What is billiards

[Snooker]

I always thought billards was played on a snooker table with 3 balls and the object of the game was to pot the cueball off the object ball, but after going to the US the game seems to be more like pool.

Can somebody clarify this for me.

[mirocri]

Visit the Canadian ( and veeery nice ) site [url]http://www3.sympatico.ca/eric.perreault/ :) defaulthtml.html :) They have basic rules and so on. ( Again sorry for the smiley - otherwise the address appears incomplete ! )

[Redguy1986]

Billiards is basically about going in off and cannons. You will find the americans have different rules for every sport. Billiards is no where near like pool played to the prober rules I no cause I have play A grade pool and C Grade Billiards. The best way to find the prober rules would be to go out and buy a rules book.

Billiards is a great game to play and helps u alot with u snooker game atleast that I have found.

[silverdragon]

When i think of billiards, 3 cushion carom comes to mind. Slightly heavier and bigger balls, 3 balls, table with no pockets. Aim the cue ball to contact one object ball, have the cueball contact 3 rails, then hit the other object ball. or 3 cushions first then the 2 object balls.

[reverse_side]

http://www.caromtv.com/ if you want hardcore billiards... without any pockets, and you have to hit 3 cushions before you can think of scoring - oh yeah, world record's only about 23!!!!

[Phired]

lol, just watched a video from caromtv. That game is really wierd! There are 3 balls on the table and as far as I can gather they have to hit the yellow so it hits the white and then the yellow hits the white. No pockets on the tables either.

[reverse_side]

It's fascinating when you see the great players on a 'run'/break, you can download some video files from the site too.

Some of the shots they play are jaw droppers aren't they, the fact the table is slightly smaller, 10x5 not 12x6, doesn't make them any less spectacular - it'd improve your snooker for sure.

in the canon, you have to hit the cushions 3 times; anywhere in the shot.

[silverdragon]

both the white and yellow balls are used as cue balls. the red ball is used as the object ball. the object of the game is to score a certain amount of points. to shoot a scoring shot you have to hit one of the balls with yur cue ball, have yur cue ball hit, at least 3 rails, then hit the second object ball. thats the general shot. the rule is that the cue ball must contact 3 or more rails before it touches both object balls.

it really is a good game to improve yur skills. after i started playing carom billiards, ive been able to make some shots most people would even dream of. shots like multiple rail set ups or going around multiple balls off rails. of course, i have never used any of those fancier shots when i play snooker.

[reverse_side]

what's your highest break silverdragon? if that's what you call it? I guess as in billiards, opponents toss for playing the yellow or white rather than choosing which one every visit?

Doubt the BBC'll cover some footage, but SKY might, I always imagine someone with a brain'll bring back Pot Black and/or Junior Pot Black. Blaine Hendry Vs Judd Trump tickets; twist my arm!

[silverdragon]

break in snooker or run in carom? im not that great in snooker, being more of a pool player since its so hard to find a snooker table where i am. the closest hall i know of that has more than one snooker table is carom cafe, there caromtv comes from. my highest break in snooker was around 60 i think. highest run in carom was 8.

as for how they choose which cue ball they want, the winner of the lag gets to choose which (white or yellow) ball they want for their cue ball.

[reverse_side]

pretty good standard then, enough for you to approach what the Pro's can do - hope you sorted out the BBC Streaming problem, especially if you like Steve Davis; cracking bloke. It'd be much better if that Carom webcam had a faster speed, difficult to see the shots, nice when you see their reaction at a good shot though.
PS Steve's 8-6 up and 9 all in points, just snookered Gerrard Greene after a miss hit, but Greene just potted an amazing red - txt commentaries eh, if only.

[silverdragon]

Thats my dream, to become a professional, even the best. Of course, im having doubts about that happening. Its not that my skills arient high enough, but the question of support. Most people have to start young, playing in leagues and tornements. I just dont have that kind of money, and im not getting any support from my family. My parents take the sterotypical view of pool halls as being bad, and they want me to get a job with dependable income. Considering tournements are usually at night, i cant imagine my parents letting me stay out so late in a pool hall at 7 PM. The fact that they dont even let me go out and hang out with my friends is another story.

Nope, i didnt get that stream problem fixed. I figure when i go to college, ill get a dish that recieves uk BBC.

Its hard to have good speed on a webcam. I remember telling the owner that a better camera should be placed, but that hasent happened. I guess its not that important, because im sure there arient that many people watching that live feed.

[wilk147]

I always thought billards was played on a snooker table with 3 balls and the object of the game was to pot the cueball off the object ball, but after going to the US the game seems to be more like pool.

Can somebody clarify this for me.
well m8, im from the uk, scotland,billiards2 me is 3 ball,s 1 white for 1 player &1 yellow 4 ur opponent,and the black,or sometimes a red,that is the main ball,,the way i no how 2 play is u get points 4 playn cannon,s in off,s pottn black or opponents ball,&if u were 2 follow frew& go in of say or cannon the other ball thats on table u get ,point,s 4 the pot plus point,s 4 the in of or cannon,,the player thats on play,s till he misses,,,hope that makes sence 2 u m8,,but in usa they call billiards,pool,different strokes 4 different folkes lol ;]] :cool:

[The_Godfather]

Isnt this billiards?

http://www.mastersgames.com/images/table/bar-billiards.jpg

[reverse_side]

Int-restin username FRJ; your pic is for Bar Billiards.

[The_Godfather]

Int-restin username FRJ; your pic is for Bar Billiards.

Yes, it is interesting, sorry, I dont know much about billiards.

[reverse_side]

nobody does really, but I play it now and again and it builds some extra confidence into your game; it helps you know when to avoid an in-off and getting balls off cushions for break building.... there's a game called Carom that would blow most snooker players mind if they saw what they had to do to score, let alone watch some guys play it.

[The_Godfather]

Hahaha, this is insaine:

http://www.hilinski.net/chgallery/carom_detail.jpg

[reverse_side]

xlnt, looks like a satanic Viagra drug den!

http://www.caromcafe.com/frameset.html for the b*tch of all cue games.

[The_Godfather]

ugh, fu*k that, lol

[reverse_side]

I know, my words exactly; especially if you have a mooch and download the movie files and seem them actually play some shots, one guys highest break is 28, "oh the table's only 10 feet by 5", don't cut it for me.

Mentioning Billy-Yards is good enough for me.

[silverdragon]

3 cushion carom isnt as hard as your all making it sound. Well, i guess snooker players really dont bank a lot and stuff, but thats something that can be practiced. Many of the carom pros see the angles in their heads but a lot of people use whats called the diamond system to make sure of their shot. Its basically just using the diamonds along the rail along with some simple math to see how the ball will go around the table. Its really a fun game and is always something nice to do out of the norm.

[The_Godfather]

3 cushion carom isnt as hard as your all making it sound. Well, i guess snooker players really dont bank a lot and stuff, but thats something that can be practiced. Many of the carom pros see the angles in their heads but a lot of people use whats called the diamond system to make sure of their shot. Its basically just using the diamonds along the rail along with some simple math to see how the ball will go around the table. Its really a fun game and is always something nice to do out of the norm.

Well, it looks to difficult to me.

[reverse_side]

yo draggy; you're right in the systems that can be used, there's quite a few geometrical & trig that can help the natural ability of a good eye. There's a guy's URL I've given to a few people (and mentioned him elsewhere on the forum) that shows loads of ideas for pool, that can be used in snooker.... ever heard of the mirror technique for doubles/bank shots and especially for getting out of snookers?

As for 3 cushion carom it'd be alot easier if you just had to come off 3 cushions after hitting the object ball to come back and get the canon - but there's shots with multiple cushion inbetween the canons.

[silverdragon]

Theres this guys website:
http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/pool/

Its pretty helpful as it contains basically all videos (to go along with the book he wrote). Theres a bunch of videos helping out with banks and kicks.

[silverdragon]

For some reason, i cant edit my posts.....

Anyways, i just realized that the link youve put up is the host server for the guys website. Lol. So yea, same videos.

[reverse_side]

drags, that's the guy I was talking about, but I only ever had his Apache directory listings, cheers for that.

Bet your house smells the biz when your re-tipping! ;-)

[reverse_side]

don't think anyone can edit at the mo, no smmileys and whatever's been chopped while it's being 'upgradedd'..... I've just resent an email from tonight with the proper URL.

[silverdragon]

http://www.engr.colostate.edu/~dga/pool/technical_proofs/TP_7-2.pdf

THATS the article to read for 3 cushion help though. It explains the diamond system and how to use it.

[The_Godfather]

I might give billiards a try, I think we have a billiards table in this town somewere.

[algreen]

this is a message for 'reverse side'

ive just come back from barcelona where i played carom for the first time. really enjoyed it to be honest. it really shows up weakness's in your cue ball control. we didnt play te 3 cushion version as that seemed almost impossible to play for our first attempt!

would you know where i could find out where in the uk has these types of billiard tables, as i would love to have another game or even get into it in a big way.

thanks for your time

[hegeland]

I really like playing carom, whenever I can find a decent table. It's so difficult though and really a test for your patience. I think its the oldest cue sport game too.

[Geoff Large]

I always thought billards was played on a snooker table

Can somebody clarify this for me.

Billiards is played on a Billiard table , Snooker is also played on a Billiards table , so you are wrong to think Billiards is played on a snooker table as in theory there is no such thing as a Snooker table . :eek:
you may think its a snooker table , it's just that in modern talk poeple forget that it was infact first invented for Billiards , and snooker was a game that came after and played on a Billiards table . :snooker:
Snooker took off and is now played more than Billiards , so people forget the Billiard table name and call it a Snooker table :confused: . as it is very rare to see people play billiards in clubs and halls anymore .

A person who maintains and fits the table + recovers it ,is called a Billiards Fitter , not a Snooker fitter .

[Terry Davidson]

There was a mention in this string about not getting the BBC snooker in the USA. If you go to www.channelsurfing.net they stream the BBC feed live. There's also adthe.net and quite a few others although sometimes the BBC cuts them off for a little while for copyright reasons.

Also, just to let you know you won't be able to get BBC UK with a satellite dish in North America unless it's about 2 miles in the air and also about 25 meters in diameter to pick up the European satellites.

The only way is off the internet. The Chinese coverage is streamed live on TVUNetwork too by the way.

Terry

[Rane]

Billiards is played on a Billiard table , Snooker is also played on a Billiards table , so you are wrong to think Billiards is played on a snooker table as in theory there is no such thing as a Snooker table . :eek:
you may think its a snooker table , it's just that in modern talk poeple forget that it was infact first invented for Billiards , and snooker was a game that came after and played on a Billiards table . :snooker:
Snooker took off and is now played more than Billiards , so people forget the Billiard table name and call it a Snooker table :confused: . as it is very rare to see people play billiards in clubs and halls anymore .

A person who maintains and fits the table + recovers it ,is called a Billiards Fitter , not a Snooker fitter .

I think people are talking about two different games in this thread. Am I right supposing that when talking about billiards in the UK, it´s played on the same table as snooker?
Carom (that was called billiards) is played on a smaller heated table with heavier and bigger balls.

[moglet]

OK so someone thought to bump this thread, Goeff Large is absolutely correct when he says that there is no such thing as a snooker table, semantics aside, the game he means is English Billiards as we are now expected to call it to distinguish it from other games. Carom, or pocketless billiards is an older game and is not played on a "snooker" table, the Americans seem to have a whole host of games that come under the "billiards" umbrella but have nothing to do with the English game, they too are not played on a "snooker" table.