Ronnie O in the third person in your post.

I don't see this your way. Snooker and pool are very different games that require very different training and practice, and the transition from one to the other is tough. Snooker requires greater pocketing skills than pool, of course, so the transition is quite a bit easier for a snooker player wanting to try pool than for a pool player considering snooker.

I think the real question you should be considering is "why not get our young players into snooker?" It's a perfectly reasonable question since snooker is so remunerative. Here in America, though, the answer is because snooker tables take up so much space and, at a time when poolrooms face tough economic realities, the switch is not logical.

Still, I'd like to see some of our young talent trained for snooker. I think that once they are among pool's elite, it may be too late.

Millions of kids caught the snooker bug when Alex Higgins came along, and made the game exciting to watch. Hundreds of thousands were bought 6x3 snooker tables as Xmas presents etc.

If you want the next generation of Americans to play cuesports, start em young and start em small.

ps seems the username fooled quite a few, alarmingly. I bet the poster Jimmy White is bracing himself lol. I was actually quite surprised - gobsmacked, in fact - to see the real Ronnie was once a member of this site.

 

[henho]

Just returned from playing snooker in the UK and I loved it, I'd love to see it take off in the US. Very difficult game indeed.

My experience left me with the impression that there is a range among games in terms of how much emphasis is placed on what can be done with the cueball, how much you "play" the cueball. If you look at 3-cushion, your focus is on your cueball, it essentially IS the game. You must spin it and stroke it and love it and control it, and although great players can play position, it is somewhat an afterthought in the game as a whole, and can't be done all the time.

In snooker, as I found out, you really don't have much options besides center ball. You entire focus is on the accuracy needed to complete a pot. And the size of the table relative to the size of the balls means that position involves drifting the cue around the table without touching rails more than in other games, and most position can be covered with the center axis of the ball.

Pool lies somewhere in between. Position plays a more crucial role and position routes are longer and more creative and require more rails played in more ways. Pool combines the artful spin control of billiards with the potting accuracy of snooker. The way the cueball is approached in pool is different. You get down with spin in mind and work your way around the table controlling the cueball, much more so than in snooker.

 

[Slasher]

Just returned from playing snooker in the UK and I loved it, I'd love to see it take off in the US. Very difficult game indeed.

My experience left me with the impression that there is a range among games in terms of how much emphasis is placed on what can be done with the cueball, how much you "play" the cueball. If you look at 3-cushion, your focus is on your cueball, it essentially IS the game. You must spin it and stroke it and love it and control it, and although great players can play position, it is somewhat an afterthought in the game as a whole, and can't be done all the time.

In snooker, as I found out, you really don't have much options besides center ball. You entire focus is on the accuracy needed to complete a pot. And the size of the table relative to the size of the balls means that position involves drifting the cue around the table without touching rails more than in other games, and most position can be covered with the center axis of the ball.

Pool lies somewhere in between. Position plays a more crucial role and position routes are longer and more creative and require more rails played in more ways. Pool combines the artful spin control of billiards with the potting accuracy of snooker. The way the cueball is approached in pool is different. You get down with spin in mind and work your way around the table controlling the cueball, much more so than in snooker.

Sorry but I think it's a bit misleading when a complete novice explains how to play, your way off the mark on a number of points.

 

[JB Cases]

I can assure you that this is NOT Ronnie O Sullivan. Ronnie did have an account a while back and asked that it be removed.

This Ronnie will be changing his username very soon.

Mike

Even RonnieO doesn't have a stroke like the might Mikey O'Howerton on AZB.

 

[sjm]

Millions of kids caught the snooker bug when Alex Higgins came along, and made the game exciting to watch. Hundreds of thousands were bought 6x3 snooker tables as Xmas presents etc.

If you want the next generation of Americans to play cuesports, start em young and start em small.

ps seems the username fooled quite a few, alarmingly. I bet the poster Jimmy White is bracing himself lol. I was actually quite surprised - gobsmacked, in fact - to see the real Ronnie was once a member of this site.

Yup, remember watching Alex Higgins. In about 1986 or so, he disappeared and it was front page news on many of the London tabloids. He was a classic. Minnesota Fats never got even one-tenth of the attention that Alex "the hurricane" Higgins got.

 

[Celtic]

We already have the most popular pool game by far to use in pro pool (8-ball).

We already have the proper tables/table size to play that game on (The Diamond 10-footer)

We have already seen the proper pocket size for those tables for the professional circuit to make 8-ball adequately hard to the point that it's difficulty would be comparable to snooker (the Fatboy rails/pockets).

Playing 8-ball under those conditions would be a very challenging professional game where the cream would most definately rise to the top. It would also still be playing "pool", the game that 99%+ of the general public actually recognizes as such and actually play on the rare times they pick up a cue in a pub or at someones house.

If I had the money I would buy one of the 10-foot Diamonds, I would get Glen to build rails for it with pockets exactly like the Fatboy rails had, and I would set up a 8-ball challenge match between SVB and Thorsten Hohmann in a race to 31 on that table to show just how challenging and cool 8-ball could actually be when played on the proper specs for that game.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

We already have the most popular pool game by far to use in pro pool (8-ball).

We already have the proper tables/table size to play that game on (The Diamond 10-footer)

We have already seen the proper pocket size for those tables for the professional circuit to make 8-ball adequately hard to the point that it's difficulty would be comparable to snooker (the Fatboy rails/pockets).

Playing 8-ball under those conditions would be a very challenging professional game where the cream would most definately rise to the top. It would also still be playing "pool", the game that 99%+ of the general public actually recognizes as such and actually play on the rare times they pick up a cue in a pub or at someones house.

If I had the money I would buy one of the 10-foot Diamonds, I would get Glen to build rails for it with pockets exactly like the Fatboy rails had, and I would set up a 8-ball challenge match between SVB and Thorsten Hohmann in a race to 31 on that table to show just how challenging and cool 8-ball could actually be when played on the proper specs for that game.

How would that differ to Chinese 8 ball?

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Sorry but I think it's a bit misleading when a complete novice explains how to play, your way off the mark on a number of points.

I thought his post was fair comment. You do (or should) stick to centre ball more for snooker than pool. The really successful players are the ones that master the simplicity of centre ball striking, and only use side when they have to.

 

[Pathetic Shark]

Yup, remember watching Alex Higgins. In about 1986 or so, he disappeared and it was front page news on many of the London tabloids. He was a classic. Minnesota Fats never got even one-tenth of the attention that Alex "the hurricane" Higgins got.

That's because he didn't live in a caravan at the bottom of his ex missus' garden or headbutt referees when the fancy took him. I don't know much about Fats but I think he was a self-publicist who went looking for it - Higgins was just a walking disaster.

 

[SouthernDraw]

Snü-kā?

...if we can just institute Snooker?

What I'm asking is this: many suggest 8-ball, 9-ball, and even 10-ball are too easy for the elite players these days; if we're looking for a tougher game, why not have these guys play Snooker? It's a tough game that requires a load of skill and a match takes a lot longer than a rack of nine or eight.

Are we so averse to European games that we avoid it here? Let's face it, we've seen Ronnie O come over and play 9 and 8, but how much have we seen Strickland, Archer, van Boening etc play Snooker?

I'm not saying they don't have it in them; if they played it, I think they'd be adroit. But instead we're trying to drum up Bonus Ball which, let's face it, will fail (nobody in bars will ever play it nor will try to understand it; Snooker also would have a really tough road in the states but at least it already has a big following elsewhere). Why not just get our elite players into Snooker?

I don't think it's about being adverse to Euro. Personally, love spending time there and married a wife from there. I hope to retire to Germany. But, snooker is slow and boring. Same as soccer (or football). And I'm averse to boring!

 

[Jim Baxter]

I like Bonus ball about as much as I like Pro Wrestling .

 

[Underclocked]

Ditto to Jim Baxter.

But I love snooker.

 

[RunoutJJ]

I think its really funny that people think this is the Rocket!! :lol:

 

[JC]

I don't think it's about being adverse to Euro. Personally, love spending time there and married a wife from there. I hope to retire to Germany. But, snooker is slow and boring. Same as soccer (or football). And I'm averse to boring!

Don't forget about the Queen Mum. We don't care about her or her family either.:smile:

 

[CreeDo]

Doesn't this boil down to "let's save pool by abandoning it entirely"? Pool's a different game and we'd like to see it succeed on its own merit. Any pool pro who wanted to switch to snooker is free to do so, and the presence or absence of bonus ball has nothing to do with that.


Posted from Azbilliards.com App for Android

 

[Celtic]

How would that differ to Chinese 8 ball?

People in America would be aware of it's existence.

 

[smoooothstroke]

...if we can just institute Snooker?

What I'm asking is this: many suggest 8-ball, 9-ball, and even 10-ball are too easy for the elite players these days; if we're looking for a tougher game, why not have these guys play Snooker? It's a tough game that requires a load of skill and a match takes a lot longer than a rack of nine or eight.

Are we so averse to European games that we avoid it here? Let's face it, we've seen Ronnie O come over and play 9 and 8, but how much have we seen Strickland, Archer, van Boening etc play Snooker?

I'm not saying they don't have it in them; if they played it, I think they'd be adroit. But instead we're trying to drum up Bonus Ball which, let's face it, will fail (nobody in bars will ever play it nor will try to understand it; Snooker also would have a really tough road in the states but at least it already has a big following elsewhere). Why not just get our elite players into Snooker?

Sounds good but will anyone watch?

I personally enjoy snooker and would watch a televised U.S. snooker tour but I think it would take a while to catch on with the main stream.There are few snooker tables in the continental U.S.I seriously have considered relocating to Canada LOL to play more snooker(its good for my pool game).

To answer your question...Games like bonus ball are created to drum up the interest of the would-be-pool-watching public.

 

[Ghosst]

There are some 6x3s but most will be 7x4.

Unless the world has changed dramatically, in England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales they were all 6', in some clubs 9' could be found, and snooker tables were in every major center.