Snooker:help game or not?

fish on

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
:confused:

Will playing on a 6x12' snooker table help or hurt? Did playing on 4 1/2 x 9 , help you on 3 1/2 x 7 bar box?.

Drexeline Billiards Pa. has installed a world class snooker table . This table I was told by a former Ireland national junior champ ,plays like the best tables in Europe. He offered his expertise on cloth, balls etc.

The owner of Drexeline Florida Bob Maidhof never to have nothing but the best equiptment has done it again . Championship directional cloth, 6x12' O'reilly table,Bob discovered rails were dryed out and he had them replaced with top material. Lights are Brunswick top of the line. The bridge, sticks are a sight.

Two of the top pro players are expected to come to Drexeline shortly. Julie Kelly and Karen Corr .They are top rated snooker players. I will post when they are to appear. Bob said he talked to them and asked if before they come please call a couple days before.

Thanks for input.
 
It will, though I suspect it can't be a substitute for practice on the 9 footer or whatever equipment you play on. One drill I like is to go to a snooker table and shoot every shot center ball in any given order. My alignment significantly improves when I make the switch back to the 9 footer.
 
Of course it will help. It will help your potting and alignment, however you don't use much side spin on the snooker table, so you need practice both.

Wouldn't it be great if you could practice on a 10x20 foot table :D.
 
I always found that after playing on a 12ft table everything else seemed so easy. If you can play good enough snooker to stay around the black & make a good break that has to help. Plus if you do OK on long shots on the big table you know that your longest shot in pool is gonna be maybe half as long.

I just wish I still had access to a snooker table, it'd sure help me out nowadays!
 
Well, my dream home would include a 9 foot Diamond table, a 12 foot snooker table with Simonis cloth, a 7 foot bar table with Simonis, and a billiard table.

I was lucky enough to come up in a pool hall that had a 12 foot snooker table with Simonis 860 on it. I practiced smooth draw shots 10 feet away from the object, with regulation centennial balls!

You would not believe how much something like that solidifies your stroke, and smoothes it out. When I started playing on 9 footers, I would make ridiculous cut shots. Basically, if I had an open shot to a pocket on a 9 footer, it was in.

I needed more knowledge of proper position play, and I would have been an absolute monster. Maybe some day, I'll be able to buy another house that has the proper space.

The key is having Simonis cloth on the snooker table. Your stroke must either be firm, or ABSOLUTELY perfect. I went for shooting shots a little bit softer in order to challenge the straightness of my stroke. It really payed off with a HUGE leap in my skill for the month that I practiced on it.

Russ
 
I have a hard time with cut shots after I get done on a snooker table but a nine footer looks like a barbox
 
mnShooter said:
I have a hard time with cut shots after I get done on a snooker table but a nine footer looks like a barbox

The key to practicing cut shots on a snooker table is to hit the shot with a good follow through, fairly firm. Line up contact points between the cue ball and object ball, line up on the shot, and make micro adjustments until you "feel" the shots.

When I played with the big balls on a snooker shot, I always had to "feel" the shot. When shooting an eight foot cut shot on a snooker table with centennial balls, the most infitessimal flaw in your stroke will cause you to miss the shot.

Also, good practice on a snooker table is placing a ball 3 feet from a corner pocket, with the cue ball 5-6 feet away from the ball, and practice a smooth draw stroke while pocketing the ball.

It gives you a draw stroke like Cory Deuel's if you practice that enough.

Russ
 
Snooker on a 12' table and how it affects my pool game ?

Pros:
-you have to concentrate more on staying down and following through - more steady mechanics
-you can get a mental edge on long shots
-you don't need to use english so much - simpler position play which usually helps me to see the easier position play in pool.
-you can improve your game with the rake/rest. Shooting left-handed is not recommended in snooker, let Ronnie shoot his way and let us mortals shoot the regular way and use the rest :)

Cons:
-tends to tighten up my shooting arm. In snooker you can make huge breaks with a stiff shooting arm and don't necessarily need to have an Efren-ish stroke. Stiff arm is ok if you can shoot straight.
-if you want to play good snooker, you need to ignore many banks and difficult shots and play safe. For me it feels that snooker limits my creativity at the pool table. If you have played on a champion-level table with very tight pockets, you just can't be a reckless offensive player.
-snooker gets boring after a couple of hours of shooting ;)
 
I found that although snooker has helped me a little with my fundamentals with certain shots, it hasn't made much of a difference in my win/loss results on a 9 footer. After playing snooker for quite some time, the table and balls on a 9 footer seemed clumsily large and sloppy. I also found myself somewhat afraid of cheating pockets and playing aggressive positions. One major improvement I found however, were table length shots where the cb was frozen to the short rail. I tend to use a snooker like stroke and pause at the backstroke for such shots, and have found that my accuracy has improved.
dave
 
helps mechanics make sence! thanks

I picked up that your stroke must be true. Your alignment right on, makes you aim center pocket.
All of the things we get lazy with ,are unforgiven on a snooker table .

:cool:
 
fish on said:
:confused:

Will playing on a 6x12' snooker table help or hurt? Did playing on 4 1/2 x 9 , help you on 3 1/2 x 7 bar box?.

Drexeline Billiards Pa. has installed a world class snooker table . This table I was told by a former Ireland national junior champ ,plays like the best tables in Europe. He offered his expertise on cloth, balls etc.

The owner of Drexeline Florida Bob Maidhof never to have nothing but the best equiptment has done it again . Championship directional cloth, 6x12' O'reilly table,Bob discovered rails were dryed out and he had them replaced with top material. Lights are Brunswick top of the line. The bridge, sticks are a sight.

Two of the top pro players are expected to come to Drexeline shortly. Julie Kelly and Karen Corr .They are top rated snooker players. I will post when they are to appear. Bob said he talked to them and asked if before they come please call a couple days before.

Thanks for input.

Hi there, I'm a professional snooker player from England and also the Executive Director of the United States Snooker Association (USSA).

It's good to know this information as I travel around the United States a lot playing snooker exhibitions, and I am a friend of Karen Corr's from her days as a snooker player in England.

It would be good to go there and play sometime in the future so I will have to make contact with the owner.

Regards.

Alan.
 
Drexelinebilliards.com WEB site info

:) Bob Maidhof Pro player ex road guy, pool affectionado, room won "BD best renovated room" for info call him at 610-259-9144.
Karen Lives local and also will be coming. Room is 20 minutes from Allen Hopkins Expo in March. It is a trip to watch snooker players with their cool equipment.


Ray Daugherty ,a former junior national Irish national champion is playing here regularly ,and had a 60 and a 100 run the other day. Ray told me the table is up to European standards. Wow that says a lot.

I am sure Bob would like your input and ideas on making snooker more mainstream in U.S.

Please let me know when in area ,so I can set up something and publicize same. Thanks
Alan Morris said:
Hi there, I'm a professional snooker player from England and also the Executive Director of the United States Snooker Association (USSA).

It's good to know this information as I travel around the United States a lot playing snooker exhibitions, and I am a friend of Karen Corr's from her days as a snooker player in England.

It would be good to go there and play sometime in the future so I will have to make contact with the owner.

Regards.

Alan.
 
Last edited:
Russ Chewning said:
The key to practicing cut shots on a snooker table is to hit the shot with a good follow through, fairly firm. Line up contact points between the cue ball and object ball, line up on the shot, and make micro adjustments until you "feel" the shots.

When I played with the big balls on a snooker shot, I always had to "feel" the shot. When shooting an eight foot cut shot on a snooker table with centennial balls, the most infitessimal flaw in your stroke will cause you to miss the shot.

Also, good practice on a snooker table is placing a ball 3 feet from a corner pocket, with the cue ball 5-6 feet away from the ball, and practice a smooth draw stroke while pocketing the ball.

It gives you a draw stroke like Cory Deuel's if you practice that enough.

Russ

I'm talking about using regular size snooker balls not regular pool balls. The difference in size throws off my cut shots. Is it even possible to make a regular sized pool ball on the rail on a snooker table?
 
The difference between smaller balls+napped cloth versus bigger balls+Simonis is just too great. Not to even mention straight cut versus rounded pockets. In snooker you just won't play many shots that are regular on a pool table. Ideally, you could practice both games and play them both right as they are supposed to be played. It would help your adaptability for sure.

Installing pocket reducers on your pool table might be a better idea than using snooker to improve your pool game. I practice with them and they make pocket size like 3.2 inches or something. Brutally tough, but...they are still straight cut, I'm still using the same balls, cloth, rails, etc. With these reducers, many shots are actually tougher than on a snooker table, especially to middle pocket.
 
fish on said:
:) Bob Maidhof Pro player ex road guy, pool affectionado, room won "BD best renovated room" for info call him at 610-259-9144.
Karen Lives local and also will be coming. Room is 20 minutes from Allen Hopkins Expo in March. It is a trip to watch snooker players with their cool equipment.


Ray Daugherty ,a former junior national Irish national champion is playing here regularly ,and had a 60 and a 100 run the other day. Ray told me the table is up to European standards. Wow that says a lot.

I am sure Bob would like your input and ideas on making snooker more mainstream in U.S.

Please let me know when in area ,so I can set up something and publicize same. Thanks
Hi there and thanks for that.

I have been in touch with Karen and she said she will have a word with Bob over the weekend about getting me there to play an exhibition some time in the near future.

Hopefully we can set something up, and if so I will let you know.

Best wishes.

Alan.

http://www.snookerusa.com/
 
The Wow facter!!

:D
Alan Morris said:
Hi there and thanks for that.

I have been in touch with Karen and she said she will have a word with Bob over the weekend about getting me there to play an exhibition some time in the near future.

Hopefully we can set something up, and if so I will let you know.

Best wishes.

Alan.

http://www.snookerusa.com/

I sent Bob Maidhof a E mail . I also told him of your interest in promoting snooker.
You can contact him direct at 610 259-9144. He is aware of your interest. Thank you
Snooker is new to most of us, and it has created a exciting challenge newness gives!!!
 
Snooker vs. Pool

Well, when I was young (about 17), I played a guy from Jetmore, Kansas that used to come to Dodge City pretty often to play. Monty Nuss was his name, and he had run 2 consecutive Snooker tables before (with witnesses), and on 1 of them only used the 6 and 7 numbered balls with the reds. I played him a lot of Snooker, and we played 6 ball on it too.

First, I would say, that Snooker only helps your Pool game minimally, and only with Potting. In Pool, the cue ball is often not quite in the optimal place for playing shape on the next ball, so players will make the ball in the left or right side of the pocket in order to manuever the cue ball to better position for the next ball. Plus, in Pool, you can slide balls into the Pocket, again usually for playing shape next. In Snooker, you do not this variance so much, especially sliding a ball. The bottom line is that you have many more options open to you on a Pool table for making shots and playing shape than on a Snooker table, and there is no way you can equate them to be the same. The feel is different, and quite frequently, the speeds are different between a Snooker table and a Pool table.

Just off the top of my head, but I would say Snooker players lose about 20% to an equivalent Pool game, and Pool players lose about 30-32% going from a Pool table to a Snooker game. But, here is the catch, a good Pool player can assess the differences and 'tighten' up his Snooker
game faster and better, than a good Snooker player can 'loosen' his game, if that makes sense to you. Snooker players, for the most part, tend to stay in a 'Snooker' mode when playing, while Pool players develop a 2nd playing mode when on a Snooker table.

BTW, Monty beat me about 85% of the time playing Snooker, and I beat him about 80% of the time when playing Pool.
 
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