Why is billiards out of fashion? - Page 2 - Pool, Snooker, and Billiards -- Two Plus Two Poker Forums

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Much as I'm not a fan of the endless break/clear genre of pool that is modern TV nine ball, this is by far the most boring thing you can ever watch on a table and is the key reason it is a terrible TV game.

10-02-2011 , 10:19 AM

#27

fallaway

journeyman

Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 204

Quote:

Originally Posted by gusmahler

Actually, this thread is about English billiards, which does use only 3 balls, but is played on a table with pockets. You can score by either hitting both balls or by pocketing either the cue or the object ball.

That is one of the most amazing pool videos I have ever seen. One question though, can you just pot the red over and over? It seems like the easiest way to make points.

10-02-2011 , 04:46 PM

#28

Frank the Tank

old hand

Join Date: Oct 2008 Posts: 1,458

Nope. There's a limit on the number of cannon and hazard (potting) plays you can make in a row and then you have to score the other way. If I remember correctly, it's 80 pts or something but I could be wrong.

10-03-2011 , 12:26 AM

#29

sorrow

old hand

Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 1,531

Quote:

Originally Posted by gusmahler

Hehe - "Just make 9 more 100s"

10-03-2011 , 12:24 PM

#30

gusmahler

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Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 29,443

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frank the Tank

According to Wiki, you can only pocket 15 balls in a row before having to do a cannon (where you strike the other two balls). The article doesn't mention any limit on the number of cannons you can make in a row.

02-25-2014 , 02:23 AM

#31

Ray Zee

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many of these old games went away because they are slow and only fun to watch a great player and only interesting to those that play the game.

three cushion is all that is left of billiards in the united staes and that is kept alive by the big cities and older people. plus those of foreign origin that play it because it is popular in their country..
mexico has a large following as well as some asian countries.

03-02-2014 , 05:05 PM

#32

Banzai

veteran

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,321

This was from the last week or so:

http://www.world-billiards.com/?p=7711

BTW - if you are English the game is called simply "Billiards".

03-02-2014 , 08:09 PM

#33

Ray Zee

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just too boring to watch if you arent connected to the match. but that is what has happened to all the pool and billiard games.

03-03-2014 , 02:33 AM

#34

jmitchell42

mother****ing photoshopper

Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 16,275

just like soccer in the US. not too fun to watch unless you really understand the game.

love soccer btw.

03-16-2014 , 02:29 PM

#35

Banzai

veteran

Join Date: Feb 2007 Posts: 2,321

I played it yesterday with my 7 year old son (his first time playing billiards) - he absolutely loved it and got the rules straight away and was quickly nominating which shot he was about to play.

I can't wait until he is a few years older and we can play snooker / billiards all day!!!

03-19-2014 , 11:01 AM

#36

x2thep

banned

Join Date: Mar 2014 Posts: 57

any virtual pool tour where we can win some $$ ?? :-|

03-24-2014 , 05:45 AM

#37

wet work

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Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 9,259

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ray Zee

just too boring to watch if you arent connected to the match. but that is what has happened to all the pool and billiard games.

pretty much this. it just doesn't translate well to a tv situation-- other than to a very small group of people.

taking soccer as a comparison in the US> i'd bet there are more people who watch soccer on tv in the us, even though i'd imagine there are far more people that actually play pool vs soccer in the US.

03-24-2014 , 11:00 AM

#38

Ray Zee

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a movie or two like the hustler may help the game and some personalities that arent creeps might do the trick. pool and billiards need to get new players interested. and that isnt going to happen with the current mindset of owners and players.

05-18-2014 , 05:23 AM

#39

Lauwers1992

stranger

Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 9

Find it stupid the way billiards is out of fashion at the end of the day billiards helps you out massivey towards becoming any sort of snooker player for the following reasons of knowing how to use spin and move around the table, of course snooker is a lot harder of a game but billiards is still really entertaining its just that people like a quick game and i think a lot of people would find it boring as there is only 3 balls on the table but once they watched it and gave it a chance i think it could go far.

05-18-2014 , 10:53 PM

#40

gregorio

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How did you decide snooker is a lot harder of a game than billiards? oh, grunched and assumed thread was about 3-cushion

Last edited by gregorio; 05-18-2014 at 10:59 PM.

05-19-2014 , 02:51 AM

#41

Ray Zee

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i think 3 cushion is the hardest game, then snooker then pool.

but to get top notch at any you have to go way above what the average guy does.

05-19-2014 , 06:00 PM

#42

gregorio

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Was 3-cushion popular in the in the US in the first half of last century? My grandparents' retirement community had a pool room with 5 or 6 pool tables and 1 billiard table that a few people played on. These would have been guys born in the early 1900s. That's the only time I've ever seen a billiards table, except for in Koreatown near where I work, but that's a different game with 4 balls.

05-19-2014 , 07:07 PM

#43

Ray Zee

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they were playing billiards in the early part of the 1900,s . straight rail as well as balkline was played alot.

02-01-2015 , 04:42 PM

#44

milkins1975

stranger

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 4

I play a lot of English billiards here in Cambridge. There are regular events that pull in 60 or so runners and people travel from miles around to play it.

02-01-2015 , 09:11 PM

#45

Ray Zee

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back 30 or 40 years ago most pool rooms had at least one or two billiard tables. some had four or more.

now not many at all. square footage is so expensive in stores that most places put an emphasis on smaller tables.
occasionally you have a place like edgies billiards in milpitas california that has a bunch of them and are always going with usually more billiard games than pool games. and players that are running multiple three cushion billiards.

02-02-2015 , 01:34 PM

#46

Suit

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 4,744

English billiards looks like the most boring game ever created.

02-02-2015 , 02:43 PM

#47

Ray Zee

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it takes a great touch and perfect position play for short shots mostly. but no fun to watch.
most pool and billiard games suffer from that and until they can find a way to capture an audience it will slowly die over the long term.

06-10-2015 , 02:14 AM

#48

ColdCaller786

banned

Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 38

I think they should MAKE THE AUDIENCE GAMBLE A BIT ON THE MATCH.

The spectators are so unexciting to be around in pool
There is never any big crowd appluse, excitement..

Say a pro tourney is 20 bucks.. they should take ten of that and give people random tickets on who they are backing or something like that.

THAT WAY THEY HAVE A REASON TO GET EXCITED..

06-10-2015 , 02:15 AM

#49

ColdCaller786

banned

Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 38

For example the Mike Sigel Efren Reyes match..
biggest money match in tourney history.

they should have had some fans that were into the match and make it seem exciting at least.
If i was Trudeau I would have. FOR SURE TOO..

12-06-2015 , 10:42 PM

#50

Al Mirpuri

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 5,485

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jolt

I'd like to know why don't people play English billiards anymore? Is it because people are too good now and massive breaks can go on for hours?

This is the very reason I have seen in print. Except that the top pros were too good way back in the day circa 1920s, something like that. The top players made breaks of 2000 and top club players could not make 200. Like I said, what I read somewhere.

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