Adventures of a Northern Snooker Hero

Russian Billiards

2006-08-11T15:08:00.000Z

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

2006-08-10T20:32:00.000Z

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

2006-08-04T18:43:00.000Z

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

2006-08-04T15:51:00.000Z

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

Who the fuck IS Alan Morris?

2006-07-30T12:06:00.000Z

Greetings Pot Pickers from a rather sunny North Wales...

As an interest away from the dim lights and cigarette smoke filled dumps I normally reside in between the hours 6pm - 11pm most weekdays I like to browse t'internet and look for snooker information and sites from all corners of the globe.

However, amongst the stuff I can't read - the Hungarian Snooker website for example - I came across the US Snooker official site.

What's wrong with that? Nowt at all, but seeing the name of Alan Morris now billed as 'Executive Director' of said organisation brought back a distant memory of conversation I had with some snooker journo's at a tournament.

Now, see this Alan Morris guy used to label himself as a 'snooker consultant' (whatever the frig that means) and his 'dream' was to see snooker as big in the States as it is in dear old Blighty (bigger boys have tried and failed matey, but 1 out of 10 for trting Al).

He also used to claim to be a snooker professional but as far as my rather extensive records go, it doesn't appear that he ever played an official match as a pro.

More so my conversation with them there snooker journo's came to the conclusion that no one, not one single journo had heard of him as a player.

His name did crop up as the plonker who offered his services to TSN Sport aka 110Sport to be a roving snooker reporter stateside and I believe he had summat to do with the IBSF (website and stateside reporting I think - a role for which he didn't get paid I understand) in the period when Anthony Hull used to be the big cheese.

But his biggest claim to shame is that I've seen a pic of him playing snooker with one of those 'pool gloves'. I'll dig that photo out and reproduce here on this very blog...

So who are you Mr Morris?

Answers on postcards please to the usual address.

To go on the circuit or not.....

2006-07-24T18:47:00.000Z

A mate of mine, very VERY good player. Used to be pro, had thousands of tons and several maximums. Ability wise he's first class

He hasn't played on the pro circuit now for 10 years or so.

He's decided that he wants to go back on the pro circuit again.

Should I stake him the entry fees to the events??? I really REALLY want to, but, there's something holding me back.

The biggest reason I want to do it is that I would love to see nothing more than him winning a few matches and see him competing again back at the level he's capable of. So for no other motive than to help realise his dream (again) I wanna do this.

The money aspect of it isn't a worry. Without sounding like a flash git a grand or two isn't gona break the bank (leave a hole, yes, but skin me? not quite) but why is it that if I know there's zero chance on seeing a return on my investment and the blokes a mate why do I have a doubt??

I just don't know.....

Any advice?

Utter Shite on eBay

2006-07-22T18:32:00.000Z

ok rant time..... and I mean FUCKING RANT TIME

Is it me or is the quality of items listed on eBay these days total and utter shite.

If it's not mega cheap (and shite cues) that are 'new to the UK market' (Chinese shite) its over priced antique cues that are reciprocally bidded up by a group of around 6 'cue collectors' to line their own pockets and fleece new collectors - I won't name names but most people know who they are now (if you want to know just email me)

These 'new to the UK market' lumps of firewood - WASLIN, JX et al - are utter shite. I've played with them all at some point and then had to re-examine tehm while I looked for where the head and bristles bit went as I thought it was a novelty shaped yard brushes.

YES they are CHEAP - under 20 quid for a cue and case, but you wouldn't part with 20 quid for a turd if I told you it was a 'really good' turd that was 'new to the UK market' would you????

and now to the cue bidding ring.....

Go on eBay and look for any antique cues - Riley Tombstone's, any Joe Davis cues, Burwat Champions, Thurstons etc - now look who bids on them.....

It's the same susupects bidding on each other's cues to bump the price. Wankers the lot of them...

And while I'm on that subject.... ages ago I sold a shit load of old cues - nowt special but a decent enough set of 8 cues....

I was bombarded with private messages from members of the 'cue bidding ring' (I actually receieved 13 pm's). This pissed me off so much that I decided to have a bit of fun and tell one of 'The Ring' that I had a room full of old 'pool cues' as I was doing a house clearance from my recently departed grand-pappy.

I checked with a local cue collector about which cues would a cue collector would be gagging for.... so I told the member of The Ring I had a load of cues including 4 Cannon Match cues, 3 Burwats, a Stevenson cue, some Mannocks and some 'weird looking pool cues with really thick butts with inlays all the way up' (these described 'French' cues i.e. continental cues that were richly decorated - in English, a grand a cue).

I told the member of 'The Ring' what I had and he offered me £450 for the lot and offered to come and collect them, a trip of around 380miles there and back.

the cues I quoted him would fetch around 3 1/2 - 4 grand if I sold them at the going rate. this wanker offered just over a tenth of what they were worth...

That's not business that's robbery from a guy who advertises that he will perform valuations of billiards items..

Soooo keep 'em peeled for either shite or shits who appear on eBay

Jimmy White

2006-07-22T09:09:00.000Z

Read this in Britains BIGGEST redtop

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,3...30391,,00.html

The Whirlwind is currently 35th in the rankings, provisonally 48 I think (this post states 58th!!!) so he'll have a mammoth task in getting back in the top 16, not impossible but HIGHLY UNLIKELY.

Anyway, the odds of him pulling it off isn't what I wanted to get off my chest. The question is...

Is any player 'too good' not to be in the top 16? Discuss

I'm firmly of the view of if you aint in the top 16, at that point in time, you ain't good enough and your ranking reflects that.

Some players have outstanding seasons and rocket up the rankings, possibly a little too quickly - Maguire and possibly Shaun Murphy (imho) - thereofre not being able to fully mature as elite players, and that's what these boys are - elite players.

But getting back to White, he's a great player but I don't think he's an elite player anymore.

We all know what White has acheived and what he could potentially acheive, but I truly believe that his best days are long gone and he'll have to concede that he's still a hell of a player but just isn't good (consistant) enough to compete with the games elite of a season. His record of results for the previous season proves that.

Then again who knows what may happen in the oncoming season.... a ranking event win, a semi final and the Whirlwind will blow back into the top 16.

Christmas Day....

2006-07-21T15:30:00.000Z

I went to a mates house warming party last night.....

Along with copius drinking, meeting new folk, a few more drinks and the obligitory tour of the house I ask where a door lead to. It turned out to be a connecting door to the social club nextdoor which, may I point out, my mate has access to as she makes afternoon teas for the memebers when called upon.

On opening the door and edgily entering I was confronted with....

Needless to say I sloped off the official house tour and within a few minutes ended up with..

Managed 11 reds and colours with a crabby rack cue too!

With a bit of discrete questioning it turns out that the tables (yes, tables! - 2 of them, just been re-covered too!) hardly get used and I can have use of them all night after 10pm, saturday mornings and all day sundays too!

60p an hour in t'meter on bootiful tables in a private room..... Christmas has come early!

Keep the faith. Word

Pot Black part 2

2006-07-17T15:59:00.000Z

Well, Sport Relief came and went. My wallet was relieved of several quid too....

Anyway, to the point.... Celebrity Pot Black.... I actually enjoyed it. Most surprising really as I had grave doubts at first.

Bradley Walsh was hillarious, a wee bit OTT, but largely very funny, and that Vernon Kay bloke was also a good foil to Wash's slaptstick patter.

The quality of the snooker was utter shite but that last pink by Vernon Kay was awesome.

Lets hope that we see more of Pro-Celebrity Pot Black soon.....

Spenny

2006-07-12T18:51:00.000Z

As most of you will already know 3 times World Champion John Spencer has passed away.

Having lived near Spenny's hometown of Radcliffe all my life it was inevitable that I would meet him... that I did twice.

1st time I was practicing when I noticed him watching me (and others) play through the matchroom window. Needless to say I missed every ball after seeing him. Thanks John

2nd time I managed to hit 5 glorious balls (I swear to god it was the best 25 clearance anyone ever had, in the world vol.3, period, full stop) I went into the lounge where he commented on the green and brown I potted then said 'other than that, well...., there isn't anything else. Keep practising' then burst out laughing. Spencer really did have a sense of humour as I duly found out. Very nice guy.

It was nice meeting you John....

Celebrity Pot Black

2006-07-09T19:34:00.000Z

While browsing the newly revamped World Snooker site I came across this

Looks interesting....

....but I can't help but yearn for the days that 'The Gaffer' Bill Maynard (RIP), Frankie Vaughan and Bernie Winters (also RIP tho I don't know about Schnorbitz) participated. Those were the days when CELEBRITIES WERE CELEBRITIES

SnookerScene

2006-07-08T19:41:00.000Z

Having just read the latest issue of SnookerScene I have started to realise one thing....

Fuck all happens in the snooker world (of any worth) during the summer.

What, oh Northern Snooker Hero, made you come to this ground breaking (PhD worthy) discovery...

13 pages (out of a 40 page magazine) dedicated to Clive Evertons long winded, errr I mean long running, battle with Them (WorldSnooker)

FOR GOD'S SAKE CLIVE WIND YOUR NECK IN

It's gone on too long.... yes they may have libelled you (very bad) but you bent them over and buggered them (figuratively speaking) in court and won 115 grand off them (well off the orgamistaions members... the members that you try and protect and look out for) which is VERY GOOD if you ask me.

The only good part of this months issue was Ebdon's piss funny letter to Elaine Goldsmith on page 30.

While I like Ebdon (not in gay way, that is) I thought the letter was quite laughable. One part of the letter did make think though.... think long and hard and made me go over previous editorial by CE.

Yes... Clive does have a tendancy to snipe, sometimes fairly, sometimes unfairly at most things concerned with Them (WorldSnooker) or event related issues e.g. prize money etc. and yes, he does tend to have a rather negative air to his comments.

So, in tribute to Ebbo's letter from next month I will be undertaking a 'Clive Watch', counting and reporting on any negative sniping that occurs in each issue of SnookerScene magazine.

You have been warned.....

edit: the other funny bit of this months issue was on page 8...

Who the FRIG would pay 3 grand for that crumby picture of Ronnie O'Sullivan. Made me laugh anyway.

No North West Snooker

2006-07-08T19:12:00.000Z

A sad day, a very sad day.

I sit here, typing with a black arm band on.

The Grand Prix is no longer in Preston.

Preston, the home of Ian McCulloch, Stuart Pettman Steve Rowlings (my one time coach I'll have you know - a mighty MIGHTY fine player and a hell of a coach) Freddie Flintoff and er... Preston North End football club, has been robbed of one of the best events in the snooker calendar.

Why oh why? - No idea to be honest

So where has the event been moved too?

My first thought was, due to WorldSnooker's efforts to rationalise the organisations outgoings (save money), I thought that they (WorldSnooker) had deceided to go back to the 'grassroots' and host the event at Freckelton Working Mens Club*. But alas, how wrong can a Northern Snooker Hero (me) be......

So where did they decide to stage the event? Probably the hardest location on the mainland UK to get to.... nope not Coventry but Aberdeen.

Yes ladies and gents.... Aber-friggin-deen. Home to oil rig works and, generally, cold Scottish people.

Reason? - no idea

Actually there are two reasons...

A) Graeme Dott ('who he?' I hear most people cry) the munchkin sized 'wee one' is the World Snooker Champ

or

B) that some Highland sports council / local council has stumped up 80 grand towards the staging of the event

What will they achieve by moving the event millions of miles from civilistaion (well approx 186 miles away from England anyway)? Not too sure but I do know 1 thing... I won't be in attendance.

* I made that up apologies to any real institution called that

Practice, practice and more practice

2006-07-08T18:58:00.000Z

Practice. How important? Discuss.

Of course practice is fundamental to improvement in any sport or discipline, but I've always wondered, until recently, how important is regular practice.

Well... I've been a very recent convert to regular, serious practice sessions.

I've been playing snooker for fun for a very long time. I've always wanted to be a better player but never really applied myself to addressing the flaws in my game. I suppose like most of the snooker players who'll be reading this I used to mistake playing regularly for practicing reuglarly.

I used to get so frustrated and down hearted that having played 4 times a week for a considerable period of time that i never actually did anything serious (i.e. decent breaks) on the table. Playing a few frames with your mate does not allow you to retake a shot if you play it wrong does it!

So, a few weeks ago I deceided on the commitment to reduce the number of times I played in a week and started to replace the missing matches with practice sessions.

This led me to the question: " OK, What do I pracxtice then?" Stupidly i started off with practicing 'hard' shots, for afterall those are the ones I frequently missed, right?

Wrong! As wrong as a wrong thing could be.

After 2 weeks, 4 practice sessions, 6 hours in all of practice I still wasn't whacking in length of the table blues or taking 9 out of 10 ten reds which were lined up between centre pockets, cueing from the baulk line. I must be crap, eh?

Not really, I was just trying shots that were largely beyond my technical ability.

So I started doing a simple line up. 7 reds lined up between the top cushion and the pink (two below the black, 5 in between black and pink) and went back to basics. Simple run throughs or stuns at pocket weight. At first it wasn't pretty - I was so lacking in confidence I was lucky to string together 4 pots. I was the worst I've EVER felt playing snooker and I was VERY close to flogging my cue and case and buggering off to do something else.

But I stuck with it, always thinking 100% on what I was doing, building my confidence back up. This back to basics and realising my own limitations has paid dividends. By taking things very slowly and modestly I have improved greatly in the 5 weeks or so that I've been practicing,

From a humble 14 or 16 when I first started doing the line up I recently made a 76 on the line up - my highest ever break. All this in just over a month.

So, for me at least, practice, practice and more practice is working. The new found seriousness I put into my practice times IS working. So if you're reading this and, you like me, felt as though you should be playing better and were mistaking playing snooker and practicing snooker take a step back, get down the snooker hall an hour before you're due to play with your mates and do a few simple practice routines. Just a few reds and blacks of the spot will reap you snooker rewards you never EVER will achieve by simply playing.

Woaaahhhh, that was a lot wasn't it, but i hope you find my experience of help

Thanks!

Weird....

2006-07-08T18:57:00.000Z

Have you ever played.... played for around 7 hours..... played frame after frame.....lost more than you've won.....lost 20 quid in small side bets..... but still felt that you've played well?

Well that's just happened. I'm normally well pissed off when I've lost especially when the guy I played highest break was only 41.

I must have the bug again...