Do snooker players kick by feel?

[Bob Jewett]

As for where the "black" or "billiard" spot ended up on the snooker (billiards) table.... In the early days of English billiards (1800s and early 1900s), a standard shot was to pocket the red ball off the billiard (now, black) spot which was worth 3 points and then the red would respot on its spot. The highest number of consecutive "winning hazards" (pocketing the red ball) or "spot strokes" (pocketing the red from its spot) was something over 600 shots. In order to make such play harder the spot was moved around and the pocket sizes were changed.

Here is some info from the amazing book "Billiards" by Major William Broadfoot, 1896. It is a book that anyone who is interested in the history of billiards should have.

(From page 69 of the first edition)

 

[Bob Jewett]

... In the early days of English billiards (1800s and early 1900s), a standard shot was to pocket the red ball off the billiard (now, black) spot which was worth 3 points and then the red would respot on its spot. The highest number of consecutive "winning hazards" (pocketing the red ball) or "spot strokes" (pocketing the red from its spot) was something over 600 shots....

I just found the following on Wikipedia about William Peall. This gives a very interesting trivia question:

What is the highest number of consecutive balls pocketed in a billiard match, and how large was the table?​

Of course it has to be worded carefully to not say "pool". The answer is not 526/8-foot nor is it 626/9-foot. It is 643 balls on a 12-foot table.

(William, W. J.) Peall was born on 31 December 1854, at St. Pancras, London. He learnt to play billiards at the age of 13[1] and received some playing lessons from John Roberts Sr.[2]​

​

Following success as an amateur player, he became a professional in 1881. He was known as the leading exponent of repeated potting of the red ball.[3] In 1884, he completed 548 consecutive pots of the red in a match against Billy Mitchell, and in 1895,again against Mitchell, achieved 643 consecutive pots of the red.[4]​

 

[cuetechasaurus]

Yes, Willie Hoppe neither developed nor used the standard diamond systems. Nor did he write "his" book, "Billiards As It Should Be Played", which was written by Byron Schoeman. The corner-five diagrams in that book are essentially taken from the "Cannefax Charts" which were published in 1931 and are available here: http://www.sfbilliards.com/Misc/Cannefax.pdf They give a very rough idea of where the cue ball is going. Robert Byrne discusses extensions, corrections and problems with the system in his "Standard" book.

Hoppe knew all the angles because he was supporting his family -- father, mother and brother -- by the time he was 12 years old. It was said that his father would beat him when he missed. Strong incentive indeed.

Raymond Ceulemans, who has published a diamond system book, has said that he won his first (several?) world championships at 3C without knowing systems.

Thanks Bob. Do the top 3c players just use systems to fall back

My other half is a "feel" player, and he was once asked to describe it. It's hard to describe. Me personally, I think it's a combination of skill, experience, and instinct, all rolled up together.

I've become a huge snooker fan. Being a railbird, it's easy to spot a few characteristics about technique. Snooker players always address the ball, as Jimmy Reid strongly endorsed, before stepping up to the table, but the other trait I see all snooker players do is after the fire the trigger, they stay down. Pool players jump up and shoot to fast sometimes. Some people call that rhythm, I guess.

Another interesting trait about snooker, many of them rest their chin firmly on the cue stick. A lot of Filipino pool players do this as well, and as we all know, Filipino pool players are strong.

Check out Ronnie O'Sullivan's chin.

Thanks Jam. What a player Ronnie is. Plus he plays almost equally good with his opposite hand, which is just crazy. People often talk about how good he is at break building in snooker but his strategy and defensive play is probably the best too.

Good to hear from you and I hope Keith is well too. I wish I was around to see Keith play in his prime, everyone talks about him like he gave his opponents PTSD

 

[Bob Jewett]

Thanks Bob. Do the top 3c players just use systems to fall back

...

I think it varies. I think the vast majority of the shots from the top players are by feel.

 

[cuetechasaurus]

I think it varies. I think the vast majority of the shots from the top players are by feel.

Whoops I edited that incorrectly but you understood my question, thanks