Will Playing Billiards will improve my snooker?

[justf]

Nice diagram cyberheater now i get what terry was saying. Thankyou, now my brain doesnt hurt so much!

[mythman69]

I think playing billiards really helps your snooker game and it is a lot of fun.

For starters, potting the red off the spot is great practice for potting the black off its spot.

You also learn to control the cue ball and its final position because you can't just think about the pot, you also really need to leave the cue ball in a good spot for the next shot. It teaches you the angles which helps getting out of snookers.

If you want to learn to play billiards, check this website out:

http://www.englishbilliards.org/billiardShotsInSnooker
http://www.englishbilliards.org/syllabus
http://www.englishbilliards.org/Concepts

Anyway, here is a good link that gives some good advice about getting out of snookers.

http://www.snookergames.co.uk/practice6.html

[cyberheater]

Cyber, do a diagram for the double Terry's on about I don't understand, cheers.
Terry how does the two Cush escape work, I like the idea behind the one Cush escape and shall try this thanks.

Here you go. I think this is right from Terry's description.



Distance of A and B are the same. Lines C and D should always be parallel to each other.

[Byrom]

It helps a great deal as an acoustic guitar has a higher action (height of the strings off the fingerboard) and more precise fingering is required for clarity of sound. I quit snooker for three years to learn the guitar, it was bloody hard to get that left hand working independantly of the right hand, sing as well, no bloody chance, just couldn't do it, started too old.

Billiards wil help anyones snooker as you have to learn to control three balls instead of just one. It certainly isn't boring once you understand just how difficult it is.

I have corrected myself as it was not what I meant to say - my bad - I agree with you about the singing and playing guitar at the same time too - that takes talent.

[billabong]

I have corrected myself as it was not what I meant to say - my bad - I agree with you about the singing and playing guitar at the same time too - that takes talent.

This guy must be uber-talented then

[Ramon]

I heard that Mark Selby, played billiards, before he started snooker. (I do'nt know if that's true). but he's really good with come out of the snooker and .....

[DeanH]

I heard that Mark Selby, played billiards, before he started snooker. (I do'nt know if that's true). but he's really good with come out of the snooker and .....

we all know he played a lot of pool but not heard of him playing billiards.

[Ramon]

we all know he played a lot of pool but not heard of him playing billiards.

Thanks for the info .....

[ace man]

I'm sure escapes from a snooker can be learned best on a snooker table playing the proper game. People sometimes wonder why they cannot play a decent escape or a safety. That's simply because they haven't practised any of those shots.
Other games can help only if you have lots of experience playing them, i.e. have some sort of background. Trying out other cue sports occasionally will do nothing for your snooker game I'm afraid. You would really need to put in a lot of hours playing different game in order to get any benefit from it (English Billiards in this case). And if you do, you might actually become a player of that different discipline...
Prior to snooker, I've played a few years of 9ball...learned my angles there. Not an ideal background for snooker, far from it, but it works for angles and escapes. If you play against better players at 9ball, you'll be snookered lots of time, and if you can't escape well, then there's either ball in hand penalty or you leave an easy starter...etc...you get the picture.

[mythman69]

I'm sure escapes from a snooker can be learned best on a snooker table playing the proper game. People sometimes wonder why they cannot play a decent escape or a safety. That's simply because they haven't practised any of those shots.

You play snooker on a billiard table.

[DeanH]

You play snooker on a billiard table.

I heard Clive Everton being interviewed not that long ago and he said something along the lines of:
"...well yes, to be pedantic it is a billiard table that you play a game called snooker on, but with the greater ratio of snooker to billiards nowadays, it will be a snooker table..."
and also I think the manufacturers now build and sell snooker tables and not Billiard tables.
That is to say an English Pockets Billiards table and not a Carom 3-cushion Billiards

[itsnoteasy]

Is it fair to say a snooker table has bigger pockets than a billiards table,I'm not sure but in the back of my head I have the notion that a snooker tables pockets are bigger as snooker is a potting game.

[DeanH]

Is it fair to say a snooker table has bigger pockets than a billiards table,I'm not sure but in the back of my head I have the notion that a snooker tables pockets are bigger as snooker is a potting game.

not sure about that, could be the opposite, in the club I go to table 3 is locally called "the billiard table" and it has the larger pockets of the three.
Honestly though I don't know if there is a difference between the official pocket templates, may be a cue-sport-historian may know? Or if in the olden days it was general practise for larger pockets.
I do know that the regulation size that our balls are now (2 1/16" - 52mm) was the smallest permissible size, i.e. ivory balls would be reground until they got down to this size. So maybe the billiard pockets were larger to cater for the larger balls.
Anyone know what the largest permissible size of ball was in those days?

[100-uper]

not sure about that, could be the opposite, in the club I go to table 3 is locally called "the billiard table" and it has the larger pockets of the three.
Honestly though I don't know if there is a difference between the official pocket templates, may be a cue-sport-historian may know? Or if in the olden days it was general practise for larger pockets.
I do know that the regulation size that our balls are now (2 1/16" - 52mm) was the smallest permissible size, i.e. ivory balls would be reground until they got down to this size. So maybe the billiard pockets were larger to cater for the larger balls.
Anyone know what the largest permissible size of ball was in those days?

The nominal dimensions of a billiard table have been standard since 1891, including pocket openings. WPBSA and IBSF have fiddled around with the undercut of the cushion at pocket openings which essentially make them easier or more difficult, depending on the template used. You will probably find that on club tables which are erected without templates, the pocket sizes will vary somewhat.

When supplied as new for an English billiard table, ivory balls were usually only 1/32 of an inch over the nominal 2 1/16 inches. This would be the size normally used for professional matches.

To emphasise what has been mentioned earlier, snooker is a game played on a billiard table. Unlike cues, there is no design distinction which would justify the term "snooker table."

[itsnoteasy]

Thanks Dean and 100-upper, I don't know where I got that from, I've obviously just made it up lol.