Besides Steve Mizerak, did any other us pool pros try snooker?

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bstroud

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jay helfert said:
I think the guy next to Jones is Roy Gandy, owner of the table company of the same name. UJ was still a big healthy guy back then. According to some other old timers he was also one tough MF'er as well.
P.S. Danny won that snooker tournament. I think the year was 1961, right before I came on the scene :D. In 1961 I was busy playing tennis on my high school team; second doubles my Junior year and second singles my Senior year in 1962. The Hustler pulled me away from tennis and made a pool player out of me.
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Jay,

I was at this Macon tournament. I was traveling with E. Taylor.
Danny won the snooker. Beating Taylor in the finals.
Junior Goff was third and I was fourth.
I would have beaten Junior except for the fact that he called a foul on me when my shirt touched a ball in the last game.

Met Puckett for the first time when he left his cue in Gandys' pool room. I found it and took it across the street where he was eating with Taylor and Joe Cosgrove and returned it.

Bill S.
 
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skogstokig

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a bit off-topic but

former english pool player joe o'connor (junior champ i think) is making a considerable dent in the ongoing snooker welsh open. playing the semi as we speak, having beaten higgins, ding junhui and kyren wilson on his way there.. i believe he has only played snooker for 4-5 years or something like that, but then again he's only 24 yrs
 
Snooker Theory

Snooker Theory

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Pool is like miniature golf vs real golf when compared to snooker, love both games but snooker is so much harder. No offense to anyone, just how I feel after playing both games. I doubt most pool pros could compete with snooker pros. Easier to pick up pool than snooker, a 6x12 snooker table plays harder than the toughest diamond, IMO.
 
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Nostroke

Nostroke

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Snooker Theory said:
Pool is like miniature golf vs real golf when compared to snooker, love both games but snooker is so much harder. No offense to anyone, just how I feel after playing both games. I doubt most pool pros could compete with snooker pros. Easier to pick up pool than snooker, a 6x12 snooker table plays harder than the toughest diamond, IMO.
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Appleton has played both games and disagrees with you.Who knows?
 
Snooker Theory

Snooker Theory

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Nostroke said:
Appleton has played both games and disagrees with you.Who knows?
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Does he, mind sharing the article where he said that? If you remember off the top of your head that is.

Never thought of him as a snooker champion per say.

Not to say pool players can't beat snooker players and visa versa, the games are much different. There has been a few snooker players get spanked playing pool. I still think snooker is much harder than pool, by miles
 
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Snooker Theory

Snooker Theory

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Nostroke said:
He said it on here i THINK- Are you a Snooker Champion? 'Per say' ? ahaha.
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Well Effren Reyes disagrees with you.


See what I did there, I mean I can just say any pro agrees with me and disagrees with you, then give no citation.

Then upon being asked for citation you respond with what you did.


What snooker championships has Darren won exactly? You have to have won snooker majors to comment right?
 
JessEm

JessEm

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As the saying on the Tour goes... Why don't you two "put your chalk where your mouth is."
 
cueman

cueman

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I think Mike Massey played some snooker tournaments in England. I saw a pro snooker player from Canada give Johnny Archer 4 points with ten reds on a ten foot snooker table and Johnny beat him like he was stealing.
 
Nostroke

Nostroke

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Snooker Theory said:
Well Effren Reyes disagrees with you.


See what I did there, I mean I can just say any pro agrees with me and disagrees with you, then give no citation.

Then upon being asked for citation you respond with what you did.


What snooker championships has Darren won exactly? You have to have won snooker majors to comment right?
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You are so clever!! (per say)

PS - I didnt even give an opinion. If you dont want to believe me on what DAZ said-That is fine. Im certainly not going to go digging through all the threads here to find it.
 
jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
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Here's my opinion:

Three Cushion Billiards is the toughest game of all.
Snooker on a 12' table is second toughest.
Straight Pool is third.

One Pocket is the most cerebral game, requiring creativity along with shot making ability. A good One Pocket player must be well versed in banks, combinations, kiss shots (billiards) and reading the pack.
 
pt109

pt109

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Snooker Theory said:
Pool is like miniature golf vs real golf when compared to snooker, love both games but snooker is so much harder. No offense to anyone, just how I feel after playing both games. I doubt most pool pros could compete with snooker pros. Easier to pick up pool than snooker, a 6x12 snooker table plays harder than the toughest diamond, IMO.
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The thing that’s harder about snooker is the range....snooker pros can play senior tours
at the age of 40 because the long shots get too difficult.
Any thing else at snooker, any top pool player can do also.
Danny Diliberto could make big runs at snooker using his straight pool knowledge...
...but he had to get left around the reds mostly.

Snooker, 3-cushion, and pool are all difficult....if your opponent is a top player.
....these games are tough, if your opponent is tough.
 
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westcoast

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I know that typically snooker players find it easier to adjust to playing pool more than the other way around, but how good do you think Ronnie O'Sullivan would be if he decided to commit to pool full time? Would he be capable of winning major world titles in pool?
 
Bob Jewett

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westcoast said:
... how good do you think Ronnie O'Sullivan would be if he decided to commit to pool full time? ...
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If an impossibility is hypothesized, any conclusion can be reached.

So, he would be averaging four or five hours a day of practice and competing in more pool tournaments than he presently does for snooker. I think he would be in the top 10 which gives him a good chance at a world championship.

Note that five hours a day of practice is more than most current pro pool players put in.
 
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westcoast

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Bob Jewett said:
If an impossibility is hypothesized, any conclusion can be reached.

So, he would be averaging four or five hours a day of practice and competing in more pool tournaments than he presently does for snooker. I think he would be in the top 10 which gives him a good chance at a world championship.

Note that five hours a day of practice is more than most current pro pool players put in.
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Another way of looking at my question is what are the biggest adjustments a snooker player would have to make? Cheating the pocket to get position? The break?

I know pool players struggle with the bigger table and smaller pockets when playing snooker- but what would the snooker players struggle with vice versa?
 
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Oze147

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westcoast said:
I know pool players struggle with the bigger table and smaller pockets when playing snooker- but what would the snooker players struggle with vice versa?
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I would say safety and tactical play.
Playing save on a snookertable is quite easy, since the distance and the small rounded pockets always add an safety element. You are allowed to play roll ups to an object balland don`t need a cusion after object ball contact. Also if snookered, just hitting the ball on has a good chance to not leave an instant chance for your opponent.
The only real difficulty is speed control, especially on a pro table. Getting the cueball tight on the cusion is really tough on the fast cloth, but since the modern players are so strong with their long pots, getting the white tight to the rail makes a big difference.

In pool there are much more options to answer safety play. Jumps, kicks, banks, curve shots and even if your safety is nearly perfect, a top pro might find a way to make a hit and even pot the ball. And that is where a snooker player would struggle. They for sure can run an open table, but when it is getting ugly, that is where a knowledgeable pool player starts to shine.
 
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vjmehra

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Oze147 said:
I would say safety and tactical play.
Playing save on a snookertable is quite easy, since the distance and the small rounded pockets always add an safety element. You are allowed to play roll ups to an object balland don`t need a cusion after object ball contact. Also if snookered, just hitting the ball on has a good chance to not leave an instant chance for your opponent.
The only real difficulty is speed control, especially on a pro table. Getting the cueball tight on the cusion is really tough on the fast cloth, but since the modern players are so strong with their long pots, getting the white tight to the rail makes a big difference.

In pool there are much more options to answer safety play. Jumps, kicks, banks, curve shots and even if your safety is nearly perfect, a top pro might find a way to make a hit and even pot the ball. And that is where a snooker player would struggle. They for sure can run an open table, but when it is getting ugly, that is where a knowledgeable pool player starts to shine.
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True, but from watching the early days of the Mosconi Cup, World Champs in Cardiff etc. (i.e. the events where Matchroom got the snooker pro's involved), it was the break they all really seemed to struggle with...to a really strange extent too. In that most of them seemed to have a worse break than the average club player.

Of course that may not be true at all and it just looked like that on tv, when they were up against top pool pro's, or maybe their cue actions are so finely tuned, they simply couldn't comfortably adjust to the break shot!
 
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BasementDweller

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I like to think of the disciplines being all on the same spectrum with the book ends of the spectrum being "cue ball" and "execution". On the cue ball end of the spectrum the game is less about technique, although it's still important, especially as you move up the ladder. But here it's really more about knowing what the cue ball will do when it comes to the nearly infinite speeds and spins that can be applied to it. So on this end of the spectrum there are the carom games, most especially 3-cushion.

On the other end of the spectrum you have snooker, where the game becomes almost entirely about technique. Mastering the balls becomes secondary to mastering one's own body.

The beautiful thing about pool is that it's right smack dab in the middle of this spectrum, giving you a lifetime to inch towards mastering both sides of the game.
 
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