Greetings fron USA and questions

[sigsky]

My first post, I think. I am John from South Carolina in the USA. I've gotten interested in snooker since I encountered it on Eurosports and playing the online game Cue-Online which unfortunately is no longer available. I used to be a pretty good pool player and would like to give snooker a try but I've checked around and can't find any snooker tables in my area. I have a few silly snooker questions and comments. Please forgive me if my terminology is incorrect or if I offend anyone. I appreciate any corrections.

First, the "snook" in snooker rhymes with "took" rather than "spook", correct? Perhaps some would say those words all rhyme anyway.

Second, I am curious about the vests (waistcoats?) worn by the players. I think they must be provided by the players because of all the different colors but I wonder how the tourney logos like 12bet or BetFred get on there. Is it simply velcro or does each player provide a couple in advance to have the tourney logo stitched on. Do the colors (except for breast cancer awareness) have any significance? Best is Neil Robertson, worse is Stephen Lee IMO.

Third, during the O'Sullivan / Ebdon frame with all the fouls in the recent tournament, the commentators made derogatory comments about "the miss rule". They seemed to be advocating that if a snooker escape is sufficiently well played, it should be allowed regardless of whether a foul occurs. What's with that and who decides? I'm sure I am missing something.

Fourth, I noticed the players drink a lot of water. It's no wonder they need a break after almost every frame.

Nice to be here. I hope to have something worthwhile to add next time.

[Souwester]

Hi, and welcome.

1. No, it's a long oo as in spook, so its more like snoo-ka

2. Yes, the players provide their own waistcoats, and logos can be velcro or sewn on.

3. The current incarnation of the Foul and a Miss rule has been in the rule book since September 1995, but still causes much debate. The professional referees are effectively instructed to call a miss on just about every failed attempt to get out of a snooker.

As someone has just said on a different topic, the miss rule has to minimise any judgement from the referee otherwise the quality of their decision making will come into question and some referees will get reputations for being lax others harsh.

In England all EASB events are played using F&M, and any EASB referees asked not to apply the F&M rule are not allowed to officiate in EASB garb.

The rule seems to be applied well, but common sense must be applied. Professional players and the top amateurs are capable of getting out of just about any snooker (and usually after a few attempts they do), so calling them for F&M seems fair. Lesser players need to be treated more leniently, having regard to their ability and the difficulty of getting out of the snooker.

4. Snooker arenas are frequently warm and stuffy (partly because of heating used for under table heaters), so it can be thirsty work. However, a lot of so-called toilet breaks are simply a break to compose themselves after winning/losing a frame, and some would say just to play mind games with their opponents. However, a good referee will soon stop such breaks if he suspects that the player is simply using the breaks as a tactic.

[flame]

welcome to the forum sigsky,you will find a snooker table(english billiards table) a lot less forgiving than pool tables,hope you find one to play on bud.

[PatBlock]

Welcome to TSF.

Hi Sigsky, and once again, welcome to TSF.

What a shame you can't find a table near you, but keep looking I'm sure you'll find something sooner or later.

As for the death of 'Cue-Online', well there are a few good snooker games for the PC and various gaming consoles out there, so maybe you could try one of those instead.

The miss rule: This is a contentious issue, here's a link to a current thread about it,

http://www.thesnookerforum.com/board...ight=miss+rule

check it out, it may give you a better idea of what all the fuss is about.

-

[Bigmeek]

Welcome Sigsky. Some very refreshing and interesting comments from a newbie. The game here is going through some changes of late so questions from folks in USA are very welcome. Please post up your questions and let us know if you think the game can be made more interesting.

[Terry Davidson]

sigsky:

Welcome to TSF and i hope you can find a full-sized snooker table (with a proper napped cloth) somehwere in your area or you may be left with having to buy one if you have the room. Of course, you could move to Buffalo or Detroit and then come into Toronto, Ontario as we have lots of snooker clubs in the area. In the USA Chicago, California and NYC (Brooklyn) are the places where there are some snooker clubs. However if you go to the website 'www.snookerUSA' there is a table locater on there which might point you towards a table in your area. Also, you will need a good snooker cue if you happen to find a table.

In North America 'snooker' would be pronounced more like 'pool' whereas in the UK it is generally pronounced 'snooooka' except by those BBC announcers who use the proper 'snook' term.

The MISS rule has been explained I think. It is applied without fail in the pro game virtually all the time and should be modified a bit for players of lesser ability (or also when club players are playing on crap club tables with bad cloth and cushions).

Terry

[sigsky]

I want to thank everyone for the very warm welcome. I have a few additional questions / comments. Perhaps these should go in a new thread but for now I will just do this as a reply.

Souwester - I understand the Foul and a Miss rule much better now. At the professional level it makes sense to strickly enforce it, but at the club level I can see that a good snooker might often result in end of frame. Too harsh by my thinking.

flame - when I first saw snooker, my reaction was that snooker players were not exceptional shooters (potters), but exhibited exceptional control of the cue ball. I now know that the table makes the difference. On pool tables in the US, the side pockets are normally much more difficult than the corners, while on a snooker table the opposite seems to be true. We certainly saw many "cracking pots" during the World Open.

PatBlock - I am evaluating Virtual Pool 3 since it seemed to get the best reviews in this forum. I have to have something PC based. Anything else I should be looking at?

Terry Davidson - appreciate the advice on the table locater but it just brought me bad news. Only 1 10' table which is an hour and a half away. Only one table shown in South Carolina which makes me suspect that the site may not be that comprehensive. I'll keep looking. Are snooker cues really different from pool cues? I just figured I would use my 30 year old screw together cue - if I can find it.

Thanks again all.

[checkSide]

flame - when I first saw snooker, my reaction was that snooker players were not exceptional shooters (potters), but exhibited exceptional control of the cue ball. I now know that the table makes the difference. On pool tables in the US, the side pockets are normally much more difficult than the corners, while on a snooker table the opposite seems to be true...

Welcome sigsky.

You will find snooker players are both exceptional potters, and exceptional practitioners of cue ball control.

If you ever have the opportunity of playing on a full size (12 feet) table, you will soon discover a few differences in relation to American pool tables:

1. The table is BIG.

2. The balls are small.

3. The pockets are tight.

5. The middle pocket is difficult as well as the corners.

4. It is VERY VERY hard to pot and maintain position consistently enough to string more than 4 or 5 balls together.

Welcome to Snooker!
Cheers.

[PatBlock]

PatBlock - I am evaluating Virtual Pool 3 since it seemed to get the best reviews in this forum. I have to have something PC based. Anything else I should be looking at?

As far as I know, virtual pool 3 is a great pool sim, but I don't think it has snooker as well, I could be wrong though.

I found a copy of WSC Real 09 on ebay.com, it's a very good snooker game, and lets you play against current players. It has it's annoying little quirks, as do all games, but the actual snooker physics is really very good.

here's a link to it:

http://cgi.ebay.com/WSC-REAL-09-Worl...item2c54bc61fb

(I hope I'm allowed to do that, apologies if not)

Virtual snooker is obviously a long way from the real thing, but it's a great way of excersizing the 'snooker brain', if for whatever reason, you can't get to, or use a real table.

I'm curiouse, have you ever actually seen a full size snooker table up close? Because if you've only ever seen them on TV, you'd probably be quite surprised at how enormous they really are, compared to even a large size pool table.

-

[sigsky]

PatBlock,

I am exactly 6 ft tall, and I don't believe I have ever seen any pool table with a length twice my height. Maybe 10' at most. I was curious about the use of all these extenders for the cues and the bridges (excuse me, rests) but once I learned they were playing on a 12' table it was obvious. A much different game than I know and I am awed by the skill the players show.

John

[sigsky]

Last question (anyone want to buy a bridge?)

I forgot to enclose this in my first post.

Anyone remember the closed bridge? That's where you curl your index finger over the cue to stabilize. You might remember Paul Newman had to go to an open bridge in "The Hustler" after his thumbs were broken. I was never comfortable with the closed bridge so I always used the open but now I see no one uses the closed bridge any longer. At least in the snooker world. True?

[jrc750]

..... but now I see no one uses the closed bridge any longer. At least in the snooker world. True?

Very rarely used, and then ive only ever seen it used when a player is cueing awkwardly off the cushion

[PatBlock]

PatBlock,

I am exactly 6 ft tall, and I don't believe I have ever seen any pool table with a length twice my height. Maybe 10' at most. I was curious about the use of all these extenders for the cues and the bridges (excuse me, rests) but once I learned they were playing on a 12' table it was obvious. A much different game than I know and I am awed by the skill the players show.

John

I know exactly what you mean, I still watch with a sense of wonder at the degree of skill and subtlety shown by the top players. As far as I'm concerned, a lot of what they do is just impossible, but that doesn't seem to deter them from doing it anyway.

It really is an absolutely magical sport, and I'm sure that the more you watch and hopefully play the game, the more you'll fall in love with it too.