I mostly play pool. But when playing snooker, my gawd it is a great practice. Coming back to the pool table is like "how on Earth did this ever seem anything like difficult to me?"
Exactly I was once a B Grade Snooker Competition player When i played Pool Comps it was always easy Mostly in Pubs, the pockets were buckets and the players were not skilled or professional, it was like taking candy from a child 1st Prize was usually $400 to $500 and it was a normal habit for me to walk in and just ask what 1st prize was, 2nd and 3rd Were irrelevant , it got to a point where i walk in , check out the other players and i would know in the first 10mins if i was going to win or not and it got to a point where it was a pain in the arse to have to always wait until all the rounds were completed before i got my money , It honestly was too easy to do . Now, i cannot even remotely say the same about snooker, but Pub Pool was a piece of cake WITHOUT QUESTION (as a result of my skill in snooker) i knew the following 1. The break is the break and i would usually let the other guy take it (as it was in my benefit), Normally you wouldn't do this, but the pool mentality is.... the other guy is nowhere near my skill level, if he goes first he doesn't break for position, he just smashes the shit out of the frame LMFAO... hence breaks them up for me and i get to win quicker. 2. After the break, if he didn't drop the entire table in 2 shots, ........... I WON THE GAME 8 times out of 10 i could drop the table in 1 turn, if i missed i had 1 or 2 balls left and he had all of his left so as you can see, it wasn't hard to win 3. Oh yeah... and the table of course is smaller and the furthest shot is so much closer to you On snooker however, it's an effort, You can't just play with snooker players the way you do with Pool players, completely different scenario
@@martinkuliza Thanks for sharing the experience 😁 So from my perspective, i'm an untrained pool player but i have some natural skill. I usually go to bars and play well, ranking at the first or top 3 or so. Few months ago I've started to play snooker and it completely destroyed me, especially on the mental level. There are serious mind games going on and it takes hard real effort to get your momentum going. Also the level of defensive plays is something else. I play now in a club where top players go to but i feel like a small fish in a big pond and i hate that feeling. I used to be obliviously confident out of ignorance and my natural skill compensated for that. Now i really suffer playing snooker but i'm determined to get better, i just don't know how to shake that feeling off... So much self doubt. Sometimes i feel like there is an important piece missing in my knowledge but i can't put my hands on it and it drives me nuts. Anyway, that's my story lol. Any tips would be greatly appreciated
@@rony.482 Sure, ok let me be blunt 1. it's good that you have "Natural skill" although i doubt it, but the point is .. Stop saying that you have natural skill it makes you sound like a stuck up arsehole there is a saying..... TALENT IS AN OCCASIONAL FRIEND, ... SKILL IS A LIFETIME ALLIE 2. Understand this and really absorb it In a game of pool or in the pool circuit it's usually a more narrow minded approach where one guy will want to be better than the other (this is where your frustration comes from) however, on snooker tables WE UNDERSTAND THAT SOMEONE IS ALWAYS BETTER. In snooker when you play and lose to another player 1. We don't get upset 2. We respect each others experience 3. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD THAT YOU CAN RUN WITH THOSE GUYS AND BE ON THAT SKILL LEVEL Example : 99.9% of the time when i played the Pool Comp Circuit most games were easy, every now and then you would get a player with skill and it was a breath of fresh air because you knew you were going to get a bit of a challenge and you might, for a change come in 2nd place (which was a good thing). but then very very very rarely you'd come across an A Grade player and even though i was a B Grade player they were on a level where they would wipe the floor with you if was literally a game of who won the coin toss , so if he was heads and the coin landed heads, IT WAS UNDERSTOOD THAT THERE WAS NO POINT IN PLAYING THE GAME It was just a matter of.... He won And if you were able to give these guys a bit of a challenge IT PROVED YOU WERE ON A CERTAIN SKILL LEVEL 4. No you go to snooker .... There is respect for each other, it's not about shitting on each other, it's about courtesy, Professionalism and respect for the skill of others. YOU NEED TO LEARN THIS TO GET RID OF YOUR FRUSTRATION, Even as a beginner , and YES, YOU ARE SMALL FISH, But if you become a member of a Snooker club you'll get to know the other guys, Try to find some of the old blokes the good players that play old school, Talent is fine which brings me to my next point 5. Develop skill, Understand first.... Straight shots.... Always be on line From there you build onto angles (but whatever you shoot must be right, otherwise you'll hit off centre) Learn where to hit the cue ball and how it behaves as a result first experiment with CENTRE then TOP then BOTTOM then LEFT and RIGHT do each one with varying degree's of speed direct onto a cue ball then do it off a cushion and see how that reacts 6. Plan 4 or 5 shots ahead of time, your game needs to be planned out beyond the current or next shot 7. Now for defensive, Yes Definitely ... Fuck with the other player. I used to have a thing i did just so the game of pool didn't end too quickly , i would tell a player we would play until i had 3 balls of mine left on the table at which point i would tell him i will no longer attempt to sink a single ball but the challenge was, he was to play as normal and his goal was to sink all his balls and the black and normal , my goal was to snooker him on every shot so that he NEVER sunk the black once you get good enough to be able to play with players however you see fit and games become way too easy that's its boring, you find ways to entertain yourself and challenge yourself another one i did was i would tell a player to take down any ball he wanted and leave only 3 balls on the table (but it would be my shot first) Now, you can't do this on a snooker table 1. Because the table is much bigger 2. The players are not monkeys and you can't play with them like you play with a pool player Even the shit guys know a thing or 2 so yes learn CONTROL OF THE CUE BALL or as they say it, LEARN TO CONTROL THE ROCK 8. As training you want to practice these drills place your coloured balls on their dots and learn to drop them all in order and have absolute control of where the cue will land next once this is mastered you only need to get through the reds next play with yourself but impose this rule on yourself No matter what you just drop RED then BLACK only This will get you into a habit of not taking easy shots as well as maximizing your score per shot Now on that note when playing on your own ESTABLISH YOUR AVERAGE SCORE PER SHOT as well as your maximum so when you have a shot (FYI 1 Shot is defined as YOUR TURN of shots until you miss once) so when you have your shot shoot to exceed your previous score, even by 1 if possible (it's harder than you think) The way you get better is BY FINE TUNING Learn how the cue ball moves Learn how to hit it TRAIN YOUR MUSCLE MEMORY TO DO THE RIGHT THING STAND CORRECTLY (Your back hand should not be holding the cue too tight, Your elbow must be at 90 degrees, when you shoot only your elbow moves, when you stand... Your front foot and front toe should be pointing directly in the line of your shoot (YOU'LL BE AMAZED HOW IMPORTANT THIS IS .... Try purposely lining up a shot and pointing your toe to the side, you'll miss) so line your toe up your cue should line up from the back hand, should just touch your chest, Your chin should be on the cue and then it lines with your hand of which your thumb and first finger should form a "V" . your line of sight should be directly down the cue and focussed on the object ball, don't look at your cue BREATHING IS IMPORTANT do not hold your breath when shooting, instead when the back hand pulls back slowly breath in, when you shoot slowly breath out confirm that the object ball is struck in the intended place Your body (as a beginner) will have errors in your game, as you correct these errors your game improves As i said don't take anything personally , Just be proud to be good enough to play with the A Graders (don't take it personally if they won't play with you) Honestly it's boring playing with a beginner and remember THEY ARE TRYING TO IMPROVE THEMSELVES, You are not helping them. so play a C Grade player first , Move up to B Grade players and they'll give you tips along the way, always be respectful, always say Thank you Get a good cue (it makes a world of difference) Practice is the key Understand that the game is basically GEOMETRY AND TRIGONOMETRY AND STASTISTICS You don't have to be better than a player but if you can snooker him all the time you can win Learn patience if the other guy has little patience you can use it against him, a player with little patience will always lose we had this guy... Bill, used to get teh shits on every shot, he was easy to beat, the irony was, he was a good player but couldn't control his temper and the solution was to calm down but he couldn't also, do what you're gonna do before the age of 45 as your eyesight will fuck you up after this age Hope those tips help mate
When I was an underage Navy man, I worked part time on base that catered to the under 21 crowd. I flipped burgers and made shakes, and other general fast food stuff. During my breaks, I could play on one of the six pool tables or three snooker tables. Most of the time the pool tables were all busy, so I practiced on the snooker tables. The pocket shape made making balls harder and accuracy was needed to make balls. On the weekends I wasn't working, I played 8 ball in Saturday afternoon tournaments in the bars in town. In the year I worked there part time, I won 14 or 15 tournaments. I am sure it was due to the more accurate shots necessary on the snooker tables that sharpened up my aiming ability.
In my experience the hardest adjustment a player has to make is the huge difference in the speed between snooker and pool tables and the liveliness of the cushions. A cue stroke that would leave the cue ball resting in the center of most pool tables will result in the smaller snooker cue ball traveling the entire length of most snooker tables. Another important difference between snooker and pool tables is the size of the pockets and, more importantly, the geometry of the pockets' jaws.
Agreed. Pool pockets with the square cut are also more forgiving than snooker pockets, which makes shots like hitting the side first still potable in pool, but those won't go in on a snooker table. Also the nap is virtually non-existent on pool tables, but it is a thing to consider on snooker tables.
For some reason no one ever seems to consider this. I play almost all of my pool on a 10ft snooker table, with nap and snooker 3.5" pockets, with regulation sized pool balls (2 1/4") and the table plays very difficult. The only problem for me is that it really does change my game, i have little confidence with pots down rails, even though they would go easily on any diamond table, just because i almost never play them when i practice on the 10ft snooker tables. So even when on a regular 9ft table with huge pockets, i feel the timidity creeping in when playing rail shots.
This was the huge difference at the time of this video between snooker and pool players. But now things have changed, pool has become more and more professional and you can see a lot of pool players with immaculate technique and incredibly straight shooting. In my opinion snooker in the 90's was already a sport, pool was a game. Now they're both sports.
@@DimaBulwinklBochk0 Mark Gray made the transition from snooker to pool around 2005 and he won several Eurotours (I think 5), also he was a solid member of Team Europe in Mosconi Cup. Tony Drago also had a good pool career, he won the 2003 World Pool Master, plus a couple of Mosconi winning appearances. On a personal note, in my opinion now this kind of transition is harder than 15/20 years ago.
@@DimaBulwinklBochk0 yes Steve Davis multiple time Mosconi cup winner, Jimmy white mosconi cup winner, drago mosconi cup winner. Not singles tournaments but big competition.
I had a master pool shooter and dear friend he taught me to shoot a rack of pool balls on a bigger snooker table. Then if it was possible try not to hit a cushion at all for ball control. I was amazed all his life seeing such control and positioning of his cue ball. He was a three cushion, 14-1 pool player and some 9 ball. His name was David DePasquale and a good friend of Bert Schrader (HOF billiard stick maker). Bert made a few sticks for David and he made me two sticks as well (1980's vintage). When David was young he was matched against Willie Mosconi and various other greats. Thanks David for being a great friend to me.
@@georgeniculescu kinda depends.. sometimes playing "boring" is the best thing for a song, so unless their ego matches their skill they might not want to overdo it.
I think they would be a bit upset with potting along the cushions on a snooker match table... You can get away with murder on those 9-ball pool tables, pockets more generous than Santa
@@AngrierGorilla don't doubt it. With the transferrable skills, it stands to reason they're capable. Lots of them would probably make good players if they went for snooker fully, there'd just be plenty more challenges that way. Tightness of the pockets being one of the biggest.
There's a video on YooToob of Efren playing snooker against some club player. The video is 30+ minutes of Efren struggling to rack up 35 points with about a 15% pot success rate. I have no doubt that Efren Reyes is the greatest player to play pool, but, based on his performance in the aforementioned video, he would never be in the top-1000 in snooker.
@@frankberryfilms yeah of course, but I think the other way round too. I've recently seen some pro snooker players in important 9-ball tournaments (Trump, G.Wilson, Gould, Patrick) and I think there is still quite some gap with the pro players.
ive played 9 ball on a pool table similar to snooker pockets, most Americans miss the shot, especially on the rail shots, and banking is almost impossible with our dead cushions, the cushion is the hardest thing they have to deal with, but im confident in saying that Ronnie with a few years practice playing pool alone, no snooker, would beat them left handed, but that's just my thoughts
The UK has a long history of making up a term which Americans then use, and then switch the term to something else. The US just stuck with the original. Theres a ton of info about this
To be fair snooker players always make decent enough pool players but they don't dominate the scene when they have a go because there is a lot of things they don't have experience in that are important to pool. I remember judd trump practicing to play the 9ball world series and yes he can pot balls but he lost out on things like his break and playing snooker style positional shots.
A lot of people forget that snooker players play a fair amount of pool. They are used to pool tables, maybe not as well as snooker tables, but it’s not like it’s a foreign object to them. While on the other hand, 99% of pool players have never touched a snooker table. So the whole snooker vs pool debate is kind of stupid when people bring up how well snooker players do in certain games against the top pool players.
i love watching snooker players play pool because they play unusual shots but as a snooker fan myself they're not as good as the pool players since they lack experience. Although i'd love to see the top pool players have a game of snooker
@@DrClawizdead and if either of them played snooker they'd lose something along the lines of 99-1. It's a child's game. No snooker player is going to waste time
play a bit of snooker (and I'm no good) but then go and play pool and its so easy by comparison. Your angles don't have to be so exact as they do on the 12 foot long snooker table.
You must realise that the pockets are huge compared to the ball size. Having played both it seems to me that the cue ball behaves very differently on a pool table and you can't get as much movement
Do little toy UK 8 ball pub tables really count as a world championship ? Shame on Selby even contemplating having a go yet alone actually entering the tournament and winning it.
@@vmax4steve524 what's ur status? Have u turned pro or u r still playing at the tables at the corner of the street? I think we should respect him as he is 4 times world champion and that is no joke ! Better than many professional players !
@@theonlyjoe_ you ever remember when Ronnie quit during a match against Stephen Hendry? He later said it was pool that affected his snooker game and had to take a prolonged break to change the habits he developed playing pool.
@@Jay_Eddo well that's because they're different games, not really got anything to do with skill, bear in mind too this is stephen hendry, It's not like Ronnie should've wiped the floor with the only player who's in that GOAT debate with him.
@@homeofsnooker147 I'm playing pool since few months and i can finish table many times after breaking the rack on 9 ball and 8 ball but snooker totally different. They know they have no chance on snooker table. They don't want to lose reputation also.
@@homeofsnooker147 there are videos of Steve mizerak and corey duel I think on RU-vid, plenty of pool players are said to be 100 break standard, pagulayan I think but I’ve not seen any evidence
The object balls hit the rag half way down the rail, bounce off and still fall in the basketball hoops of pockets. Four by eight tables were designed to make games fast, thus more money for bars.
4:02 Is Michaela Tabb the referee 😍👍? So, not only snooker players playing pool. Recently, I saw Brendan Moore in an american pool championship. By the way, Judd Trump took part of it. am I right? However, I think this kind of crossover is good for sport, players and fans. Thanks for sharing. Greetings from Mexico City 👌👌
Alex Pagulayan is the Canadian snooker champion and is quite good at the game. Most of the pro pool players would be excellent at snooker if they spent time playing it like they do playing pool. There aren't huge differences in the cue sports.
@@stocksyere you say that, but there's never been a professional snooker player that came over to play in a professional pool tournament that has won. I've seen many try, but I've yet to see a professional snooker player win a professional pool tournament. They win some matches, but when they come up against the best of the best, they end up on the losers side. Both games require lots of skill, and to be the best or almost the best in the world at it requires lots of dedication. As I said before, Alex Pagulayan is the Canadian snooker champion and he is a professional pool player. He plays a lot of snooker though, in order to compete with the best over there. He's also one of the best pool players in the world. Everybody thinks snooker is so much harder because of the rounded small pockets, but the balls are also smaller, and the bigger table gives you more room to work. The reason Pro snooker players don't ever win pro pool tournaments is because they don't have the break that the pro players have, which requires years and years of practice, trust me I know, and they don't have the fine position play required to get position on a table that is smaller with bigger balls that are much more likely to get in your way. Just like some people play great on a 9-ft pool table but when they get to a 7-ft table they end up getting hooked more often. The position play on a smaller tables has to be much more exact than on a snooker table. Anyway, if the skill level required to play snooker was that much higher you would think that a pro player could come over and just kill everybody in the Pro pool tournaments, but that's not what happens. They are two different games and both require a lot of skill. Most of the skills are transferable, because they are similar games, but they have different complexities and different skill sets that require more attention. Snooker players don't know how to break hard and make balls and get position on the one ball in 9 ball for example.
@@billsmith8825 There is a lot of skill required for both yes 100% but snooker is far harder, it's a fact, you can lose easily in pool without even having a single shot, and that can actually be dictated by luck, snooker for me is 90% skill 10% luck where as pool is more 70 30
I learned how to play pool on a snooker table the balls barely fit in the holes so when you went to say a bar it was almost impossible to miss a shot that’s why I never ever play for money we’re i’m from being good like me will get you dead quick betting on pool I grew up in Memphis TN
Of course pro pool players are better at pool than snooker players. But my guess is that snooker players are much better at pool than pool players are at snooker
In the 80s we use to go to a game room and play snooker. Lots of times we would have an audience because no one had ever seen the game played. Then there was a basement bar that had a snooker table about 2 ft. longer and a foot wider than a regular table. The regulars played a game on it called either golf or baseball. It was so long ago i can't remember because i did lots of drugs back then. lol
Shane VB has been playing Chinese 8-ball which has larger pockets than snooker but still rounded jaws on a 9ft table and he struggles. Its not about who is better. It is about who is forced to play with more discipline, accuracy, and cue ball control from the start. Pool tables are far more forgiving so unless you are very disciplined, like Fedor Gorst, you will learn the game knowing you can cheat the pocket and recover from less than ideal position. This "out" if you will makes pool players less disciplined than pro snooker players who literally have no outs when they mess up.....So, watching Ronnie O'Sullivan clear the table with a maximum break (147) where he has not only made 36 shots in a row but has also built the break using cue ball control to open the reds WHILE also not missing a pot WHILE potting 15 red/blacks before running the colors in order. There is no pool player that could do that let alone 15 times under the TV lights in pro tournaments. They just don't have the discipline for snooker. Simple as that.
@@physicsguybrian The top snooker players have tried the chinese pool severel times, but fail as much as the pool players. Chinese pool players dominate their own sport by now. I saw Immonen win some tournament and I think appleton won something also. Every game has own masters that get the feel to those equipment and control of the cue ball and their game. It's beyond stupid to compare sports to other ones on dificulty. Try running 300 balls in 14.1, it's a very difficult feat that most likely no snooker player has done in the history of the sport. Some pool and even a darts player have done the 147 in snooker.
Where are the videos of top Pool players coming to the UK to play Snooker? As a Pub Pool player (and a very infrequent Snooker player) I feel that I could compete at Pool at a pretty high level. My Snooker ability would put me just outside the Top-One Million Snooker players though. My biggest shock is seeing top Snooker Pros missing ANY Pool shot. Snooker is at a whole different level of difficulty. I'm always secretly happy to pot any Snooker ball to be honest.
I'm a pool player, and I'd agree that snooker requires more accuracy in potting the ball. However, there is less cue ball movement throughout. I think a pool player is better at working angles, while a snooker player will be better at potting balls. Cue sports in general require lots of skill!
@@abdussami9165 I wouldn't say that. Most of snooker once it's in the middle of the run is potting a red to get on the black, and repeat. It's very minimal movement compared to pool. In pool, it's common to use at least one, if not two or three rails for shape. You rarely have to use it in snooker. But yes, snooker is the harder game because of the higher amount of accuracy required to play it
@@abdussami9165 I will say that it requires a deft touch to float a ball into the correct position zone without using rails. It's just a shame that the tables are so big that it's not easily accessible. Most places don't have snooker tables around in the states. I live in Houston, the 4th largest city, and I believe there's only one snooker table around
@Tommy Vu You have GOT to be joking!!! Pro snooker players are more accurate at potting balls and moving the cue ball. Pool tables have flat faced jaws making it easier to use the jaw to make up for being out of position. Cheating the pocket is exactly the technique used to get the angle you need to get but failed to do so. A snooker table has unforgiving curved pocket jaws so you have to not only make great shots in tighter pockets and over much longer distances (often) but you also have to get good position otherwise break is over. People can argue all their lives about this but until you try to play pool and snooker will you ever be in a position to argue with anything but speculation. I play snooker and pool (many types of games) and I happen to be a physicist. I won't bore you with the details but I can assure you, it can be proven using simple laws of physics, a lot of math, and statistics that snooker is a for more difficult game to play.
Snooker players can give the best pool players a good match. Pool players wouldnt even win one single frame on a snooker table. They would be terrible. Pool so much easier.
Not entirely true... English pool player Gareth Potts practices snooker regularly and have made a 147 albeit not under competitive environment. Mark Selby was a english pool champion and those tables are much smaller than a snooker table. Chris melling has played British and American pool, and had been on the pro snooker tour before. I guess it depends on the player though...
Then why'd Judd Trump not get to the Last 16 in the 2021 US Open? Maybe if you actually played one of the 2 sports you wouldn't make statements like that. snooker is focused on precision, while pool is technique, spin and creativity. it doesn't mean one is better than the other, it just means they are slightly different with elements that don't easily translate to the other although both are cue sports.
@@Jay0neDE Why should he. He is not pool pro. I said he can give a good match to pool pros....look at Jimmy, Higgins or Davis as well. Snooker pro on pool table can look good. No chance the other way round. Fact.
@@Jay0neDE maybe because Trump face the second best player in pool for a long time, Jason Shaw?! I mean, I get the difference and the pros and cons of pool and snooker aren't that straightforward, but you need to give it to snooker in terms of how hard and accurate the game need to be... Snooker players normally wouldn't ever lost position on the cueballs, the only thing that could make them lose is only the dry break... It's like comparing NBA players playing on kid's mini basketball machine lol (maybe not to that extreme but you should get it)
i used to think i was ok at uk pub pool until i had a go with a mediocre snooker player. to win i had to break lucky and be perfect, he won every other game
Alex Higgins greatest shot ever was in a 9-ball match teamed with Jimmy White against Mike Massey and not sure who in a Mosconi Cup event you know the 2 rail carom 2 into the 9 so thinly many still call it a foul.I call it genius.
@mikescorpio13 Alex Higgins was an anomaly!!! The wicked manipulations of his cue (notably some of the worst movements NEVER recommended by anyone to anyone who wanted to learn how to play any cue sport properly/well) made his shot making far more complicated and YET he (and only he) somehow could do it. He was so talented that (IMO) had he used a more controlled stroke from the get go AND also had his flavor of genius (that was innate rather than a requirement to cope with his crazy stroke), he could have been forever unbeatable. It is sad that he was taken before his time and perhaps his bad smoking/drinking/drugs/etc habits made him somewhat to blame but no one deserves to wither away the way he did! RIP AH!
@@physicsguybrian i am a wicked manipulator of cue too and body english too.Jim Furyk probably heard it all his life YoUr FuNdAmEnTaLs arent ok blahblah.Pose and stroke are highly overrated in these sports compared to instinct and the pure will to pot balls.
