After a few beers the other night we ended up going to a late bar that's just reopened. In there were ourselves, a couple having an argument, getting over it and getting coupley on the couch, and the staff and owner. This place had a pool table, so we basically spent two hours drinking and playing pool. To be honest I had completely forgotten how much I enjoy playing pool (the English kind with red and yellow balls.) The people I was playing with were mildly entertained by how "good" I was. When really I just about know how to hold a cue, while they're completely awful. There's a much bigger snooker scene here compared to pool. Pool is seen as a pub game while snooker is the serious endeavour. I was looking at a few club sites and there's a place in the city that has a few snooker and pool tables, so I'm going to give them a call today. What's also pretty amusing is that they charge less for an hour on a table than a local "entertainment" pub charges for half an hour off peak. What's even more encouraging is that if you want to get lessons they're ridiculously cheap. I've seen the best guy in the country, qualified to an international level and able to teach professionals charging €20. I've been through plenty of hobbies, but assuming I don't have to buy a cue for myself €6 an hour seems like good value.
Snooker table time had better be cheap, because it takes FOREVER to clear the table if you're not good. The table is just absurdly, insanely vast, and something sloppy but good enough on a pool table will miss by miles on a snooker table. And then there's the whole problem of reaching the cue ball sometimes.
I never really played snooker as a teenager, it was always pool. UK style pool with the yellow and red balls. I was pretty OK at it too. Definitely in the top 15% of the teenagers where we all played after (and during) school. I think I'll give the snooker a go for a bit though. It just seems like the grown ups game. And there's far more precision and control needed. Still, I rang the snooker hall this evening. They confirmed their prices, said they have house cues and that they'd ask a few of the international level guys about getting me going. I'm looking forward to it now.
That's an excellent player drawing the ball and rebreaking the set for that table. I find snooker a shitload more chess-like than either straight pool or even 9 ball, and not just because of the table size.And as AlanT said, if you've got two players that don't know what they're doing it can really drag. That being said, learning snooker (especially if you have lessons available) will make you a shitload of a better pool player*. *I have no real idea why a snooker table ended up in a Boys Club in southwest Arkansas, but it did and I learned how to play off of it. I made good money off of the lessons learned off that table hustling pool in my teen years in bars.
