Beginner at snooker from the states

[SmokyOwl]

Hello, it's 2:30 in the morning here in Wisconsin, USA. I'm 29 years old, and have never been in a league although I've been asked by a few to join. I don't like the idea of a league where the games are set up like an appointment that you must be there or you'll let people down. I also think it would be a bit pompous for me to join a league.

For a while I fooled around on the snooker table playing straight pool for a good challenge now and then. Last week I bought myself a snooker cue for $140, looked it up here to see what people thought of the new cue and decided to sign up. You could say I'm broadening my scope of billiards. I'm also started taking up playing 3-cushion as well, although I'm still not all that great at it. Around my town it seems few people know what snooker is; it's rather sad. Even at work I showed them my snooker cue and nobody had seen one before.

There's a snooker table and a 3-cushion table at the pool hall a half hour drive away that I've only seen used by the local pros and semi-pros that play in like the national open and bigger events like that. I was getting bored by 8-ball and I hate 9-ball, so I figured I'd give it a shot, perhaps it would help my game. My working theory right now is to never settle on my game; keep trying new things or I'll grow stale and play the same way over and over until I'm old and grey....or maybe bald....who knows these things.

I've gotten pretty good at 8 ball; even won a small tournament undefeated. Work generally keeps me away from the table more than I like, I'm sure it's a common problem.

Anyways- I'm glad I made it here.

---SmokyOwl

[Neil Taperell]

Welcome to The Forum from across the Pond .

Nothing wrong in joining a league , should only go to improving your all round game .

[Terry Davidson]

smoky

Is the snooker table a 6' x 12' or a 5' x 10'?

Welcome to the forum. Lots of snooker tables here (6 x 12s) and I even have one in my house as a training facility and where I practice every day

Terry

[DeanH]

SmokyOwl - welcome to TSF.
I do like watching 3-cushion carom (British Eurosport usually), but not given it a try, it seems very difficult but also we tend not to have napless-cloths in the UK.
I heard a rumour that the is one table in the UK somewhere
Can you tell us the cue you have recently bought and when you can (after 10 posts outside the Newbie section) upload some pictures.
cheers

[armstm]

Welcome to the forum! I mainly played pool also but recently (about 1.5 years ago) took up snooker - i'd be interested as to your experience - whether you prefer snooker or pool! not to stir up an old debate but i have to agree with stephen hendry when he said pool is like checkers, snooker is like chess - snooker (for me anyway) is just so, so, so much more difficult than pool!

[NorthWestJunior]

I actually want to get into 9 ball. Been playing it on holiday and really enjoying it... even with the cues they have with dents in the shaft and the tip over hanging the ferrule by a good 2/3mm either side.

[SmokyOwl]

It's a 5 by 10.

[SmokyOwl]

Welcome to the forum! I mainly played pool also but recently (about 1.5 years ago) took up snooker - i'd be interested as to your experience - whether you prefer snooker or pool! not to stir up an old debate but i have to agree with stephen hendry when he said pool is like checkers, snooker is like chess - snooker (for me anyway) is just so, so, so much more difficult than pool!

An interesting question. With my very limited experience, and by that I mean perhaps a dozen times or so on a snooker table, I'd have to say pool. Mostly because more people here play pool. When I'd be playing on the snooker table, a couple times players would ask me to play "golf", and I'd tell them I don't know the first thing about it- and they'd walk away. Keep in mind also that I also don't know the game of snooker either, I was just playing straight pool with snooker-sized balls. So far I've managed to discover two things about a snooker table: Avoid driving balls down the rail; and be really good at banking balls.

[SmokyOwl]

I actually want to get into 9 ball. Been playing it on holiday and really enjoying it... even with the cues they have with dents in the shaft and the tip over hanging the ferrule by a good 2/3mm either side.

The main problem I have with 9 ball is that it gets expensive to play. Right now my friend and I will play about 10 games of 8-ball in an hour. At $1 a game it gets pretty expensive after 3 hours. I can only imagine 9-ball being faster, and feeling ripped off that I can't use all the balls I paid for. Wow I just thought to myself that I spend money playing pool just as fast as I'm making it when I'm working. That's sad.

[SmokyOwl]

SmokyOwl - welcome to TSF.
I do like watching 3-cushion carom (British Eurosport usually), but not given it a try, it seems very difficult but also we tend not to have napless-cloths in the UK.
I heard a rumour that the is one table in the UK somewhere
Can you tell us the cue you have recently bought and when you can (after 10 posts outside the Newbie section) upload some pictures.

cheers

I'm really REALLY suprised by that, and a bit humorous that there's only one 3-cushion table in the entire UK. I can imagine people waiting in line for their turn to play, ha ha. Perhaps in other European countries 3-cushion is more popular. I am finding it quite frusterating playing 3-cushion because I feel like I'm 16 again learning how to play all over again. But I'm not giving up, cause the only people I see playing it are well into their 40s and 50s- which means I have another 10 to 20 years to learn.

My cue is one of those Dark Horse cues, your forum for it was misspelled "Dark Hprse". Seems okay, it's not painted or anything and it's nice looking dark wood and ebony. The guy at the local billiard supply store said I didn't get ripped off. I got it from a manufacturer in Canada, forgot the name of the town but it was right across the border off the tip of Idaho. I chose pretty carefully the location where the cue comes from. I prefered it to come from a similar parallel line in the world from where I was at, and not crossing over the oceans. This decreases the chance of warping due to temperature fluxuations during transit. But it also severly limited my options, as there seems to be many manufacturers in the UK.

[SmokyOwl]

Oh I almost forgot the specs of the cue....silly me. it about 18 or 19 ounces with a 9.5mm tip. I really couldn't care less about the weight of my cues. 17 ounce is light, 21 ounce is heavy. I'm not one of those players that HAVE to have these certain specs in cues or else it's going to throw everything off. oh you know what? I'll try to post the eBay link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/330766475277...84.m1497.l2649 I hope this works.

[DeanH]

Don't be that surprised, most people in the UK (even those who play snooker a lot) dont even know about 3-cushion billiards (or carom or sometimes called French Billiards). But it is amazing to watch when it is on.
The reference to "only one carom table in the UK" came from one of the commentators at the last televised matches, so there could be more but the commentator was an ex-carom player and he knew of only one.
A friend has one of those Dark Horse cues, pretty good for the money (as your chap said) but I find that the varnish has very "thick" feel to it.
all the best