Judd is bad for pool

mark187

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
i believe selby won his 8-ball finals on an 8ft english pool table. the chinese 8-ball players may be a force to reckon with. gareth potts can play 9-ball very well and chu bingjie is one of the best position players in the world. i think those would fare better than snooker players tbh
Gareth Potts doesn't play 9 ball though. He's quite open with his dislike for the game.
 

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Maybe the only reason why Judd might devote himself to upgrading his rotation skills is that it would be historic to be the world champion in both snooker and 9-ball (or 8-ball) etc.
His skills at snooker would decline. I suspect the reason he showed up at the US Open amid a lot of hype was because Matchroom wanted to sell more PPV in England. I doubt he paid his own way.
 

briankenobi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
His skills at snooker would decline. I suspect the reason he showed up at the US Open amid a lot of hype was because Matchroom wanted to sell more PPV in England. I doubt he paid his own way.
Bingo. Matchroom is thinking globally and not just the US.
 

hang-the-9

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I thought he would do better than he did being that I thought snooker players were the best cueists. Maybe I was wrong about that. He had some good moments but a little more bad. He did seem to take it well and show good sportsmanship.

Just making balls is not the whole game of pool, which is what all those snooker fans don't fully understand. He had more class in playing and losing than the fans of his LOL He played some great shots to make the ball, and his banking and kicking was also decent, you just can't live on shot making along against the better players.

I would bet that if the snooker guys actually played pool full time for several months with a coach they would do better in tournaments. Right now they are like those bar players that played for a long time, can make balls but never actually studied how to play so are fodder for even a B level player.
 

gerryf

Well-known member
Just making balls is not the whole game of pool, which is what all those snooker fans don't fully understand. He had more class in playing and losing than the fans of his LOL He played some great shots to make the ball, and his banking and kicking was also decent, you just can't live on shot making along against the better players.

I would bet that if the snooker guys actually played pool full time for several months with a coach they would do better in tournaments. Right now they are like those bar players that played for a long time, can make balls but never actually studied how to play so are fodder for even a B level player.
The Chinese 8-ball players are saying the same things about SVB and other top pool and snooker players who played but didn't get very far.

I hope the UK Open next year gets the top snooker and English pool players.
 

Swighey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
let's hope for the best. isn't he stranded in the UK anyway?
Yes he is, which is why he is playing English pool again. He still does have a Joy logo on his shirt so they are still sponsoring him - but I guess the exclusivity in his contract wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on at the moment so they have to allow him to play other variants.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yes he is, which is why he is playing English pool again. He still does have a Joy logo on his shirt so they are still sponsoring him - but I guess the exclusivity in his contract wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on at the moment so they have to allow him to play other variants.

i forgot about that crap. that sucks tbh.
 

realkingcobra

Well-known member
Silver Member
Isn't that like assuming if a player is wearing Predator patch, they can't play in any non-predator events?
 

vjmehra

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Isn't that like assuming if a player is wearing Predator patch, they can't play in any non-predator events?

I think he's probably referring to the case a few years back with Star v Joy, Potts, Hendry etc. weren't allowed to play in non-Joy tournaments (for Chinese 8-Ball), they publicly stated it was due to contract restrictions (who knows what, if anything has changed since). But its not unheard of definitely, I'd imagine snooker players aren't allowed to play on any other pro snooker tour (not that any currently exists, but there will probably be a clause).

Even English 8-Ball (which is effectively amateur with a bit of prize money) had some player restrictions stopping players competing on multiple tours over here!!!
 

Dunnn51

Clear the table!
Silver Member
Watching JT was interesting, but to play against Jason Shaw at his game was no match. I think snooker & Pool are essentially apples & oranges. The lone similarity is they both grow on trees.
Was Judd good for pool??? Heck yeah! It's a crowd pleaser just like Earl when he gets unhinged. pure entertainment.
 

Blue Jam

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Having read so many outstanding comments and observations in this thread, I'd like to chime in with some differences between snooker and pool that are so easily overlooked.

1) you nearly never have to jack up the cue in snooker, because it is only at the end of the rack that you are required to play for a specific ball. In nine ball, you must sometimes jack up the cue and it was apparent that Judd found these shots very challenging.
2) bridging off the rail is far rarer in snooker than in nine ball, and Judd seemed a bit uncomfortable when playing these shots
3) defensive shots in which maximum english is required are fairly rare in snooker but common in nine ball, and Judd didn't have an easy time with such shots
4) defensive theory is quite a bit different in snooker, in which leaving distance often has greater priority than snookering an opponent. In pool, snookering an opponent is more often the priority, and Judd's defensive shot selection reflected his snooker background. His defensive choices reminded me of those we always saw from the legendary Allison Fisher when she first joined the WPBA tour some twenty five years ago.

You can't just pull a switch and convert from one game to the other. The games have many similarities, and a great cueist may be able to make the transition to pool (as Mark Gray, a snooker player who eventually qualified on merit for a spot on Team Europe at the Mosconi. showed us) but there are many differences, too.

One of the greatest tactical differences between pool and snooker is that in pool there is only ever one primary ball (lowest number), but in snooker there's 15 reds - probably 90% of frames are decided by the time you get to the colours - so the defensive game is very different. Snooker players are often playing primarily for distance or into areas so as not to leave a shot on, whereas in pool you are shooting to hook on nearly every safety.

Also, on the equipment side the cushions being pointed in pool compared to a flat edge in snooker makes a huge difference in the amount of side that "takes". In pool you can probably add/remove 70 degrees of angle off a cushion compared to 5-10 degrees on a snooker table. Snooker players have way less experience in using this and will have a hard time even seeing the types of shots that come naturally to a pool player.

Trump (the snooker player) is a class act, and demonstrated that by showing pool the respect it deserves, acknowledging before his match with Jayson that he expected to be "found out" by a pro, helping to bring a new audience to watch one of the best produced pool events in years and remaining positive throughout, even after a heavy loss. I hope he enjoyed it enough to get himself a cue (!) and give it another go in the future.
 
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