Canadian Snooker Championships LIVE

[Camio]

yes he did. Not to take anything away from the players but don't forget the tables are looser than the tables used in the pro tour.
I'm not sure but I heard alex doesn't pratice that much pool, let alone snooker ( I think he pratice only before tournament) . He plays poker now... I read in another forum, a guy asked Jim Wych about Alex's snooker and Jim responded that if Alex could train with top players for a year he could shock a lot of people. I believe Wych knows a little about snooker.

The weakness of Alex atm in snooker is tactical/safety play. Its most obvious when safeties are being played with only the colors left. Several times, with only pink and black left on the table, Alex went for the wrong shot, or something that didnt made much sense, yet got a bit lucky, it has to say. White kept playing a solid safety right after. We saw Alex a few times say "I dont know what do to now" and laughing, going around the table, when the onl ball left was the black, who was in the black cushion, with white near baulk line.

He's agressive, will go for alot of balls, kinda playing snooker with a pool mind. Regardless, he can still pot tons of balls. Its funny to see him jump around the table, talk to himself, the crowd, then talk to himself some more.

I'm pretty sure he'd be able to hang with the #10 to 20 players in snooker after playing snooker for 6 months or so. He's a quick learner with tremendous skill so he'd pick up the safety/tactical play fairly quickly.

White played pretty solid besides 2 shots or so in the middle of the match, yet found himself at 5-5 with Alex because well, he was playing Alex. That scratch in the final frame on a safety at the start of the frame seemed to have moved towards the pocket instead of hitting the rail as it was intended. Thats the feeling I got when I saw the white go past a side (on green side of the table) and down table, towards the green pocket. The white initially was aiming towards a few inches to the side rail of that green pocket and ended up dropping in clean. Alex did his magic with ball in the D, cutting a thin red in the black pocket and get perfect shape on the blue.

Last 3 frames especially were great snooker. Cant wait for the Final today.

As for the tables playing a bit loose or not, considering how slower the tables are compared to what the Pros use, I'm not sure there's even an advantage there, and that if the tables are indeed looser. I'll take a fast table (cushions/cloth) with tight pocket over a slow table (cloth/cushions) and looser pockets. Its still nice tables to play on, dont get me wrong tho.

The club I play at had 3 of its tables reclothed/new cushions last weekend. The pockets are a bit more tight then the 2 other tables, which have also cloth that has been put sicne about 9 months and began to slow down, compared to what it was initially.

I can tell you its easy to play the 3 new tables. You dont have to force anything and you can go for a red from distance at the start of tjhe game and still bring the white back behind baulk colors easily. Its also very easy to open the pack from blue or black, getting the reds nicely spread without having to hammer the white into the reds.

A table table, that is also perfectly levelled (or almost) is a charm to play, even with tighter pockets.

[Slh]

slh:

Just to make it clear, I've played on those tables in the round-robin section and I've also played on the Star tables at the Southwest Snooker Academy which are done to pro template and I can tell you there's not a whole lot of difference in the tightness of the pockets. The only thing I found were the middle pockets at Shooters might be a touch larger however the cloths are also slower than what the pros use PLUS the pros always play on new #10 cloth which allows the pockets to take the balls easier.

In addition, these tables at Shooters have rolls on them which cause the players to look bad on some of the slower tick-off safety shots. I can tell you for a fact this #17 tables rolls off towards the green side of the table at the top end as I experienced it.

I'm not saying the best Canadian players are up to pro standard however I think they could get there if they had the opportunity to play top world-class players and professionals more, and had the motivation (and funding).

Terry

thank you for the clarification.

The weakness of Alex atm in snooker is tactical/safety play. Its most obvious when safeties are being played with only the colors left. Several times, with only pink and black left on the table, Alex went for the wrong shot, or something that didnt made much sense, yet got a bit lucky, it has to say. White kept playing a solid safety right after. We saw Alex a few times say "I dont know what do to now" and laughing, going around the table, when the onl ball left was the black, who was in the black cushion, with white near baulk line.

He's agressive, will go for alot of balls, kinda playing snooker with a pool mind. Regardless, he can still pot tons of balls. Its funny to see him jump around the table, talk to himself, the crowd, then talk to himself some more.

I'm pretty sure he'd be able to hang with the #10 to 20 players in snooker after playing snooker for 6 months or so. He's a quick learner with tremendous skill so he'd pick up the safety/tactical play fairly quickly.

White played pretty solid besides 2 shots or so in the middle of the match, yet found himself at 5-5 with Alex because well, he was playing Alex. That scratch in the final frame on a safety at the start of the frame seemed to have moved towards the pocket instead of hitting the rail as it was intended. Thats the feeling I got when I saw the white go past a side (on green side of the table) and down table, towards the green pocket. The white initially was aiming towards a few inches to the side rail of that green pocket and ended up dropping in clean. Alex did his magic with ball in the D, cutting a thin red in the black pocket and get perfect shape on the blue.

Last 3 frames especially were great snooker. Cant wait for the Final today.

As for the tables playing a bit loose or not, considering how slower the tables are compared to what the Pros use, I'm not sure there's even an advantage there, and that if the tables are indeed looser. I'll take a fast table (cushions/cloth) with tight pocket over a slow table (cloth/cushions) and looser pockets. Its still nice tables to play on, dont get me wrong tho.

The club I play at had 3 of its tables reclothed/new cushions last weekend. The pockets are a bit more tight then the 2 other tables, which have also cloth that has been put sicne about 9 months and began to slow down, compared to what it was initially.

I can tell you its easy to play the 3 new tables. You dont have to force anything and you can go for a red from distance at the start of tjhe game and still bring the white back behind baulk colors easily. Its also very easy to open the pack from blue or black, getting the reds nicely spread without having to hammer the white into the reds.

A table table, that is also perfectly levelled (or almost) is a charm to play, even with tighter pockets.

Thanks for this post. Unfortunately i missed the last three frames of the match, I hope there is a recording available.

[wayner147]

Wouldnt anyone else say that Alex is just simply playing magic snooker. The kid does not play it at all, buys the cue at the start of the tournament and has the high break and is in the final. If someone gave that guy 1 year on the table in my mind doing what he is doing now, he could prob turn into a pro....with the right ppl around him. This has captured the imagination of an entire pool world to see what Alex is doing on that snooker table. He has made me want to be a better player just by watching this tournament. This is great for are game in Canada and its great for pool as well. Who knows maybe Alex is going to inspire some young pool players to play snooker.

I would love to see Alex win. You could not write this stuff in a book and have anyone believe it. This stuff is the stuff of legends!!

[wayner147]

Finals of the 2011 Canadian Snooker Champions ships starts in just an hour and a half. Move to the edge of your seats, we could be in for a classic.

[Slh]

the score is Pagulayan 2 Zeigler 0
alex just did a century

[Camio]

Alex wins the Snooker Open in style!

Alex made 2 centuries (104 in frame 2 and 102 in frame 6) in the Final, en route to a 6-0 victory over Floyd Zeigler. Zeigler had comeback from 4-1 down in the semi to win 6-4 but today, the Lion was too much to handle.

In true Alex fashion, he ended the Final the same way he ended his Semi-Final match, with a Century.

Well done Alex!

[ace man]

Amazing!

This has to be worth something. Now he has the right to play in IBSF Snooker World Championships representing Canada? True or not?

Wonder if he would try one of those PTCs?

[wayner147]

I would love to see him really try and take a run at some snooker but i just cant see him trying to turn pro, im sure he will play the IBSF World Champs and rep Canada. But he is 33year old and i just cant see him wanting to take the time to try and turn pro at his are. But im sure he will stick around the Am game for a long time now that he has won a major event. But the level he just played this tournament and in the semis and finals was second to none.