Snooker looks fun.

English on a golf balls/tennis ball/baseball/in pool an such.

Always been amazed by the spin and curve.

Anywho, heres
Snooker. Anyone fancy *snooking?*

..and this guy.

www.insider.com...

Mods.4givmi

a reply to: emp89

My highest break is 35, and I was ready for throwing a party. Love it, despite my lack of skill.

a reply to: emp89

The wild days of snooker have been around a long time

Alex Higgins

Or

Jimmy White


Both of these led wild lives but also ruled the green baize

a reply to: UpThenDown

Yet, like everything else, the real maestro is an unassuming Scotsman, in this case, Stephen Hendry.

Although, Ronnie O’Sullivan is the most natural gifted player, makes it look effortless.

a reply to: emp89

“Fun” is probably the wrong word. It is probably the most challenging cue-ball-and-table sport there is. With the possible exception of 3-cushion billiards. With these sports, it’s exhilarating when you get things right. Mostly you don’t.

a reply to: emp89
My first love is racing, my second one is billiards. I prefer snooker but any form of billiards is a love affair for me. From Carambola to 8 Ball to 9 Ball.

I used to practice four to six hours a day and was seriously thinking of going Pro... it needed a lot more practice. Here's the only photo I have of me practicing. Actually, it was during my honeymoon in Scotland in 1999. The hotel had a snooker table and I always travelled with my own snooker cue, so I couldn't resist getting in some practice... and a whisky or three! Actually, alcohol improves my long shots (pun intended)!



Back during my pub-crawling days, I had the honour of captaining a pub league pool team for two seasons. I did a lot of snooker coaching to my players. If you can pot on a 12ft x 6ft table, pool becomes a doddle. Unfortunately, real life took over and any dream of playing professionally was shattered.

In my local snooker club in Manchester I had the pleasure and pain of meeting the infamous Jimmy White, my fave player and my inspiration. I asked him if he wanted to play a few frames... he graciously declined. I think he was too drunk at the time.

Strangely, one thing I love about the game is the little green cloud of chalk coming off the cue's tip; especially the effect under the overhead lights. You can never have too much chalk and I only use Green Triangle Chalk by Tweeten, U.S.A.

a reply to: emp89

I love playing snooker....but I'm hopeless at it.
I am at a bit of a handicap though....I am colour blind, and not just a little bit.
My mates would always take advantage of that.....the reds end up all over the place when I'm playing and I have no idea where the brown is, nearly always ends up with me giving a few fouls away!

I did once have a break of 25!

I sort of know Stephen Maguire reasonably well, he's a great guy.

Played a lot of pool in pubs and the odd game in local leagues.
Average sort of player, some mates are quite good.
One lad I know captained England Seniors to become World Champions.

Another guy I know is a proper sport Billy.
His highest break at snooker is 125 or something like that.
He played a lot of pool in local leagues - a good player.
He's in his 70's now but when he was younger he played a lot of cricket and played for Lancashire a couple of times.
He also made about 10 first team appearances for Bolton Wanderers at football.
He was in his early 50's when he had his first round of golf - which I played with him. He ended up being Club Captain playing off 4!
He's a lovely guy, really funny....but I #ing hate him! lol.

a reply to: Freeborn

Yep, being colour blind must cause you endless difficulties.

I just searched and apparently, Mark Williams is coulur bind...

Williams discovered he was colour blind as a kid when he was almost mown down by a bus at traffic lights.

He said: "I have had to learn a sequence of what the balls look like to me and work it out from there. After the greys (reds) it's orange (yellow), beige (green), chocolate (brown), purple (blue), lilac (pink) and black.

Mark Williams - the Mirror

a reply to: Encia22

I didn't know that about Mark Williams.

I guess it must be easier when you are good and the brown - sometimes I get the green mixed up as well - stays well clear of the reds.
But when the balls are scattered all over the place its very hard keeping track of where the brown is.

Its called colour blindness but a more accurate description would be shade blindness; its hard to differentiate between certain shades of certain colours.
For me its mainly reds/browns/greens and then blues/purples.

I worked in the packaging industry for a lot of years and as I progressed I had more and more dealings with print related issues etc....had to do some serious blagging to pull that off!

a reply to: Freeborn

I'm glad you still enjoy the game notwithstanding the difficulty of identifying the balls.

You would probably have enjoyed the mini-tournamnets I used to organise in pubs. We called it Killers and I'd set it up when the pub would be at its busiest.

Basically, £1 entry fee for three lives. I'd break the rack and every player just had to pot a ball... any ball (except the cue ball). A miss would lose the player a life. The game continues, rotating trough the list of participants, until everyone loses all three lives and the two remaining players would play a proper game of pool to win the pot. On good nights I could entice up to thirty people to play... even non-players. It was a great way to get everyone playing and it helped me scout new players for my pool team.

a reply to: Encia22


Played Killer lots of times, great game....only won once or twice though!

Played pool on an 8 sided table before somewhere out in the sticks near where I live and once on a L-shaped table in a pub in the Peak District.

A few variations of pool rules, the town where I live has its own bastardised set of rules which are sort of a mish-mash.
But World Rules is starting to become the most prominent.

My Dad and his mates used to play 'Sides'; when the first ball is potted the person can only pot that colour on the side that ball was potted and the other player can only pot the other colour on the opposite side.
The there was 'last ball last pocket' and 'last ball first pocket'.

I took my 10 year old Grandson into a pub one afternoon last year for a bar meal and there was a pool table.
He wanted a couple of games of pool so I told him we were going to play 'Sides'.....he just stared at me and called me an idiot when I tried to explain the rules which gave me the excuse to thrash him.
No mercy.
I suspect it might not be the same story next time I play him!

a reply to: Freeborn

LOL, I've seen some strange tables, but never played on them. An octagon shape would cause havoc with all my known cushion angles. 🤯 An L shape sounds more like a golf course... I was never good at golf, except putting on the green.

I've never heard of 'Sides', but it must make for a challenging twist. It surely slows up the game, something that pool rules tries to speed up. The quicker a game finishes, the sooner more money is pumped into the table for a new one. That's why I prefer dedicated pool/snooker clubs, especially members-only ones, with a timed fee you can take your time. As I mentioned before, I would practice 4-6 hours daily. Great pub meals and beer, too!

Only one pub in Vancouver, Canada would give me free practice time, but only because I advised about refurbishing their ancient tables and because I would clean them during my lunch breaks... with the table's keys in-hand I had unlimited free games.