Week 9 [23.05 - 29.05] Gentleman's Sport

I assume, you know most popular cue sport called Eight-ball (8-ball). We can come across pool tables in many bars and pubs, most of us know certain basic rules how to play it and probably the majority of us have tried it at least once. The rules of primary version of Eight-ball are that simple that beginner players actually don’t need any preparation before starting their first game; relatively big pockets and a small number of balls make game fast and enjoyable even for untalented players. Low game entry barrier made 8-ball famous all over the world and nowadays it is the most played cue sport.

But Eight-ball is not where the cue sports world ends, there are at least a dozen or so variations of games having in common a cue, a table and billiard balls. This time I'd like to introduce you the most complicated one - Snooker - the gentlemen’s sport. Presenting snooker history, I will limit myself to the fact that not surprisingly it origins from earlier billiards games and the first version of it was invented by British soldiers in India in the 19th century. Why I dare to call snooker the most advanced, complicated and precision-requiring cue sport? Let me try to illustrate it.
 

Source: https://rickhill.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/snooker.jpg

Comparing to classic billiard games, snooker balls are much smaller, the table is bigger and the pockets narrower. All these factors makes potting balls far more difficult and effortful. In snooker there are 22 balls - 15 red, 6 color and one white (cue ball). In snooker both players compete potting the same balls, for every ball put into the pocket, depending on the color, certain number of points is given. Values of balls in snooker: red - 1, yellow - 2, green - 3, brown - 4, blue - 5, pink - 6, black - 7. In course of the game an active player is obliged to pot a red ball and color one in turns, otherwise, a foul will be called by a referee. Red balls once put into the pocket never go back onto the table. There is a different story with color balls - until there are any red balls on the table, color balls shot into the pocket must go back onto the table onto an assigned position. After all red balls are gone, players begin to pot color balls in a growing value order - starting from yellow and ending with black. One player may end the game in one turn, not allowing his opponent to come to the table. All the shots together and the number of points scored, while a player is still at the table, are called 'break'. The maximum break is 147 points to get it a player must pot in turns every red and black ball (black after being pot comes back to the table), and then all color balls starting from the least valuable - yellow. You can imagine that such situations are extremely rare, even at the professional level. Ok, this is a positive scenario explained. But what if a situation on the table won't let us start or continue our 'break' (for instance our opponent planned to pot a red ball but missed and left us only a very difficult shot)? Often it doesn’t pay off to take a risk, we can sacrifice our turn and try to force our opponent to foul during his next turn. A player can achieve that, for example, by hiding a cue ball behind a color one blocking access to all red balls. Such play is called 'snooker' and should effect in an opponent foul.  In such a situation when your opponent does not hit a red ball with a cue ball, it will result in fault and 7 points scored by the other player.

Here's great example of 'snooker play' in order to force oponent to foul. Both players in their turn must hit green ball, otherwise foul will be called. In this ending phase of game O'sullivan hides cue ball behind pink one, making hitting green ball almost impossible. All in all we'll see amazing play by Maguire, he uses his experience, game sense and ability to calculate hitting angles to reach green ball without touching any other, enjoy watching.

                                                Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuLqyCL2-Lc

For those who may hesitate whether snooker can be exciting I present one of the fastest 147 breaks ever made. Ronnie O'sullivan also known as 'Rocket' is famous for dynamic style of playing but this time he absolutely made history. All shots made in this game were carefully planned.

                                                Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhRoNkVrOkw 

These are the most important aspects of snooker. It may sound not clear, but after playing a few times everything becomes obvious. Unfortunately unlike the eightball, the snooker entry barrier is quite high, mainly because of skill set one must acquire to start playing. I mean here technical aspects like a proper cue hold and body position. In most cases it requires tutoring. What’s more, at the beginning potting balls may seem extremely difficult, the only solution is practice.

First newbies games, from begging to end, may last even 3 hours.

The only Polish accent in snooker history is a young player Kacper Filipiak who managed to qualify to an international professional league 'Main Tour' winning the European Under 21 Snooker Championship. Unfortunately he didn’t stay there for a long time. An  interesting fact is that he and other best Polish snooker players come from 'Break 147' club which has its headquarters near  our academy.

This is the club where my snooker adventure has begun as well.

So what do you think about snooker? Does it look encouraging? Do you like watching it on Eurosport channel? Do you have your  favorite players?

sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_snooker