not xactly a noob question...
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 9,509
... cuz I was getting hustled @ 9-ball in high school at the local bowling alley [yet sometimes could run breakeven, or up a couple of quarters] in the 70's, b4 some of you were born.
[I kept score in bowling alleys 4 adult leagues in high school for petty cash... this was right b4 they introduced automatic scorekeeper thingies.]
I'm likely better at smacking a cue stick over some1's head than finessing a rail shot.
The fact is, as an American from the west coast, I've never actually seen a snooker table, obv. .
How much tighter/smaller ARE the pockets on a snooker table, compared to,
say, a bowling alley/billiard club pool table in the US?
I'll leave the bar tables out of this... I've been in bars where I'm just glad they're throwing the f***ing darts in the right direction.
should be called sevenfour
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 74,774
snooker table pockets are substantially smaller. playing a shot down a rail actually requires accuracy, rather than just send it in the general direction and it'll drop as it does on a 9-ball table (more to do with the actual pocket design as well). if anything, 9-ball tables in the US appear to have even larger pockets than 9-ball tables here.
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 39,313
Snooker pockets are maybe an inch narrower on the ends and they have rounded mouths that reject more balls than pool tables. Snooker balls are also smaller, though the pockets are still proportionally smaller than in pool. UK pool tables have smaller pockets (and I think maybe smaller balls) than NA pool tables.
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 17,484
If you're playing a shot along the rail on a snooker table or at a narrow angle there is no margin for error, if the ball hits the side cushion at any point the pocket will spit it out. The pockets are tighter in general but the main difference is those shots. In pool if you have a shot along a side rail pros generally position a cue ball in the centre of the table so that they have an angle to work with, in snooker if you're trying a shot along a rail you can't give youself much angle at all or the shot would need to be perfect to go in.
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,474
You have got to be spot on everytime thats why snooker players can play pool good but it doesn't work the other way round
If you want to get better at pool play snooker it will improve your game by alot
