Are precise snookers in pool more difficult?

[ShootingArts]

I hit balls pretty much daily on a snooker table for a few years. Snooker is indeed harder than pool, but not much. When a pool player first gets on a snooker table they have no idea what a snooker pocket will take and shooting seems very tough. Once you learn what the pockets will and won't take snooker gets far easier, not easy, easier.

Snooker players shoot routes more often I believe, and then there is the do over. If a player's efforts at a safety don't result in a legal shot the other player may give the table back to him with the cue ball back where the player shot from. They can do this over and over, I don't know how many times. Never studied English snooker rules and there are a bunch of them. Anyway, usually the last thing the snooker player remembers is how to make the shot, not how they missed it!

All the things mentioned above are accurate too. One huge thing not mentioned is pressure. The snooker player that has distance working for them too may figure the lock-up safety will almost certainly bring me back to the table, distance alone is still better than 50-50. Compare that to pool where much more of the time you hide the cue ball or sell out, distance isn't nearly as likely to create a safety. More pressure on the pool player trying for a safety.

Hu

 

[Swighey]

Are we still talking about playing safeties...?

Yes. Many snooker safeties are essentially the same shot because the the reds are where the reds always are and the baulk colours are where the baulk colours always are.

 

[The_JV]

I played snooker for the most part and could multi rail to get out of snookers pretty efficiently without giving up a shot. It's pretty easy in pool to give up or get a shot from a snooker due to needing to get a rail.

Again... not what the OP was talking about.

Maybe reread the first post?

 

[The_JV]

Yes. Many snooker safeties are essentially the same shot because the the reds are where the reds always are and the baulk colours are where the baulk colours always are.

How's that much different on a pool table...? There's generally balls at both ends of the table and the rails are always in the same place.

Gross simplification that doesn't include the necessary variables of distance and carom angle

 

[easy-e]

"Rare" isn't the word I'd use to rate the frequency of lock down snookers pros pull off on the big table. I'd go with "usually", or "more often than not"...lol

Snooker players are better. There, I said it.

You may also want to alter whatever pool content your paying attention to. I witness multi-rail safeties at a steady rate in my local room.

I do find however that "pool" players with snooker backgrounds tend to be a bit more dialed in on utilizing rails to generate safes. The first example in the video you posted is something I do after a warm up to get a better feel for the spd of the tables I'm on.

Maybe... Consider the snooker player only need make contact to the snookered ball, and usually just generating some space afterward is a return "safe". Pool requires rail contact afterward and a return safe when only two balls are on the table is unlikely. To me this means pool players can be sloppy on safes and expect good returns.

Snooker 101 is intense practice attempting foul generating safes with only a few balls on the table. It's not an easy thing to do but a necessary skill.

^^^this

I bolded the part where I stopped reading. It's all that needs to be said. These guys are superhuman.

 

[George the Greek]

Again... not what the OP was talking about.

Maybe reread the first post?

The subject of the post in question is it tougher for a precise snooker in pool!

 

[boogieman]

Multi rail safeties we see indeed, but they don't often end up precisely behind an object ball.

It's because whoever shot it doesn't really see/feel the path the CB will take off the rails. If you can learn to kick an OB into center pocket, the rest is basically speed control. Learning routes takes a bit of work and every table condition requires adjustment.

By definition of having to contact a rail, you're not going to see them as much unless it's a carom off of the OB you're shooting at.

I play a lot of 9B and snookers come up really often, but... and this is huge... jump cues make most snookered safes less safe. You either have to be frozen to the blocker or have it close enough to the OB to make jumping difficult. Playing against an opponent who is proficient in jumping helps you learn about which safes works best.

 

[DaveK]

I only watched the first 3, but expect the rest are similar. These are "two way" safe shots. While the ones shown spectacularly get balls hidden, if they did not they still have the distance element. If you watch a lot of snooker you will see safety battles where players try repeatedly to hide balls, but don't ... they still end up safe due to the length / angle of what remains ... then the next player up does the same ... and sometimes you get a gem like those shown in the video.

Dave

Some very good safety play, mostly by Ronnie, in the last frame of this session :

Start at about 44:30.

Dave

 

[Black-Balled]

Yeah the point is not getting out of a snooker. The point is about locking the balls up after a multi rail shot.

Pretty common in snooker, quite rare in pool.

While in pool if you pull it off it is a big chance to get a shot or ba in hand. Id say there is quite the incentive to become as good as a snooker player in creating such snookers?

But we hardly see them in pro play.
Multi rail safeties, yes. But a snooker that ends up just behind an object ball - not so often.

I don't know what kind of pool you are watching.

At the upper level, cb gets real close to blockers often, coz of the jump stick.

 

[The_JV]

At the upper level, cb gets real close to blockers often, coz of the jump stick.

...and this is why many club player "pool purists" hate the jump stick. It displays how weak most play they're safes.