double the rail

Apart from the fancy way he plays it, that's probably the right shot in that situation. It he hits the ball he makes it and if he doesn't hit it, he doesn't sell out. Still, it was pretty unexpected that way and in a World Championship.
 
I'm noticing I don't see any kicking or banking in snooker
No attempts at long thin cuts with the ball close to the rail
 
beneath_the_sur said:
I'm noticing I don't see any kicking or banking in snooker
No attempts at long thin cuts with the ball close to the rail
Click to expand...
(Warning! "Kick" in snooker means "bad contact", not "cushion-first".)

They do kick in balls close to the pocket. In the current WC I remember being surprised by a rail-first play when the object ball was maybe a foot from the pocket. Also, in his last frame against Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan kicked in a hanger that he was completely snookered on:

CropperCapture[1].jpg

He made the kick but missed the black.

Banks (called "doubles") on reds are played fairly often cross-side when there is sure position on the black and no red will be left "on" unless the banked ball hits the far jaw of the side (center pocket) and comes back towards the black spot.

Long banks are played in the end game when the shooter is well ahead and the other player needs snookers. If the ball is left in the jaws, it's OK because the trailing player wants to keep it on the table for snookers.

In general banks are just too hard to make and useful only in certain positions.
 
Rail shots on Snooker table are not vible due to longer shots in general, the ball has to cover more distance along the long rail, the rails are bouncy, much more than on a pool table and the corners of the pockets are cut round instead of pointy and are more likely to spit the ball out than swallow it.

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I got lucky. I got to see Denny Searcy shoot balls down the rail that no one else could make with BIH. And long open table shots were gimmees for him. Denny would fire them in like they were hangers. He robbed every Pay Ball game he played in!
Back then the biggest games were played on the 10' table at the old Billiard Palace in Bellflower or in Dayton on the 12' table at Joe Burn's place. Both tables had extremely tight pockets, almost like a gaffe table. Never bothered Denny or his sometimes road mate Cliff Thorburn.
Keith was playing in those games with Ronnie, Richie, Jimmy Reid and anyone else who wanted to jump into the fire. Keith started playing with the big boys at age 14 and by age 16, he was making them back down playing 9-Ball. Back in the 60's they would regularly play 20 & 40 and double on run outs. So each ball was worth $20 per man and the seven ball was worth $40. A run out in a five man game was worth $1,120! It was incredibly hard to do with the super tight pockets but I saw Denny do it a few times. He and Cliff stopped in my room in Bakersfield on their way North in 1972 or 73, and he asked me how we could play. I told him his drinks were on the house! :D
 
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