What is snooker?

July 2, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Snooker

A baize-covered snooker table.
Image via Wikipedia

Snooker is a variation cue sport played on tables which are much larger than other variations of billiards sports. The game is played with a single white cueball, 10-15 red balls (15 in most versions of the game), and six single-colored balls: one yellow, one green, one brown one blue, one pink, and a single black ball.

What are the rules for Snooker?

The primary objective of snooker is to score a more points than your opponent. . The game is played with a single cueball,15 red balls (10 in one variation of the game) and six single balls of green, brown, yellow, pink and black.

A snooker player must first “pot” a red, then follow that with one of the single colored balls. Each ball has a certain number of points: red 1, yellow 2, green 3, brown 4, blue 5, pink 6, black 7. The player with the most points wins. Points can also be acquired from an opponent’s “fouls.”

When Was Snooker Invented?

Snooker is a game invented in India by British Colonel Sir Neville Chamberlain in 1875, combining elements of different billiard games. In its early manifestation, snooker was played fifteen red balls and single balls of yellow, green, pink, and black. Over time, as the game evolved, blue and brown balls were added to the mix.

What’s the Difference Between Snooker and Pool Cues?

Snooker cue sticks have narrower the shafts of other kinds of billiards games.

What material is a snooker ball made out of?

Phenolic resin, like other kinds of billiards balls. The colour of the ball is determined by adding a dye to the resin in its liquid state.

What Are The Main Features of a Snooker Table?

Professional nooker tables are 12 X 6 feet in size — considerably larger than the tables of other kinds of billiards games. Snooker tables for home use or venues with limited space may be small. Custom made snooker tables can be made anywhere from 6ft X 3ft to the competition level size (12′x6′).

Do Snooker Tables Require A Lot of Maintenance?

Quality snooker tables only require a modicum of maintenance. It is best to check out whatever consumer reviews you can find before purchasing a table. The better the quality, the more minimal the amount of care you’ll need to put into them. Care for high quality snooker tables will essentially involvesometimes the surface cloth, and sometimes wiping other surfaces with a damp cloth

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My Passion For Playing Snooker

April 29, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Snooker

Snookering Mastard
Image by MarkyBon via Flickr

One of my great passions in life, if you could call it that is playing snooker. I became interested in snooker from watching players like Alex Higgins and Jimmy White in the 1980s. 

At the age of around ten, I was bought a small five foot snooker table for Christmas. It was probably one of the best Christmas presents I was ever bought. I would seemingly be never off this little snooker table and would invite some of my friends round to also play.

When I was aged twelve, I joined a snooker club with a close friend of mine and we started to play on the full size snooker tables. The tables looked so massive and suddenly the art of playing snooker became that much harder.

My first aim was to get a break of ten, which was then followed with a break of twenty.

I became quite obsessed and some would say quite sad, as whenever I had any spare time or spare cash, I would go down to the snooker club to practice. I would even practice there on my own. My ultimate goal was not to become a professional like my idols, Higgins and White, but to achieve a break of one hundred.

I entered many tournaments with mixed success, I probably won twelve minor local tournaments. I also joined a league team and played on most Wednesday evenings during the snooker season.

At the age of twenty seven after playing snooker on full size snooker tables for fifteen years, I finally managed to score my first one hundred break. A week later I managed to get another one hundred break, a bit like the buses hey!

I must admit my determination has now started to wane and even though I still love to play snooker, I have not managed another one hundred break since.

By: blueboy

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including: stuttering natural health information herbal remedies

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Why Not Try Snooker Instead?

April 26, 2009 by admin  
Filed under Snooker

Cameraphone photo from audiance of Wembley Mas...
Image via Wikipedia

Care for a game of snooker? In America, many people haven’t even heard of this variation on billiards. Players in other parts of the world opt for snooker as their game of choice at pool halls and billiards rooms. Snooker is actually the most widely watched television sports program in England, but Americans are only beginning to recognize the game.  

Snooker has its roots as a simple variation on pool. In the beginning, it was known as “pyramid pool”, a new vesion of “black” or “life” games already being played. But Sir Neville Chamberlain modified the game around 1875, and its popularity took off sharply. Soldiers in England loved the new game, and helped spread it around the world. Today it is even more popular in modern England.

Newcomers may find it a bit intimidating to learn snooker, but the actual rules are not that complicated. Perhaps the most difficult part is setting the table properly:

* Snooker is played on 6 feet by 12 feet traditional billiards tables.

* Snooker balls come in standard sets of 22 balls. Each includes a white “cue” ball, and one each of green, black, blue, brown, yellow, and pink. Finally, there are 15 red balls in each set.

* Place the green, brown, and yellow balls side by side at one end of the table. Give them a gap of about six inches. In the exact center of the pool table goes the blue ball. Pink goes between the blue ball and the far end of the table. There is a special marked spot for the black ball, and it is about 13 inches from the top cushion.

* The fifteen red balls are set in the triangle rack and placed immediately behind the pink ball. The apex (‘point’) of the red triangle should come as close as possible to the pink ball, without actually touching it.

Once the balls are properly set, the game can begin. The breaking player strikes the triangle of red balls. When a player sinks a red ball, he or she is then free to shoot and sink any one of the six colored balls. The yellow ball is worth two points, the green is worth three, the brown ball is worth four, the blue is five, the pink is six, and the black is worth seven points. When a colored ball has been sunk, the point is scored and the ball is retrieved and re-spotted on the table.

There are also varieties of snooker that you can try out after you have mastered the basic game. As you can see, snooker is not terribly complex, but it can still be a drag on the fun part of the game for newcomers trying too remember all the rules, so it is best to have an experienced player explain the snooker rules to you.

Snooker has been a much beloved sport in England for more than a century, and with good reason. It is a fun game, that is easy to play, yet offers many skills challenges as one progresses. If your house already has a regulation-sized pool table, make sure you purchase a set of snooker balls and instructions soon, and add this fantastic game to your family’s activities.

By: Colette Thyman

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Author Barbara Miller loves writing for several web magazines, on outdoor recreation as well as travel bargains subjects.
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