A beginners Guide to playing Snooker

I have been playing snooker regularly for a couple of years and I am completely hooked. I first became interested in the sport was when I was literally 'snowed-in' during a bad winter of 2000-2001,I was in a Bed and Breakfast, in the lakes District, in England. On the television was a complete coverage of the World Championship Snooker being played from The Cauldron in Sheffield, England. I was virtually housebound due to the heavy snow but I quickly became interested, and watched the entire event for many many hours over that weekend. Fortunately the B and B had cable television so managed to watch the whole event.

Since returning to Australia I joined a Sporting Club and now play Snooker at least twice a week. Snooker has become an essential part of my life both for relaxation, enjoyment, and is a very sociable sport which can I believe can be enjoyed at any level by both males and females.

The object of the game of Snooker is to score more points than the opponent by potting object balls (the coloured ones) in a predefined order into one of the six pockets. Basically you must pot a red ball first then followed by a colour until all the red balls are potted. Then you pot the remaining colour's yellow, green,brown, blue, pink and black in that order. If you pot out of order you commit a foul and four points are awarded against you and you opponent then comes to the table and takes over play. When the final ball is potted, the player with the most points wins. One game is called a frame. Usually players play the best of five or nine frames. The professionals play many more frames as often they can finish one frame in between five and ten minutes. Where as the average player will take 40 minutes to finish the average frame.

Another object of the game is to snooker your opponent that is if it's difficult to pot a ball. You do this by making the white ball in such a position it is nigh impossible to hit a red ball without fouling missing or hitting a coloured ball first. Hense the term snookered. Being put in an almost impossible position.

The skills involved include holding and using a cue stick correctly. The tempo and power of hitting the white ball in a particular part of the ball becomes more paramount. As you develop skills you put stun or run on screw or side on the white ball. The balls movements are determined by pure physics and geometry. if you hit a ball in a particular way exactly every time the ball will move in a particular way. As such developing skills becomes easier with practice after a while say a few weeks you will learn the basics of stunning the ball screwing the ball so that the white ball goes to the particular place you want it. Putting side on the ball takes a bit more time and require more delicate stroke play. The beauty of the game is that like golf there is so much to learn to perfect the game and play well. Hours and hours of friendly rivalry can be had by playing the game. Also stance is important. A firm stationary stance is required. The forward leg closest to the table should be in line parallel to the angle of the shot you want to take. The back foot shout dissect the movement of the cueing arm in the middle of the foot the rear foot should also be at a 45 degree angle to the cueing arm.

There are many parallels in playing successful snooker to being successful in life endevour's. You need to develop skill to perform. You need to practicing to gain confidence in those skills. You need to keep practicing to hone new skills and match it with your competitors. You should keep your emotions in check when playing the game and executing your shot. Patience is required to be successful. Becoming upset or angry will adversely affect your performance and concentration. Concentration is required to perform well. Tension or injury in any part of your body will adversely affect performance. Technique is paramount. Being over eager or too timid will result in poor outcomes and low success.