Main Menu

Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 28, 2024, 10:23:13 PM

Login with username, password and session length

Snooker 2019

Started by dr beat, January 12, 2019, 03:17:07 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

billyandthecloneasaurus

What's going on with Judd's tie??

Blue Jam

The other day I noticed Judd had a Luca Brecel-style non-regulation "tie". He's another bald maverick.

Rooting for Trump here, I hope all the headlines say "TRUMP MAKES SNOOKER GREAT AGAIN" because he'd really love that.

billyandthecloneasaurus

Indifferent towards him as a bloke but Judd's playing some lovely stuff.

Blue Jam

The Judd must be laughing at this right now:



Just milk it like The Milkman, Judd!

Just browsing Twitter it seems The Rocket is a Corbynista, good lad. I must now fall down the rabbit hole of looking up all snooker players' political affiliations. Apart from Shaun Murphy's, we already know about him.

imitationleather

If Trump can have this all tied up by 8 we're in for three unscheduled episodes of Coast. :D

imitationleather


petril



BlodwynPig


Shoulders?-Stomach!


Blue Jam


BlodwynPig

Its vaporware before vaporware, meets Gallo Horror

petril

never had any luck finding any of the others, but the Classic always has a place in my heart. There's something about things being ever so slightly off that works so well, like the uncanny valley but for television(in this case, snooker coverage) itself.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: petrilTanaka on January 22, 2019, 09:45:47 PM
never had any luck finding any of the others, but the Classic always has a place in my heart. There's something about things being ever so slightly off that works so well, like the uncanny valley but for television(in this case, snooker coverage) itself.

And the period of time. I doubt this would be as effective in 2011. But, there were loads of stuff floating around in the late 80s, early 90s that felt like this - this example being immense though.

petril

Ghostwatch being the most obvious one. Getting a well picked cast of real presenters(Craig Charles was doing What's That Noise for Children's BBC at the time, so yeah he counts too) for it to set the scene up.

I think now, there's more awareness that "yeah, real presenters would play themselves as a straight man for a daft sketch" because it gets done fairly regularly, but back then, if someone like Hazel Irvine turned up looking like she was anchoring something, it was guaranteed legit. Audiences are more savvy through exposure, I suppose. And accessibility of archive media was part of it


Blue Jam

#106
Saturday afternoon join a snooker club... Just became a member of my local Ball Room, taking advantage of their "women join free" offer because WAH WAH MISANDRY they want to encourage more women to take up the sport. Finally got to play on a decent table and we had a lot of fun but it's a difficult game innit? Who here plays, and how do you git gud apart from just practicing? I could do with a few pointers or tutorials...

monolith

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 27, 2019, 10:32:49 AM
Saturday afternoon join a snooker club... Just became a member of my local Ball Room, taking advantage of their "women join free" offer because WAH WAH MISANDRY they want to encourage more women to take up the sport. Finally got to play on a decent table and we had a lot of fun but it's a difficult game innit? Who here plays, and how do you git gud apart from just practicing? I could do with a few pointers or tutorials...
This guy seems well regarded:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDQiSi2iaA-FWw1J-cf8c6Q/videos

But a lot of it is just practice.

There's an absolute fuck ton to remember if you go through everything the guy above just says and sometimes it's better to focus on a couple of things. At the moment I'm concentrating on keeping my head still and on really getting through the cue ball with a nice follow through.

Essentially if you aim right, keep still, push the cue through the cue ball in a straight line, you can't miss (but all of that is easier said than done!).

It can be an incredibly frustrating game at times but it is a lot more satisfying getting a nice little break going than clearing up on a pool table.

Blue Jam

Cheers for that monolith. The thing I find most tricky is judging the potting angle, probably because that just is inherently difficult- it looks so obvious when you're watching on telly and the camera is above the table, and there are two professionals making it look like a piece of piss. Like you say though, that does make it all the more satisfying when you manage to get it spot-on.

I'm going to have to do more of that thing where you hit the cueball straight down the baulk line and try and get it to bounce back to the exact same place where you hit it, like that scene in The Rack Pack where Barry Hearn gets introduced to Steve Davis. During my time in Japan I lived near a decent pool hall and would often see people doing that, practicing alone after work and looking dead serious about it. I'll worry about swerving and topspin later.

Like you say, pool also seems less satisfying once you've played a bit of snooker. It's good after a few snooker games though, when you're a bit tired and want to finish up with something less mentally draining.

monolith

Yeah, we always go straight to pool after and usually to play like gods if it's right after snooker (after not potting a thing on the snooker table at times!).

The potting angle thing is definitely something you get a feel for, most professionals will look at the potting angle whilst standing straight behind the object ball before they go back to the cue ball for the pot.

Usually though if you are missing a pot it's not because you've judged the angle wrong, more often than not it's due to unintentional side from not hitting the cue ball centrally and not pushing the cue through in a straight line. Took me years to figure that out. I'd sometimes miss by a mile and be dumbfounded as I was sure I was aiming correctly, but I was just hitting it wrong most of the time.

I'm not an expert by any means, though. I have a high break of 40 (and I missed a piss easy red to carry it on) but that was years ago and I can't remember the last time I got a 30+.

Blue Jam

Ha, my high break is about 12, probably... It does feel like it's mostly about practice though- I was really out of practice yesterday and struggled to pot anything in the first game, the second game went better, then in the third I got nice long pot on the brown and potted a tricky red by sending it down the cushion, I'm still pretty chuffed about that one.

I'm enjoying this guy's videos, I think it's because there's some physics and I am a nerd:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCca4FZ1cTzJCp4bTTDdXOTg

monolith

Anything double figures is good, especially if you are just starting out! I don't play enough to even dream about getting close to 40 again, I'll settle for the odd 20 every once in a while. As you say it's ridiculously satisfying when you pot a tricky ball or a couple in a row. I'm still day dreaming about a long, just off straight red I potted from behind the baulk line a couple of weeks ago.

I'll check out that channel, nice one.

And here's a nerdy snooker question for you then, what is the lowest possible score you can get in snooker, with a total clearance break?

pigamus



Shoulders?-Stomach!

Good stuff Blue Jam, snooker is a fun game at a lower level because the low scoring puts an emphasis on good white ball position. You can win a lot of games tactically by placing the other player in a bind.

Snooker is difficult but nailing a long shot is so much more satisfying than in pool.

As for improving, practise makes perfect but get down to the shot properly - eyeline level and keep your head still. Find a comfortable body position, you shouldn't be tense. This is why a lot of good cueing is by people who have had the infamous pint and a bit. They are relaxed and focused.

Visualising the shot helps. I do that by drawing an imaginary line in front of the object ball and measuring the angle back and forth.

To escape snookers I find using the cue as an angle guide works quite well. You don't see pros doing that mind.

Bridging is important too. You want a smooth stable bridge. I have a simple one just flicking my thumb and resting the cue between that and my knuckles.

And just keep plugging away. Have fun. Experiment with backspin and side just to see what generally happens.

And in a proper game remember to have half an eye on what your opponent wouldn't want you to do in any given situation, especially if a pot looks unlikely.

imitationleather

Snooker does seem an extremely difficult game considering that it was for a long time associated with being played while on the piss. Pool? Yeah that can be played while mortal. Snooker? Christ. What order do these balls go in again? What score are they? This table is fucking huge.

BlodwynPig

Quote from: Blue Jam on January 27, 2019, 10:32:49 AM
Saturday afternoon join a snooker club... Just became a member of my local Ball Room, taking advantage of their "women join free" offer because WAH WAH MISANDRY they want to encourage more women to take up the sport. Finally got to play on a decent table and we had a lot of fun but it's a difficult game innit? Who here plays, and how do you git gud apart from just practicing? I could do with a few pointers or tutorials...

Used to play a bit, but was restricted to playing in Leicester where I was a member because my mate lived there and got me membership. Fucking difficult but I got to a decent level, with a highest break in the 80s. I've got a couple of decent cues if you want one - one I found on my mum's driveway - pristine condition in case.

BlodwynPig

Oh, and being tiny, it becomes even more difficult. My mate let me sit on the table for some shots.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

The Jester Who Was In Leicester

BlodwynPig

Although not charged, for a while I had the nickname "The Sex Pester in Leicester", but that was mainly Neal Foulds trying to distract attention.