Ronnie O'Sullivan - The Most Perfect Player

Thanks for the link

When I think of Snooker, I instantly think "Ronnie O'Sullivan" I truly enjoy watching him play. It blows me away how he gets such perfect position off of a 2-rail shot with no diamonds ! Tough on a 9ft table, let alone a 12ft table.

Hmmm, Even the BEST can take their eye off of the ball momentarily (@ 1:40):eek:
There's hope for me yet !! :grin-square:

Ronnie is LEGEND :thumbup: :thumbup:
 
thefonz said:
.... The ref can make you keep shooting until you needed a snooker. Happened to a friend of mine during the qualifiers at blackpool ages ago.
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And he still talks about that experience ... he figures it was because he's Canadian.

Dave
 
I don't even feel worthy of watching that! Just sick..

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
I watched them all in all cue sports IMHO when Ronnie hits his gear no one bar none compares its truly a thing of beauty its scary to think how good this guy would have been had he put all his time into rotation games

1
 
I'm sure this has been talked about many times but what's with the cues they use? Is there a specific reason they are all designed like that and use those materials?
 
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mista335 said:
He got 200,000 pounds ($329,600) for his effort.

Spare a thought for runner-up, poor old Mark Selby. He had to contend with a mere 90,000 pounds ($148,320) for coming second.
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Shed a tear for Selby.
He also came second to Neil Robertson in the 2013 UK Championship in December - £70,000. (O'Sullivan lost in the Quarters.)
He was consoled with the prize money for a 147 - £55,000 for a 147 accumulator prize, and £4,000 for the high break in the tournament. :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmNkAeZqHlY

mamics said:
Designed like what ? 3/4 joint instead of 1/2 joint ?
Cheers.
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Most players use 3/4 cues, some use one piece.
Nobody uses 1/2 joint.
 
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The best thing about that tournament is the fact that he seems happy and wants to keep playing.

I hate it when he mentions quitting, he is by far the most entertaining player to watch.
 
"Play Great Pool"

Now if this video isn't the best reason to go reread (recommit) Mark Wilson's new book "Play Great Pool" then I don't know what is. All of the pre-shot routine mechanics (feet work) shown in this most excellent exhibition by O'Sullivan are fully demonstrated with practice drills to get one started out 'on the correct foot'.

Wow what a show. Thx
 
rhatten said:
Now if this video isn't the best reason to go reread (recommit) Mark Wilson's new book "Play Great Pool" then I don't know what is. All of the pre-shot routine mechanics (feet work) shown in this most excellent exhibition by O'Sullivan are fully demonstrated with practice drills to get one started out 'on the correct foot'.

Wow what a show. Thx
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While I completely agree with you on the considerable value of Mark's new book, "Play Great Pool," I have to disagree with you that Ronnie O'Sullivan's pre-shot routine mechanics -- especially the foot placement -- are "fully demonstrated" in Mark's book.

They are two different approaches. Ronnie's foot placement is classic snooker -- where the foot on the same side as the grip hand is pointed *into* (parallel with) the shot line.

In Chapter 3 of "Play Great Pool," Mark teaches classic Lance Perkins pool stance, where the foot on the same side of the body is 45-degrees (or even 90-degrees/perpendicular) to the shot line. This rotates the hips AWAY from the shot line, which is completely different from snooker, in that snooker advocates a square-on (facing into the shot line) stance with the hips.

But again, great book, and unbelievable player in Ronnie O'Sullivan.

-Sean
 
The squarish on feet stance of snooker allows the head to be more square on to the shot. But it requires flexibility in twisting the hip away from the cue, to allow for an unobstructed stroke.

Most players develop this flexibility during thousands of hours of practice in their youth. Very few can replicate it if they try to learn it later in life. Attempts to do so, often lead to chronic hamstring pain.
 
Colin Colenso said:
The squarish on feet stance of snooker allows the head to be more square on to the shot. But it requires flexibility in twisting the hip away from the cue, to allow for an unobstructed stroke.

Most players develop this flexibility during thousands of hours of practice in their youth. Very few can replicate it if they try to learn it later in life. Attempts to do so, often lead to chronic hamstring pain.
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Colin:

That's just the thing -- snooker players DON'T "twist the hip away from the cue." The unobstructed pathway for the stroke is created by placing the majority of the weight on the right leg (if you're a right-hander) such that the hip "seats inwards" away from the grip hand. It does this automatically, without any effort beyond just making sure you place your weight emphasis on that leg.

That is, by placing most of your weight upon that right leg, you'll find that your hip "cocks inwards" away from the pathway of the cue. You don't have to do anything special -- it happens automatically.

That's one of the problems with pool players that try to analyze the snooker stance without having ever tried it (and I mean, tried it correctly). It's easy to think that the hip will somehow get in the way (and believe me, I got into wars with Patrick Johnson about this -- who analyzed the snooker stance from a distance and couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that your weight distribution "does something" to your hip to move it out of the way).

Trust me on this, with the hips fully facing into the shot as is the case with a proper snooker stance, there is no obstruction or likelihood that your grip hand will bump into your hip. Even with women -- with wider hips -- who use the snooker stance (e.g. Allison Fisher, Karen Corr).

-Sean
 
Ronnie's the only reason I have the slightest interest in this game. Without seeing some of these youtube
videos of him, I couldn't even SPELL snooker. But because of him I was willing to try it a little and watch plenty.

Ronnie strikes me as the best of both worlds. In pool it seems like you have many guys who shoot natural
and with a good pace, but don't think much about fundamentals or being super-textbook in their stance.

Then you have the guys who shoot very mechanically and carefully, who pay close
attention to their preshot routine, who are careful to keep only 1 moving part, etc.

Ronnie seems to have perfect fundamentals, but doesn't think about any of it,
he just shoots naturally and rapidly.
 
sfleinen said:
Colin:

That's just the thing -- snooker players DON'T "twist the hip away from the cue." The unobstructed pathway for the stroke is created by placing the majority of the weight on the right leg (if you're a right-hander) such that the hip "seats inwards" away from the grip hand. It does this automatically, without any effort beyond just making sure you place your weight emphasis on that leg.

That is, by placing most of your weight upon that right leg, you'll find that your hip "cocks inwards" away from the pathway of the cue. You don't have to do anything special -- it happens automatically.

That's one of the problems with pool players that try to analyze the snooker stance without having ever tried it (and I mean, tried it correctly). It's easy to think that the hip will somehow get in the way (and believe me, I got into wars with Patrick Johnson about this -- who analyzed the snooker stance from a distance and couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that your weight distribution "does something" to your hip to move it out of the way).

Trust me on this, with the hips fully facing into the shot as is the case with a proper snooker stance, there is no obstruction or likelihood that your grip hand will bump into your hip. Even with women -- with wider hips -- who use the snooker stance (e.g. Allison Fisher, Karen Corr).

-Sean
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Sean,
I was simplifying the concept. Your description is better.

btw: I've played snooker since I was 7yo on our home 12' snooker table. I'm a late convert to US pool.
 
To me Ronnie makes it look like he is playing on a pool table instead of a snooker table. Makes it look very easy. Hendry was great (maybe the best) but he never made it look as easy as Ronnie does.:thumbup:
 
CreeDo said:
Ronnie's the only reason I have the slightest interest in this game. Without seeing some of these youtube
videos of him, I couldn't even SPELL snooker. But because of him I was willing to try it a little and watch plenty.

Ronnie strikes me as the best of both worlds. In pool it seems like you have many guys who shoot natural
and with a good pace, but don't think much about fundamentals or being super-textbook in their stance.

Then you have the guys who shoot very mechanically and carefully, who pay close
attention to their preshot routine, who are careful to keep only 1 moving part, etc.

Ronnie seems to have perfect fundamentals, but doesn't think about any of it,
he just shoots naturally and rapidly.
Click to expand...

bwally said:
To me Ronnie makes it look like he is playing on a pool table instead of a snooker table. Makes it look very easy. Hendry was great (maybe the best) but he never made it look as easy as Ronnie does.:thumbup:
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I agree with both of these posts. Whereas some snooker players look very mechanical (e.g. Stephen Hendry) and you can almost "see" the considerable effort that goes into each shot, Ronnie has that almost nonchalant way of going about it.

I liken the former (i.e. Stephen Hendry) to the "white knuckle" approach to snooker, and Ronnie's as the "kick back with an umbrella drink" approach.

Another that uses Ronnie's seeming "umbrella drink" approach is Judd Trump. He's another that just makes it look so easy, with just as much blase faire nonchalance as Ronnie.

-Sean
 
Colin Colenso said:
Sean,
I was simplifying the concept. Your description is better.

btw: I've played snooker since I was 7yo on our home 12' snooker table. I'm a late convert to US pool.
Click to expand...

Colin:

What's interesting is that we were on opposite sides of the fence (you in snooker, me in pool), crossing over the fence into each other's yard (you to pool, me to snooker). In the process, we waved at each other as we crossed over the top of the fence. :wave: ;)

What's also interesting is our approach to explaining things, which seems to mirror the side of the fence we migrated to. You went to the pool side, which simplifies and relaxes things; I went to the more stringent side, which pays attention to details. And in the process of learning how to play snooker and adopt snooker fundamentals, I learned to pay attention to all those little things that a pool player normally would NEVER pick up on -- like that hip shift that takes place when weight is placed upon the leg on that side. I found I'm über-aware of all those little nuances to create a proper locked stance.

I guess it reflected in our way of explaining the stance. ;) No matter, it's good stuff. :thumbup2:

-Sean
 
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