Ronnie O'sullivan says he and most other pro snooker players still use the same old type cue and shaft that players have used for years. He said there is nothing new in wood cues for many years.
Does pool balls (2/14") deflect more than snooker balls (21/8")?
I don't know if the balls deflect any different and I personally do not like the comparison between the two games. But after playing both games for over 20 years at a high level I would suggest that snooker balls deflect more than pool balls.
IMHO, the bottom line is that you have to be an excellent cueist to play snooker at a half decent level to close out a frame. By that I mean at least be a consistent 60-75 break player. On the other hand, you don't have to be an excellent cueist to be half decent at pool. In fact you can have an average cue action and still run racks of 9ball etc and compete at a good level and almost every top level pool player dosen't have the skill or ability to compete at the highest levels of snooker.
Pool tables are 9x4.5 feet and have napless cloths and pockets you can almost fit your head in. In comparison, snooker is played with tight pockets on napped cloth on a 12x6 foot table. The margin in skill between the two games is massive almost incomparable.
So deflection doesn't come into the equation as much in snooker as it does for pool because the game is based more around the players cueing action rather than the equipment and excellent cueing action takes aspects such as high deflection from brass ferrules and traditional wooden equipment into account and overcomes them with years and years of practice. I could run 5 racks of 8ball after playing the game for a year, whereas it took me 10 years to hit a century in snooker.
Lastly, low deflection shafts and new graphite technologies such as the Revo are unfortunately just more marketing gimics aimed at less skillful players trying to find a way to get good without all of the hard work. If a pool player was to put the kind of time into pool that a snooker player does in snooker then there would be no need for LD shafts. Take the old timers such as Irving Crane and Mosconi playing with ivory ferrules and standard maple shafts who took the game of pool to a very high level of proficiency after putting in similar dedication that it takes to be a top snooker player.
Whereas, in snooker it is very difficult to use technology to make the game any easier and if there was then the professionals would be using LD equipment. Snooker is a game were you spend hundreds and hundreds of hrs doing line ups and other drills just to get to a competitive level. Rarely do I see average pool players putting in that level of dedication. Instead the mindset is , oh I will go and buy an LD shaft because that will make up for my poor cueing action and mean i won;t have to put that much effort into the game to become competitive. Why else would people be looking towards technology to improve their performance? if they put the time in then they wouldn't be thinking about aspects outside of their cueing action and shot selection to improve their play.
In the end, I cannot understand how snooker and pool can be compared in any manner at all. the games are so far apart it is like comparing the skill level of jogging a round the block with a hangover to running 100 meters under 10 seconds.
But don't get me wrong, I love games played on American pool tables and it is the only game I play now. However, i also have thousands and thousands of hard hrs practising snooker behind me and in terms of skill snooker comes out miles in front of pool in every aspect to a degree that comparing the deflection of the balls to pool shows a lack of appreciation for the game of snooker.
well thats my rant and i am done with it
