Spin affected by worn cloth?

[dimplez]

Hi everyone, this is my first thread and i apologize if this has been discussed before.
I just purchased an old Brunswick snooker table a few weeks ago, installed it and started playing. I watched some videos on youtube with snooker coaching which by the way are very helpful for a newbie. For some reason when i try to put backspin on the cue ball it doesn`t work, or it is barely noticeable. Same thing when i try side spin, could this be because of the cloth or how tight it has been stretched, or maybe the cue tip doesn`t have the right shape?? I am noticing that after the cue ball makes contact with the object ball it starts spinning but it doesn`t move, it just spins in the same spot.
How can you tell that the cloth is too worn out and needs to be replaced. The previous owner had the table for about 30 years and i doubt that the cloth was ever replaced. It was hardly ever played on in the last 30 years.
I might be doing something wrong, please let me know what you think.
Thank you

[oselifer]

My cloth is 3 years old and i can still have loads of backspin...
I think its most your technique...
But 30 years is too much for a cloth...I don't know....
The best you can do is play in a club with a good cloth and see what happens...
Or maybe find a good player and ask him test you table...

[burwatchampion]

If i were you i would get it refubished new cloth new cushions the works just make sure you get someone reputable to do it.
It will be worth it in the long run.:snooker:

[dimplez]

There are virtually no clubs in florida where you can find a snooker table, and i seriously doubt that anyone even knows what snooker is around here. Thanks for your reply

[dannyd0g]

Some tables/cloths are more responsive than others. Other variables are the balls - (some bad or old sets of balls do just seam dead), cue tip (you cant do anything with a hard shiny flat tip), probably most impotant though is technique.

If you are a newbie it would be hard to know which one it is, you probably need to find someone else who plays, and another table - even a pool atble in the local bar would do. Just watch the players there, if they can get stuff on the white, and you cant, then you know its you !!

But if you can get stuff on the white on a pool table, but not on your own table then it could be your table or balls. Also try different cues to see if it could be your tip !

[burwatchampion]

I would imagine if you went down to your local pool hall they would know someone to get it done and you can order the cloth over the net and prob the cuishions too.
30 years is looong time.

[poolqjunkie]

It may be your cue ball is heavier. I had experienced that before, when the club mixed up two sets of balls. One cueball is heavier than the rest with one set, and the other lighter. So, with one set of balls, it was very hard to follow, and the other very hard to draw. Try a new set of balls, or at least weight your balls.
Your cloth should not have much to do with you not being able to draw. I think.

[bongo]

If the cloth is worn, then screw will be more difficult because the cloth is less slippery. There could be many reasons why you are not getting the screw. These could be:

• Old balls (or heavy white), as others have said.
• Dirty Balls, all spin will be more difficult to apply.
• Tip (Too much chalk or not enough could be the reason, or a badly shaped tip, or badly prepared or too old.
• Cue (if a cue has a loose joint, screw can be more difficult.

As there is many reasons why screw may be difficult to you. It isn't an easy shot, and becuase there are many reasons and variables, you need to work on technique, or if you can find a coach (who knows what he/she is doing) then it would help because you can get taught the right technique and then play screw shots from there.

The cue ball only screws when it grips the cloth, so lowering your cue butt may make it jump less and grip the cloth better.

bongo

[MikeWooldridge]

It may be your cue ball is heavier. I had experienced that before, when the club mixed up two sets of balls. One cueball is heavier than the rest with one set, and the other lighter. So, with one set of balls, it was very hard to follow, and the other very hard to draw. Try a new set of balls, or at least weight your balls.
Your cloth should not have much to do with you not being able to draw. I think.

have you ever tried playing with ivory balls? OMG! the deepest screw you can manage just about stuns. if you're within 2 feet...

[poolqjunkie]

have you ever tried playing with ivory balls? OMG! the deepest screw you can manage just about stuns. if you're within 2 feet...

No I haven't. They stopped using them a long time ago, right? wish I had though. Never even seen one.

I was playing on this table and I kept having problem rolling the cue ball forward. I would try to just roll a red in and move the cue ball may be 1 foot for the black and the cue ball will stop where the red was so I ended up very short every times.

I did not know why until one day some ball bangers asked me to play them 8 ball on a snooker table. The balls were same size as snooker balls. For a shot about 2 feet, I needed to apply as much screw as I would to draw it all the way down table to move it back may be a bit more than 1 foot, I am not kidding.

As it turned out, the snooker balls used were the super crystaline balls, but the 8 balls are some really cheap plastic balls. Someone accidentally switched the balls.

Once I switched them ball, every thing went back to normal.

[Blondie]

......and backspin is not one of the easiest shots to play at the best of times, takes a while to become good at it as well, whether you are playing on an old Brunswick, or a club table with a thick, slow cloth, or a pro table with a faster cloth.

Couple of things that work for me:

- flattened bridge hand;
- cue parrallel to the table bed as possible;
- gripping the cue butt loosely, allowing the cue to be pulled back as far as possible, gripping too tightly can allow you to raise the tip on impact;
- and having a 'smooth' cue action, pausing at the end of the backswing before driving the cue through. Then following through in a straight line....

...good luck with it all.........:snooker:

[dimplez]

Thanks for the reply Blondie, i am trying to exercise the same shots over and over with different spins. Does backspin and forward spin take effect after contact the target ball, and sidespin only at contact with cushion??

[bongo]

There have been debates on can side affect the cue balls path off the object ball compared to no side. In my opinion, the side only affects the cue ball path a very small amount. Billiard players use it to make very slight changes in cue ball path. If anybody who reads this has the abilty to control and visualize exactly where the cue ball will go off the object ball on a shot and can place very small amounts of side to change the cue ball's path by millimetres. Then they should believe that side changed the cue ball path off the object ball. If not, just concentrate on centre ball striking until you come off cushion, then play side if you need to. The situation I explained is very rare, maybe only 1 in a 100.