Gambling in Snooker

The wild 6.

Play by the point.

Can shoot the 6 at anytime for 6 points if you pot it. Loose 6 if you miss.

May want to limit # of points. We used to play 100 points max. Game wasn't over if 100 points ahead, but they couldn't add to their score.

I used to play a little. In 1983 I walked into a Holiday Inn , that to my disbelief, had a 5 x 10 snooker table. Guy playing by himself asked if I wanted to play some wild 6 for a quarter a point? I didn't know the guy but knew that even at a quarter the game could get expensive. Like a nit I said I will play dime a point, 100 point freeze out.
Had to explain the freeze out, but we were good to go. I could have made quite a score! That was the easiest table I ever played on. Ran over a 100 , on the wild 6, first two, and only, games.:wink:

Used to play American snooker a lot 40+ years ago. Every town had a room w/ tables. Played many different formats but if you had multiple players, two of my favorites were 1) three handed partner... like 4 handed only one player had to be his own partner. Each game rotate the single player, so you were your own partner 1 in 3 games. 2) if several players with only one table... play so much a point, but the only player you had to pay was the man following you. Didn't matter what anyone else did, whatever the guy behind you scored, that was your payout. Hopefully you received something from the guy in front of you as well.
Both these formats bring competition and entertainment to the table. Next thing you know... your wife is calling.

We used to play based on the points... first to 147 got paid the difference between you and the opponent. . Any where from a dime to a dollar... it could get hairy if someone got on a streak... lol

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We used to play "Doctor Pepper".....10-2-4. (each bottle cap had the numbers 10-2-4 on it).
So we played $10 on the high score, $2 on the last #6 pocketed, and $4 on the last #7 pocketed.
Four or five handed was quite a game and you could make some nice little scores.
On the old Brunswick Balke 5x 10's with the super tight pockets.:smile:

I gambled a lot at snooker for a few years.

What bothered me?
I thought American snooker rules was the best way to play snooker....
....better than world rules..
...and almost nobody either side of the border knew them or wanted to learn them. :angry:

galipeau said:

What would you define as "American Rules"?

We limit foul re-shots to 3 attempts. I've also played where you have to hit a rail, which prevents a lot of traditional snooker safety play. I hate the traditional foul rules the most when the cb hits non-object balls out of position. How are you supposed to get them back exactly where they were?? some sort of vague honor system I guess? I don't want to get too much into that, but minimizing the effects of those types of ambiguous rules are appealing to me.

Thanks for all the variations so far, I can't wait to try these out!

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American snooker rules....haven't read a version since the 70s....
....can't remember which book...probably BCA.

Not too hard to remember the gist of them, though.........

Must drive a ball to the rail after contact...or pocket a ball.

All scratches are 7 points

The 'shoot again' rule applies after any foul.

You can push or shoot any ball NOT on...but you lose 7 points.

When the reds are all gone...if you make the proper color ball in order and scratch,
it stays down.


No free ball, no must attempt to hit the ball on....this is Ames, mister

galipeau said:

Because Snooker is a point based system of scoring, has anyone here ever bet money on a high run only while playing? I was in a three person game recently and it was definitely a twist. I played with two better players, but the big table and tight pockets was a leveler. We all chipped in a few bucks to see who had the highest run and both games i played, I came out winner. I won the game outright once, but did manage to win the break pot, and lose the overall score once. Having an extra person definitely influences safety play choices, and betting on high run only made aggressive offense and extra incentive. Are there any other creative ways you've played snooker that involved betting?

Thanks, Ian

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In my experience, traditional betting on the snooker table seems to be a lose/lose situation--either you flat out lose the bet, or else, you win the bet, but the frame itself was almost certainly not much fun. The two normal options are to either bet "per point", say for a dollar, in which case, the payout might be anywhere from a dollar to fifty dollars or more, rather a large variable. Or you might just bet on winner of the frame for a nominal amount, but in my experience, any wager, even a pretty non-substantial one, seems to turn a mediocre frame into an absolutely forgettable and lousy frame. Safety comes to the forefront and all the scoring colors get knocked to cushions possibly to never enter the game again. Just plain boring. And unless one player is capable of knocking in 30, 40, 50 point breaks, the game is likely to go on for 45 minutes with no redeeming value at all.

You caught my attention when you mentioned "three person game". I am not a fan of three or more handed snooker...the varying styles of players leave it up to fate what type of player you will be following and you are unable to counteract any strategy he plays against you. But head to head snooker just takes too long when there are three or more bodies wanting table time.

With that in mind, I came up with a variation which is head to head but takes no more than five to ten minutes per frame. I tried it in a fast format tournament one time (we only have one table available so a "normal" tournament just isn't possible; takes too long). I liked it a lot but in the club, it did not go over well as most people are traditionalist. So if you are looking for a fast snooker game that can be bet like barroom pool (winner stays on, fast frames so table turnover is frequent), I can point you to a couple of videos. First is a demonstrator for the basic concept:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgVw-Bl33HU
and second is one of the frames from that tournament I mentioned. The first seven minutes is absolute crap so skip through it, but everything happens in the last three minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLecbst8ym4
It's based on the South American variation called Brazilian Snooker (or also called "sinuka"), but some of the rules for Brazilian Snooker got a little odd for my tastes.

If you are interested in this, I actually have the rules written down (single sheet of paper, not much to it) so if you PM me, I would be happy to send you the proper full rules.