Russian players should drill everyone

L

LastTwo

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Ok I'm not trying to drag this argument on, but I really want to hear some opinions about this.

Russian billiards is obviously much harder than snooker and pool. The balls are huge and the pockets are so tight that you have to slam balls in the hole to actually get an object ball to hop over the edges of the cushion supposedly. To be good at this game means you must be an absoloute immortal pocketing monster, much better than any snooker player. Evgeny Stalev is a great player, but how come he isn't drilling everyone? Potting in snooker is only mediocre to Russian Billiards so what's the big deal? Doesn't this make it FAIR to say that comparing snooker to pool and the players is like comparing apples and bananas?
 
Snooker has big money involved and is played around the world, there are millions of children who practice regularly from their pre-teens to reach the top of the world in their mid-20s.

Russian billiards are little known outside Russia, so few people practice it. There isn't much money involved so there isn't big motivation for training regularly.

Also, I think that in Russian billiards you can use any ball as cue ball or object ball so 80% of 9ball and snooker cuts probably don't get selected very often in russian billiards. Although I could be mistaken about this bit. Someone please correct me if it is so.

On another note, I do have a short video of Stalev playing Russian billiards, and he makes two balls in one shot in it. Both balls go in quite slowly and are definitely not "slammed" in. It is a tournament table too. The video is attached, it is compressed with xvid.

I could be mistaken about any of those though, I don't follow russian billiards.
 

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I would say that any game that develops a player's ability to hit very accurately is one advantage to bring to their pool game. They'll of course find themselves unfamiliar with other aspects of pool, so there won't be a net benefit.

I have made the point regarding snooker, that what sets that game apart is the large money that's been in the sport for 20 odd years and how this has led to a generation of very dedicated and quality players.

I have heard that many pro-pool players are lucky if they practice 1 or 2 hours a day on average. This is extremely rare among quality snooker players who have put in years of long day's practicing specific drills to hone their game. And they have stood on the shoulders of giants. Meaning they have seen what is possible and use this to set higher levels.

That's why I believe a high percentage of players with pro-level snooker ability, with 6 months serious training in 9-ball would present a very tough match to the world's top 9-ball players. Even over races to say 15.

I don't believe most of the top 100 pool players on the other hand, could practice snooker for 6 months and be a threat to the best snooker players in a race to 5 which has a similar time frame as pool race to 15.

I think if they could have, many would have, but we don't see it.

But there are many examples of near pro level snooker players who have achieved what I described above, by beating top players and placing well in big 9-ball tourneys with little 9-ball experience and sometimes even playing with snooker cues which are poorly suited to playing 9-ball.
 
pinkisntwell said:
Snooker has big money involved and is played around the world, there are millions of children who practice regularly from their pre-teens to reach the top of the world in their mid-20s.

Russian billiards are little known outside Russia, so few people practice it. There isn't much money involved so there isn't big motivation for training regularly.

Also, I think that in Russian billiards you can use any ball as cue ball or object ball so 80% of 9ball and snooker cuts probably don't get selected very often in russian billiards. Although I could be mistaken about this bit. Someone please correct me if it is so.

On another note, I do have a short video of Stalev playing Russian billiards, and he makes two balls in one shot in it. Both balls go in quite slowly and are definitely not "slammed" in. It is a tournament table too. The video is attached, it is compressed with xvid.

I could be mistaken about any of those though, I don't follow russian billiards.
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When you are facing a shot that's in front of the pocket and not near the rail, slamming is not needed. Besides, when pocketing the ball used as the cueball (like in the vid, the bank was just a lucky bonus), slamming is definitely a no-no. It's the spin which takes the ball in and russian players know how to use the natural angle. To object ball not much can be imparted, so sometimes they are slammed in, especially when the object ball is near the rail. Then the only way to make the ball is to slam it in. Brute force is needed because the pocket facings, jaws, will open up a little bit thus making excepting the ball in easier. But brute force is usually needed only from shallow angles near the rail.

Yeah, you are right about the fact that Russian Billiards emphasize surprisingly little of precise cuts. It's more about the natural angle of the ball being used as the cueball and also a lot of almost straight in shots. Cuts over half ball are rarely seen, because mostly you need speed to make the object ball and you cannot get much speed by cutting the object ball thinly. If the ball is not in the jaws of the pocket, you'll hardly ever see any slow-rolling.

But, having played on a full-size pyramid table (12') and also seeing some Russian pyramid players in action, I can tell their shotmaking abilitie are awesome and their cueball making (in-off in Br.E) skills are out of this world (except "Mother Russia" of course). Shotmakers such as Tom Storm, Ralf Souquet and I think Earl Strickland have participated in Russian Pyramid World Champs and I think Storm is the only won to win more than 1-2 matches.
 
I watched a couple of Stalev's matches at the Open and he can play. A bit non-chalant, but he would probably rather be playing for $Ks
 
Black-Balled said:
I watched a couple of Stalev's matches at the Open and he can play. A bit non-chalant, but he would probably rather be playing for $Ks
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He was here in Miami for awhile...very stoic and calculated. Made bad games for weeks and booked very few winners. I watched him at Va Beach this past month...much of the same. Obviously here for the CA$H!!!
 
Harder to pot balls? Yes. The margin of error on those pyramid tables is so small, that it is humanly impossible to make majority shots that are used in either snooker or pool. Even when using every ball as a cueball!!! I've seen some footage, and most of the time they play safe. Looking at those pockets you have to understand them.
 
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