Top Level Snooker vs Pool?

People seem to forget that O'Sullivan has chanced his arm at 8 ball pool and came up rather short:

He was "in" those matches though. Getting 6 games in a race to 8 against Bustamente when Busty was in his prime, getting 7 games in a race to 8 against circa 2006 Corey Deuel is significant. Beating Karl Boyes, who at that time WAS already an accomplished pool player.

He went into the IPT as a laugh, he put in not a whole lot of practice or effort, and he did not embarrass himself, he was actually IN the matches. Of ALL of the people in the IPT Ronnie was likely the one guy that did not give two shits about the so called "massive" money that the other pros practiced like crazy to try and win. 1st place in the IPT was gigantic to "pool" players and they practiced like crazy for those events. For Ronnie the IPT was "not" a step up in the money he was used to competing for, it was a step down.

There have been many snooker players who have went into the World 9-ball Championships and who have been very competitive match for match. They have won matches against pro pool players and have gone deep in world pool championships. There has NEVER been a single "pool" player who has won a SINGLE match in the World Snooker Championships, there has never been a "pool" player who has ever even managed to get there.

The distance that a pool player is from pro level snooker is WAY greater then the distance a pro snooker player is from pro level pool. And I am talking a HUGE distance. One would be swimming downstream, the other would be like trying to swim up a freaking waterfall for most pool players.
 
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You know what I want to see? Team Pool vs Team Snooker playing Bonus Ball. That'd be a cluster F of epic proportions.
 
Ronnie would never win a set against Shane race to 30 in 8ball 9ball 10ball or Rotation....

Shane would never win a race to 9 against Ronnie playing snooker on a 6x12 or even 5x10....

1pocket might be a game Ronnie could learn and win at since it requires less offensive power and more strategy... Still don't think he would ever win a race...

Short rack or full rack Banks is also a game Ronnie might learn and be able to almost get competitive at.... Still don't think he would ever win a race...

14.1? Shane doesn't really play that game and the patterns and position requirements may make that the only chance Ronnie would have at competing..... A long race I still think Ronnie never gets there.....

Chris
 
They play pool because that's the set of games they've been playing in order to survive in the Philippines. It's not like they can take some months off to learn a completely different cue sport in order to travel to try to make money.

I think we are speculating here, i would think Denni's O, and Efren's backers would have loved them to learn snooker and send them out to the big snooker wolves for big Casino cash! But backers know, Pool Pionys do not have a single chance of being that competitive with the Brits snooker pros! I see in SVB some competitive edge who knows, one day he might make it, with the right sponsor..
 
He was "in" those matches though. Getting 6 games in a race to 8 against Bustamente when Busty was in his prime, getting 7 games in a race to 8 against circa 2006 Corey Deuel is significant. Beating Karl Boyes, who at that time WAS already an accomplished pool player.

He went into the IPT as a laugh, he put in not a whole lot of practice or effort, and he did not embarrass himself, he was actually IN the matches. Of ALL of the people in the IPT Ronnie was likely the one guy that did not give two shits about the so called "massive" money that the other pros practiced like crazy to try and win. 1st place in the IPT was gigantic to "pool" players and they practiced like crazy for those events. For Ronnie the IPT was "not" a step up in the money he was used to competing for, it was a step down.

There have been many snooker players who have went into the World 9-ball Championships and who have been very competitive match for match. They have won matches against pro pool players and have gone deep in world pool championships. There has NEVER been a single "pool" player who has won a SINGLE match in the World Snooker Championships, there has never been a "pool" player who has ever even managed to get there.

The distance that a pool player is from pro level snooker is WAY greater then the distance a pro snooker player is from pro level pool. And I am talking a HUGE distance. One would be swimming downstream, the other would be like trying to swim up a freaking waterfall for most pool players.

100% accurate
 
Though snooker and pool are both cue sports they are quite different. A top snooker player would beat the pool player at snooker, and the pool player would beat the snooker player playing pool. Particularly on a long race, I don't think it would even be close.
 
Ronnie would catch Shane before Shane catches Ronnie - there can be no doubt about this. I actually think Ronnie does the sport of snooker an injustice by making it look so easy.

Ronnie is the most talented cueist ever, hands down. Its quite astounding reading some of the posts in which people are intimating that Shane can shoot straight enough to play on a Star table against any pro, let alone Ronnie. And I am a massive fan of Shane's.

When people talk about the greatest pool player in the world today, Shane is in the conversation. When people talk about the best ever, everybody is in agreement that if he carrys on the way he is, he will also be in the mix in that conversation in time.

When people talk about the greatest snooker player ever - the conversation begins, and ends, with Ronnie.
 
I think we are speculating here, i would think Denni's O, and Efren's backers would have loved them to learn snooker and send them out to the big snooker wolves for big Casino cash! But backers know, Pool Pionys do not have a single chance of being that competitive with the Brits snooker pros! I see in SVB some competitive edge who knows, one day he might make it, with the right sponsor..

If anyone out there had any actual serious belief that SVB could win frames of snooker off of Ronnie O'Sullivan after a period of intense practice he could get spotted HUGE games on the wire against Ronnie by ridiculously wealthy Europeans backing Ronnie for stakes way out of the league of any pool players or their backers. You could get millions in action on this if anyone thinks SVB winning frames of snooker off Ronnie is anything more then a fairytail.
 
They play pool because that's the set of games they've been playing in order to survive in the Philippines. It's not like they can take some months off to learn a completely different cue sport in order to travel to try to make money.

I think the fact that they would be hard pressed to find a snooker table to play on is an important factor.
 

Do not go gentle into that good night
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Dylan didn't have much of a stroke.....but he was pretty good at English


What the hell? I quoted a black hole....and there IS something there.....
Justin knows the secrets of the universe
 
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If anyone out there had any actual serious belief that SVB could win frames of snooker off of Ronnie O'Sullivan after a period of intense practice he could get spotted HUGE games on the wire against Ronnie by ridiculously wealthy Europeans backing Ronnie for stakes way out of the league of any pool players or their backers. You could get millions in action on this if anyone thinks SVB winning frames of snooker off Ronnie is anything more then a fairytail.

Most pool strokes won't get the job done on a snooker table..
In their prime, Jim Rempe or Buddy Hall (with some training) were bettable in this spot.

Today, I like the Lion's chances at this game apiece prop.....
....and I'll bet on it.

Cowboy Jimmy Moore would've gave it a whirl also.....
...no American ever beat Jimmy on a 6x12
 
Considering that when Mizerak played Steve Davis, Davis was the World #1 or #2 at the time, and Mizerak was ranked outside the top 30 in pool. Mizerak in the short race in snooker had won a frame with a break in the 70's using a pool cue.

I don't think winning one frame in a long race is even a question based on that. It's now like you're comparing Ronnie O'Sullivan playing an average pool player. But actually we're talking about Ronnie vs Shane.

Fact check time!

The video is posted online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDiO5SS3RnI

Mizerak won a single, low-scoring frame, 59-43. His high break of the frame was 25. As with all the other challenge matches, the pockets were pretty generous. Davis played the snooker match in the off-season, following a couple of days playing pool, and played badly. Mizerak and Rempe tried playing pro snooker, and they didn't get out of the qualifiers. Their qualifying results are available online. Pool technique just does not translate.

Edit:

For anyone that's interested, Rempe and Mizerak's World Championship qualifying results can be found in this thread - http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=7374.
 
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As much as I want to say that Shane or other pool players could be competitive at snooker, based on what I've seen in person it's not possible. I watched top tier pros missing badly at 3 7/8" pockets, so what it would look like over a longer distance shooting to a smaller target...is not confidence inspiring.

Personally, I think that to be competitive, most pool players would have to strip their game back to the fundamentals and drill them in as solidly as snooker players have.

Darren Appleton is a great example of switching back and forth though... he came from an English 8 ball/snooker background and his fundamentals reflect as much. When people were struggling with the tight pockets, he simply "switched back to his snooker cue action" (as he put it) and began pocketing balls better than anyone in the room.
 
This thread is a clear example of people listening to sensible informed argument from people in the know and then completely ignoring it to continue their own delusional ranting.

Brilliant..
 
Fact check time!

The video is posted online:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDiO5SS3RnI

Mizerak won a single, low-scoring frame, 59-43. His high break of the frame was 25. As with all the other challenge matches, the pockets were pretty generous. Davis played the snooker match in the off-season, following a couple of days playing pool, and played badly. Mizerak and Rempe tried playing pro snooker, and they didn't get out of the qualifiers. Their qualifying results are available online. Pool technique just does not translate.

Edit:

For anyone that's interested, Rempe and Mizerak's World Championship qualifying results can be found in this thread - http://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/board/showthread.php?t=7374.

On Rempe's first? trip to the UK, he won his first two matches....
...first one was the current Scottish champ.
These were races to 9....no snooker player was going to beat him
in an equivalent race at ANY pool game...my opinion, of course.

Jimmy lost in the third round to a 17 year old kid, however....
...his name was Stephen Hendry....:eek:

So at that time, I would've liked Rempe in the pool/snooker bet.


Farther back in history, Fred Davis and Rex Williams played in a
straight pool tournament in NYC...they came last and second last.
They both have world titles on a 6x12.
 
On Rempe's first? trip to the UK, he won his first two matches....
...first one was the current Scottish champ.
These were races to 9....no snooker player was going to beat him
in an equivalent race at ANY pool game...my opinion, of course.

Jimmy lost in the third round to a 17 year old kid, however....
...his name was Stephen Hendry....:eek:

So at that time, I would've liked Rempe in the pool/snooker bet.


Farther back in history, Fred Davis and Rex Williams played in a
straight pool tournament in NYC...they came last and second last.
They both have world titles on a 6x12.

To be clear, these results were not in the final stages of the tournament. Rempe won two deciders in the no-hope end of the qualifiers, before falling at the first hurdle to two nobodies in his next two attempts. Scraping into the last 128 once in three attempts is hardly worth shouting about.
 
Today, I like the Lion's chances at this game apiece prop.....
....and I'll bet on it.

Alex is not solely a pool player though. He spent most of his youth growing up and playing pool AND snooker in Toronto Canada where he was around such players as Cliff Thorburn, Kirk Stevens, Jim Wych, Alain Martel, Alain Robidoux, ect... Toronto has a very strong snooker scene and Alex grew up playing that game along with pool and that time he spent playing snooker with world class snooker pros through that critical development time in his life put him at a level in snooker that no other pool player could likely reach at this point.

And Alex is absolutely nothing compared to Ronnie, he himself would be blown out of the water in a long snooker match against Ronnie, very lucky to get even a small few frames in a race to 9.
 
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