Will snooker help your pool game?

Slim J

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I once heard that the great George Mikula was a advocate of playing snooker to help your pool game. I'm guessing he was mainly talking about improving ball pocketing. What do the better players out there think?

Have any of you played snooker for this purpose?
 

Inzombiac

...
Silver Member
They have a snooker table at our local Dave and Buster's and every time I see it I wonder the same thing Slim J. Cus I read that Allison Fisher was super badass at snooker and now she's badass at pool. But if I did indeed start to practice snooker I wouldn't even know where to start. I kind of know the rules but I heard that snooker players use smaller-tipped cues and all kinds of other things.

Come on people who've played both, we need an answer! :D
 

gromulan

Reality police
Silver Member
Inzombiac said:
They have a snooker table at our local Dave and Buster's and every time I see it I wonder the same thing Slim J. Cus I read that Allison Fisher was super badass at snooker and now she's badass at pool. But if I did indeed start to practice snooker I wouldn't even know where to start. I kind of know the rules but I heard that snooker players use smaller-tipped cues and all kinds of other things.

Come on people who've played both, we need an answer! :D

Actually, I think they compliment each other. My snooker game improved a lot when I started playing nine ball, but my nine ball game wouldn't have been as formidable if I hadn't played a lot of snooker to begin with.

In short, snooker will improve your nine ball play, and nine ball (and other pool games) will improve your snooker.
 

Harvywallbanger

Josh Eisert
Silver Member
I am getting a 5 x 10 snooker table for this very purpose. It will definately help your long shots but speed and position I don't know about. I can't wait untill the day I look at a 4 1/2 x 9 long straight in shot frozen on the rail like its candy and I have a sweet tooth.:)
 

Slim J

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Inzombiac said:
They have a snooker table at our local Dave and Buster's and every time I see it I wonder the same thing Slim J. Cus I read that Allison Fisher was super badass at snooker and now she's badass at pool. But if I did indeed start to practice snooker I wouldn't even know where to start. I kind of know the rules but I heard that snooker players use smaller-tipped cues and all kinds of other things.

Come on people who've played both, we need an answer! :D

Inzombiac: Glad you brought up Allison. I think both she and Karen Coor were both dominent snooker players before they came to the U.S. They played it for many years but unlike mens snooker where the money is huge, it was super low for the womens pro snooker world. I think that was one of the big reasons they came here. There ball pocketing was very strong. Once they learned the game of 9 ball on a pro level they dominated.

As far as playing yourself, I played twice and I was shocked at how difficult it is and how bad I played. I love pool but it doesn't compare snooker as far as difficulty. I know most of the rules from watching videos but I didn't concern myself with the rules. I just rolled the balls out and tried to run as many as possible with a bit of position. (my high run was 8 balls). I would also set up long straight in shots to the corners and straight shots to the side pockets where the cue was just a few inches off the short rail.

I've heard snooker players use very little right and left english. Its more of a center ball type of game because of the round pocket facing and small size balls.

After one of the sessions I then played great on a 9x4 1/2 pool table (it looked like a bar table). After the second time I didn't.
 

TATE

AzB Gold Mensch
Silver Member
Slim J said:
I once heard that the great George Mikula was a advocate of playing snooker to help your pool game. I'm guessing he was mainly talking about improving ball pocketing. What do the better players out there think?

Have any of you played snooker for this purpose?

I remember in an interview shortly after Alex Pagaluyan won the WPC where he credited snooker with improving his pool game. That's a pretty strong recommendation.

Chris
 

Rod

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Slim J said:
I once heard that the great George Mikula was a advocate of playing snooker to help your pool game. I'm guessing he was mainly talking about improving ball pocketing. What do the better players out there think?

Have any of you played snooker for this purpose?

I played snooker because I enjoyed the game, however most times I played Golf on a snooker table. Once you start making those long shots on a snooker table, making the same pool shots becomes quite simple.

At that time I played near as much on a snooker table as I did on a pool table. Playing on any size table helps round out your over all game. I'd still play on a snooker table but now just finding one is a challenge.

First off play to enjoy, you'll reap the benefits in more ways than just pocketing balls.

Rod
 

TheOne

www.MetroPool.club
Silver Member
TATE said:
I remember in an interview shortly after Alex Pagaluyan won the WPC where he credited snooker with improving his pool game. That's a pretty strong recommendation.

Chris

The evidence is there, Marlon, Alex, Allison, Korr, Drago, Hundal, Crosby, Peach, Hill, and countless other Brits that started out playing snooker.

Still lots to learn but the positives far outweigh the negatives IMO
 

bsmutz

Fearlessly Happy
Silver Member
I have a snooker table and a pool table at home. Playing snooker definitely helps your pool game (at least it does mine). I think one of the major areas where it helps is in making you concentrate more on making the shot. Your stroke and follow through better be straight. You can definitely get away with more sloppy play on the pool table. For a real challenge, play pool on the snooker table. Rail shots are a great thing to practice on the snooker table. You need to be dead nuts on for a ball to track down the rail and go in the pocket. The object ball cannot hit the rail on the way in at all or you will miss. When you watch professional snooker players, you will see that they avoid these shots like the plague. Nothing feels better to me than cutting a ball down the rail past the side pocket and having it plop right in. You can find snooker rules pretty easily on line. Note that there are American snooker rules and English snooker rules with quite a bit of differences. Also the cloth is different in English snooker. I've never played on a table in the US with directionally napped cloth like they use in the UK (and the rest of the world most likely).
As far as position play, speed, and the rest, it is very similar to regular pool. The side pockets on a snooker table have a much larger approach angle than a pool table and they have those curves that will make the balls change direction when they hit these curves making it harder to predict where they will end up. You also find that you end up hitting the balls a little harder than necessary sometimes so that if you miss you don't leave the ball hanging as your shot making percentage does go down somewhat. Safeties are a little easier as you usually have a three ball row of blockers at the head of the table and such huge distances from the head of the table to the foot. My experience has been that people who love pool also love to play snooker once they learn how.
 

Slim J

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
bsmuts: Wow! Sounds like you live in a castle or a mansion! (or both) How big is your room?
 

UWPoolGod1

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Slim J said:
bsmuts: Wow! Sounds like you live in a castle or a mansion! (or both) How big is your room?

I have been to his room and its very nice. He'll probably give more specifics but it is a seperate building from his home that he built specifically for having both a 10' snooker table and a 9 foot table. If I was to guess I would say the building is about 25'x30' or so. Had a roll up garage type door to be able to move the tables in and out. It is definitely a nice way to go and would like something similar myself except for being another 10-15 feet wider to have a 10' billiard table as well.

Bill - You should throw up some pics of your room if you have time.
 

Klopek

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
TheOne said:
The evidence is there, Marlon, Alex, Allison, Korr, Drago, Hundal, Crosby, Peach, Hill, and countless other Brits that started out playing snooker.

Still lots to learn but the positives far outweigh the negatives IMO
Don't forget Finland's Mika Immonen, former WPC champion just like Alex.
 

Scaramouche

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
If you have watched snooker videos you will see that they:

Prefer cutting to the centre pockets rather than going longer to the end pocket

Put the cue ball on the head rail as a safety shot, distance and congestion of balls at the other end creates the safety, but if the cue ball gets behind the yellow green or brown on the head string, even better. (Doesn't work on smaller tables)

Avoid trying to run a ball down the rail

Have great control of cue ball speed over long distances

Rarely bank, but rarely miss when they do

Use the yellow green and brown for recovery of position to create a shot to get the cue ball back to reds

Don't try to sink a ball on the break, instead try to get cue ball back to the head rail or hidden behind the yellow brown or green

Instead of trying to sink a long shot after the break, will try to send an open red back into the pack and the cue ball back to the head rail, that is, shots travelling 23 feet are frequent

When near the foot rail try to play safe by parking the cue ball behind the black

Don't need to get a ball to a rail so freezing the cue ball to another ball is good, so many very soft shots

Know how to use a rest rake ladies aid

Spread the reds by using the cue ball coming off the black or blue, much like opening the rack in 14:1

Have great endurance and bladder control - a single rack can last more than and hour:D

Biggest problem I have going between snooker and pool is the weight of the ball. I play one guy who uses 1 7/8 inch balls. nothing like trying to create a hook by placing cue ball and object ball on either side of a third ball and instead knocking them both into the open.:D
 
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mudphud

Registered
TATE said:
I remember in an interview shortly after Alex Pagaluyan won the WPC where he credited snooker with improving his pool game. That's a pretty strong recommendation.

Chris

Yah, apparently, Alex isn't just picking it up as a hobby either. He's done well professionally. I'm not sure of his complete track record, but he does have some notable victories:

http://www.snookerpool.net/alex-pagulayan-billiard-pool-player-profile-20061105/

Not to shabby for the former pool champion.
 

StrokeofLuck

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Snooker is a great game for improving your stroke. If you look at all of the snooker players you can see that they really make an effort to stay down on their shot and have excellent mechanics. A friend of mine had a 5x10 snooker and we use to practice shots on it with regulation pool balls too, and that really improves your confidence. If you do that stay off of the rails though because with the larger balls and the way the pockets are cut it makes for almost zero pocketing when shooting down a rail. Don't worry about cue size, snooker cues have smaller diameter shafts and are generally longer (60" I think) but you can play good snooker with your pool cue with a little practice.
 

bsmutz

Fearlessly Happy
Silver Member
As Todd mentioned, I have the roll up door installed now as well as some stuff hung on the walls. The room is 24' by 24'. It turned out that the tables are a little closer to the side walls and each other than they should be for complete comfort. However, it's very manageable even with 8-10 players going at it at one time. I do have to use a shorter cue than my 60" (57" is fine) when the cue ball is on the rail and I'm shooting straight across or at a slight angle. In the middle, you have to rest your butt on the rail of the opposing table for those shots. Here are some pictures:
http://www.users.qwest.net/~swjcarolyn/images/newroom1.jpg
http://www.users.qwest.net/~swjcarolyn/images/newroom2.jpg
http://www.users.qwest.net/~swjcarolyn/images/newroom3.jpg
I wanted to mention something about the cues also. You don't need a special cue. I found that for myself, I like a 12mm shaft diameter for both snooker and pool. I can shoot both with a 13mm without much difference, just a preference for me. There are some shots on a 10' table that you can't reach with a normal length cue and bridge and quite a few more on a 12' table. I have learned to shoot one-handed which helps a lot. I also have a Lucasi cue that has a 6" or so extension in the butt. Although a longer bridge/cue aren't necessary, they do make things easier sometimes.
 
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TrickyRicky

happy, happy, joy, joy!
I've played a lot on the BIG snooker tables (12 footers), both snooker and golf. And after playing a few hours on those aircraft carriers, a 4.5 x 9 reg pool table looks like a toy, the balls look like basketballs, and the pockets look like canyons.
I don't think that playing on a snooker table helps the physical aspect of my game much, if any, but MENTALLY it definitely gives me more confidence on the regular 4.5 x 9 american pool tables. The distances from cue ball to object ball "seem" a lot closer, the larger pool balls are "seem" easier to aim at, and corners shots are "cake".

The bottom line for me is that playing on a snooker table doesn't make me a better shot maker, it makes the american game seem mentally "easier" to execute.

Rick P.
 

Slim J

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Scaramouche said:
If you have watched snooker videos you will see that they:

Prefer cutting to the centre pockets rather than going longer to the end pocket

Put the cue ball on the head rail as a safety shot, distance and congestion of balls at the other end creates the safety, but if the cue ball gets behind the yellow green or brown on the head string, even better. (Doesn't work on smaller tables)

Avoid trying to run a ball down the rail

Have great control of cue ball speed over long distances

Rarely bank, but rarely miss when they do

Use the yellow green and brown for recovery of position to create a shot to get the cue ball back to reds

Don't try to sink a ball on the break, instead try to get cue ball back to the head rail or hidden behind the yellow brown or green

Instead of trying to sink a long shot after the break, will try to send an open red back into the pack and the cue ball back to the head rail, that is, shots travelling 23 feet are frequent

When near the foot rail try to play safe by parking the cue ball behind the black

Don't need to get a ball to a rail so freezing the cue ball to another ball is good, so many very soft shots

Know how to use a rest rake ladies aid

Spread the reds by using the cue ball coming off the black or blue, much like opening the rack in 14:1

Have great endurance and bladder control - a single rack can last more than and hour:D

Biggest problem I have going between snooker and pool is the weight of the ball. I play one guy who uses 1 7/8 inch balls. nothing like trying to create a hook by placing cue ball and object ball on either side of a third ball and instead knocking them both into the open.:D

Thanks a lot. One thing I forgot to mention, I would also play with pool balls on the snooker table for about 1/2 the total time I practiced. I'm not sure how much more that helps but it the closest I ever come to realizing at times I come very close to being insane.
 
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