Safety Play

[James69667]

I need to improve on my safety play, can anyone help?

I'm happy with everything else, but Safety Play is an issue, any tips or practice techniques?

[reverse_side]

Hi James, the best players in the world are on show for you to learn a huge amount from at the moment. You can also see how their choices pan out with experienced commentators offering opinions on shots before AND after the Pro on the table plays their shot.

Best players to learn from are Davis, Higgins, Doherty, Ronnie & McManus.

A great way to learn is to watch the footage with a mate that you actually play snooker with; what you discuss sinks in more deeply.

Davis commentating is a free tutorial; he did the Stevens/Doherty match last night and he could have given Matthew at least 3 more frames if he had one of the audience's earpieces - potting the blue to middle was a strange shot especially as he gave himself an awkward safety afterwards Doherty wouldn't have wanted. Blue to cushion (awkward for any potential Doherty clearance) and white off two cushions behind the green for a snooker on the two reds near the black on the cushion was the best option... simple to play too.

A Davis-esque tip would be to fully commit to the safety once you know it's the best shot, then imagine where you wouldn't want to have to play the next shot.

A new one I've given to Ranen recently was when he was having problems flicking off reds for a safety; I offered an idea that he should look where the red's going to go as though it's a pot, and play it like you're trying to move the red on a specific line. Better than a 'shot thought' of, "hit it as thin as possible", which can result in hitting it more than very fine - missing it!

Good luck.

(I suppose there could be a Snooker Licence test; written and practical where you'd be shown a table and asked what shot to play then get marked on yor thoughts and then your attempt.... but that's just my brain workin overtime! But having a series of set-ups and being asked what to play would show what level you're at and where you can improve)

[James69667]

Thanks man.

Yeah, that really helped, I watched a few tapes of Doherty, and took notice of everything he was doing. Also, I was listening to the commentators more closely on the 3rd session of Stevens/Doherty.

It's halped a bunch so far, I started snookering my bro' a lot more when we were playing.

' Davis-esque tip would be to fully commit to the safety once you know it's the best shot, then imagine where you wouldn't want to have to play the next shot.' -- I tried that as well, just not against anyone if ya know what I mean.

It's helped a bunch so far, I started snookering my bro' a lot more when we were playing.

Thanks again for the help.

[reverse_side]

thassorite James; you'll see that the main point of playing safe when you need to is for giving you more chances to pot, score and win. If you think it's a means to an end, then you won't even approach feeling slightly guilty in rolling up or refusing a shot.... you want to win and the better your opponent, the more worthwhile it becomes.

I used to play loose and larey (bout 20 years ago!) but then when you join a team, play doubles/triples and people rely on you, it becomes second nature to always try and play the right shot - I still let the elbow off it's leash now-and-again tho, just not as often!

Another trick would be to try and make lots of your frames competitive in some way; make it a best of 3,5.... etc or even the classic 35 and play it over however long it takes you, families are easy - who does the dishes, buys the drinks, mow the lawn, tea in bed etc. We used to play for who bought the food and I introduced a Snooker Ladder in our Club to allow people to challenge each other.

Once you improve your 'matchplay', people will have even more respect for you and you'll be harder to beat... so you'll win more... then enjoy it more and the self perpetuating cycle begins and continues.

If there's the same people you play against but they're of varying ability, try giving people handicaps. You may not be better than your brother at the moment, so he could give you 3 blacks start (21) and then add or take of blacks when you win or lose a frame of series of frames. Aim to play him off scratch and win, then have the pride of giving HIM a start!

(PS it is one of the greatest privileges to start playing with or against a sibling at a young age, especially a brother... you just can't help but become better and enjoy the sport event more. Insatiable desires to win are supported by never letting things get out of hand because of that basic strong bond)

[James69667]

families are easy - who does the dishes, buys the drinks, mow the lawn, tea in bed etc. We used to play for who bought the food and I introduced a Snooker Ladder in our Club to allow people to challenge each other.

lol, cool, I'll have a try at that.

The snooker ladder sounds like a good idea, I've gotta bring that in...have all family memebers (in the household) on, and friends etc. lol

Yeah, so I'll try and be more competative, and throw stipulations in there to make it meaningful.

Thanks