Hello from western Colorado... one of my bucket list items is to play snooker on a full size table. When I was much younger we used to go to a pool hall that had a 10 foot table and rented the balls for $3 an hour. Really loved playing snooker. I do have an 8 foot pool table that I play on every day. Love watching your videos, keep up the good work.
This is why I enjoy playing in a singles pool league. Pool frames usually last no more than 5 minutes and you can get plenty of practise beforehand. First to 8 frames matches mean you can sometimes play a couple of matches an evening.
On a real note, snooker from my perspective is like 14.1 continuous just different options on points. Snooker is a beautiful escape for me and yet I can only play on a mobile device, I use a different one called “Pro Snooker 2019” you’ll love it. I’m amazed by how did Steve Davis’ trick shot in the intro
Used to play league snooker and there was a few ex pros that kept winning every thing so they changed the format to handicapped and after that I thought what is the point of practicing if I play bad I get an extra 20 points start. I decided that wasn't going to improve me as a player so I quit the league and I have improved
@@cornishmick5597 I agree. But not when there giving you 50 head start and all you got to do is put the blue pink black safe to win your league game. Practicing yep 100% will make you better
hi I play in hong kong and the club competitions here are all handicapped tournaments. I agree that it's hard for your game to get better when bei.g given a handicap all the time but it's actually a good thing if you've got all the basics and consistently have to give a handicap to your opponent. makes it more challenging and actually improves your game too
My first league this year. I'm really enjoying it and learning how to play league snooker. Definitely a different game to yer usual friendly. "eight and walk away" was an early piece of advice that at first I thought was really negative but actually you can beat very good players by using it. I'm playing in two different leagues, one is quite serious and the other one is mostly local. I highly recommend joining a club and playing league. Also there is nothing stopping you from making up your own tournament. There is a competition at the club and everyone entered has to play everyone else twice, one point per win. It's great, not just because it's snooker but because you will play lots of different people, the game has a bit more pressure so you can block out the world and play your own game. In three months of playing league, my game has improved massively. Not just potting but I'm beginning to play a not bad safety game. In short, yes, it's worth it. Cheers BFL!
I used to play ice hockey then got injured and couldnt play anymore, then my dad took me to the crucible last year for the first time and i was hooked. I then went straight into my local WMC to play and ended up joining a team. We are in the lowest league in sheffield but i love the fact im still competing at something, even if it means limping round the table lol. Plus the lads are a good bunch so its a great social too
Curtis Girling from Calgary Canada :) Not too much league snooker here but we are big into pool. We have several 8 ball leagues on 7ft tables. Your snooker tips have helped me out with my pool a lot :) TY
Anthony Fausett from Lafayette Indiana, USA. Great videos, awesome tips and tricks that have improved my game so much. Thanks for unloading. Can't wait to learn more.
Great video. This man loves the game. Video games are biggest reason clubs are closing. Neil Robertson even admitted to video game addiction being the reason for skipping practice time and lack of sleep causing a drop in his game. Snooker needs to be brought into the schools and community centers. Kids need to try it out. China has snooker tables in their schools. Snooker is missing youth. I'm in my mid 40's and I'm the youngest guy in my league. Snooker needs more exposure; especially to youth.
We’ve got the same problem not sure video games are 100% the reason. But as you say something has to be done because everyone is getting older and all of are teams are literally dying out
I used to live in England but have moved to Canada. I play in a club in Ottawa where they hold 2 club nights every week (Monday or Tuesday). Once entered into the club night, you play on your chosen night against other players who have entered the same night according to a schedule. Every week you play 2 matches. You get 3 points for a win and 1 point if you win a game in a match. At the end of the season (usually 14 weeks), you get prize money for finishing in the top 3 positions. Works really well and much better than team league Snooker as played in England in my opinion where you are waiting around for most of the night ...
nothing to add lol you just described EXACTLY what i recently learned when joining the APA league in the states... 2 small matches over easily 4 hours, gotta keep some complex scoring tabs for other games, 10$ per match per night!, nothing ultimately to play for except the experience and fun..,.,but i'd rather play for hours straight against people i meet at the same or other places for that and so much more. not dissin the APA, but they sure makin a lot of $ that players have no chance of seeing any % of. ...and it BORING on a tired work night except for the moment of playing lol. love ya break keep it up maff! 👋🏻🎱👄🎱🤚🏻 (i love how the APA $ just goes into an envelope with no receipt given lmao 😳) .....the handicap system too ugh.,.,i'll stop 😂
Break from life ha nah, your rant feels well-intentioned and a call for some new creative solutions to expand your sport and bridge the gap a bit between the tv pros and everyone else ☺️👍 allll of the pools need this! 💚🐛
Hi it's Anthony from Lowestoft, I enjoy playing league snooker, one thing for me is my style of play (hyper aggressive mainly but use safety when needed) could be a issue in a team but my captain is fine with me playing my natural game. But there is less and less buzz around snooker as of late. (Locally, billiards is growing) but there is a good amount of leagues running and I wish I could play in more league matches. Perhaps there could be a national League set up, following a set standard, local areas play out for a spot in a county tournament, then the winning county team play for a national prize.
Not sure if you’ll see this but wonder if it’s worth doing a video on or at least throwing in a comment on why snooker doesn’t use a measle cue ball. It always baffles me. It’s used all over the states and even in english billiards (fantastic game by the way). It would be great for televised games to see the way the players manipulate the cue ball. I think it’s been great for american pool and gets players interested.
Ladder tournaments in your club give you more snooker in the same amount of time. But i also think that on top of that a snookerplayer needs to enter in a few tournaments in order to have a look at what other talent is out there.
You might find that the regular friendly competition is what's keeping the game alive in the clubs. Without "League Night", which is set aside to play, a lot of people might think "ah, I've got other things to do". It provides a chance for people who might not otherwise have anyone to play with/against the opportunity to do something other than practice. In my area of the US (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), there's 1 (ONE) snooker table that I'm aware of within 50 miles, and when I go and play on it I'm the only one.
I’m captain of my league team in Australia and we play handicapped snooker Wednesday nights, 5 players from our club team vs 5 players from another local club team. When we got knocked out of the comp this year I organised an inter team handicap comp, it works like this: - Each week you have an opponent to play and it’s up to you and your opponent to organise the time to play for that weeks round - once players have organised a time they let me know when they are playing and I send out their match schedule via text msg to the other competitors so they know when 1 of the 2 club tables is being used, therefore less chance of players turning up and no tables being available - You play 3 frames regardless if someone is up 2-0 already - You write down the score and send me a photo - I update the ladder, each winning frame is worth 1pt and frame scores are recorded as well, so the ladder includes for and against points so each player on the ladder has a % - There are 12 players in this comp and top 8 go through to the finals - Entry Fee was $25 so the grand final prize money is $300 Everyone seems to really enjoy it because it’s at the local club and you don’t have to travel far (we travel at times an hour for club comps sometimes). They also love the fact you just turn up and play and not having to wait around for your match or having referee other frames. I think my inter team comp idea is an alternative to league team comps, it just needs someone dedicated to to run it
Hi its paul from romford please drop a pin for me. Firstly I would like to say how much I enjoy watching your channel so please bare this in mind. I honestly believe snooker league is a good thing. I play in the vic harris league, and i feel there things that simply you csnt learn from practice. It's well and good putting balls for fun on your own, but even if you are playing for "bragging rights", when it comes to a competitive game, there are things that cant be thought or learnt by playing on your own. However I do feel there should be another option available. I'm aware you covered most of this in the vid, but I think more emphasis needs to be put on what I said. I'm a product of this and am capable of making 40s and 50s in practice but can barely make 20 in "big games. Keep the vids coming, all the best!!
love playing in the local league mainly for the social aspect. But like you said you can sit there for 2 or 3 hours sometimes waiting to play, by which time your tired and not very focused. leaguse with teams of playetr less than 3 are much more fun
I do a weekly vlog on my channel about how my league match goes each week and trying to defend my player of the season title. Would be good if you did something similar. Be good to see your match play
@@Breakfromlife It's very close, about 45 miles from Nevesinje to Ljubuski. On your map you will probably see only Sarajevo(100 miles from Nevesinje), just put it somewhere in south BIH, it will be okay....😂😂😎
maybe someone can develop an app where you are rated by who you win against in games you organise yourself, and hooks you up with similar people in your area of your ability or better to play games to increase your rating ( or drop your rating if you lose). Kind of like you have with online chess, and the rating you get on those apps. ( only you would be playing in real life with real players at a time that suits you). Then the games would matter and would be competitive with out wasting time with leagues etc
You could get off work from early on a friday, head to your snooker hall, open up the app and see if anyone there wanted a rated game against you. Or even just play people you already play with but have the games matter for both you against both of your rating on the app. Or let the app know you are willing to play anyone of a certain rating on say next monday night in the north london area, and it could arrange games for you to play. Don't think the app woul make anyone rich, so it would have to be a labour of love to set it up. In online chess apps you can play practice games with strangers, or rated games. So it could also be good for people just to get to play and practice with people of similar abilities who they might not otherwise get to play. Also, for people who work away from home or on the road, it could be a good way to find someone to have a game with - I mean with pool you can just walk into any bar and put a coin down on the table, but not so with snooker from my experience.
@@MrAcdc2323 it would be great for the sport and great for amateurs, but the problem i see is, how could a developer see a profit in it? Unless it was through advertising perhaps or sponsorship. Another good thing that would be easy to do with such an app is have users rate tables. If such an app caught on, it could be a driver for table owners to keep their tables in good condition. And also good for table owners to make more money from their tables that they already have. Been to many a working mens club in the UK with amazing tables, clearly kept in high condition by someone that truly cares, and yet no one even is even playing on them for most of the day. These kinds of tables would be used more if such an app was available.
VLNOW pay a one fee for the app of $5 to $10, if the app was worldwide and had enough players using it plenty of money to be made. That way you could play anywhere in the world as well
Hi, Steve from Birmingham, West Midlands. I have played in the Stirchley and District League (established in the late 1930s), at my current club for 5 years. The League itself used to have 7 Divisions but has now reduced to 3. That's still shy of 300 players, 5 players per team slogging it out over 5 frames for a victory. I do wonder how long League snooker will continue with clubs closing and players no longer playing. Will it be a thing of the past? I hope not! There are a great number of Leagues still active within the UK and a few in Birmingham and surrounding areas, which is great for the game. Personally, I still enjoy the whole match environment and playing to win as an individual and a team. Thankfully, I am part of a team of players who are capable of winning, even if a lot of the frames become tactical and a bit of a lottery. Thanks for another great video. 👍
I see you have a new mic and camera! going up in the world my friend love! but please invest in a body mic to remove echo instead of using your cameras mic.
I gave up on Snooker and went to Pool because of the Pub Leagues in Asia, with food, beer, opportunity to check out new pubs and meet new people. In Shanghai I even picked up Darts because it also had a Pub League. Without human interaction, most games are unfulfilling.
Snooker leagues are good... its a night out! Too play a game you enjoy playing... few drinks... and yes' you do av too wait around a while for your game sometimes... but its good competition playing in the leagues...
I play in a league every Thursday team of 5 1 frame each, I don't get time to practice my snooker like I used to but then I know i'm not good enough to turn professional and make a living playing snooker so it becomes a hobby, something I enjoy doing and meeting up with other like minded people for a couple of pints, some banter and maybe the odd break over 65 lol
Definitely think doubles works as a format for amateurs as it maximises table time. Think travelling between clubs is a bit of a nonsense, should just be intra club singles and team leagues with the odd monthly competition bringing together the better players from different clubs.
I just play for the fun of it, have a good time with friends while trying out different craft beers. I don't cares so much about "valuable practice time", as I do valuable enjoying time playing the game and being with friends . I don't join leagues for the same reason you stated at 1:32. Side note: In 2006, George Bush outlawed gambling in the US. Professional Snooker is thriving because the tournaments are sponsored by online gambling outfits, who make money from all the gamblers. The best pool players in the US are playing tournaments where the winner gets $5,000 US or less.
@@wombra8314 I didn't know it was allowed in any state. Did some research based on your comment. PlayUSA states casinos and racetracks, and sports venues can also offer online sports betting licences at $20 million each. As usual, the only winners will be the house.
The game is headed to the Far East so the prospect of raw talent discovery diminishes daily and sadly even with league snooker our clubs are dying out. Once great rooms filled with cloudy dank cigarette smoke, deep concentration and true passion for the baize are now being replaced with 2 bed commuter apartments or by Aldi and Lidl.
i dont think leagues exist in Tianjin, China. I occasionally see a lone guy practising on one of the 3 tables at my local venue but when i go to play, it is invariably empty. If they would stop smoking for 10 seconds i might even approach them for a game......
Hi mate i'm Nick from Ostend - Belgium. I Like your video's and also shipped some tips from cuesoul to try out, keep on going! I play in a league also with 3 players including me in a team. We play each tuesday against other teams where we each play 4 frames. 2 against the first player you're up and then agaisnt the remaining two 1 frame . Currently in league 3 and there are four Leagues. Struggling with not being consistent enough.
What is the pathway that you'd take if you wanted to be a professional player? After reking all of your league opponents of course. Do you just stump up the entry fee and enter these tournaments or what
I played in a local league with 3 divisions of about 16 teams per league.Home and away ,6 players per team played 2 frames for aggregate points with each team receiving its own handicap.That was back in the 1970s.Over the years despite the snooker boom the number of teams dwindled and 3 divisions became 2.Then social clubs started closing down for ever and some removed the tables and put in pool tables and loud music to attract young people.I stopped playing 11 years ago but still follow the league online.Sadly all that remain are 5 venues fielding a total of 13 teams who play each other 3 times over the season.All in the same division with the poorer teams receiving as much as 500 or 600 start over 12 frames.There is only 1 snooker centre locally,fielding 4 teams,and if that club closed down I think the league would collapse.
I play in the Pembrokeshire Snooker league and it is seriously struggling. We used to have 4 snooker halls in the county and now we have none. The nearest snooker hall is 30 miles away and cost a fortune to play. The only tables left are in private member clubs and even they are struggling to stay open so sadly I think the league will fold in the next couple of years. So I am debating whether to just continue playing for fun or make the effort to go to Terry Griffiths snooker club for competitive snooker. It's sad to see snooker dying out like this.
The same problems are present in Merkin pool leagues as well. Spending 4hrs waiting around for two matches then walking up cold to a table you haven't rolled many balls on- the first few shots are an absolute dice roll. Get some bad luck early on and you have quite a hole to dig out of. It really isn't even the same game. To be fair, playing in a league the past two sessions has improved my ability to start cold and come out of the gate stronger, but my overall game has certainly not progressed. Do leagues advance the game in the US? Unclear. I'd say no, but at least they still exist.
This happened to me 2 weeks ago turned up cold not hit a ball, snookered off the break on my first shot then give 3 fouls away, leftr my opponent on a red next to the black was nearly 40 down after my first 3 shots, id personally like a little practice time on opposing team tables,seems like its not the thing to do on a tuesday night at snooker but pool night on a thurday you get to have 15 mins praccy on the away teams table to find out what it runs like wich is great, i will ask my captain to put this forward at the next snooker AGM
Not getting any practice time is a problem that all of Snooker seems to have in some way. I think people are just worried about it running on too long though
Has the introduction of blackball pool tables in pubs rather than snooker tables reduced the amount of interest younger people have in the game? From Carlisle, England
i finally must ask lol.,,.do you randomly select people for the map? or is it a patreon perk? how does it work?? D: i hate doxxing myself but feel compelled to represent on the map for all pools eternity so here goes! D: 🎲🎰🎲 waukegan, IL usa ✊😳👉 💜 👋🏻🎱👄🎱🤚🏻 cracks me up how you tie the map moment into the dialogue 😂😂😂
Aditya Sharma when a foul occurs on the black ball, 7 points are added to the score and the frame is stopped. In your example, that would leave the scores level, so yes... the frame would be settled with a respotted black.
It’s probably obvious but I’m not sure what you mean by that. To the point that I’m now thinking of doing a Michael Palin style documentary where I show you round my table
@@Breakfromlife You know what - an actual video on "nap" wouldn't go amiss. Is it really true you can't do full length of the table shot with side against the nap, as Joe Davis says in his book?
You would think something like this would happen wouldn’t you. This would involve too much organising and people genuinely don’t have the time. Also a lot of these people won’t go into the same room as each other because of something that happed 20 years ago
@@Chris-bm5qd He was talking a theoretical, not a specific event. You know how any group of people larger than 10 is going to have some bad blood for silly reasons.
Need an opinion,..i play snooke with many frens in the club...scored good points n hv good breaks at times. But the problem is ,is it a mental game when one purposely not potting a pottable red ball knowing there is a positional shots to continue. All he did is to save the cueball n humiliate the whole game to make sure that i lose my concentration n momentum of cuing action goes wrong. Probably i am not strong mentally bcos he has no guts in potting ball that actually made me fed up with the game.he knows he is on the losing end n would not improve... I refuse to play with him but he said im not mentally strong..what is ur opinion in this?
In my opinion,true strenght doesnt know excuses,see it as a challenge to learn how to deal with uncomfortable situations in snooker and play with him more often:)
There is only one actual snooker club in Croatia although there are a few tables in the pool clubs around the country. Makes me fairly sad to be honest. Stjepan from Pozega, Croatia.
I hadn’t actually thought about Croatia but I know there’s a lot of Eastern European countries where snooker is played quite a bit. Shame that it’s not one of them
@@Breakfromlife I made a mistake, there are two clubs in the capital, Zagreb, but that's it. Still, we have a solid pool scene and there was quite some carom back in the 80's. Still, I'm happy with my best break of 16 from one of my few visits to full-sized snooker table!
I play in a league. They have a system of handicaps which helps. New players start with a handicap of 40. Then if you win, it goes down and losing makes it go up. Joe, Hemel hempstead but currently in Leeds, UK
I'm from the US and really wanna find a way to get on the main tour and shake up the Snooker world by being the only american!! (Being totally serious) lol.
I m a decent snooker player. I can also throw a curve in baseball and can balance a spoon on my nose. None of these ‘skills’ have any value in the scheme of existence. I have my own table and play every day...it’s meditative and scrubs the brain. Poke a ball with a stick. Whoopy-do. If I wanted a bigger challenge I’d go out to our nearby Rockies and poke a Grizzly with a stick. Snooker is dumb and meaningless and thus why I love it. League play? Meh...no desire to improve my ranking to 1207 from 1432...rather go fishing.
Once you get used to star tables you don’t want to play on anything else. The thing is you don’t want to have to pay to have them reclothed every 3 months. Or at least I don’t
@@Breakfromlife Trouble is they are made from junk ,I know a lot of table fitters that all say the same ,you have Northern rubber and no 10 cloth ,but long term these tables are not good .There is a reason they are painted .
League snooker and pool for that matter have nearly died a death due to it costing more money than it's worth, travel , refreshments, table time if you don't get it free, and no return on spending £100 a season,thus there is no real future for leagues.
Snooker is too hard and less rewards. also a good snooker cue is very hard to find and always bent. snooker is waste of time because you need to be practicing all the time to stay on form. I think most talented people sees this and don’t wanna play it again because nobody wants to practice that much. People wants more in their spare time
You forgot that it is also a considerable expense of money. But, well, there are people who spend 100 thousand on a car and only use it for driving on Sundays. I play pool because I want to reach a certain level, and I'm not in a hurry, because I know that when I reach that level I will have fewer opportunities to play with people. My friends will no longer want to play with me because I will almost always beat them and people like to win from time to time, but to do so, as you say, you have to dedicate a lot of time. TRUE. We are going to a society where they want everything fast and instant, our downfall
Fully agreed , much missed and unreplacable , the modern day snooker owes an unrepayable debt to Alex Higgins for the focus that he brought to snooker which without him,snooker would have been left in the doldrums, however snooker is not out of the woods yet while it searches for its next super star to fail safe it's future.
Hello from western Colorado... one of my bucket list items is to play snooker on a full size table. When I was much younger we used to go to a pool hall that had a 10 foot table and rented the balls for $3 an hour. Really loved playing snooker. I do have an 8 foot pool table that I play on every day.
Love watching your videos, keep up the good work.
This is why I enjoy playing in a singles pool league. Pool frames usually last no more than 5 minutes and you can get plenty of practise beforehand. First to 8 frames matches mean you can sometimes play a couple of matches an evening.
2:44 lmao your powers are increasing! neat trick 😂😂😂
I totally didn't notice it :-/
On a real note, snooker from my perspective is like 14.1 continuous just different options on points. Snooker is a beautiful escape for me and yet I can only play on a mobile device, I use a different one called “Pro Snooker 2019” you’ll love it. I’m amazed by how did Steve Davis’ trick shot in the intro
Used to play league snooker and there was a few ex pros that kept winning every thing so they changed the format to handicapped and after that I thought what is the point of practicing if I play bad I get an extra 20 points start. I decided that wasn't going to improve me as a player so I quit the league and I have improved
Playing better players will make you improve.
@@cornishmick5597 I agree. But not when there giving you 50 head start and all you got to do is put the blue pink black safe to win your league game. Practicing yep 100% will make you better
hi I play in hong kong and the club competitions here are all handicapped tournaments. I agree that it's hard for your game to get better when bei.g given a handicap all the time but it's actually a good thing if you've got all the basics and consistently have to give a handicap to your opponent. makes it more challenging and actually improves your game too
My first league this year. I'm really enjoying it and learning how to play league snooker. Definitely a different game to yer usual friendly. "eight and walk away" was an early piece of advice that at first I thought was really negative but actually you can beat very good players by using it. I'm playing in two different leagues, one is quite serious and the other one is mostly local. I highly recommend joining a club and playing league. Also there is nothing stopping you from making up your own tournament. There is a competition at the club and everyone entered has to play everyone else twice, one point per win. It's great, not just because it's snooker but because you will play lots of different people, the game has a bit more pressure so you can block out the world and play your own game. In three months of playing league, my game has improved massively. Not just potting but I'm beginning to play a not bad safety game. In short, yes, it's worth it. Cheers BFL!
paul riggall love it ✊☺️ my thoughts have been on setting up a little bi-weekly tournament :)
I used to play ice hockey then got injured and couldnt play anymore, then my dad took me to the crucible last year for the first time and i was hooked. I then went straight into my local WMC to play and ended up joining a team. We are in the lowest league in sheffield but i love the fact im still competing at something, even if it means limping round the table lol. Plus the lads are a good bunch so its a great social too
Curtis Girling from Calgary Canada :)
Not too much league snooker here but we are big into pool. We have several 8 ball leagues on 7ft tables. Your snooker tips have helped me out with my pool a lot :) TY
Anthony Fausett from Lafayette Indiana, USA.
Great videos, awesome tips and tricks that have improved my game so much. Thanks for unloading. Can't wait to learn more.
Great video. This man loves the game. Video games are biggest reason clubs are closing. Neil Robertson even admitted to video game addiction being the reason for skipping practice time and lack of sleep causing a drop in his game. Snooker needs to be brought into the schools and community centers. Kids need to try it out. China has snooker tables in their schools. Snooker is missing youth. I'm in my mid 40's and I'm the youngest guy in my league. Snooker needs more exposure; especially to youth.
Eric Ryckman they're all playing virtual pool 4, snooker 2019 and 8ball miniclip 😳😂😂😂
We’ve got the same problem not sure video games are 100% the reason. But as you say something has to be done because everyone is getting older and all of are teams are literally dying out
@@Breakfromlife Hey man! I resemble that!
I used to live in England but have moved to Canada. I play in a club in Ottawa where they hold 2 club nights every week (Monday or Tuesday). Once entered into the club night, you play on your chosen night against other players who have entered the same night according to a schedule. Every week you play 2 matches. You get 3 points for a win and 1 point if you win a game in a match. At the end of the season (usually 14 weeks), you get prize money for finishing in the top 3 positions. Works really well and much better than team league Snooker as played in England in my opinion where you are waiting around for most of the night ...
nothing to add lol you just described EXACTLY what i recently learned when joining the APA league in the states... 2 small matches over easily 4 hours, gotta keep some complex scoring tabs for other games, 10$ per match per night!, nothing ultimately to play for except the experience and fun..,.,but i'd rather play for hours straight against people i meet at the same or other places for that and so much more. not dissin the APA, but they sure makin a lot of $ that players have no chance of seeing any % of. ...and it BORING on a tired work night except for the moment of playing lol. love ya break keep it up maff! 👋🏻🎱👄🎱🤚🏻 (i love how the APA $ just goes into an envelope with no receipt given lmao 😳) .....the handicap system too ugh.,.,i'll stop 😂
I should probably stop moaning as it doesn’t cost us anything to play and limited number of handicap games.
Break from life ha nah, your rant feels well-intentioned and a call for some new creative solutions to expand your sport and bridge the gap a bit between the tv pros and everyone else ☺️👍 allll of the pools need this! 💚🐛
Hi it's Anthony from Lowestoft, I enjoy playing league snooker, one thing for me is my style of play (hyper aggressive mainly but use safety when needed) could be a issue in a team but my captain is fine with me playing my natural game.
But there is less and less buzz around snooker as of late. (Locally, billiards is growing) but there is a good amount of leagues running and I wish I could play in more league matches.
Perhaps there could be a national League set up, following a set standard, local areas play out for a spot in a county tournament, then the winning county team play for a national prize.
Not sure if you’ll see this but wonder if it’s worth doing a video on or at least throwing in a comment on why snooker doesn’t use a measle cue ball. It always baffles me. It’s used all over the states and even in english billiards (fantastic game by the way). It would be great for televised games to see the way the players manipulate the cue ball. I think it’s been great for american pool and gets players interested.
Ladder tournaments in your club give you more snooker in the same amount of time. But i also think that on top of that a snookerplayer needs to enter in a few tournaments in order to have a look at what other talent is out there.
That’s a good point as you don’t always see how good the players you are playing against are until you see them play a full match.
You might find that the regular friendly competition is what's keeping the game alive in the clubs. Without "League Night", which is set aside to play, a lot of people might think "ah, I've got other things to do". It provides a chance for people who might not otherwise have anyone to play with/against the opportunity to do something other than practice. In my area of the US (Lancaster, Pennsylvania), there's 1 (ONE) snooker table that I'm aware of within 50 miles, and when I go and play on it I'm the only one.
Thanks for putting me in your video really appreciate it ✊
I’m captain of my league team in Australia and we play handicapped snooker Wednesday nights, 5 players from our club team vs 5 players from another local club team. When we got knocked out of the comp this year I organised an inter team handicap comp, it works like this:
- Each week you have an opponent to play and it’s up to you and your opponent to organise the time to play for that weeks round
- once players have organised a time they let me know when they are playing and I send out their match schedule via text msg to the other competitors so they know when 1 of the 2 club tables is being used, therefore less chance of players turning up and no tables being available
- You play 3 frames regardless if someone is up 2-0 already
- You write down the score and send me a photo
- I update the ladder, each winning frame is worth 1pt and frame scores are recorded as well, so the ladder includes for and against points so each player on the ladder has a %
- There are 12 players in this comp and top 8 go through to the finals
- Entry Fee was $25 so the grand final prize money is $300
Everyone seems to really enjoy it because it’s at the local club and you don’t have to travel far (we travel at times an hour for club comps sometimes).
They also love the fact you just turn up and play and not having to wait around for your match or having referee other frames.
I think my inter team comp idea is an alternative to league team comps, it just needs someone dedicated to to run it
Kahibah?
👍
Nice! What city in Aust. are you?
@@markdp1983 Newcastle in New South Wales
Hi its paul from romford please drop a pin for me.
Firstly I would like to say how much I enjoy watching your channel so please bare this in mind.
I honestly believe snooker league is a good thing. I play in the vic harris league, and i feel there things that simply you csnt learn from practice. It's well and good putting balls for fun on your own, but even if you are playing for "bragging rights", when it comes to a competitive game, there are things that cant be thought or learnt by playing on your own.
However I do feel there should be another option available. I'm aware you covered most of this in the vid, but I think more emphasis needs to be put on what I said. I'm a product of this and am capable of making 40s and 50s in practice but can barely make 20 in "big games.
Keep the vids coming, all the best!!
love playing in the local league mainly for the social aspect. But like you said you can sit there for 2 or 3 hours sometimes waiting to play, by which time your tired and not very focused. leaguse with teams of playetr less than 3 are much more fun
I do a weekly vlog on my channel about how my league match goes each week and trying to defend my player of the season title. Would be good if you did something similar. Be good to see your match play
Nevesinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina, you need that on the map. I am probably only one who watches you from here. Great stuff man, keep going
Well there is also MAJDEN TV from ljubuski but I’m not sure where that is
@@Breakfromlife It's very close, about 45 miles from Nevesinje to Ljubuski. On your map you will probably see only Sarajevo(100 miles from Nevesinje), just put it somewhere in south BIH, it will be okay....😂😂😎
Prozor,, Bosnia and Herzegovina haha :)
@@jotulepr ma ako on BiH potrefi ja zadovoljan😎😂
maybe someone can develop an app where you are rated by who you win against in games you organise yourself, and hooks you up with similar people in your area of your ability or better to play games to increase your rating ( or drop your rating if you lose). Kind of like you have with online chess, and the rating you get on those apps. ( only you would be playing in real life with real players at a time that suits you). Then the games would matter and would be competitive with out wasting time with leagues etc
You could get off work from early on a friday, head to your snooker hall, open up the app and see if anyone there wanted a rated game against you. Or even just play people you already play with but have the games matter for both you against both of your rating on the app. Or let the app know you are willing to play anyone of a certain rating on say next monday night in the north london area, and it could arrange games for you to play. Don't think the app woul make anyone rich, so it would have to be a labour of love to set it up.
In online chess apps you can play practice games with strangers, or rated games. So it could also be good for people just to get to play and practice with people of similar abilities who they might not otherwise get to play.
Also, for people who work away from home or on the road, it could be a good way to find someone to have a game with - I mean with pool you can just walk into any bar and put a coin down on the table, but not so with snooker from my experience.
@@vlnow That's a really good idea!
I like that idea
@@MrAcdc2323 it would be great for the sport and great for amateurs, but the problem i see is, how could a developer see a profit in it? Unless it was through advertising perhaps or sponsorship. Another good thing that would be easy to do with such an app is have users rate tables. If such an app caught on, it could be a driver for table owners to keep their tables in good condition. And also good for table owners to make more money from their tables that they already have.
Been to many a working mens club in the UK with amazing tables, clearly kept in high condition by someone that truly cares, and yet no one even is even playing on them for most of the day.
These kinds of tables would be used more if such an app was available.
VLNOW pay a one fee for the app of $5 to $10, if the app was worldwide and had enough players using it plenty of money to be made.
That way you could play anywhere in the world as well
Hi, Steve from Birmingham, West Midlands. I have played in the Stirchley and District League (established in the late 1930s), at my current club for 5 years. The League itself used to have 7 Divisions but has now reduced to 3. That's still shy of 300 players, 5 players per team slogging it out over 5 frames for a victory. I do wonder how long League snooker will continue with clubs closing and players no longer playing. Will it be a thing of the past? I hope not!
There are a great number of Leagues still active within the UK and a few in Birmingham and surrounding areas, which is great for the game. Personally, I still enjoy the whole match environment and playing to win as an individual and a team. Thankfully, I am part of a team of players who are capable of winning, even if a lot of the frames become tactical and a bit of a lottery.
Thanks for another great video. 👍
I see you have a new mic and camera! going up in the world my friend love! but please invest in a body mic to remove echo instead of using your cameras mic.
Watching from Norwich, England. Great channel.
Hi my name is veljko from Serbia Belgrade. I like your videos and they helping me improve my game.
Used to play league snooker when I was young. Half time sandwiches was the best part of it.
You must’ve got better sandwiches than we get now then
I gave up on Snooker and went to Pool because of the Pub Leagues in Asia, with food, beer, opportunity to check out new pubs and meet new people. In Shanghai I even picked up Darts because it also had a Pub League. Without human interaction, most games are unfulfilling.
Watching From Johor Bahru , Malaysia.
Where do u play in JB?
Snooker leagues are good... its a night out! Too play a game you enjoy playing... few drinks... and yes' you do av too wait around a while for your game sometimes... but its good competition playing in the leagues...
Watching from Málaga, Spain.
Why aren't you a pro? Love your vids keep it up, from Hamilton NZ
0:47 my grandfather's club
Adam Bermingham from Armagh, Northern Ireland
Ótimos vídeos! Já assisti quase todos e aprendi bastante. Fernando de Brasília-DF Brasil!
I play in a league every Thursday team of 5 1 frame each, I don't get time to practice my snooker like I used to but then I know i'm not good enough to turn professional and make a living playing snooker so it becomes a hobby, something I enjoy doing and meeting up with other like minded people for a couple of pints, some banter and maybe the odd break over 65 lol
Definitely think doubles works as a format for amateurs as it maximises table time. Think travelling between clubs is a bit of a nonsense, should just be intra club singles and team leagues with the odd monthly competition bringing together the better players from different clubs.
I just play for the fun of it, have a good time with friends while trying out different craft beers. I don't cares so much about "valuable practice time", as I do valuable enjoying time playing the game and being with friends . I don't join leagues for the same reason you stated at 1:32.
Side note: In 2006, George Bush outlawed gambling in the US. Professional Snooker is thriving because the tournaments are sponsored by online gambling outfits, who make money from all the gamblers. The best pool players in the US are playing tournaments where the winner gets $5,000 US or less.
Frank L side note: in 2020 gambling on sport legalized in IL and i assume most other states soon
@@wombra8314 I didn't know it was allowed in any state. Did some research based on your comment. PlayUSA states casinos and racetracks, and sports venues can also offer online sports betting licences at $20 million each. As usual, the only winners will be the house.
The game is headed to the Far East so the prospect of raw talent discovery diminishes daily and sadly even with league snooker our clubs are dying out. Once great rooms filled with cloudy dank cigarette smoke, deep concentration and true passion for the baize are now being replaced with 2 bed commuter apartments or by Aldi and Lidl.
Lmao your edit is 💯🤣🤣 watching from Hanoi, Vietnam
i dont think leagues exist in Tianjin, China.
I occasionally see a lone guy practising on one of the 3 tables at my local venue but when i go to play, it is invariably empty.
If they would stop smoking for 10 seconds i might even approach them for a game......
Hi mate i'm Nick from Ostend - Belgium. I Like your video's and also shipped some tips from cuesoul to try out, keep on going! I play in a league also with 3 players including me in a team. We play each tuesday against other teams where we each play 4 frames. 2 against the first player you're up and then agaisnt the remaining two 1 frame . Currently in league 3 and there are four Leagues. Struggling with not being consistent enough.
What is the pathway that you'd take if you wanted to be a professional player? After reking all of your league opponents of course. Do you just stump up the entry fee and enter these tournaments or what
I played in a local league with 3 divisions of about 16 teams per league.Home and away ,6 players per team played 2 frames for aggregate points with each team receiving its own handicap.That was back in the 1970s.Over the years despite the snooker boom the number of teams dwindled and 3 divisions became 2.Then social clubs started closing down for ever and some removed the tables and put in pool tables and loud music to attract young people.I stopped playing 11 years ago but still follow the league online.Sadly all that remain are 5 venues fielding a total of 13 teams who play each other 3 times over the season.All in the same division with the poorer teams receiving as much as 500 or 600 start over 12 frames.There is only 1 snooker centre locally,fielding 4 teams,and if that club closed down I think the league would collapse.
I play in the Pembrokeshire Snooker league and it is seriously struggling. We used to have 4 snooker halls in the county and now we have none. The nearest snooker hall is 30 miles away and cost a fortune to play. The only tables left are in private member clubs and even they are struggling to stay open so sadly I think the league will fold in the next couple of years. So I am debating whether to just continue playing for fun or make the effort to go to Terry Griffiths snooker club for competitive snooker. It's sad to see snooker dying out like this.
The same problems are present in Merkin pool leagues as well. Spending 4hrs waiting around for two matches then walking up cold to a table you haven't rolled many balls on- the first few shots are an absolute dice roll. Get some bad luck early on and you have quite a hole to dig out of. It really isn't even the same game. To be fair, playing in a league the past two sessions has improved my ability to start cold and come out of the gate stronger, but my overall game has certainly not progressed.
Do leagues advance the game in the US? Unclear. I'd say no, but at least they still exist.
Pretty much the same as Snooker in the uk the. Or pool for that matter
This happened to me 2 weeks ago turned up cold not hit a ball, snookered off the break on my first shot then give 3 fouls away, leftr my opponent on a red next to the black was nearly 40 down after my first 3 shots, id personally like a little practice time on opposing team tables,seems like its not the thing to do on a tuesday night at snooker but pool night on a thurday you get to have 15 mins praccy on the away teams table to find out what it runs like wich is great, i will ask my captain to put this forward at the next snooker AGM
Not getting any practice time is a problem that all of Snooker seems to have in some way. I think people are just worried about it running on too long though
@@Breakfromlife You could play just ten reds only to shorten it, but as you know, it's not the same game.
Where did you get that league list? Our local league wasnt on there!
Has the introduction of blackball pool tables in pubs rather than snooker tables reduced the amount of interest younger people have in the game? From Carlisle, England
great video
Nice editing at 2:44 hehe
i finally must ask lol.,,.do you randomly select people for the map? or is it a patreon perk? how does it work?? D: i hate doxxing myself but feel compelled to represent on the map for all pools eternity so here goes! D: 🎲🎰🎲 waukegan, IL usa ✊😳👉 💜 👋🏻🎱👄🎱🤚🏻 cracks me up how you tie the map moment into the dialogue 😂😂😂
He explained this in one of his earlier videos. He puts everybody into a spreadsheet, and picks randomly from that. But he knows where everybody is :)
If a player has a score of 7 at the black ball and enough the cue ball into the pocket, so will he lose or it is black ball game ?
Aditya Sharma when a foul occurs on the black ball, 7 points are added to the score and the frame is stopped. In your example, that would leave the scores level, so yes... the frame would be settled with a respotted black.
Gr8 video i am ali from pakistan
Hi, have you tried the monstar tips
Can you please make a video on exploring the Table...
It’s probably obvious but I’m not sure what you mean by that. To the point that I’m now thinking of doing a Michael Palin style documentary where I show you round my table
@@Breakfromlife You know what - an actual video on "nap" wouldn't go amiss. Is it really true you can't do full length of the table shot with side against the nap, as Joe Davis says in his book?
Could the players of league winning teams get into qualification of tournaments so theres more pressure on the leagues and more reward?
You would think something like this would happen wouldn’t you. This would involve too much organising and people genuinely don’t have the time. Also a lot of these people won’t go into the same room as each other because of something that happed 20 years ago
@@Breakfromlife ????? How about a clue, like who was involved? What tournament? 20 years ago as in 1999?
@@Chris-bm5qd He was talking a theoretical, not a specific event. You know how any group of people larger than 10 is going to have some bad blood for silly reasons.
Need an opinion,..i play snooke with many frens in the club...scored good points n hv good breaks at times.
But the problem is ,is it a mental game when one purposely not potting a pottable red ball knowing there is a positional shots to continue.
All he did is to save the cueball n humiliate the whole game to make sure that i lose my concentration n momentum of cuing action goes wrong.
Probably i am not strong mentally bcos he has no guts in potting ball that actually made me fed up with the game.he knows he is on the losing end n would not improve...
I refuse to play with him but he said im not mentally strong..what is ur opinion in this?
In my opinion,true strenght doesnt know excuses,see it as a challenge to learn how to deal with uncomfortable situations in snooker and play with him more often:)
My opinion... just kick him off the snooker table...
Could there be a collaboration on the cards ? 😋
There is only one actual snooker club in Croatia although there are a few tables in the pool clubs around the country. Makes me fairly sad to be honest. Stjepan from Pozega, Croatia.
I hadn’t actually thought about Croatia but I know there’s a lot of Eastern European countries where snooker is played quite a bit. Shame that it’s not one of them
@@Breakfromlife
I made a mistake, there are two clubs in the capital, Zagreb, but that's it. Still, we have a solid pool scene and there was quite some carom back in the 80's. Still, I'm happy with my best break of 16 from one of my few visits to full-sized snooker table!
I play in a league. They have a system of handicaps which helps. New players start with a handicap of 40. Then if you win, it goes down and losing makes it go up.
Joe, Hemel hempstead but currently in Leeds, UK
How much was your table?
What you need is five things. A table. A kegerator. A still. A tip jar. And finally the women's network.
I'm from the US and really wanna find a way to get on the main tour and shake up the Snooker world by being the only american!! (Being totally serious) lol.
Would be good to see. Would mean staying in Britain for a few weeks to try to get through Q school
Break from life looked into it, awesome! I’d def need to practice on a snooker table for a bit though
@@MegaMilez oh you dont know how to play?🤔
@@chafiqbantla1816 Snooker looks like Pool until you try it.
I m a decent snooker player. I can also throw a curve in baseball and can balance a spoon on my nose. None of these ‘skills’ have any value in the scheme of existence. I have my own table and play every day...it’s meditative and scrubs the brain. Poke a ball with a stick. Whoopy-do. If I wanted a bigger challenge I’d go out to our nearby Rockies and poke a Grizzly with a stick. Snooker is dumb and meaningless and thus why I love it. League play? Meh...no desire to improve my ranking to 1207 from 1432...rather go fishing.
Odd flex
Did you mean “Whoopdy-do.”?
Trying hard to understand.
At least we dont have to play on Star tables like the top boys do ,so it's not all bad .
Awesome tables be a treat to play on them
Once you get used to star tables you don’t want to play on anything else. The thing is you don’t want to have to pay to have them reclothed every 3 months. Or at least I don’t
@@Breakfromlife Trouble is they are made from junk ,I know a lot of table fitters that all say the same ,you have Northern rubber and no 10 cloth ,but long term these tables are not good .There is a reason they are painted .
League snooker and pool for that matter have nearly died a death due to it costing more money than it's worth, travel , refreshments, table time if you don't get it free, and no return on spending £100 a season,thus there is no real future for leagues.
And you have too use your practise game too good effect in a match...
Played league snooker for 18 years, made my first century at 36....still trying to get the second😔
What snooker league you play in??? Whats your handicap???
Snooker is too hard and less rewards. also a good snooker cue is very hard to find and always bent. snooker is waste of time because you need to be practicing all the time to stay on form. I think most talented people sees this and don’t wanna play it again because nobody wants to practice that much. People wants more in their spare time
You forgot that it is also a considerable expense of money. But, well, there are people who spend 100 thousand on a car and only use it for driving on Sundays.
I play pool because I want to reach a certain level, and I'm not in a hurry, because I know that when I reach that level I will have fewer opportunities to play with people. My friends will no longer want to play with me because I will almost always beat them and people like to win from time to time, but to do so, as you say, you have to dedicate a lot of time. TRUE. We are going to a society where they want everything fast and instant, our downfall
WE NEED ALEX HIGGINS BACK!
Fully agreed , much missed and unreplacable , the modern day snooker owes an unrepayable debt to Alex Higgins for the focus that he brought to snooker which without him,snooker would have been left in the doldrums, however snooker is not out of the woods yet while it searches for its next super star to fail safe it's future.
1st one /❗💥
First viewer♥