American Reacts to How to Play English Billiards 

You might be interested in Walter Lindrum . World Billiard Champion from 1933 until he retired in 1950 . The bloke was that good they changed the rules because of him.

Decades ago (whilst still young), my father bought a 2nd hand snooker table. He proceeded to teach us kids snooker and billiards and we struggled mightily against him especially when playing billiards. He seemed just to be able to wander around blithely scoring mega points off cannons. What he'd forgotten to mention to us was that, whilst in the army, he'd become the army northern area billiards champion...

Three cushion billiards (carom) next. Three balls, no pockets and the cue ball has to hit 3 cushions during every shot. True artistry.

Billiards is excellent practice for snooker. Especially cue ball control.

remember bar billiards? great pub game. Haven't seen one since the 80's.

English Billiards was the first cue sport game. The guys in the video are professionals. Steve Mifsud, wearing the purple shirt, is the current Australian Champion in both English Billiards and Snooker. He smashed me 850 to 80 in the first round of the Australian Open in 2023. Robby Foldvari, a good freind of mine, is a 3 time World Champion of English Billiards and won International Snooker titles, he has also won 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball championships and Captained the Australian team. Both players live in Melbourne.

This is new for me too, i played carambole biljart, it's also with three balls, but on a tables without pockets! 🤯🤷‍♂️✌🏼

There is a form where the two cue balls are both WHITE, but one of them has a Black Dot on it, to distinguish it from the other, whilst the third ball is BLACK. I never heard of this trio of colours before and I started playing in my teens, in the eaarly 70’s. What blows my mind about Billiards is that the top players were known for running up scores in the THOUSANDS, with breaks (turns) that could last hours long. Learning how to sink your cue ball off one of the others teaches you how to avoid doing this in games like Pool or Snooker. Learning to use light power on the cue ball and yet produce spin, which is an essential skill in Billiards, adds to your abilities in the other games as well of course. You should look up footage of Billiards masters like Walter Lindrum and Eddie Charlton online. They will absolutely bow your mind!

Breaks of over 1000 pts are not uncommon. The record Break is 4,137 pts (1900 consecutive scoring shots) and the guy that did that Break holds the record for the fastest Century Break also at 46 seconds. he's called Walter Lindrum.

There is also French billiards which is played with three balls, but there are no pockets. The game consists of touching the white ball and that of the opponent with your ball. The rules differ but the game is also difficult.

The White, Yellow and Red ball combo is new to me. I have always known billiards to consist of a White, a White with a dot, and a Black ball.

Did you take a look at the original Billiard style, called Carambole Billiard, yet? Its another, very old type of billiard, with the main difference that the table has no pockets. There are 3 different larger balls, and you always have to touch the other 2 in each shot: Very hard, and requires a lot of experience, to make the best use of the cushions to get the cue ball go where you want it. Also very strategic.

You need to get some old footage of the great Joe Davies and his brother, but Joe was world champion at both Snooker and Billiards the ultimate days of the gentleman’s sport, Joe one of the most famous players of his generation, but also known by every snooker player!

This is the game I first learned (from an old guy aged 91) back when I was at junior prep in the 1950s. Back then, though, there was no yellow cue ball. There was a red ball, a white cue ball, and a spot cue ball (white with a little black dot). This game was popular during the Raj, where my grampa learned it at the United Services Club in Shimla.

Dave Causier is great to watch when it comes to top-class English billiards. Plays at less than 10 seconds a shot, and is one of the best players in the world.

Great video! I really enjoy the videos of you playing snooker as well. I hope you make more of them. It will take some time before you improve your play and strategy but you can start with the following principles in order of importance: 1. ALWAYS try to predict/influence where the cue ball will end up. You will not improve until you constantly have that in mind on EVERY shot! Experiment with different spins, angles, elevation and power to get more knowledge about the amazing things you can get the cue ball to do. Over time you will have the knowledge and experience to employ the right shot for the situation at hand. 2. It is too soon to think multiple shots in advance like pros do but start with thinking 1 shot in advance. On your current shot always think about the next shot after you pot and do your best to "set it up". Once you get the hang of it start thinking 2 shots in advance then 3,4 etc. 3. If you do not have a clear pot and/or streak of pots (Break) it is ALWAYS better to make a safety shot in a way that when the opponent comes to the table he has no shot or a very difficult shot which could force a mistake (hide the cue ball/object ball or at the very least put distance between them) 4. Take on pots that give you a chance to continue potting. Sometimes that means going for lower value colors but having an easy shot after that and continuing your break instead of going for higher value colors but having no shot after you pot. Follow these principles as best as you can (especially the first one) and you will start improving quickly.

In Spain usually we learn to play the French Billiard (3 balls) . I play since I was 16 years old .

I used to play it all the time as a kid, I had small 6' table at home and it's good practise for making your positioning more precise,

In Europe and many other countries in the world, the traditional form of biljard is played with three ball but with no holes at the sides. The player has to hit the other two balls with his ball. If he misses, his opponent can play for points. There’s a variant, which is more difficult but much more interesting to watch, is where your ball has to hit the other two balls but before your balls hits the last ball, your ball must have hit at least three different sides I played both variants a lot.

Also they used to play to a point value of like 500 . They also used to be able to trap the two object balls in the pocket mouth and play countless cannons off them . Fred Davis and Harold Lindrum where multiple World Champions . Watch some of the old black and white footage of them playing you will be amazed at the speed they played at . They show how simple but skilled based the game is . Knowing how much side spin or top or bottom or a combination of them to pocket and position your opponents ball and the red where you can score the most with the least amount of effort . Soft gentle shots will always help but you will rarely hit it hard .

Used to play Billiards with my Father back in the seventies onwards. We would play one frame of Snooker and then finish off with Billiards as we would have 45 minutes allocated to the table as it was usually insufficient time for two frames of Snooker? Usually both players have their own cue ball, one plain white and the other white with a small black spot on it and one red impact/object ball. The yellow cue ball seems to be a newish thing? Seen Billiards in the Netherlands, Germany etc on a smaller table (large pool table size) with no pockets and another in the Netherlands with immoveable cushioned pegs in the middle that the balls bounce off! Cannons only one would presume? We also have 'Bar Billiards' in the UK, which you should take a look at. The 'Bar' is a timed stop bar, that stops the impact balls returning after a timed period. The cue ball returns as it's fractionally smaller, as on most pool tables. Played very gently with ultra tight round 'Pockets' and 'Mushroom' shaped pegs which can be knocked over for penalties. Rare to see these in pubs today, back in the eighties it was quite popular in some Counties around London and there were many Bar Billiards inter pub competitions. May be an Idea to look at 'British Pub Games', which isn't just Pool and Darts, even today?

Billiards is the original of all these table ball games. Snooker was created by troops in British India to add excitement to the game, because they decided Billiards was too slow. Snooker halls in the UK are usually called Billiard halls, with Billiards tables, on which Snooker, or Billiards, may be played. As with most games & sports invented in the UK, the Americans had to devise a simpler version, so they created 8 ball Pool, on a much smaller table, that doesn't require the skill or finesse of Snooker, & they certainly don't seem to have had the patience for Billiards. Baseball was based on the schoolyard game of Rounders, which never had an adult version in the UK, but was played by children instead of the adult game of Cricket. The American Colonists did play Cricket, taken as part of British culture, but as the ground for a good wicket pitch has to be carefully prepared, it was easier to arrange a Rounders field, where this is less critical, because the ball is not bounced in bowling as it is in cricket, & the scoring of runs is much more straight-forward. This origin can just still be seen by the fact that the distance between Bases is the same as that between Wickets in Cricket, that is1Chain, or 22 yards. The need for easy setup was especially true during the Civil War, where games were quickly arranged in mobile Army camps. So Rounders, renamed at some time Base Ball became the preferred summer game in the US. American Football is a version of English Rugby, heavily regulated & formalized so as to have almost totally wrecked the game, taking out the spontaneousness & excitement, to replace it with stop-start set plays. I have no idea why regular football never took root in the US, it is just strange. It may be, as in the UK, that all these games were the pastimes of the wealth leisured classes, mostly come out of the private schools, where the rules & regulation developed, while football was a more informal, less disciplined sport of the working man, so to be shunned by those who had the means to create officially sanctioned gentlemanly pursuits. Only Basketball appears to have been a game created from scratch in the US, with all others coming out of the UK, or other countries.

The thing about Billiards is that you learn what is in off with the cue ball . The game of snooker and pool becomes so much easier because you know when the ball will travel into the pocket . I played competition Billiards and Snooker and my snooker game was so much better because you know how the cue ball will react when hit . The positioning of the cue ball in snooker is more important than the shot taken . Even as an above left knee amputee I still play both when possible . I also have a cue case with 2 full size cues one for Billiards which is over 50 years old and is slightly longer and heavier than my Snooker cue which is 30 years old . I have a set of Billiard balls in the case as well , so when going to a club , I can practice on my own without needing to get the balls from behind the bar .

Billiards is a pretty rare game now, even in the UK, If you ask around in a bar in the UK pretty much everyone will have played pool quite a lot, most pubs have a coin operated pool table. About half the people will have had a go at snooker, and a few will be regular players, but you'll have to go to a lot of bars to find a billiards player. Pool is mostly played in pubs and bars, Snooker has dedicated snooker halls, and the occasional snooker hall or private club may have a billiards table.

My grandfather had a small billiards table, about 6 x 3 feet, and as a child I played every day with him. I think the yellow cue ball is new because, back in the day, both cue balls were white but one of them had a black spot. 995 of the time that was fine but occasionally the black spot would be on the bottom so one had to pay attention as to which ball was which. It's a great game due its simplicity - easier by far than snooker as there is not some much scope for strategy and planning.

Think about it, in snooker the difficult part is the hit a ball and position the que ball where you want it, it gives you that skill, it teaches you how to make the que ball go where you want it to do.

watching this I was reminded that I used to play this as a boy when in the boy's brigade there were two tables in the back room of the churcvh hall where we used to meet ,you can really get the angles neatened up after a few games ,needless to say I hav'nt played it since ,that was 1951 52

Billiards in my opinion is a far better game than the other cue sports. But I’m biased as I’ve played many World Billiard tour events over the years and run our local league. Glad you enjoyed your little intro 👍

My Dad played Billiards and taught us kids. Snooker is all skill but you have so many options if you get the cue ball slightly out of place (you have all the colours and multiple reds to go for), Billiards is the same skill but with added strategy and that need for precision. My dad could place the cue ball to just touch a grain of rice placed anywhere on the table, try it.

Tom Reece (1873-1953), compiled a record break of 499,135 points over a period of five weeks in Soho, London.

Cannot be long before you run into 3-cusion biljarts. The king of biljartgames in my opinion.

I grew up playing English 8 Ball Pool. That will be a good game for you to look at too. Especially Blackball rules events and international rules events. I play Blackball internationally for Wales. I also played Chinese Pool now known as Heyball. Also another great cue sport.. I took up snooker last year and love it. Played 1 season for a team in the league and made a singles final in my first Snooker season. And also recently started playing English Billiards and got my first tournament in July at Billiards. I love all Cue sports.

Interestingly all these games are derived from skittles (an early form of bowling still played today in pubs, but in the Middle Ages more commonly in church!) The green baize cloth on a snooker table is a reminder of the grass outside, i.e. the tabletop games were invented so people could keep playing indoors during cold winters. Pockets eventually came about because they were easier than putting pins to hit on an indoor table. Interestingly bagatelle, pinball and pachinko are all also derived from billiards; bizarrely, the French in the 18th century called bagatelle "Japanese billiards", just because 'Japanese' meant 'exotic, new, funky' and then centuries later the real Japanese go mad for pachinko, a derivative of it via America!

It's mind boggling for me too. As I'm from Canada (french part of it) Pool or billiard 8 ball or to some extend 9 ball, I know Snooker is a method that I've seen on TV a few decades ago. but the 3 ball game 1ST time hearing about it. Still it's fascinates me as well. Cheers from Quebec and have a nice weekend!!!! 🍻

Great comments. Decades ago we had a 12x6 table in our lunch room. Most of us played snooker and billiards. Was a great experience. I most to a different location ,no table.

Billiards predates snooker and pool

When I was quite young, my friend's dad had a half size table, which had covers so it could be used as the dining table too. We played billiards a lot (two white balls, one with a spot) as it was some time later that they got a set of snooker balls. Some shots were tricky because the room was quite small, and other furniture got in the way of the blunt end of the cue.

Here in Australia dad showed me this game as well as snooker when I was about 10 years old. this was on a 6 foot by 3 foot aluminium table Tried playing snooker at the local R.S.L. club , in the early 2000s talk about rusty could not work the angles anymore

I know exactly what you mean about being confused. I'd recommend watching something easier, like how to play Cricket.

Walter Lindrum was generally regarded as the best ever "Billiards" (the full size English table variety) player. He was so good, they had to change the rules in an effort to stop his dominance of the game. It didn't work though. Check out the Lindrum documentary here on You Tube if you have time.

Wait until he finds out about 5 pin billiards.

You have to see Italian billiard (CARAMBOLA) with skittles.....very difficult and fun

Wait till you see carom billiards.. 3 balls no pockets 😂

It's really just carambole billiards on a snooker table. Here in Amsterdam every café would have a billiards table and it's what everyone played, like pool over there. You score a point by hitting the red and the opponents ball with your cue ball, this is called a carambole or in English a cannon. There are different types of games, like where you have to hit at least three cushions with your cue ball while you make a carambole to score the point. Edit: and oh yes I've played it. I played 1st division snooker and when I heard of this had to try it. If you thought snooker is hard ... lol If you want to see some crazy stuff look up massé and piké billiards shots.

Growing up in Australia, we played all three forms , what you call 8 ball, snooker and billiards …. We played billiards with a plain white ball, white ball with a black dot and red ball….. mostly on a full size table.

The demonstration is with Robbie Folvari who has been atop snooker and billiards player, was Billiards World Champion, the other player is Steve Mifsud multiple Australian and Oceania champion snooker player.

Billiards is a great game in itself, but it's also good snooker practice because it improves your cue ball control so well.

You should also check out a game called Bar Billiards that is an olde British pub game that has sadly died out. Best thing about it was the table is about the size of a pinball machine and you only shoot from one end so can fit a table in a really small space.

I am 76 now. 60 years ago or more I spent many happy hours at Elizabeth House in Hurlock Street, Highbury, Isl;ington playing billiards. We weren't sure of the rules but did the best we could. I'm delighted to see that they are still going strong. The Youth Club is free for all young people aged 11 to 18 although the hours seem a bit more limited than before.

I'm a Brit, and I'm confused as well 😂. I love snooker. But I've never watched billiards before.

Stringing is often how it’s done in professional 9-ball pool too. Always quite liked the idea of carom where there’s no pockets

Now you need to check out Carom Billiards.

Billiards is the oldest game out them all way before snooker and definitely before 8 or 9 ball pool. Dates back to 14th century where it was first played on lawn grass like croquet before it was adapted to the 1st table form of billiards, the game itself has had many forms before it reached original state in 19th century England.

Bar Billiards is quite interesting, with skittles and holes on the table.

Next up, Carom billiards (carambole)? No pockets on the table. And maybe after that: Golfbiljart :)

When I was just a spog growing up in Adelaide South Australia, had Gino's pool hall; 3 full size Snooker tables, 4 x 8 ball tables, pinball machines and table soccer. My local, the Norwood Snooker Hall, very scary; dark and threatening, never went again after 1st. time.(14 yrs old). The best was the Glynburn Slot car Raceway. No tables but mega mega fun. Fast cars, 1/24 th scale, 8 lanes, 10 yrs old. 10cents for 15 minutes.🎉😂😊

Pocketing the Cueball in billiards is a celebrated shot called the 'IN OFF' meaning the cueball going into the pocket, off-of the red ball or yellow ball. However in snooker the 'IN OFF' or 'I WENT IN OFF' is a foul stroke, pocketing the Cueball by mistake. This occurs mainly when the cueball has to travel around the table for positioning on the next shot or having to power into the reds triangle, or having to play a safety shot ie, the cueball travelling from the 'safe' baulk area and trying to make its way back there, leaving the cueball vunerable.

I can now see why the old snooker players were so good like Ray Reardon and Denis Taylor who both started by playing billiards

This is an incredibly simple game which makes it the most difficult cue sport. You can learn the rules in 5 mins....but incredibly hard to play the best players can keep scoring points easily but when you start out it's tough as hell to score points consistently

I had a friend who was pretty good at billiards and played in the local leagues - he once beat the reigning world champion in a match.

As a kid we had a crappy second hand six foot snooker table at home. It came with two cue balls - one with a red spot to distinguish it. All us kids played snooker, but I loved playing billiards with my dad. I still think that, of the two games, snooker is more interesting to watch and billiards is WAY more interesting to play, AND it really develops your positional play and understanding of angles.

Wow, this is strange. I saw the three balls and read English billards and thought "What?! It is Carambole, French billard". But then I saw that the table has pockets. I used to play Carom Billards. I never came across English Billards. The rules of pointing is easier there. Every one player has the white cueball the other the yellow one and you must hit both other balls with your cueball in a shot. Actually doing it is quite harder. Nice times. I wasn't really good at it for winning any events but I had fun. Once I had the opportunity to come very close to a multiple World Cup Champion and to referee the match and having a really casual talk with him and his family. Dick Jaspers is really nice and chilled dude.

Artistic billiards will blow your mind!

pls look into Three-cushion billiards, also called three-cushion carom. Frédéric Caudron or even better, Raymond Ceulemans, the GOAT.

When I used to play with my dad donkey's years ago apart from the red, both balls were white but one had a small black spot on it, this ball was referred to as spot.

In the 1980s (perhaps the early 90s) this was televised in the UK as an experiment. The only change to the traditional rules was that players could only play the same shot 8 times in a row (eg 8 cannons) - the organisers felt that there was no televisual appeal in allowing players to get the target ball and the opponent's cue ball wedged in the entrance to a corner pocket, then spend the whole time racking up thousands of cannons.

I played billiards at university, it's a great game. There were three tables with coin operated lights so was an easy game to play for 30 minutes and have a definite winner. Originally there were two white balls, one with two tiny black dots on it, and a red ball. Nowadays you can play it on a snooker table using a white, yellow, and red ball. It teaches you a lot of skills that are useful for snooker and pool, especially cue ball control! There are other variations using tiny skittles as well as the balls. If pool is Checkers and snooker is Chess, maybe billiards is Go?

if you like this, you must try to play blillards without the holes, you use your cue call to hit the two other balls, some games you have to hit minum 3 sides to make a point

We were in a Pub Snooker League. Our table was a Billiard table. Smaller pockets. Other pubs Tables' pockets were like chicks in a nest with open beaks.

there is another version of billiards called 3 cushion billiards with a table with no pockets

A variation is Carom Billiards where there's no pockets on a purpose built table...

If you want to be even more confused, check out Carom Billiards aka French Billiards. 3 balls, no pockets. And also it's variant called Three-cushion Billiards.

Check out Torbjorn Lindahl playing 3-cushing where there is NO pockets. Just 3 balls to hit once + do 3 cushes aswell for every shot. How that mans brain works is beyond amazing. Many with me says he is to 3 cushing what Ronnie is to snooker. The GOAT ❤

A little billiards history for you, Joe Davis was without doubt the worlds greatest ever Billiards player, he was a bit usefull at snooker too! Every year the world championships were held at the same snooker hall in Blackpool. After winning the tournament he would play an exerbition game with viewing ellite such as the mayor and other dignatories in attendance against the Billiard hall manager and always lost! At that time females were not allowed into billiard halls unless they were as my Great Grandmother was, the billiard hall manager and unbeaten by Joe Davis!

Never heard of 9 ball until I saw the movie colour of money

If you can get your head round it, billiards is a fascinating game to play and watch. Strategy and guile.

I've alwaus been aware that billliards existed, but never understood it until now. Always knew there was something about cannons, but it seems it doesn't work how I'd imagined. Honestly, probably prefer snooker. But then I watched a lot a snooker as a kid in the late 70s and early 80s, which was a golden era of interesting personality players in the british game. Hurricane Higgins, Steve Davis, Dennis Taylor.

There's a version of the game that's popular in Italy (and which I've seen live with people throwing the balls rather than using a cue, and have seen televised): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-URp_9nO_QJ4.html

The cue balls were once both white, one with a black dot. Would play this with my dad at home all the time.

I was a member of a snooker club here in Perth when I was younger back in the early 1970's.

Back in the 1930's an Australian billiard player called Walter Lindrum, who was born in Kalgoorlie in WA, was a world champion. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lindrum

You should watch Walter Lindrum 100 break with nursery cannons. People watch it and think it's easy but if they actually tried it they'd be out of position after one shot, even if they could get into position to play nursery cannons in the first place. 😁 There are no pockets on a French billiards table btw.

back in Uni, I often played UK pool. It was a set amount per game and the balls would stay inside the table if sunk, until another 10p/50p/£1 was put in the table to release the balls. So, to make my time at the table much cheaper, I invented a game where you had to pot your own balls, but only by cannons off your oponent's colour balls, and you also got 2 points for in-off'ing the cue ball. I play snooker now, and am not great at potting, but my cue-ball positioning and ability with all kinds of spin is pretty good....all down to learning how to pot the white or cannon it into other balls to pocket them.

Trust the English to add as many rules as humanly possible to any game.

We used to play billiards a lot when I was a cub scout. In fact, we played it so much that it was eventually banned by the scoutmaster until and unless you had your 'sport' badge. Edited to add, half-size table btw.

Billiards is an essential part of training if you want to be a snooker player

In the netherlands we have a game called "potstoten" has a case on the table with holes and is played with two balls, red and white. Can be played with infinite players. If you hit the other ball its the next players turn. If you miss, you are out of the game. So the trick is to hit the other ball and make it as difficult for the next player. Most of the time money is in game, placed on the edges of the "pot". If you knock money off the pot you have to give a round of drinks. Winner of the game gets the pot (the money)

Never played billiards, but look a good game for getting familiar with angles and cue ball control.

Billiards really is THE best way to practice for snooker or pool, it teaches the fine points and accuracy of cue ball control like no other game.

In france we play with 3balls and no pockets. It s also called Billiard, tho and I prefer this to any other such games.

There is also bar/pub billiards, something way different. There are many versions of it aswell. They have varied differences between them, depending on how far you go back and class system.

Hi, I've played Billiards, it is very interesting, I was OK with what to do, not so good at doing it, my eye sights not so good at these distances 😞 On Pool being Chequers and Snooker being Chess. On this scale Billiards is like Go, looks so simple until you try. The French have a similar game, also billiards but the table has no pockets (same size as Snooker).

Essentially it's a very simple game, and far less complicated than snooker. My Father taught me to play billiards before we progressed onto snooker. Billiards (obviously) teaches you about cue-ball control, which is vital in snooker.

Tell you what. That's a beautiful table and room.

Hi, The use of the yellow ball , replaces the tradritional white ball that has a black spot, which is the traditionally how its played . e.g two cue balls , one white , the other white with 2 coloured spots. Substituting the yellow for the white spot ball just makes it so easy to see, also you need to check out Bar billiards ly

Look out for Ronnie O'Sullivan's Four-part British documentary series, American Hustle (TV Mini Series 2017) where he travels American pool halls playing 8 and 9 ball

Love this game, more snooker videos please or even The Darts at Ally Pally

If you get the red and your opponent's ball wedged in the mouth of the pocket you can score all night. Its good practice for positional play in Snooker.

Yes it's very confusing and long winded. That's why they invented snooker 😂

Thanks Ian, billiards was the 'official' game of RAN wardrooms.⚓