getting out of snookers

[s0600128]

Hi all my first post wohoooo

Ok i'm having this problem that even an easy snooker my opponent sets me I miss it via rebounding off the cusion. I just cant visualise the angle of the cusion how its coming off I am there or there abouts but i miss it 9/10 times by an inch or so and when i set my opponent any snooker he easily comes out of it. which is quite annoying to be honest.

I have been playing for like 2 years once a week. i'm not that good but i'm trying to get better and have benefited from all the advice given here but i couldnt find much about this topic.

cheers

[jrc750]

Practice it sometimes on your own getting out of them. Fairly simple really, just got to understand the angles, generally the ball will come off the cushion at the same angle it went on, so on a simple snooker just hit the cushion half way between the cue ball and the object ball. It gets a lot more complicated when another ball is in the way which means using side or 2 or 3 cushions instead, or when the cue ball and object ball is offset from one another.
Practice, practice and then practice a bit more

[s0600128]

hey thanks jrc750

the problem is my whole game is not that good that i practice whats more important to me i.e. potting. but ill defo practice.
is there any tricks of getting out of them. the way you say it sounds so simple and i belive it can be simple getting out from them but its just isnt for me. i used to try to visualise but trust me its a headache trying to visualise and even then i miss by an inch lol.

but ill defo try to practice it

[jrc750]

Well maybe potting practice is more important right now so don't worry too much, the more you play the angles become easier to see. Sometimes it can help to stand bolt upright with your cue on your bridge hand working out where to hit the cushion, before getting down on the shot and doing it.

[The roberts]

The more you play you will find you will start to see the natural angle the cue ball takes...

[s0600128]

oh ok seen but i feel i have played the game for like 2-3 years i should have already known the angle which the ball comes off im ok at posistion my self into areas and stuff but hopefully ill improve my potting and posistioning in practice untill i'm 100% happy about it then ill move on this.

cheers for the reply.

[DandyA]

I think it's very important to make sure you hit the centre of the cueball - a tiny amount of unwanted side can easily cause the white to rebound off the cushion at the wrong angle ...

[DeanH]

See the following posting which has links to Ray Reardon coaching and part 13 is about snookers and the "rectangle" method which I find very useful.
http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...th-Ray-Reardon

[vmax4steve]

What a lot of people fail do do when getting out of snookers is to focus on the point of the cushion that the cue ball needs to hit at the moment of striking the cue ball, just like you would when going for a pot. Hand follows the eye and all that so if you find the point on the cushion but then look away when striking the cue ball your hand will follow your eye and put unwanted side on the cue ball and thus the angle of the cue ball leaving the cushion will change and you will miss the snooker.
The target is the point on the cushion, look only at the target.

[Terry Davidson]

s0600:

Here is a method whereby any one-cushion snooker can be hit but it takes a bit of visualization on your part. Let's say the last red is the object ball and it's on the pink spot and your cueball is near the baulk cushion and directly behind the brown ball which is on spot.

Now if you are going to use the side cushion to hit the last red, do this. Visually measure from the centre of the red object ball directly to the side cushion with an angle of 90degrees to the side cushion. (In this case it will be just under 3ft directly to the side cushion and the measuring line is parallel with the top or baulk cushions or 90degrees to the cushion face.

Now project that same (almost 3ft) distance out over the cushion and off the table, so imagine a spot in space that is almost 3ft from the face of the side cushion. Now aim your cueball to hit that imaginary spot in space, with no side and not very hard (shooting hard narrows the angle the cueball will come off the side cushion you're going to hit) and play the shot. You should have come up with a point just your side of the middle pocket.

If you want to check this, set up any snooker you want anywhere on the table so you can see a cushion, then have a friend place his cue up to the object ball and mark the point on his cue where it touches the face of the cushion, (the cue must be at 90degrees to the cushion) and then your friend should draw his cue back, keeping his finger on the marked spot until the tip is at the cushion face. Now all you have to do is aim at his finger where he's marked the spot on the cue and you will hit the snooker provided you don't put any side on the cueball or hit it too hard.

This method will also work with 2-cushion hits if you realize the cueball will always travel in two parallel lines, meaning the line you shoot at and the line the cueball comes off the second cushion will be parallel to each other. So for example, let's say a red behind the pink ball (on spot) and you are on the baulk line near the green and you are going to choose to hit the ball off two cushions, side cushion first and then top cushion. What you do is try and figure out the parallelogram (or two parallel lines) that will hit the object ball, then pick your spot on the top cushion and do the measuring out the same as above with the one cushion hit and then aim at that spot on the side cushion so the ball comes out on that second parallel line and hits the object ball.

Remember that all billiard tables consist of two squares.

By the way, I learned this from a cartoon with Bugs Bunny when I was a kid and they were teaching geometry using a billiards table. Bugs always hit the object ball by the way and I very rarely miss a one or two cushion hit using this method. I also teach it to my students when they ask about hitting snookers.

Terry

[wayne]

Good advice Terry.
Can i also add, remember where you hit the cushion in case you miss and take notice of the path of the cue ball so as to adjust for the next shot if a miss is called and cue ball replaced.
Cheers

[s0600128]

Thanks for all the replys

Terry am i correct in saying the method youre talking about is like this http://www.snookergames.co.uk/practise6.html
second picture

i found it ok method when i tried it a few times but i had trouble visualising the distance for example say the cue ball was left to the black spot in line with yellow and the object ball was near the yellow but a bit further down say near the yellow pocket then that a lot of distance you have to visualise to know how its going to come off but i think ill give it a bit of practice when i go tommoro.

cheers

im going to give it a go tommoro when i go for practice

cheers

[Terry Davidson]

That's exactly what I'm talking about. I usually hit most snookers unless, as in some clubs, the cushions are wonky and throw the cueball wide.

Terry

[nrage]

Terry am i correct in saying the method youre talking about is like this http://www.snookergames.co.uk/practise6.html
second picture

i found it ok method when i tried it a few times but i had trouble visualising the distance for example say the cue ball was left to the black spot in line with yellow and the object ball was near the yellow but a bit further down say near the yellow pocket then that a lot of distance you have to visualise to know how its going to come off but i think ill give it a bit of practice when i go tommoro.

I've tried this, and found it difficult when the object ball is a long way off the cushion. Imagining the distance is harder and I'm less accurate. I guess it's a knack you have to practice a lot to get better at.

For a 1 cushion escape what I tend to do is walk around to the contact point on the cushion that I think I need. I lay my cue on the table, or hold it above the table along the line from the white to the contact point and I point my hand or arm (or just turn my hips and look) along the rebound line (making sure the angle/arc/wedge between cue and cushion is exactly the same as the angle between my arm and the cushion). Once you've got it right, you walk back behind the shot and aim to hit the contact point.

There are some additional tricks you can use. If, for example, there is a chalk mark on the table (or a spot) on the line from white to the contact point, or the line passes a short distance to the side of a ball you can use the chalk mark or ball as a reference point, aiming relative to them instead of at the contact point on the cushion. This is especially useful if the contact point is a long way away and the reference point is much closer.

For multi cushion shots I tend to use the rectangle method, but I find these harder and I have less success. Even using the rectangle method you can still find the first contact point as you do for a 1 cushion escape, and you could do the same thing again for the 2nd contact, but by this time you've probably lost the 1st contact point so I think it's better to practice visualising an exact rectangle from behind the white.

[s0600128]

thanks guys for the replys

nrage i have the same problem about visualising over long distance but im going to give all of the above advice a go when i have a chance and see which method works for me.

cheers.