Snooker highlight reel

Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

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Here is a highlight reel from a recent snooker tournament. It includes great shots and a few flukes.

(Some snooker rules if you don't know the game: you shoot a red (1 point) and then get to play a different color (2-7 points) that comes back up, and when the reds are gone you play the other balls in order. There are various penalties for bad hits but never ball in hand. On a safe you are allowed to just touch a ball -- no rail required. The table is 12 feet long.)
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Very cool - thanks, Bob.

I didn't know that snooker isn't call pocket.

pj
chgo
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"I'll play that red one." Which reminds me of a story....

I was playing a very good snooker player who had one conceptual fault. He did not understand throw. I'm not sure how he could occasionally make centuries and not know that two touching balls don't necessarily drive the second one along their line of centers. When playing him straight pool, I could rest easy if a frozen combo pointed nearly at the pocket as he would never shoot it, and if we were in a safety battle, and I ever got a shot to the correct side of the pair....

Anyway, we were playing snooker and two reds were lined up straight for the pocket but the only way to hit it would throw the ball past the pocket. With glee he lined up the impossible shot and played it with power to spread the reds all over the table. I watched as the red missed the pocket by a whole ball. Unfortunately, he was watching the white and seeing whether it would finish on a color. I'm pretty sure no other red went in -- there were about 13 on the table -- but I wasn't watching all of them. He was sure he had made the red from the combination and I was sure it had missed.

An earnest conversation ensued but I think he is clueless about throw to this day. My mistake was to fail to announce the number of reds on the table.
 
If there wasn't a red in his expected pocket, that could help your case.

I saw a couple of the World Snooker Championship matches where they didn't seem to know about throw either. One of the shots was just near frozen, so probably a little less well known even for pool players.
 
I have shown throw shots to 1 individual for 7 years and he still either doesnt see them or hits them wrong. He drinks Guinness and has never stayed at a Holiday Inn Express so there is that.
 
Here is another highlight reel from all of 2019. It used to be said that snooker players don't use side spin. This is a good response to that particular myth. Notice how many players know the "position off the knuckle of the side pocket" shot.

 
And here is a highlight reel of just Judd Trump in 2020. It's important to note that he is left handed for some of the shots. Also, at snooker once you have about 80 points in a frame you can let your stroke out, but some of these shots are while the frame is at risk.


Judd is currently the top-ranked player by about a factor of two in ranking points (cash from ranking events for the past two years). He keeps winning tournaments.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Here is a highlight reel from a recent snooker tournament. It includes great shots and a few flukes.

(Some snooker rules if you don't know the game: you shoot a red (1 point) and then get to play a different color (2-7 points) that comes back up, and when the reds are gone you play the other balls in order. There are various penalties for bad hits but never ball in hand. On a safe you are allowed to just touch a ball -- no rail required. The table is 12 feet long.)
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I love the digital sight aid (white line). The hi-lite real really shows the monster stroke snooker players have. Awesome!
 
Here's a pretty nice shot from Mark Williams. He has to break up the reds at this point.
The last time Mark won the World Championship, he showed up to the press conference naked.
 
Bob Jewett said:
Here is another highlight reel from all of 2019. It used to be said that snooker players don't use side spin. This is a good response to that particular myth. Notice how many players know the "position off the knuckle of the side pocket" shot.

Click to expand...



In all fairness, they do use a lot more side spin a lot more often than they once did. I notice a lot more sharp well manicured cue tips these days too. Almost rare to see the shapeless chunk of leather that looks like it came out of an old shoe tongue that seemed to be all they once used. I suspect a connection between the increased use of sidespin and the increased use of well shaped tips.

With all of the open real estate on a six by twelve the snooker players usually have room to spin themselves out of trouble but I have to wonder if they have gained or lost by emulating pool players, seemingly nine ball players. Maybe it was the influx of players graduating from blackball into snooker. They seem like they are playing in three dimensions on those tight little tables sometimes!

A side note, snooker players have no bias against screw on tips and they are pretty common too. I didn't realize that the screw on tip goes back almost as far as the leather tip. I wonder when the ferrule came into common use?

Hu
 
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