Can snooker cues be used for pool?

[TheStranger]

Good post there.

In my opinion, I just love the feel of traditional Snooker and English Billiards cues, I am not always interested in the new technology, groundbreaking buisiness. Even though it may be good, some of it is just experiements.

I do think Predator make good cues, different to the traditional, but I like the Snooker cues!

I will admit, I have not tried a Predator cue, but before I got my two Dufferin snooker cues, all I had were some low to mid-end American pool cues: a three-piece Sportcraft rubbish cue I scored at Wal-Mart with the most awful joints, and then a Mizerak brand graphite-on-wood cue that was originally $50 (it's okay, nothing spectacular, but I got it at half price).

After that, I purchased my first snooker cue in May, a $50 one-piece Dufferin at 17oz with a 9.5mm hard tip (later replaced by me with an Elkmaster tip); it warped rather easily and didn't even have a true plastic ferrule, just some painted wood! I decided to get another snooker cue, the 3/4Dufferin Spirit ash (19oz with 10mm Elkmaster tip) with machine spliced ebony, about two and a half weeks ago and I have loved it since. Obviously, being in the States where snooker is much less common than pool, I've probably played only 4 frames of snooker and one quick frame of English billiards with it, but I've been able to use it for plenty of games of pool with no problems. The feel is absolutely solid and now I can focus on working on my mechanics and my mental game.

The only thing this cue ISN'T great at is the 8-ball/9-ball break, but honestly, for straight pool, the opposite is true (as straight pool's break-off shot is very similar to snooker's).

[Wity]

Think it's about time I tried proper pool (staight pool) on a proper pool table(yank) it's been 35 years since i last did on one of the first pool tables ever in an English pub. The club I go to has had 1 table for over a year and has now bought 3 more and I reckon at last I have a suitable cue, a billiard cue
11mm one piece ferrel less maple Riley Tombstone 571/2" 17 oz.

[TheStranger]

Think it's about time I tried proper pool (staight pool) on a proper pool table(yank) it's been 35 years since i last did on one of the first pool tables ever in an English pub. The club I go to has had 1 table for over a year and has now bought 3 more and I reckon at last I have a suitable cue, a billiard cue
11mm one piece ferrel less maple Riley Tombstone 571/2" 17 oz.

Good luck with 14.1! I just realized another portion of snooker that is relevant to straights - splitting the pack; the "break shot" as it is called in straights occurs on the 15th ball remaining, where in order to continue the run, one must have the cue cannon back into the newly racked 14-ball pack to keep the inning alive and have the balls spread nicely for potting.

[poolqjunkie]

I watched some videos of Stephen Hendry playing 9 ball in the St. Andrew's Cup on youtube with his snooker cue.
He was shooting just as good if not better than any 9 ball players I have seen.

[matoski]

Mark Gray won an Eurotour 9-ball tournament with a snooker cue in december last year. And he is the man in form this season in Eurotour. I played american pool with a snooker cue for two years, but i switched to an american pool cue.

[TheStranger]

Mark Gray won an Eurotour 9-ball tournament with a snooker cue in december last year. And he is the man in form this season in Eurotour. I played american pool with a snooker cue for two years, but i switched to an american pool cue.

Compared to the other top 9-ball pros in the world today, how is Mark Gray's form different (or similar)? Does he use the snooker stance like Allison Fisher does (albeit, Fisher uses a Cuetec American pool cue)?

Does Eurotour use some of the newer, European-specific 9-ball rules (balls crossing the headstring, training template instead of an external rack, "break box" instead of full kitchen) or is it more like the game as it is in America, with full kitchen for breaks, et al.? Those things could affect how usable a snooker cue is in 9-ball competition.

[Wity]

Good luck with 14.1! I just realized another portion of snooker that is relevant to straights - splitting the pack; the "break shot" as it is called in straights occurs on the 15th ball remaining, where in order to continue the run, one must have the cue cannon back into the newly racked 14-ball pack to keep the inning alive and have the balls spread nicely for potting.

Had a couple of hours at it today on my own for the first time. Very odd feeling. I quite like the size of the table but the balls are bloody massive. Took a 9mm cue with me (I've not got the tombstone yet) and it was next to useless compared with the 13mm house cue I switched to after 30 mins.
The shape of the pockets will take some time for me to get used to especially the middle ones as I couldn't cut a damn thing into them but running a ball along the cush full length of the table into the corners was unbelievably easy.
And yeah keeping the run going as you say when theres but a few balls left sorta took over my mind thinking which i'll leave till last so much so I naffed it up.

Buggered me up for playing uk pool afterwards though as I was terrible, losing 12-1 to a 14yr old, mind it was the gaffers son who plays 30 plus hrs a week.

Anyways it's a thumbs up for staight pool from me. I reckon i'll enjoy it more for now though if I can get a few more to play and a set of spots and stripes fo a uk table till I get used to them damn middle bags.

[TheStranger]

Had a couple of hours at it today on my own for the first time. Very odd feeling. I quite like the size of the table but the balls are bloody massive. Took a 9mm cue with me (I've not got the tombstone yet) and it was next to useless compared with the 13mm house cue I switched to after 30 mins.
The shape of the pockets will take some time for me to get used to especially the middle ones as I couldn't cut a damn thing into them but running a ball along the cush full length of the table into the corners was unbelievably easy.
And yeah keeping the run going as you say when theres but a few balls left sorta took over my mind thinking which i'll leave till last so much so I naffed it up.

Buggered me up for playing uk pool afterwards though as I was terrible, losing 12-1 to a 14yr old, mind it was the gaffers son who plays 30 plus hrs a week.

Anyways it's a thumbs up for staight pool from me. I reckon i'll enjoy it more for now though if I can get a few more to play and a set of spots and stripes fo a uk table till I get used to them damn middle bags.

Nice to see you're enjoying straights :thumbsup: Yeah, the middle pockets are unbelievably annoying to cut to...on the other hand, watching pro 9-ball on TV on Saturday confirms what you're saying about rail shots: the professionals were putting in a screw/right-hand side shot for right-rail rundowns, something I've tried with success in my games.

My highest run in straight pool is still a mere 4. Granted, I've been playing American pool mostly with my 10mm snooker cue - I think as 9.5 is to snooker/British 8-ball (a perfect intermediate size), 10mm is the same good middle ground between snooker and American pool.

My second game of straights I played against a friend, a few nights ago...I fouled on the opening break, but then left a nasty safe break on my second try, I was chuffed to see the minimum two object balls and the cue hit rails while the rack remained intact. :snooker:

[jimbyjoe]

I use my snooker cue at the pub - I think my cue is 57" and has a 9mm tip.
It doesn't break as well as the 'house cues', but the house cues are shorter and have a much bigger tip, like 11mm, and the are a lot heavier all over.

[Watford]

I use my snooker cue at the pub - I think my cue is 57" and has a 9mm tip.
It doesn't break as well as the 'house cues', but the house cues are shorter and have a much bigger tip, like 11mm, and the are a lot heavier all over.

If you break better with a short heavy pub bat your not doing it right mate!

We all have personal prefs but the yanks do say that you can push a light cue faster!!!!
But surly you can get more follow through with your normal cue!

I understand it if you have a tiny tip but a 9mm should be fine to break with.

Having said all that I've seen a chap who breaks with a really heavy 14mm 2 ton monster and that works for him.

[jimbyjoe]

My cue might be too long, as I'm not very tall...but no I don't hit with great strength.
Plus I may not be breaking properly in the first place. Thanks for you advice though.
k

[Watford]

Don't hit them hard just push through to middle of table.
Assuming we're talking about the same type of pool mate.

[totlxtc]

It's the way you rack em !

(Should have been in an irish accent)

Tightly racked balls will always spread out from the break more tham loosly ones, far more important methinks.

I always get the ref to re-rack the balls if any have gone awol. You need a properly set up rack in order to suceed.......like a girl i used to know

[jimbyjoe]

yeah should be the same of pool - i suppose what you call 8 ball everywhere else. most of the pubs here have resorted to yellow and red balls rather than 1-8, to help drunk, confused patrons

[Shanghai Matt]

i used to play UK 8 ball with cues made for pool (i.e 8.5mm tip, 57.5", thin taper), but was having a bad run of form earlier in the year and found i could hit the long shots easier when i had to play a match with my missus' snooker cue. now i play pool with a 58.5" 9.5mm wooldridge custom and break and dish more than ever!