Russian Billiards

Now, being a true Snooker Hero and a Northern one at that I don't tend to shock easily, sometimes weep at the feelgood factor of Our New Live In Everwood or Where The Heart Is, yes, but get shocked at anything to do with the green baize NO!

Until now....

I had heard of Russian Billiards several times in the past and even read in Pot Black magazine about the adventures of top snooker player Steve Newbury who nicked off over to Finland and Russia in the 80's to do some snooker exhibitions and ended up playing some Russian Billiards.

I won't bore you with me re-hashing the rules, as they can be read here.

But what really shocked me was the dimensions of the pockets in relation to the size of the balls. If Wikipedia is to be trusted there appears to be only 4mm in difference in the pocket opening and the diameter of the balls!!!!

Just have a swatch at this... photo is by Alexei Kouprianov

From what I've seen of the game being played unless a ball is almost in line with a pocket it aint gona go in.

The most effective tactic I can gather is to play in-off's, rather like conventional 'english' billiards.

I found this video on YouTube and boy does it look a fucking hard game to play.

Needless to say me bags have been packed, I've stocked up on Roubles (isn't he a player in Noo York?) and i'm off-ski to downtown Leningrad to chance me arm with the locals.*



*this is a lie

The mental game

OK....

I've had coaching sessions from time to time with varying degrees of success. These sessions generally centred around the technical aspects of the game - stance, bridge (a much overlooked thing IMHO), balance and the ever elusive timing- the thing that seperates the men from the boys!

Having become relatively solid with with the more common routines my latest snooker guru started showing me rather tough shots which needed to be cued sweetly for them to come off. These shots took some time to get right - in fact I attempted one on particular, the shot below, 36 times before I got it right. I then did it another 25 times and managed it 21 out of the 25!

Having got the shot nailed I started to use it as a test of my technique. Anytime I started to struggle with my game I went back to this shot and worked on it till I got it again.

This is the shot. I've used the excellent CueTable by Wei to illustrate - the layout is supposed to look like a snooker table!!

The shot looks straightforward but it catches SO MANY people out when I ask them to do it - you really have to hit the cue ball sweetly with plenty of follow through to get the cue ball up near the yellow. Try it out (on a snooker table with napped cloth for you pool playing colonials) and see how you get on - let me know!

Now here's the rub... since the last week or so I have now developed a total mental block in being able to hit this shot right.

The cue ball is supposed to be in position A but I'm hitting the shot SO BAD it tends to get no further than position B!

It's not a technical thing in the sense that I can't hit the shot - I have done dozens of times - it's that when I try it I start to feel tense and slightly nervous with expectations of hitting it baddly, thereofre I DO hit it badly!

I've tried visualising the shots, my sensuous imagination as Bob Fancher says in his book, I've left the shot alone, carried on with other shots in my practice routines, went back to it then failed again - fucking miserably.

So, my snooker (and pool) amigos, what to do?

How do I break this shot again?

As usual, answers on a postcard to the usual address!

footnote:
I'd just like to clear up something that several people have brought up regarding these 'testing' shots.

Everybody that I show these shots too always say the same thing - 'why would you ever need to play that shot, especially in a match?'

Well the answer to that is that, I doubt that I would EVER play the shot in a match or even in a freindly frame or two. The POINT OF THE SHOT is to test your cueing and timing.

Snooker Scene - SHAME

OK... gloves off time again....

I've just read me latest issue of Snooker Scene - and to be frank I'm DISGUSTED

But before I begin I'll present two pieces of info to set the scene.

1) Clive Everton is currently being chased by the WPBSA for about £25,000 in legal costs relating to previous legal case

2) Three times world snooker champion John Spencer recently passed away after a fight against stomach cancer.

Snooker magazines at this time of year are generally filled with utter shite (see previuos post) as there are few tournaments of note during the summer months. With this in mind I thought that a magazine of the stature of Snooker Scene would be able to provide good in depth articles on various aspects of snooker, perhaps some 'big' interviews with players or media bods connected with snooker.

And, with the greatest respect, I would've thought there would've been a fantastic restropective look at the life and career of the recently departed John Spencer - a player universally loved and respected by fans and fellow professional players.

But no.

Snooker Scene could only be bothered to give 2 pages to the great man - that's 1 page of text and 1 more with four photographs of John on it.

Why is this the case when 'good' snooker stories are pretty thin on the ground.

Because Clive has decided to give FOUR AND A HALF pages of an already flimsy edition to letters of support from yes men or fans / friends of Clive one of the letters (email actually)was from a young journo who gained some kind of employment / work experience placement from Clive (the email from Craig Russell if you were wondering).

I just think the whole thing is shameful.

Yes, Clive, show that you have solid support in your totally justified protest at the way the WPBSA is attempting to screw you, but don't do it at the expense of providing a good feature on a true legend of the game who has tragiclly passed away.

BAG O'SHITE

Snooker Road Players

Been trawling through the t'internet again and started looking at billiards sites with more seriousness.

Not billiards as in Geet Sethi, Mike Russell and Walter Lindrum type billiards, but BIG BAD US Billiards (pool) including 9-ball, 8-ball, straight, bank pool and 1-pocket.

Apart from the sheer diversity in differing techniques and skills needed for each game there is a common theme in almost all of the sites and blogs I've read.

Might I take this opportunity to point out that from a Northern Snooker Hero's perspective the games of 8-ball, 9-ball and straight appear to be easy on the surface, I myslef have run 60+ at stratight pool and broke and ran more racks at 9-ball than I care to rememebr, but I would be toast (see, I'm picking up the damn yankee patter too) if I were to play even an average player at any of the disciplines listed above.

Anyway I digress....

To get back to the subject of my post, the theme that seems to transcend all pool disciplines is one of gambling. I wouldn't go as far as saying hustling, but gambling is pretty prevelant throughout, imho. This aspect lead me to the notion of road players.

Road players, for the un-informed amongst us, are players who literally pack up their kit and nick off touring wherever seeking to arn a crust from their skills with the cue(stick).

Now one of the more entertaing sites I've read is Mike McCafferty's or Fast Mikie's Road Trip.

I have to admit i read this daily - in fact I need to read this site daily - it's that good. btw he seems to like my blog too!

Back to snooker.....

having played snooker for longer than I can remember I have never EVER come across a 'snooker road player'. Not one, not a dicky bird, not a sausage, nada, bada bing, bada boom.

Do they exist?

I know that there is a thriving gambling fraternity in both the UK 8-ball scene (especially in the North East it seems, but seeing as everyone in Newcastle / Durham / Middlesborough signs on the dole I can see why) and the 9-ball scene but none in snooker.

It can't be a culture thing as most of the leading pool players are failed snooker types - Marc Farnwsorth, Daryl Peach et al so it's roughly the same people just different games.

Why is this????? I need to know!!

Answers on a postcard to the usual address