Top Level Snooker vs Pool?

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.

That if he passes though the qualifiers
 
I'm gonna take SVB and Ronnie out of the discussion for a second a rely on history/facts. Screw the rest because it's just an opinion.

Both Allison & Karen came from snooker and in a few months once they got acclimated to the equipment and strategy shot to the top of women's pool. Period. Full stop.

As a Canadian I feel we are in the unique spot to judge both disciplines (particularly those of us over 40) because growing up we saw the transition from Snooker dominated halls to pool. In my youth I could still run the occasional 100....we all could. Now if I did I would rip off my shirt and run around the hall in celebration. Some guys are tacticians. Other players are overwhelming power players. Ronnie is one of those with a sprinkle of mad-genius and once in a lifetime player. Anyone else would have no chance against SVB...EXCEPT RONNIE! He's just that good. He smokes balls in left handed from angles that other baby home. You are not dealing with an ordinary guy here. Forget the old pool vs. snooker thing. Ronnie is Darth Vader to the power of 20. The rest of the Snooker world fear him to the core of their being.

It's kind of like this. SVB is Jimmy Hendricks. Ronnie is Mozart.

Nick
 
Last edited:
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.

I found it funny that you explained all this to Paul Thornley. I reckon he has a pretty good idea about Alex ;)

Anyway, I agree with what you wrote, even if you don't know who you are addressing.
 
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..

I'm doing a little more than speculating. Thank you.
 
Alex is not solely a pool player though.
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.

Let's not lose sight of what this thread is about....pool and snooker, game apiece.
Alex is a substantial underdog to Ronnie on a 6x12.....
...but I feel that Ronnie is a BIGGER underdog on a 9-foot.
I would bet on Alex because I think he would eventually win a snooker match before Ronnie
wins a pool match.

And for Dangerous Dave.....
...I feel the same way about Rempe

Neither Alex or Rempe are favorites at snooker....but I like them for the proposition.
 
I found it funny that you explained all this to Paul Thornley. I reckon he has a pretty good idea about Alex ;)

Anyway, I agree with what you wrote, even if you don't know who you are addressing.

I did not know that was Paul, but the problem with the statement is that anyone else reading it reads it as "here is a pool player named Alex and he plays really good snooker". Paul knows Alex is not "just" a pool player and how he became as good at snooker as he is. What I wrote needed to be said to explain it not to Paul, but to the many people on here who are not actually quite aware of how much snooker Alex has actually played and who he played it against.
 
Let's not lose sight of what this thread is about....pool and snooker, game apiece.
Alex is a substantial underdog to Ronnie on a 6x12.....
...but I feel that Ronnie is a BIGGER underdog on a 9-foot.
I would bet on Alex because I think he would eventually win a snooker match before Ronnie
wins a pool match.

And THAT is why I wrote what I wrote.

I do not see Alex as "just" a pool player. He plays both games and has done so for a long long time. So you are not comparing a snooker player to a pool player. You are comparing a snooker player to a pool/snooker playing hybrid.
 
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.

These cross-over exhibition matches are COMPLETELY meaningless, and, frankly, it's embarrassing they are trotted out as excuses. Players are PAID not to win those matches, or at least give their opponents chances. The red Davis played to give Miz his first 20 break was a red no pro would EVER take on, as there was just no value in it. Miz banged some balls about like I and a million others would do, but had absolutely no control of the CB at all. Pool players cannot seem to grasp how difficult control is to master on a snooker table - it is TOTALLY different to running a few racks in pool.

Carving out chances for yourself and controlling the CB/table are the two most difficult things to do in snooker. The top few players are astonishingly good at making that look easy.
 
Last edited:
If you saw Ronnie's cue ball control in that final 147 and given the sort of action that you get on those large carom balls, you would have to believe Ronnie would make them dance and the crowd gasp if he were to play 3 cushion.
 
Let's not lose sight of what this thread is about....pool and snooker, game apiece.
Alex is a substantial underdog to Ronnie on a 6x12.....
...but I feel that Ronnie is a BIGGER underdog on a 9-foot.
I would bet on Alex because I think he would eventually win a snooker match before Ronnie
wins a pool match.

And for Dangerous Dave.....
...I feel the same way about Rempe

Neither Alex or Rempe are favorites at snooker....but I like them for the proposition.

More recent results to consider:

http://www.cuetracker.net/pages/players.php?ID=5369&year=2013

Corey played in the World Amateur Snooker Championship and was eliminated at the first stage. He played five best-of-7 matches against amateur snooker players and won a total of 7 frames. 4 of those were against an 8 year old. Against post-pubescent amateur snooker players, Corey won a total of 3 frames in 4 matches. When is any pool player ever going to take 9 frames from Ronnie when most top snooker players struggle to do it, and any evidence we do have of pool players trying their luck at the game shows them losing badly to far inferior players?
 
More recent results to consider:

http://www.cuetracker.net/pages/players.php?ID=5369&year=2013

Corey played in the World Amateur Snooker Championship and was eliminated at the first stage. He played five best-of-7 matches against amateur snooker players and won a total of 7 frames. 4 of those were against an 8 year old. Against post-pubescent amateur snooker players, Corey won a total of 3 frames in 4 matches. When is any pool player ever going to take 9 frames from Ronnie when most top snooker players struggle to do it, and any evidence we do have of pool players trying their luck at the game shows them losing badly to far inferior players?

A pool player will beat Ronnie 9frames about the same time a snooker player will beat Shane in a race to 30... Apples to Oranges....

Alex is on the record saying snooker is way harder at ball pocketing but pool is the harder game. He said pool was wayyyyyy f%^&ing harder to actually quote him.. Jim Wych is also on the record saying pool is way more brutal and psychologically devastating than snooker and requires totally different mental fortitude.. I think both of those guys may have more incite than most AZers.. Myself included...

Pool and Snooker are not the same and just because they both use a cue both camps want to try and imagine that their heroes and champs can make the cross over.... Not gonna happen..... Either direction......

Chris
 
I dont see how any of you can say a snooker player can never cross over and succeed at pool.
Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Chris Melling, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Jayson Shaw, and more im sure.
Some of the people ive mentioned werent even full blown snooker players, but are showing much more success in pool than snooker. Geez.
Snooker requires a better cueist, period.
The only thing they would have to take time to learn is the tactics and adjust for the different throw/spin/deflection. and that wont take a good snooker player very long.
Much less Ronnie friggin Osullivan.
 
I dont see how any of you can say a snooker player can never cross over and succeed at pool.
Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Chris Melling, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Jayson Shaw, and more im sure.
Some of the people ive mentioned werent even full blown snooker players, but are showing much more success in pool than snooker. Geez.
Snooker requires a better cueist, period.
The only thing they would have to take time to learn is the tactics and adjust for the different throw/spin/deflection. and that wont take a good snooker player very long.
Much less Ronnie friggin Osullivan.

Just so you know........ Melling is the only male on the list that played any snooker... The rest played English 8ball... Darren actually said he has never played a game of snooker in his life 2-3 years ago and said he was getting tired of people assuming he plays snooker because he is from the UK......
 
They used to put snooker players into the world 9-ball championships when they were held in Cardiff. They did pretty decent and put up a good game against the best poolplayers in the world. Tony Drago is a former winner of the World Cup of Pool as well.
Stuart Pettman is probably the best male snooker player to cross over into pool that I've seen. He doesn't come over to the US much, but he is a monster over in Asia. I've watched him destroy Mika for the cash and take Thorsten to the hill in a race to 20, both playing 10-ball straight up.
 
Darren actually said he has never played a game of snooker in his life 2-3 years ago

This definitely isn't true. He has a break in the 140s I believe.

Daz has played snooker, just like almost everyone in the UK who is into cue sports, but you're right in the sense that he's not a snooker player per se. His background is English eight ball, but to say he's never played snooker in his life is false.
 
I dont see how any of you can say a snooker player can never cross over and succeed at pool.
Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Chris Melling, Darren Appleton, Karl Boyes, Jayson Shaw, and more im sure.
Some of the people ive mentioned werent even full blown snooker players, but are showing much more success in pool than snooker. Geez.
Snooker requires a better cueist, period.
The only thing they would have to take time to learn is the tactics and adjust for the different throw/spin/deflection. and that wont take a good snooker player very long.
Much less Ronnie friggin Osullivan.

Everyone who picks up a cue in the UK also plays snooker. We ALL have a "snooker background".

I have played league snooker. I played league snooker about as much as a league 8 ball player over there might play a few sets of rotation pool.

For the thousandth time, snooker is not a harder game than pool. They are equally hard for slightly different reasons.

Snooker is a simple game that requires good "fundamentals" as you call them. Pool is a complicated game that requires knowledge and a wider range of shots and tactics. Fundamentals are less important but are not a hindrance.

It's why, on average, UK based players are all round beter cuemen than you colonial types.. (HA HA HA)

I wish people would listen to me. I am the voiceofreason for a good reason ;)
 
Just so you know........ Melling is the only male on the list that played any snooker... The rest played English 8ball... Darren actually said he has never played a game of snooker in his life 2-3 years ago and said he was getting tired of people assuming he plays snooker because he is from the UK......

Not true.

Melling is the only player on that list to play snooker at the professional level..

Shaw is from Scotland, which has a small community and they all play all the cue sports. Ross MicInnes, the tournament director for the Scottish Pool Association (what you call English pool) also ran the 9 ball tour for a while.

Everyone in Scotland played everything.

Graham Dott, also Scottish, twice played for the Scotland national team at English pool was a regular for his local pub pool team.

I once played against Dott in an exhibition match at a game called 101 (think bonusball - someone throwing money at a game destined to go nowhere).

Everyone in Scotland played everything.

Appleton could make centuries at snooker. Lots of pool players can. It's easy. All you need is table time.

I can make half centuries at snooker and I hardly pick up a snooker cue to play it and I am also relatively crap.

Frankly, it actually annoys me a lot that people that don't even play snooker regard it as harder game. Speak from experience or say nowt at all!
 
From the other thread:

"At the moment I am an awful pool player. I have got to get used to heavier balls, different angles from the cushions, things like that.

"Snooker players are perfectionists but in pool you leave yourself with shots you would not dream of taking on the snooker table like potting balls off cushions. There is a diamond system to the table which is simple if you know how to work it. If you don't it isn't.

"That's why snooker players get thrashed by American pool players because it is not as easy as it looks. I think there is more luck involved in pool than snooker but I still think there is a tremendous skill level in pool that goes unseen.

"Once I started playing pool over the last couple of weeks I have realised it is a very difficult game and there is an art to it. If you compare it to snooker, with big holes in pool surely you shouldn't miss but it is not as simple as that. There are a lot more tactics to the game - which I need to learn and that will take time." - Ronnie O'Sullivan

http://www.guffoo.cz/danny/ronnie/index.php?nid=1380&lid=cs&oid=171207

(The analysis of pool is) not as simple as that. I'm glad Mr. O'Sullivan recognizes that, considering he is one of the greatest cueist the world has ever seen. But, you all keep going please. I'm sure you know more than he.

Freddie <~~~ simpleton

Sense at last lol!
 
if Ronnie put away his snooker cue for a pool and started playing rotation exclusively it would be another allison fisher situation. He would be a world champion in no time. Unfortunately The pro's make peanuts in this country compared to pro snooker players so that will never happen.
 
Back
Top