Is it just me or is SNOOKER getting hot?

[Scaramouche]

There is some place in England that is a snooker farm. It's out in the country and they have a little hotel where you can stay and eat and enjoy the scenery. There is also a snooker table where you can play all you want and they also offer lessons with a pro coach. Sounds like a great vacation to me! I seriously think I will do this one day, haha

http://delcoachessnooker.com/default.aspx

 

[Cameron Smith]

Good points. I'm sure it's a boon for TV.

My major issue is with the proportionality. 16 byes to 2 qualifiers. No problem with having most of the field exempt based on world ranking, but we all know that 16 players isn't that deep in cue sports. There just isn't that great of a difference between the very best and those slightly below. And the current system must benefit older, past champions at the expense of up-and-comers.

Every sport would benefit from having at least one major event run similarly to the US Open Golf, wherein about 50% of the field is exempt and the other 50% has to qualify through 1 or more rounds based on their ranking.

I definitely agree they need to hold more major open events. Simply from a marketing perspective, qualifiers who do well make great story lines. As it is the players on tv are almost entirely from the UK with a handful from China and Hong Kong. Hard to sell the product as a global game when only two nationalities (oops, four I mean, sorry scotland and Ireland) are represented.

Furthermore the other problem I have is the qualifying system for the tour is rather silly. You either have to win the World Amateur, or finish at the top of one of a couple of tours in the UK or China. Again a little too restrictive and doesn't make for a worldly sport.

 

[TSW]

I definitely agree they need to hold more major open events. Simply from a marketing perspective, qualifiers who do well make great story lines. As it is the players on tv are almost entirely from the UK with a handful from China and Hong Kong. Hard to sell the product as a global game when only two nationalities (oops, four I mean, sorry scotland and Ireland) are represented.

Furthermore the other problem I have is the qualifying system for the tour is rather silly. You either have to win the World Amateur, or finish at the top of one of a couple of tours in the UK or China. Again a little too restrictive and doesn't make for a worldly sport.

Agreed. Wouldn't it be nice to see brave pool players take a shot at the pro snooker tournaments? I don't think any of them would fare all that well against born and raised snooker pros, but it sure was fun to see Ronnie try his hand at pool and it'd be just as entertaining the other way.

To my knowledge the only pool player to try snooker at the highest level was Steve Mizerak one year, and he didn't make it out of the qualifying rounds.

 

[Siz]

Agreed. Wouldn't it be nice to see brave pool players take a shot at the pro snooker tournaments? I don't think any of them would fare all that well against born and raised snooker pros, but it sure was fun to see Ronnie try his hand at pool and it'd be just as entertaining the other way.

To my knowledge the only pool player to try snooker at the highest level was Steve Mizerak one year, and he didn't make it out of the qualifying rounds.

Jim Rempe also had a go. If my memory serves me right (and it may not), the snooker governing body invited Miz and Rempe to become members of the pro snooker association as part of their initiative to market the game in the US. Neither were able to compete against even the lower ranked snooker specialists (which is not surprising). And I don't think that they were too happy having to play all their matches in England (also not too surprising).

 

[Underclocked]

American snooker was mostly played on 5x10 tables in these parts and, as I said in another post, the first 6x12 tables I saw were in Hong Kong. The transition from snooker to pool or vice-versa is difficult because of the difference in size of the equipment used. Going from the larger table downward in size is comparatively easy as compared to going from smaller to larger, where shot making is concerned. But shot making isn't all there is to it and almost everything otherwise is different. Most good snooker players could make some dazzling shots on smaller pool tables and yet find themselves lost on positioning, strategies, and bank behavior.

The transition is extremely difficult, in either direction.

On a side note, I've been told that Kenny's (Sharkey's??) in Springfield, MO has added a snooker and a billiards table to their remodeled room. Going to have to check that info out because, even though it's 50 miles away, it would still be a place to go play on occasion.