The snooker season in Sheffield is coming round again! The World
Championships at the Crucible Theatre starts very soon, and the
"Pre-Crucible" rounds are on in earnest at various clubs around the
Sheffield area. So it was no surprise when I almost bumped into this
famous feller[1]

http://dynimg.rte.ie/000112eb10dr.jpg

today, coming out of the motorbike shop which occupies the old Marple
building in the city centre today. Blimey, he's tall and wide, too.
Much bigger than he looks on telly. Oh, and his bald head is even
shinier than on the box, if that is possible.

[1] For Leftpondians, it is "Mr. Maximum" himself, Willie Thorne,
possibly the best player never to have won the World Championship:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Thorne

"Ben newsam" gmail.com> wrote...

Is snooker played like our 'pool' only on smaller tables?
v...shoots a mean stick

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:19:44 -0500, "Viva" privacy.net> wrote:

"Humbug" tofee.net> wrote in message
news:ao4k04dl3i4137p04mn7523i35pqmbsiq6@4ax.com...

Are the cues still 57" or 58" in length? He may have been pulling my leg,
but a British friend once told me that your tables were smaller because back
in the 60's, when it became the rage, most pubs didn't have much room.
v

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 10:19:44 -0500, "Viva" privacy.net> wrote:

Bigger tables. The maximum size for a tournament pool table is 9ft by
4.5ft, which is exactly the same as the "three quarter size" snooker
table down't poob. A full sized snooker table is 12ft by 6ft, which is
quite daunting to play on for the first time.

Also, the pockets on a snooker table are relatively smaller, leading
to the common myth that snooker is a "harder" game. It is certainly
harder to make a pot in snooker, but of course the other skills remain
the same.

On a full size (12 ft) snooker table, the pockets are usually 3.5
inches across, and also a different shape from pool tables, so you
often can't hit the side as it goes in, or the ball will just "waggle
in the jaws" and not drop. For the World Championship, they make the
pockets even smaller.

On a 9ft pool table, pockets are about 4.5 inches across. This isn't a
totally fair comparison, as pool balls tend to be bigger. Ummm, the
ball size for a particular table is always fixed by the height of the
cushion, you can't just use whatever size you want.

Viva wrote:

The pub pool tables *may* be smaller than the NA version but I can't swear on
it. A British snooker/billiards table is much bigger and taller than a NA pool
table, with, as Humbug noted, smaller pockets and smaller balls making the game
much harder to play IMHO. ...

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:06:10 -0500, "Viva" privacy.net> wrote:

"Humbug" tofee.net> wrote in message
news:ao4k04dl3i4137p04mn7523i35pqmbsiq6@4ax.com...

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:09:40 +0100, snipe@spambin.fsnet.co.uk (Sn!pe)
wrote:

On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:29:58 -0400, "zol" ne.rr.beepbeep.com>
wrote:

It is certainly harder to pot balls in snooker, but you have to
remember, of course, that conditions are the same for everyone, and
there is a lot more to cue, ball and pocket games than mere potting. A
good snooker player is no more likely to beat a good pool player at
pool than the other way round. IMO.