A Snooker Champiion's Perceptions Of Pool

[Scaramouche]

Cliff Thorburn

if someone is going to leave snooker to go and play pool then they’re not a snooker player anyway.

but as far as coming from snooker and then going to 9-ball and suddenly being asked to hit the ball as hard as you can AND be accurate… well! In snooker you’re not actually hitting the ball that hard and you’re being careful as though the balls are eggs and you don’t want to break them!


I got very upset with players when, you know, the rack’s not tight enough so re-rack the balls, and that sort of stuff just gets to me. And then there’s the fact that the money isn’t as good as snooker plus the fact there’s a million good players out there. But it’s still a good game, I’m not knocking the game at all, but it just doesn’t suit me.


The first time I saw the game I was about 10 or 11 years old and I was at the bowling alley watching my dad bowl and I guess I got bored of watching him, and I heard this strange clicking noise coming from down the stairs. So I went down and peeped my head around the corner to see what was going on, and they were actually playing 8-ball but on a snooker table so obviously the table was big. And I remember this guy banking the 8 ball into the side pocket and a big groan went up and everybody came to the table and put money on it and naturally that really caught my attention! And I remember a cigarette was on the rail and the smoke was rising up through the shades and of course the bright green cloth and the numbered balls and all this money and well, that was just fantastic! And then someone saw me and said “Hey kid, get outta here!” so I ran back up the stairs.

Why were you dressed up as a mechanic?
I was trying to hide that fact that I was a pool player! So anyway I beat this fella and he said “What are you doing in town, do you work here?” and I said “Yes, I’m working at the Mobil 66 on the other side of town” and he said “No you don’t!” and I said “How do you know” and he said “Because I own the f***ing place!”

http://www.snookerisland.com/blog/cliff-thorburn-interview-1of3/

http://www.snookerisland.com/blog/cliff-thorburn-interview-2of3/

http://www.snookerisland.com/blog/cliff-thorburn-interview-3of3/

 

[Mole Eye]

Thanks for your impressions of pool. Having only played snooker once or twice, there's no doubt a huge difference in the two games. I was amazed at how difficult the pockets were. The skill of the snooker players at pocketing balls always amazes me. Both snooker and pool are great games, and everyone has a favorite. Mine just happens to be 8 and 9 ball, because that is what I grew up playing.

 

[onepocketron]

Comparing snooker and pool is like the comparison of chess to checkers. Both are board games, but that is about as far as it goes.

Each has different rules and strategies, but one is not superior to the other.

 

[Chopdoc]

Comparing snooker and pool is like the comparison of chess to checkers. Both are board games, but that is about as far as it goes.

Each has different rules and strategies, but one is not superior to the other.

I agree.

When I lived in the UK I used to go with one on my surgeon friends to a snooker club. Lots of fun. Played a lot of snooker over the course of a year.

I also went occasionally to a place that had a couple of bar tables. Played mostly 8 ball with local guys and introduced some of them to 9 ball.


Chess vs checkers? OK. I always saw it to be more like Baseball vs Cricket, but even that does not cover it. It's more like Cricket vs every other sport that can be played with a club or bat...except one. Well....we haven't even considered billiards. :wink:


I also really saw it as one game vs many. Snooker is one game while pool is many different games. I get tired of people comparing them as seeing snooker as somehow the "higher" game. It isn't. Certainly the leading snooker pros make more money. But I see pool as being the more diverse set of games requiring a more highly developed and more highly diverse set of skills, as well as more highly developed equipment.

.

 

[DeHouser]

Well....we haven't even considered billiards. :wink:

True. If you find the 'pool vs. snooker' screeching here tiresome, a bit of reading about billiard players' reactions to 'upstart' snooker last century is a lot of the same.

Cool to hear from Cliff. He's been one of my snooker icons for many years. I don't even begrudge him for beating me in 9-ball :wink:

 

[Papa Red]

In the early 60's I quit bowling as a kid when the bowling alley put six 9ft. and 1 snooker table in and I started playing pool. Then an elderly one arm guy taught me the game of snooker. I play snooker for about 5 years but the lure of gambling took over so 6-ball and 8-ball on the bar tables with 9-ball on the 9fts. became the games of choice. Snooker wasn't the popular game in the US in the years to follow and my option is that it is not a gambling game. To this day not many UK's gamble, it's mainly Americans, Filipino's and Canadians. I alway enjoyed playing snooker, but it was hard to fine some one to play and the game of golf became the game on a snooker table if you could fine a snooker table in pool rooms. But I see where there are a few snooker clubs in the north east now days. I guess you could say the same for 3 cousin billiards too, not many billiard tables around either.