Will playing pool (8 ball) improve my snooker?

[snookerfan91]

In the pubs and social clubs them size tables, will it improve my snooker?

[andi mack]

thats an odd one.

I originally started playing snooker to improve my 8 ball game and it did help, so it could work the other way round. Now i enjoy both and play them equally.

Give it a try and let us know.

[cantpotforshíte]

In the pubs and social clubs them size tables, will it improve my snooker?

No it won't. (and if you want an unbiased opinion, don't listen to me .. I hate 8-ball pool with some passion. )

[Mr O]

Seems to work much better to practice snooker as a way of improving pool, but not the other way round. A lot of good pool players are no good at snooker by all accounts

[rams1985]

if you play alot it helps, it helped me anyway, I started cue much better after playing pool more

[perpetualboredom]

It had the opposite effect in my case...

Started playing snooker young, only once a week, gave it up completely in the late teens and then when I tried to go back to snooker having played serious pool 3-4 times a week for ten years or more and I couldn't play at all!!

Pool makes you lazy imo, take your eyes off pots and still make them, play silly amounts of side and still make them, cue badly and still pot em. It's ruined me!

[King T]

Playing pool to improve your snooker? Nah I don't think so! I started playing american 8 ball in the beginning then shifted to snooker, the only in common between the 2 games is that both require you to hold a stick, and both games are played on tables with balls to smash!

As a matter of fact, after shifting to snooker and not playing 8 ball for a very long while, I sometimes go to pool clubs with friends to have fun then quickly leave, especially when we have a 1 hour break in university. Playing snooker will make you sky rocket in pool, potting becomes so easy! I find cuing somewhat awkward since a pool cue differs way much than a snooker cue, but you quickly get the hang of it and start potting some serious balls.

Snooker require pots with serious acute angles which is so difficult, thats why when playing against a pool player they'll be shocked by the pots you take which you consider "normal" while they consider impossible.

I noticed pure pool players have weak potting not in comparison to snooker but even in pool it self, if you watch O'Sullivan vs Wu Chiaching in 9 ball or watch Bogdan Wolkowski you'll notice them missing not so difficult pots but because the cue ball is stuck to the cushion or he's slightly awkward, in contrast watch Jimmy White playing he takes those shots as if there is not single element hindering him.

[missneworleans]

Snooker obviously helps playing...I have seen lots of snooker players who play pool well
I have seen a few pool players who play snooker well(me for example)
but not much

[rams1985]

sorry, my post did sound abit wrong after reading it but i stopped playing snooker as i began playing pool at a much higher level but when i went back to snooker i was playing much better. Better postional play and much more confident when potting so in my case it helped me but i wouldnt say pool is a good way to get good at snooker as obviously it isn't.

[rams1985]

oh yeah and a certain M.selby doesnt fair to bad!!

[rams1985]

sorry just another thing to throw in the mix....playing snooker doesnt nessicarily (spelling lol) help or make your pool 'sky rocket' as its a very different game with very different shots available (depending on rules) but shots like playing balls in off a ball off a pocket to free a pocket up, or skill shots where you pot two balls at once etc etc

[snookerfan91]

Thanks for everybodys advice. I am getting mixed opinions though but I guess that is what it is about.

[andi mack]

I find cuing somewhat awkward since a pool cue differs way much than a snooker cue, but you quickly get the hang of it and start potting some serious balls.

Snooker require pots with serious acute angles which is so difficult, thats why when playing against a pool player they'll be shocked by the pots you take which you consider "normal" while they consider impossible.

I noticed pure pool players have weak potting not in comparison to snooker but even in pool it self, if you watch O'Sullivan vs Wu Chiaching in 9 ball or watch Bogdan Wolkowski you'll notice them missing not so difficult pots but because the cue ball is stuck to the cushion or he's slightly awkward, in contrast watch Jimmy White playing he takes those shots as if there is not single element hindering him.

IMHO

I think your comments focus more on American pool.

I play both uk 8ball and snooker with a snooker cue (in fact i use exactly the same cue specs wise).

In pool i use a heck of a lot of acute angles to get pots, the same can be said for any of the the players in the league i play in. This may however be limited to the league i play in, as most of us are also snooker players.

I would say generally pure pool players are MUCH better potters than snooker players (as nothing but potting enters thier minds), however snooker players are MUCH MUCH better at positional, safety play & pretty much ever other aspect of the game.

[noel]

Will playing pool (8 ball) improve my snooker?

I wouldn't bank on it mate.



=o)

Noel

[perpetualboredom]

IMHO

I think your comments focus more on American pool.

I play both uk 8ball and snooker with a snooker cue (in fact i use exactly the same cue specs wise).

In pool i use a heck of a lot of acute angles to get pots, the same can be said for any of the the players in the league i play in. This may however be limited to the league i play in, as most of us are also snooker players.

I would say generally pure pool players are MUCH better potters than snooker players (as nothing but potting enters thier minds), however snooker players are MUCH MUCH better at positional, safety play & pretty much ever other aspect of the game.

I'd suggest the opposite. Snooker players come to pool and think they can pot everything. Pool at a serious standard has a lot more to it than trying to pot every ball. I've regurlarly beaten players who make 100+ breaks at snooker... true they dont miss much but not every frame goes open enough to clear, and it takes time to learn tactics at pool just as it does at snooker. Also pool requires a lot more accuaracy than snooker.. in snooker you're often playing areas of 2ft in size for position... in pool it can be regularly 2" in size.