O'Sullivan finishes second to Immonen

recoveryjones

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
In the 7th Open Weert 9-ball Championships, Ronnie O'Sullivan met Mika Immonen in the final and lost.

2nd place is really respectable since there were 359 players entered including the likes of Soquet,Ortmann,Feijen,Petroni,Lely, Chamat, Hundel, Vandenburg and Engert who he beat in an earlier round.

Ronnie is a phenomenal talent, a natural who has limited experience in 9 ball, however, finished a respectful second.I think the more Ronnie plays 9ball and 8 ball on the IPT tour the more people will realize just how gifted this cueman is.

Way to go Ronnie.
RJ
 

bruin70

don't wannabe M0DERATOR
Silver Member
means he shot well...that's good because i had heard some of these guys have had pocketing problems on a pool table. so now that shooting is not an issue, it will certainly be interesting.

good for mika too, as he had to bear the onus of being the first to face a legendary snooker player in a final....
 

Kyo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
bruin70 said:
means he shot well...that's good because i had heard some of these guys have had pocketing problems on a pool table. so now that shooting is not an issue, it will certainly be interesting.

good for mika too, as he had to bear the onus of being the first to face a legendary snooker player in a final....

Snooker players imo have always been good potters. They can at times pot some amazing shots that would test even the hardiest pool player. I agree that on a pool table, a conventiional pool player can pocket or sink balls in a "pool" like way where they can cheat pockets and touch rails that can still make balls.

Whereas Snooker players that play 9 ball like Drago, Ronnie and Davis (in the past) would pot and position like they do on a snooker table, often potting in the heart of the pocket without necessary position the cue ball constantly in the centre of the table like a pool player. These different ways of playing the game can often work for them or go against them depending on the circumstances. Steve Davies has said it many times after playing 9 ball for so many years, he oftens has to put his "Pool Brain/Hat on" and make the snooker part take a back seat.

Ronnie if he worked on developing a good break and learnt the more subtle parts of pool would be definitely be force to reckon with as he would be one of the few exceptions particularly from a snooker background that would almost finish/clear the table more than most from his sport. No ball is safe with this monster potting machine imo. :eek:and would be just as deadly at finishing as the likes of Archer, Reyes, Strickland etc. who all at times can really give you a sense of how dangerous they are if you give them half a chance.
 
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Mike Templeton

Confidence........
Silver Member
Kyo said:
Ronnie if he worked on developing a good break and learnt the more subtle parts of pool would be definitely be force to reckon with as he would be one of the few exceptions particularly from a snooker background that would almost finish/clear the table more than most from his sport. No ball is safe with this monster potting machine imo. :eek:and would be just as deadly at finishing as the likes of Archer, Reyes, Strickland etc. who all at times can really give you a sense of how dangerous they are if you give them half a chance.

Plus, the guy has a good personality that is good for the camera. He would be an asset to American pool (IMO).

I'd pay good money to see the first match between Ronnie and Earl.

Mike
 

TheOne

www.MetroPool.club
Silver Member
Mike Templeton said:
Plus, the guy has a good personality that is good for the camera. He would be an asset to American pool (IMO).

I'd pay good money to see the first match between Ronnie and Earl.

Mike

This really would be something, Im not sure what Ronnie would make of him, my money says he will simply laugh at him if he started acting up. However I'm not sure how he would take it if he started talking on his shot, and fighting with the spectators etc :eek:

I am curious what the Americans in general think of Ronnie, I'm guessing many of them know little about him and wonder what all the fuss is about?

Ronnie is pretty much the Tiger woods of snooker with something similar to Earls eccentricity but def not his bad sportsmanship. His Mother and Father have both been convited, his father is still serving time for manslaughter so I think this had some effect on him. I believe his father may get parole soon so hopefully this will have a positive effect on his career and he will dominate even more.

I grew up supporting Alex Higgins and I honestly believe that Ronnie is more talented than any other person to ever hold a cue, Efren included.
 

lewdo26

Registered User will do
Silver Member
I'm excited, and he'll continue to do damage, for sure. My guess is most Americans have only heard of Ronnie. Some of the more avid cuesports fans would have seen his maximums that go around the internet.

We've had many discussions about the stroke on this board... Who's got most power... and who's got the prettiest... who's got the textbook stroke... and Earl, and Buddy Hall, and Kim Davenport...

Were snookerplayers to be considered, I think Ronnie's stroke would get a lot of votes. Mine included. And, yes, he does have *power*... and yes, he can use english... lol

This is very good for pool!
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
Kyo said:
Snooker players imo have always been good potters. They can at times pot some amazing shots that would test even the hardiest pool player. I agree that on a pool table, a conventiional pool player can pocket or sink balls in a "pool" like way where they can cheat pockets and touch rails that can still make balls.

Whereas Snooker players that play 9 ball like Drago, Ronnie and Davis (in the past) would pot and position like they do on a snooker table, often potting in the heart of the pocket without necessary position the cue ball constantly in the centre of the table like a pool player. These different ways of playing the game can often work for them or go against them depending on the circumstances. Steve Davies has said it many times after playing 9 ball for so many years, he oftens has to put his "Pool Brain/Hat on" and make the snooker part take a back seat.

Ronnie if he worked on developing a good break and learnt the more subtle parts of pool would be definitely be force to reckon with as he would be one of the few exceptions particularly from a snooker background that would almost finish/clear the table more than most from his sport. No ball is safe with this monster potting machine imo. :eek:and would be just as deadly at finishing as the likes of Archer, Reyes, Strickland etc. who all at times can really give you a sense of how dangerous they are if you give them half a chance.

Excellent post.

Since Ronnie I think is still in his prime years, and he looks eager to incorporate American pool into his game, he should become one of the very best 8-ball players for sure.

Fred
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
TheOne said:
I am curious what the Americans in general think of Ronnie, I'm guessing many of them know little about him and wonder what all the fuss is about?
.

Out of the 40 Million Americans who are counted in the surveys as playing pool, I would be shocked if more than two or three thousand have heard of him. I'd also be shocked if more than a million of those "players" have ever heard of the game of snooker.

The only people over here that know anything about the real snooker world are those that are avid enough to have caught the snooker-pool challenge matches in the 80's and 90's, have read anything from American author Bob Byrne, or are forum readers.

As far as the diehard fans are concerned, I think we'll think whomever is the top snooker player of the time has to be a tremendous player with uncanny ability. Davis, then Hendry, then O'Sullivan. There were a few other champions in there that haven't the years of being number 1 as Davis and Hendry. Most of us wouldn't be able to discern the difference between a Hendry 147 vs. a Ronnie 147.

Fred
 

juanbond

Software Engineer
Silver Member
I would think it is a little of both... Getting out of the snooker positioning mentality, and adjusting to potting larger sized balls. Having played a lot of both pool and snooker, I can say that there is a definite adjustment from smaller snooker balls to pool balls. On one hand, the small balls seem easier to pot, but harder to cut accurately at a distance (smaller target). Another factor I notice is that english is far different depending on ball size... Small snooker balls seem to draw very easily, but follow a little less easily. Just my $0.02...
 

bruin70

don't wannabe M0DERATOR
Silver Member
TheOne said:
This
I am curious what the Americans in general think of Ronnie, I'm guessing many of them know little about him and wonder what all the fuss is about?

.

i think snooker players are held in awe for their pocketing skills. you see a guy smacking them in without looking, and he has an open bridge,,,and you say "i bet he's a snooker player".

so when you hear that one who has done legendary things on the snooker table is going to try his hand at 8ball, you get all giddy.

i'd rather see ronnie on a tight tight pocket table than regular pool tables. the strategy and subtler nuances may take some learnin', but he's dumbing down on the pocketing part of the game.
 

Double-Dave

Developing cue-addict
Silver Member
The list of amazing feats by Ronnie is endless. Last snooker match he played, after about 15 frames played the BBC showed the average potting percentage, Ronnie was at 97%, meaning on average he potted about 30 balls in a row before missing. He won his first 38 professional matches.He played left-handed for the better part of a season and still was ranked no. 1, now he plays right-handed again, except to avoid using the rest. I've seen him play for hours and hours and hours, but I'll never get tired of watching him. To me he is beyond a doubt the greatest talent that ever played. This doesn't make him the greatest player off course, to me that's decided by the greatest number of titles.
 

juanbond

Software Engineer
Silver Member
bruin70 said:
i think snooker players are held in awe for their pocketing skills. you see a guy smacking them in without looking, and he has an open bridge,,,and you say "i bet he's a snooker player".

so when you hear that one who has done legendary things on the snooker table is going to try his hand at 8ball, you get all giddy.

i'd rather see ronnie on a tight tight pocket table than regular pool tables. the strategy and subtler nuances may take some learnin', but he's dumbing down on the pocketing part of the game.

I think this is definitely true for the most part. I think it should also be added that having larger/easier pockets for a top-level player just means that even though they have that extra range of pocket-cheating options, where a minor deviation from their aimed line may still pocket the object ball, they will often be in situations where they are cheating a pocket, and therefore technically still aiming at a thin target (at least on one side of the ball). Of course, the larger pocket is still more pocketable, and shape options open up wider...

Regardless...I'm really looking forward to seeing Ronnie play any kind of game I haven't seen him play. How do you all think he will fare?
 

Bobby

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
TheOne said:
This really would be something, Im not sure what Ronnie would make of him, my money says he will simply laugh at him if he started acting up. However I'm not sure how he would take it if he started talking on his shot, and fighting with the spectators etc :eek:

I am curious what the Americans in general think of Ronnie, I'm guessing many of them know little about him and wonder what all the fuss is about?

Ronnie is pretty much the Tiger woods of snooker with something similar to Earls eccentricity but def not his bad sportsmanship. His Mother and Father have both been convited, his father is still serving time for manslaughter so I think this had some effect on him. I believe his father may get parole soon so hopefully this will have a positive effect on his career and he will dominate even more.

I grew up supporting Alex Higgins and I honestly believe that Ronnie is more talented than any other person to ever hold a cue, Efren included.

I totally agree with you, Ronnie is in my opinion the most talented player to ever play any cuesport.

And I believe Ronnie DID play Earl once, I remember finding the results from a tournament, I think it was that European Masters 9-ball, anyway it was from 5 or 6 years ago and it was in the semi-final or final of the event. I found it on google, but can't remember the search words I used. I'll have to try and find it.

Bobby
 

Buckster_uk

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Yep, that is correct. It was in the '98 World Pool Masters in England, Ronnie won his first match against Bogdan Wolkowski 11-0 then he lost to Earl 11-4 in the Quarters.
 

sniper

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
bruin70 said:
means he shot well...that's good because i had heard some of these guys have had pocketing problems on a pool table.


You must have heard wrong because if these guys can pocket balls on a snooker table they sure aren't gonna have problems pocketing balls on a pool table. After playing a few games of snooker, the pockets on a pool table really do look like "buckets".
 

buddha162

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sniper said:
You must have heard wrong because if these guys can pocket balls on a snooker table they sure aren't gonna have problems pocketing balls on a pool table. After playing a few games of snooker, the pockets on a pool table really do look like "buckets".

That's a common view but the fact is, snooker players like steve davis have experienced difficulty in potting pool balls when they transitioned over from snooker.

I've seen him miss "easy" shots on a pool table, on film, shots that you would expect a pro pool player to make 99/100 times.

-Roger (they are much larger balls, after all)
 

TheOne

www.MetroPool.club
Silver Member
buddha162 said:
That's a common view but the fact is, snooker players like steve davis have experienced difficulty in potting pool balls when they transitioned over from snooker.

I've seen him miss "easy" shots on a pool table, on film, shots that you would expect a pro pool player to make 99/100 times.

-Roger (they are much larger balls, after all)

I would say that in general I dont think there's any doubt that a snooker player has better pocketing skills than a 9 ball player, it stands to reason. It you are aiming at a smaller target for long periods of time your aim is going to be better than somebody that have been shouting at barn doors. I have seen many snooker players (myself included!) that after playing 9 ball for long periods struggle to move back up to a snooker table and pot balls with the same accuracy they used to have.

The point is EVERYONE misses balls, but when they do its more than likely due to something else, eg concentrating on position, being distracted by something, or just not concentrating enough.

But have a superior ball pocketing ability isnt going to win them any tournaments, but it is a huge advantage.
 

bruin70

don't wannabe M0DERATOR
Silver Member
sniper said:
You must have heard wrong because if these guys can pocket balls on a snooker table they sure aren't gonna have problems pocketing balls on a pool table. After playing a few games of snooker, the pockets on a pool table really do look like "buckets".


i recall now that i read here that hendry had a problem pocketing in some tourney or exhibition or whatever.
 

Duintje

Registered
That's right. Snookerplayers do have problems pocketing balls when they start playing pool.

The target may be much bigger, but that only gives you more room for error.

The problem is that the balls are much bigger. So the lines of aim, the angles, drag, deflection, throw, etc. are all different.
 

Cornerman

Cue Author...Sometimes
Gold Member
Silver Member
TheOne said:
I have seen many snooker players (myself included!) that after playing 9 ball for long periods struggle to move back up to a snooker table and pot balls with the same accuracy they used to have..


Can you address how the smaller table affects your game, if at all, when transitioning from 12' snooker to 9' pool table?

For me, when I transition from a 9' pool table to a 7' bar table, although the shots are much easier to pot, the tightness of the table, the reduced cueball pathways, and the constant elevated rail bridges presents a challenge for me that's not so prevalent on a 9' table.

Fred
 
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