Is a pool player better equipped to play snooker or vice versa?

Question

Is a pool player better equipped to play snooker or a snooker player better equipped to play pool?

I think everyone agrees snooker players are a lot better at potting balls whereas pool players generally play better position.

I was just wondering which set of skills equips you better for the other game, i know many snooker players (especially women) who have exceeded at the game of pool but im not even aware of a 9ball player transfering to the pro-snooker circuit.

No doubt there positional play would be better but would they be able to handle the potting?

Answer 1

i think pool players would struggle on 12 x 6 full size snooker table with the potting and the general game. i think snooker players would find it easy on full size pool table because of solid potting (practicing on massive tables 3/4 hours a day) but there positional play may not be up to scratch

on the whole snooker players are more skilled. than pool players

Answer 2

I'm a pretty decent pool player, but the first time I played on a full-size snooker table, I couldn't get over how huge it was and neither I nor my friend could pot squat.   Forget about putting together a break, just potting a red was an accomplishment.  I think the final score was like 28-25 or something horrible like that.    

So I would say snooker players should be able to clean up on a pool table.

Answer 3

Some of the snooker professionals, once they were a little over the hill, and no longer able to win snooker tourneys, tried playing pool, and were instantly able to compete in the top 10-20. Potting is so easy for snooker players that they can hold their own at pool. Where they fall down is with the difference in tactics between the two games. Those who have claimed that snooker is not a game of tactics have no understanding of the game. It is a highly tactical game, because you can't expect to simply walk up and run the table in a single opportunity. The tactics of pool are different, but it is not beyond any good snooker player to learn them.

I believe that, with practice, snooker players would excel at pool. With similar practice, pool players would just come to realize how difficult snooker is.

Answer 4

Sailor got it pretty well covered.

Myself I have won a lot of Snooker games but have never lost to a Snooker player.in pool -I dont mean someone that plays both just a snooker player they cant control the cue ball. With an hrs practice you can get used to a snooker table and it is just shot making If your dead on the size doesn't matter ie...

If you shoot a gun & hit dead center on a 8 in target why would it matter if the target is 4 in you still hit dead center?

Boils down to if you can shoot or not not the size of the table balls or any other excuse

Now to compare the two its like Checkers & chess

Pool being chess as opposed to 3 diffrent moves in checkers

you could learn snooker in an afternoon while it could take half a lifetime to learn pool  ( to be a top player in either ) just takes practice

Answer 5

Keep in mind that the female snooker players only dominate the women's tour, not pool in general. They get their clocks cleaned when playing the best men (who are the best overall players) in the world. Male snooker players do not have much success at pro pool, and I know for a fact that Efren Reyes has won a few top snooker tournaments.

I have played plenty of pool, and more snooker than most Americans, and can tell you one thing for sure: Most pool players are no good at snooker, and most snooker players are not good at pool. The fact is, the 2 sports favor different skills, and neither type of player can instantly become proficient at the other game. Pool is very strategy intensive, and no matter how well you pot balls, you cannot instantly learn good strategy. I play in a league that rates players based on their skill, and there are plenty of people who are good at making balls, but are C (average or below average) players because their strategy sucks. On the other hand, snooker players depend on lot on accuracy, which often requires well developed mechanics. A lot of pool players are not great mechanical players, so it takes some time for them to learn to be more accurate.

Overall, I'd say it's almost a toss up. But if I had to pick, I'd say that it would be easier for a professional pool player to become a top snooker player than the other way around. I just say that because strategy takes more time to learn than mechanics. I say this because a player can be taught proper mechanics in an afternoon, it just takes time to get comfortable with it. Strategy comes 90% from playing games, and there is no shortcut to play 1000 or more racks of pool.

Answer 6

vice versa

Answer 7

Actually the answer is neither.  While fundamentally the same the concepts are vastly different, as are the way the games are played.  I'm a fairly good pocket billiard player, 8-ball, 9-ball, straight pool, chicago, and pill pool being what I've played the most.  And while I'm quite good at those, won more than my share of local toury's and placed well in regional ones as well, I love the game of snooker.  It's just so hard to find a place to play it here in New Jersey, USA.  Snooker itself is much more challenging from a skills standpoint, and that's what I love.  Where as in games like 8-ball, 9-ball, and such there is such a great deal of stategy as well.  Just being able to make a great shot to a pocket isn't enough, knowing how and when you play safe, to move the cue ball around the table, it's a different game all together.  

To give you the best answer possible, while many snooker players come over to what is refered to as pool, and the transition isn't quick, I feel it's easier to adjust to the stategies of pool, as a snooker player, than it is for a pool player to adjust to snooker.  Snooker is a bigger table, in and of itself not that big a problem, it's just those darned rounded pockets, you have to be able to hit them just right, with a little bit of spin transfered to the object ball.

Give a pool player a month to practice snooker, and a snooker player a month to practice pool, my money would be on the snooker player being more adept.

As for people transfering to the snooker circuit, look at golf, how many europeans come to the US to play in the PGA, while few americans go elsewhere.  The main reason for this is strictly market.  The US market for such things is by far one of the largest, with the most corporate backing and hence the bigger paychecks.