Just got back from the social. Only open 12-3 on a Sunday unfortunately, potted some cracking long reds today on your advice.. the boys on the other table were talking about your chanel, your helping everyone,, thankyou
Another good thing about routine number 1, especially for someone like me as a beginner is you get the confidence of seeing some balls go down the pocket before you try to play a match & have to do the same thing with pressure on
Always been my snooker hero since I was a kid, splaying day in day out trying to emulate you haha geeky but it’s class to watch these and rekindle my love for the game and get some refreshers and now I’m in my mid 30s perfect game to get back into. Good to watch you demonstrate techniques in an honest way too haha. You learn from mistakes which makes these the best way to learn
I used to hate you when I was 7 for beating Jimmy White in the World Championship Final, but now I love you. All is forgiven.😅 Thanks for these awesome videos Stephen! Keep it up !
This is excellent, Mr. Hendry! I have always had an issue with practising. I would always lose my focus because I was never serious enough about it. The focus would come when I played against someone but then I knew I wasn't getting the benefit of improving faster. I will try the first two to start and see how that goes for me. I live in a Condo and we have a games room but unfortunately we only have 4 by 8 snooker tables. I even offered to purchase a 12 footer because we actually have the room for it but the board said no simply because of the weight factor on the second floor. I grew up with a 12 foot table in my home as a kid. Now the biggest challenge for me is playing my style of game on a table where the pockets are like "manhole covers" to the white ball!! lol Thanks again for your videos! Love them.
Awesome explanations. Thankyou Stephen Hendry, you are helping the game of snooker at grass roots level by giving insight to beginners like myself.... Appreciate Cheers
@@FrontWing-EndPlate Nah, Stephen recognises Ronnie's incredible talent & consistency. He has respect for him and would want Ronnie to keep succeeding.
Loved this! I often muck up from brown to blue...over hit, under screw etc. So nice to know you use the cushion. I'm going to consistently do this from now on rather than 'feel' it. Almost 100k viewers Stephen! Impressive! Soon get your RU-vid plaque! Still winning trophies!!
You're really a nice guy, thank you for all your advices and tips, it really helps me to improve the way i play 🙏 i'm a beginner and snooker is really hard, so everything i can do to progress is a blessing from a god of snooker.
Definitely taken something from this particular video today. Thankyou. Just playing plain ball on yellow and brown ensures the white will travel off the cushion as long as you stun the actual arm action. The routines are helpful from a cue ball control point of view and gaining familarity around the table so you map out beforehand at least 2 shots ahead whilst on break.
Choosing a red in the line up is a great idea..why have I never thought of that! .. and my brown to blue is pathetic... I just can't get it right! Massively overthink it I'm sure of it
Can we just take a second to appreciate and let it sink it that this man used to clear the line up 10 yes 10 times in a row in practice. Thats genuinely phenomenal
There was a mention of 147s in there. Would be amazing to see if Stephen can still do it, and talk us through it. I don’t think that’s ever been done. A walk through 147
i love these practice and warm up tips, when i played in the snooker league, we would turn up, be either 1st to 5th to play one frame and it was done, of course it you went on 5th you maybe pissed by then, very, very rare to get two frames of snooker in a night at the club unless it was off season, we did only have one table
Never seen or heard of that last one. Can see why that is “Advanced”. Would be really tricky mastering that but can see how this would really improve that cue ball control. One nice tip you gave about the line up routine is to try and play for a specific red rather than just having in the back of your mind “I’m gonna be on one anyways”. This is something I’ll keep in mind whilst doing this routine. But I thought the same, it’s always about clearing up for me in the line up, doesn’t necessarily need to be red black etc. great video as always Stephen!
Superb, I'm a relative beginner who now has a coach, I am currently working on the line up of the balls and just potting any balls not worrying about the colour after the red, my best being 10 so lots to work on. Keep up the brilliant content. Cheers
Here's one I like for advanced positional play: put two colours on two random spots, then alternate between potting them and roll a six-sided die to determine which spot the ball goes on(1 = black spot, 2 = yellow spot, 3 = green spot, etc; add three if you roll an occupied spot). This forces you to make the angle you've left yourself work, to any position on the table that you won't know in advance. You can also roll one or more reds onto the table at the start to have some obstacles to play around. Every pot is a point and if you play with reds on the table, every pot is worth the amount of reds on the table(you'd be surprised how hard it is with fifteen reds strewn across the table).
I like just potting blacks off the spot. I start by just potting a few and trying to keep position then I alternate pockets between the corners. Amazing how quickly it can get out of control..... These are great routines and I'll definitely be doing more practice once I start getting to Northern Snooker Centre again :-)
Would love to see a video thats demonstrates how to stand correctly when approaching the table and cueing. Huge fan by the way. Keep up the good work. Thanks
Was happy that I actually do practice all the routines until you got to the 4th and I thought you were going to say that you just have to keep a ball on the black spot and keep potting it moving the white around, never seen the pink to middle, black then pink to corner and so on before... Can't wait to give that one a go, 100% a tester of how much control you have over the cue ball, and not so easy on a club table. (Already making excuses for why I missed the first pink before I try, clearly rolled off lol).
That first exercise, the way I'd always do it is if I miss a pot, I put a ball back on the table, and if I foul, I put five back on the table (if you have 5 you've potted already). Then play until you've cleared up. Really helps you focus on those pots, because otherwise you'll never get done. 😊 This is also a really fun game to play with your mates, you keep potting until you miss, then your mate goes, plays until he misses etc. Once you get good at it, introduce a time limit. Quite fun to try to clear everything in 5 minutes!
How important is it to practice straight shots? Some people say very important others say it’s not…don’t really know if I should continue doing it or focus more on line up and Position play
At a minimum it’s good to know what happens when you play a straight shot. Do you miss them to one side, do you put unintentional side on, can you follow through and screw back straight. You don’t necessarily need to practice only that until you cue dead straight, but refine it over time and have an awareness of the above. Can also be good for warm up as there are fewer variables.
Good advice from Duane, and I would add that, as you have bothered to ask the question, I'd do it until you're comfortable, because you don't want your head to get in the way, when you come across them in a match.
For me it depends on days…on some days I pot 8/10 perfect pink with follow on others I miss some and those always to one side…Recently stopped doing it cause Someone in the club said it’s not that important. Should more practice cue ball control he added… But I guess it would be good doing it for warmup like you said
Going to try these I always line the reds up for a warm up but the pink to black in opposite pockets looks tricky but will improve my cue ball control no end
It’s disgusting how easy you guys make this game look! Will definitely have a go at the first two routines though next time I’m down the club! On a side note, when’s Ronnie coming on for a couple of frames and a chat?
Great video have never tried the last one before I am a big fan of practising the colours but I reverse it aswell by going for the pink after the black then blue brown green and yellow
I have a missions for you, should you choose to accept it.. Compare pocket sizes from 1992 to 2024, width of the pockets, curvature of cushion angles at pockets even ball diameter. I recon you'd need to find some old (and new) table builders to get exact dimensions down to the mm. People often say the pockets are much tighter these days, but exactly by how much?
I don’t know if anyone else feels this way but I noticed that my game has seriously improved since entering a league at my club. I guess I just personally practice and play with more purpose when I know I have a match coming up.
Excellent, the break off one by smashing the reds open, I use before a league match then clearing the colours, did you ever play against Eddie Sinclair? I did when I was 7 at the people's club and institute in Kirkcaldy, I also played in scottish under 21s, got to the semi finals in the singles and doubles, it was a 1 frame match back then
I wanted to know what wt. is your cue? And do you use your chin for aiming? Thanks for all those tips on practicing. What size is your table? Stephen I sure miss playing snooker we used to have a snooker hall in Tulare California USA years ago
Stephen your are to me the greatest player ever to play the game. I wish my video of me doing a 147 and 146 line up had been watched more than 680 views and 146 views and i posted those videos more than 8 years ago youtube must have it in for me and your video has 346k views and thats the difference because you are legend i am not 😂. That day i did that 147 line up i did 10 centuries all above 140 break before i did it and that was after not playing the game for 10 years good luck with your channel. Ps this is not for people to watch my videos its just my chat
Thanks for the great tips! May I ask for routine 2&3, what will you do when you miss a shot? Shall I just let it stay wherever it is and continue? Or put it back to try the shot again? Or start over?
Well, I've seen a lot of people recommending skill improving routines, how is this fella different? Can we trust him, I mean, did he even play the game at any level?
Oh Stephen you make it look so fkin easy. But when I try the line up at my club it all goes wrong after about 5 pots! By shot 6 the line is no longer a line! But thanks for these tips, I’m sure I’ll get there…… one day 😭
would love to know the length of Stephens cue - in this video it looks to be quite long - longer than 57 inches? Also would like to know tip size and cue weight - guessing 10mm tip and 20oz cue?
