Snooker vs. Pool Cues??

ChrisMuether

ChrisMuether

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To those who play both games and own both types of cues .. what are the differences in play/practice. From watching both games i can clearly see that snooker cues are thiner and seem shorter, and i know - at least in british snooker tables - the balls are smaller. I was wondering if these thiner cues are only really good for playing snooker and what the reason was for that? (for example is it ball size?) Or is it just tradition as to which cue is used? Or are their regulations in either sport requiring a specific gauge cue be used?

Thanks in advance!
 
You can use either cue for either game.For regulation,Rules from BCA. Length of Cue: 40 inches [1.016 m] minimum / No Maximum
Weight of Cue: No minimum / 25 oz. [708.75 gm] maximum
Width of Tip: No minimum / 14mm maximum

The cue tip may not be of a material that can scratch or damage the addressed ball. The cue tip on any stick must be composed of a piece of specially processed leather or other fibrous or pliable material that extends the natural line of the shaft end of the cue and contacts the cue ball when the shot is executed..

The ferrule of the cue stick, if of a metal material, may not be more than 1 inch [2.54 cm] in length.

I make a carbon fiber cue that is 10 mm at the tip with a shallow rate of taper. It is 57 inches long and weighs about 16 oz . I use it play pool and have played snooker with it.
I think that British have used ash for the front shafts, and have developed a style of cue that can give an experienced snooker player an advantage.I think with pool having a heavier cue ball , The Americans have stuck with the big diameter cue shaft.
The graphite is quite rigid, so maybe that is why I get away with the small diameter in pool.I find a 13 mm tip allot easier to play with than a 10 mm tip. But I do like the 10 mm tip when the cue ball is blocked by another ball or is on the rail.
Neil
 
Conetip got it right. And I believe it's really due to the weight of the cue ball. The snooker ball is quite a bit smaller than a pool ball and is therefore much lighter.
The thicker the cue the less deflection, and cue bending you get at the moment of impact (with a heavier ball) On the other hand the thinner the cue the more spin you can generate, as the cue flexes on impact and is thus in contact with the cue ball longer (we're talking microseconds here) allowing for more off axis energy transfer.
I do play pool with my 9.5mm snooker cue, but I am a soft player. I don't bang balls in the pocket, which is a down side on bar tables that aren't aligned properly.
The length of the cues are about the same (they might look shorter compared to the 12 foot table). Tall people should play with a longer cue, short people with a short cue, and that's all about the mechanics of the stroke, but that's a whole other story.
 
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thanks for the very helpful info everybody ... definitely gave some clarity to a lot of assumptions i had, i appreciate it!
 
If I play snooker, I need to use a snooker cue instead of my regular pool cue, even though its tip diameter is 12.5mm. I can get a lot more spin with a thinner snooker cue and the feel & touch is much better with the thin cue as it vibrates better. Can't get hardly any feedback in snooker with a pool cue thus making it a little bit annoying to play. IMHO snooker should be played with a snooker cue and pool with a pool cue.
 
The thinner tip and lighter cue are easier to use with the smaller balls. If you used a 20 oz. cue with the small snooker CB, you would feel like you were hitting it with a sledgehammer. Also, the 12.75mm tip I use for pool takes up a large part of the surface of the smaller snooker CB, making it more difficult to choose exactly where I'm contacting the ball with the tip.

I have used a friend's snooker cue for pool, and it works fine, but it feels a little odd to be using such a light cue on such a heavy ball; the hit is much more jarring, and I'm not sure I could achieve power-stun or other shots that require a great deal of CB speed. The small tip makes it seem very easy to apply precise amounts of spin to the CB, though, and getting maximum draw without miscues seems easier with the snooker cue. I did sort of like playing with it, but I'm guessing after the novelty wore off I'd want to go back to my pool cue.

-Andrew
 
mnorwood said:
... It seems to me that a snooker cue would cause much more deflection in pool due to the weight of the end of the cue.
Click to expand...
Although the traditional ferrule for snooker cues is brass, it's fairly thin and the front few inches of a snooker cue are generally lighter than a pool cue and so have less squirt.

A snooker ball weights about 77% as much as a pool ball. The lighter the ball, the more squirt you will have.
 
Like a Drum

mjantti said:
If I play snooker, I need to use a snooker cue instead of my regular pool cue, even though its tip diameter is 12.5mm. I can get a lot more spin with a thinner snooker cue and the feel & touch is much better with the thin cue as it vibrates better. Can't get hardly any feedback in snooker with a pool cue thus making it a little bit annoying to play. IMHO snooker should be played with a snooker cue and pool with a pool cue.
Click to expand...

A cue is like a percussion instrument. The smaller size size of a snooker cue is designed to resonate better with smaller balls. The brass ferrule amplifies the hit.

Hitting a pool ball with a snooker cue is like hitting a bass drum with a stick instead of a beater.
 
Snooker/Pool

A number of snooker players have used pool-style non-brass ferrules; Cliff Thorburn, Alain Robidoux, Bill Werbeniuk and even Dennis Taylor for a while. I think most players prefer the brass because it gives a slightly harder hit which is more in keeping with the stun and screw shots which make up the majority of snooker shots.

As for the tip size the most popular snooker tip now is 9.5mm though there are several players who put oversize tips on; Peter Ebdon, Fergal O'Brien and Ian McCullough. The best snooker player around here is a pool player who uses his pool cue and a 14mm tip - 60 and 70 point breaks are commonplace for him.
 
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