Snooker (and billiards)

[Deleted]

I can't wait to see what you have to tell us about this. Like the majority of people here (I hope I am not overspeaking myself), I know very little about this sport, so I am likely to ask numerous idiotic questions.

This unfortunately discouraged Mickthecactus when he tried to explain cricket to us, but I am sure that you will have greater fortitude.

[fumobici]

I love to play snooker and I used to watch the world finals on Canadian TV years ago. Unfortunately, the last two public snooker tables hereabouts have been gone for 20+ years. Playing on a huge 13 foot table is fantastic practice for winning on little 6-7 foot bar tables. I think billiards was pretty much over in the US by WWII. Here it's pretty much 8 or 9 ball.

[Deleted]

Hello and welcome tetsyd. I also enjoy snooker, although I tend to get beaten a lot by the guys I play with. I'm sure they have taken many years to perfect their art though

I'm trying to see if we can get a full size table installed in a spare room.

How often do you play or practice, tetsyd?

[htmb]

Could you please explain the difference between snooker and billiards at some point.

[htmb]

And so, American pool would be different from all of the above, as well?

[Deleted]

htmb, there are differences. Maybe tetsyd could be explain them better.

[Deleted]

Perfect. Explained so much better than I could have. Thanks tetsyd

[fumobici]

The Wikipedia entries on the various games are pretty thorough--

Carom Billiards

And the two predominant American games--

Eight Ball

Nine Ball

The "Standardized International Rules" for 8 ball are odd to me, but seem reasonable.

[htmb]

Thanks for the explanations. I will take a look at the links at some point soon. I used to own a pool table. The purchase was not something I had pursued, so I never really bothered to learn any of the rules. I gave up pool several years ago.

[bixaorellana]

Even though I'm incapable of hitting anything with anything else, pool/billiards/snooker & their variations have always fascinated me. There's a high elegance to a game devoted to always planning ahead on what a table of endlessly changing balls will do.

Here there is "billar". I never knew exactly to which game it referred, because of general ignorance. Definition www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=billar makes it sound like American pool, & I know Mexicans compete in tournaments in the US.

Thanks for all the great explanations. I can remember my dad talking about snooker, which kind of corroborates Fumobici's comment that it's a game of the past in the US. Where do the balls go in French pool?

[bixaorellana]

Here's another word, then: According to that definition, French billiards in Spanish is "carambola".

Sounds like a hard game!

[Deleted]

When I was little, the café where my grandfather went every day had a billiard table with just the three balls and no pockets, so I found it very difficult to comprehend. My miniature mind could understand counting points by knocking balls into holes, but the concept of three sided rebounds was beyond my understanding. On top of that, the men who played it were really fast, so it seemed to me to be all over before it even started.

[Deleted]

I think the main reason is that are sports forums for people who want to talk about sports a lot. Here, we tend to give sports a passing thought from time to time... while planning new trips!