In reality, pocket billiards and carom billiards are practically distant relatives in this discussion. Although they both use a cue, their objectives are entirely different. From my experiences as a pool player, I'd have to say the carom sports are most challenging but the mere fact that I would say that, says a lot about my strengths & weaknesses as a pool player.
Pool players that have a more offense-oriented game are going to immediately say that 3-cushion is more difficult while cue-control artists are going to say snooker is tougher. The beauty of pool is that pocketing is easy enough that competition forces us to imploy spins on the cue ball in order to maximize position play. In otherwords, pool is a lot like snooker & billiards combined. You simply see stuff on a pool table that you will NEVER see in snooker.
I find both challenging and although I find 3-cushion to be more difficult, I also find it far more intriguing. That may also have to do with the fact that there are far more solid 3-cushion players in NYC than there are snooker players. I simply know what good 3-cushion is supposed to look like and know that I can't even pretend to look good most of the time. At least in snooker, my pocketing skills allow me to look competent against the casual snooker players.
Jude M. Rosenstock
Pool players that have a more offense-oriented game are going to immediately say that 3-cushion is more difficult while cue-control artists are going to say snooker is tougher. The beauty of pool is that pocketing is easy enough that competition forces us to imploy spins on the cue ball in order to maximize position play. In otherwords, pool is a lot like snooker & billiards combined. You simply see stuff on a pool table that you will NEVER see in snooker.
I find both challenging and although I find 3-cushion to be more difficult, I also find it far more intriguing. That may also have to do with the fact that there are far more solid 3-cushion players in NYC than there are snooker players. I simply know what good 3-cushion is supposed to look like and know that I can't even pretend to look good most of the time. At least in snooker, my pocketing skills allow me to look competent against the casual snooker players.
Jude M. Rosenstock
