Taking up the game - how to start

[Miles O'Brien]

Hello, I'm new here!

I played a fair amount of pool while I was a teenager. The usual story of playing anyone around for a pound or two. I wasn't too bad. Better than most in the pool hall but the standard wasn't high at all. I played a few games the other night after about ten years and remembered I really enjoy it. I've been onto a snooker hall here and they're reasonably affordable, provide cues and they said they'd have a few guys who could give me a few hours of coaching.

I've gone back a fair bit through this forum and have found some of the practice routines, however I don't think I'm even at the level of those yet. Cue ball control is a matter of luck rather than skill or intent. I know the theory of screwing and stunning the cue ball but rarely pull it off. I was wondering what I should be doing to even get the beginnings of a game?

[nrage]

Ideally you want to find someone who is better than you to play with, then play and practice as often as possible. Coaching is a good idea, it will help you get the basics right to start with. If you can, find a local weekly tournament or league team and join up and play regularly.

Practice the simpler routines you find, like a straight blue into the middle pockets with top spin - for example. Or practice potting by setting up the same pot and knocking it in 5 times. For basic position set up a line of reds down the middle and place the white somewhere and pot one, concentrate on leaving the white in the open where you can see another potting opportunity. If you miss, play the shot again until you don't, continue till you pot them all.

[mooneyy]

First of all get rid of the pool stance... A good example of a snooker stance can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSK4w_9S_x0
I saw a pool player at a snooker table today. And it's not only that it looks ridiculous. You just can't cue straight and exactly over the kind of distances found on a snooker table that way.

After that take a cue ball and set it on the brown spot. Play it down the middle of the table in such a way that it comes back to your cue tip. Amongst other routines as mentioned by nrage, practice this to obtain a straight and consistent stroke.
Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lsqkKuIP7M

I found this bloke's videos (neilmaxman) very useful personally and I think it's safe to recommend them to any beginner. They can be a bit long-winded but the tips are good.

And of course, being coached by someone is always good (As long as they really know what they're talking about).

Good luck!

[vmax4steve]

First of all just play and see how good you get on your own. For all anyone on this site knows your stance and cueing could be OK and you simply lack practise.
If you can't progress and would really like to then come back again.

[Terry Davidson]

See a coach and get him to teach you the very basics of snooker such as stance, grip, timing in the backswing and delivery and then practice what he teaches you, splitting your practice time 50/50 between solo practice and playing someone (hopefully better than yourself as nrage said).

Terry

[itsnoteasy]

snooker pro tips , with Neil Maxman, on you tube fantastic clips on everything from stance and grip, through all the shots, using the rest etc etc, even if you just use it just to check against what you do naturally

[Miles O'Brien]

Well, I went into a snooker hall for the first time yesterday. I did three basic things: hitting the cue ball the length of the table trying to keep it straight, potting the blue straight off the spot and getting the cue ball to follow it in, and lining up five reds and trying to pot them. I was not very good, but definitely managed a few encouraging rows of pots. I mentioned to the guy in the hall that I was looking for lessons and he said if the I come in when the owner is there he'd get me started himself and would be able to recommend a few guys.

Strangely, I think my stance is almost there. Obviously it will need work but I think I have the general idea down right. I definitely have the "four point" thing going. And that wasn't an affectation by me, I just did it naturally.

Hitting the cue ball straight the length of the table I could do maybe 2/5 times.

Potting the blue ball off the spot I could do 4/5 times. And the white would follow it in maybe one or two times out of five.

With five reds lined up the best I did was managing three pots in a row and that was a fluke, but I did manage two in a row a good few times.

Overall, I've recognised a few things I have to do. First off is obviously cuing straight. I just can't spend hours on that and that alone. One big problem is along with cuing straight I have absolutely no control over the cue ball. I can just about manage to get it to roll on after a ball, on occasion I managed to just about stun the ball but I was completely unable to screw the cue ball.

The other problem I have is in sighting the object ball. I have had my eyes tested recently and I have perfect vision. However sighting the object ball my eyes get googly/squinty/crossed. Not that I can see my eyes, they just start getting blurred and I'm seeing double. I tried cuing with one eye closed but then it seems like I have to readjust my stance to a way I'm not familiar.


Can anyone offer an help?

[renzie67]

Just play as often as you can mate.

[nrage]

Well, I went into a snooker hall for the first time yesterday. I did three basic things: hitting the cue ball the length of the table trying to keep it straight, potting the blue straight off the spot and getting the cue ball to follow it in, and lining up five reds and trying to pot them. I was not very good, but definitely managed a few encouraging rows of pots. I mentioned to the guy in the hall that I was looking for lessons and he said if the I come in when the owner is there he'd get me started himself and would be able to recommend a few guys.

Sounds like a good start

Strangely, I think my stance is almost there. Obviously it will need work but I think I have the general idea down right. I definitely have the "four point" thing going. And that wasn't an affectation by me, I just did it naturally.

If you want to, there are several things you can check to compare yourself to the typically recommended stance:
- Your bridge distance; between tip and bridge hand contact point (typically 8-12 inches)
- The angle of your grip forearm (typically it is vertical)
- The placement of the back foot (typically it's below the grip hand, below the vertical grip forearm on the line of the shot).
- The placement of the front foot varies a lot so long as it's comfortable and stable.

The bridge distance affects cue power, how smooth your delivery is, and also accuracy. For each player there is probably a sweet spot somewhere between 8-12 inches.

The grip forearm being vertical is a consistency thing, if you consistently strike the white with your forearm vertical you will be striking at the same point in your cue action and hopefully this will mean a nice and consistent cue action.

But, if it's working for you there is probably no reason to change it and there are likely more important things to concentrate on TBH.

Hitting the cue ball straight the length of the table I could do maybe 2/5 times.

Not bad The other thing to try is varying the power. If you can get it to stay within 1-2 ball widths of the brown spot with sufficient power to do several lengths of the table then you're doing pretty well.

Potting the blue ball off the spot I could do 4/5 times. And the white would follow it in maybe one or two times out of five.

Also pretty good. Again, vary the power, try some nice soft ones, and harder ones. You will probably find more power = less accuracy. This drill is a good one to use when concentrating on smooth cue delivery and pushing right through the white.

With five reds lined up the best I did was managing three pots in a row and that was a fluke, but I did manage two in a row a good few times.

So, white control is one issue here. A little screw helps a lot with this, especially if you land with the wrong angle for a gentle roll through. So, you may find you don't improve a lot with this until you master a bit of screw back.

Overall, I've recognised a few things I have to do. First off is obviously cuing straight. I just can't spend hours on that and that alone. One big problem is along with cuing straight I have absolutely no control over the cue ball. I can just about manage to get it to roll on after a ball, on occasion I managed to just about stun the ball but I was completely unable to screw the cue ball.

These are the normal/typical problems facing a new player. Screw back is tricky for many people, and some never manage it at all.

I think this video clears up many of the misconceptions people have about screw back:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZqqakiKbhHI

The key points are:
- strike the ball accurately
- accelerate/push through (don't slow down at all, or until after the white is on it's way)

One mistake I think people make when trying to learn screw is that they try to hit it too hard. It's actually better IMO if you learn screw with little short range soft shots as you will have a better chance of seeing and feeling when it really works how it's supposed to.

I liked (haven't played much recently) to practice screw with a variation of the short blues drill. All you do is place the white slightly off straight in about 1-2 ft away from the red/blue, this off straight angle allows you to play through the white and stay still/down on the shot without moving as the white screws back past you. If you were straight on the white would screw back into the cue, or you would have to leap up off the shot to avoid it.

Being able to stay down is important because worrying about having to jump up is distracting and it can creep in earlier and earlier in the stroke causing you to strike the cue ball higher than you want and ruining the screw back entirely. It's also a killer for accuracy and it makes it harder to really observe the result of your shot and learn from it (perhaps the most important thing for a new player).

The other problem I have is in sighting the object ball. I have had my eyes tested recently and I have perfect vision. However sighting the object ball my eyes get googly/squinty/crossed. Not that I can see my eyes, they just start getting blurred and I'm seeing double. I tried cuing with one eye closed but then it seems like I have to readjust my stance to a way I'm not familiar.

Does it happen with close object balls, or distant object balls, or both?

[vmax4steve]

The other problem I have is in sighting the object ball. I have had my eyes tested recently and I have perfect vision. However sighting the object ball my eyes get googly/squinty/crossed. Not that I can see my eyes, they just start getting blurred and I'm seeing double. I tried cuing with one eye closed but then it seems like I have to readjust my stance to a way I'm not familiar.


Can anyone offer an help?

This could be because you are focussing on the object ball for too long.
Most natural players don't even realise they look at the object ball at the moment of the strike because it happens very quickly and is a vital natural part of their timing. Try playing the shot as soon as you have locked your vision on the contact point of the object ball, not giving your vision the time to go all blurry on you.