- the World Snooker Championships -

- the Billiard Room News -

On April 23rd, Cliff Penner, Ted Baron, Peter Thomson, Rick MacKenzie (Terminal City Club) and I travelled to England to watch the World Snooker Championships at The Crucible in Sheffield.

The venue seats approxi-mately 950 and is recognized as the home of World Snooker. The Cruci-ble seating is bowl shaped with two heated six by twelve tables in play until the semi-finals begin when it is reduced to one. At the beginning of each session a large panel is dropped between the two tables, so that half of the crowd is focused on one session and the rest of the crowd on the other.

We arrived just as the sixteen first round matches, best of 19 frames were being completed. Over the next four days we watched 11 live sessions which included approximately 88 frames of second round best of 25 frame snooker through to and includ-ing some of the quarter finals. This was thanks to Cliff Penner who stayed up past three in the morning last Sep-tember to secure our tickets as soon as they came on sale.

These are the best of the best, mostly from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, but four from China, one from each Australia, Bel-gium and Hong Kong.

One of the first 8 frame ses-sions we watched was in the second round between Joe Perry and Steven McGuire.

By Mr. Don Comack

Newsletter Date: May 2012

Special Edition Issue #1

The first three frames were won with century breaks by both players. In fact over the course of the schedule at the Crucible, 71 century breaks were recorded. Steven Hendry recorded the only perfect game in the 2012 World's during the first round against Stuart Bing-ham. I can recollect only a cou-ple of frames that went down to black ball as we so often do. Most matches were won with a "starter" red or a "starter from distance" that lead to a big break. It is incredible how these players control their cue ball. They can place "stuff" of the cue ball that will make it do things unimaginable, such as bust into a pack of reds in a circular mo-tion, spreading them out, after potting a hard black in the cor-ner. Because one “dolly” red can begin the end of a frame, these players are very focused on playing safe and snookering with the cue ball.

Their weight and ability to manoeuvre the white up table off a red and back to a tight position on the baulk cushion is incredible. Inversely, we watched Ronnie O'Sullivan attempt "a roll up safety" to a red at the other end of the table, rolling short nine of ten tries, giving up thirty-six points because he needed to avoid leaving a starter for Neil Robertson. O'Sullivan went on to win the frame. We watched the two sessions when Steven Hendry annihilated last years champion John Higgins and then went on to get beaten soundly by Stephen Maguire in the next round.

Peter Thomson, Ted Baron, Don Comack, Cliff Penner, Rick MacKenzie at St. Pancras Railway Station leaving London for Sheffield

The home of World Snooker "The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield

Page 2 - the Billiard Room News -

Hendry announced his retirement shortly after, leaving as the most decorated player of all time with seven world championships. We watched Ronnie O'Sullivan play two sessions in the quarters against Neil Robertson. It was reputed as being the match to watch and lived up to that expectation with a 13 to 10 victory for O'Sullivan. It is incredible when you see a pro player get into "the zone". Ryan Day got there with twenty-one year old Cao Yupeng to end their match 13-7 in the second round. Every shot he took was dead centre and he was hammering them as he moved quickly from shot to shot. We saw Ronnie O'Sullivan get there too. He is the best potter in the world. He was reprimanded at one point by the referee for beginning to shoot be-fore the black was placed back on the table.

Rob Walker getting the crowd set up for the introduction of referees and players before going live on BCC.

Three centuries to start Stephen Maguire and Joe Perry on one side/ Mark Williams and Liu Chuang on the other.

Page 3 Special Edition Issue #1

The terminology that we use is quite different from what you hear at the Worlds. Our bank-side is a double, a three to the side is a "cocked hat double", a set up red is a "dolly red", the centre pocket is the middle, the corner pocket is the end, the rag is a cushion, the cushion at the head of the table is the baulk cushion, as is the line on the top of the D a baulk line, a hook is a snooker, a game is a frame, best of eight or nine of a match is a session, best of 19/25/33 or 35 is a match. It was very special to stay at St Paul's Mercure adja-cent to the Crucible. Many of the players and commentators were staying there. It was not uncommon to step on the eleva-tor with the likes of Ali Carter or sit beside him at breakfast one morning. We bought drinks for Stephen Hendry who was sitting beside us with his crew in the bar one night. Steve Davis, Wille Thorne, John Parrott and Rob Walker were all around throughout our stay there. There is a huge painting in the lobby commemorating 1980 World Champion, Canadian Cliff Thorburn's perfect game at the Worlds in 1983, the first televised in its history. We left Sheffield just as the quarter finals were end-ing and the semi finals were beginning. It couldn't have been more perfect, as we had the chance to see so many great play-ers in action during the initial rounds, as the field was nar-rowed down from sixteen to eight to four. Back in London, thanks to Rick MacKenzie and his Terminal City Club's reciprocal agreement, we stayed at the Royal Automobile Club on the Pall Mall. What a facility it is. They have a first class snooker room like ours and two pros who run it. Several rules of use were made clear to us up front. One piece of chalk per table which never gets left at the table. No flipping coins on the table and if you spoke too loudly during a match, be prepared to be admonished for do-ing so. We watched the remainder of the quarters on BBC and had fun playing snooker in between. The RAC snooker chair Peter Bainbridge and committee member Mike Shen joined us for a few frames and hosted a fabulous luncheon for us. Rick, Mike and Peter assisted us in meeting with RAC General Manager, Christian Horvath to arrange application for a reciprocal agreement between our Club and the RAC. Once that happens, if you have the chance, be sure to check it out. But gentlemen be sure to take jackets, ties and hard col-lar shirts. Back in Canada after being away for thirteen days, we were glued to the internet watching the live final between Ali Carter and Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan won his fourth World's title 18-11 in the best of 35.

Photo Gallery

Arriving in The Crucible lobby for our first matches.

Cliff Penner in front of the Royal Automobile Club on the Pall Mall in London. Her Majesty resides around the corner.

Picture at right: Don Comack, Cliff Penner, Peter Thomson, Rick Mackenzie and Ted Baron beginning a five course dinner in the main dining room of the Royal Automobile Club. An amazing meal in an incredible venue.

Remember to use a light grip on the cue butt, a tight grip will lead to ‘cue dipping’ and ‘steering the cue’. There is a tran-sition in the thumb and first finger during the stroke. In picture #1 the arm is hanging straight down but at the end of the stroke the thumb and first finger should be pushed forward, by doing this you create a SLIDE instead of a rocking motion, so please try this while you are doing drill #1, it may help you achieve a nice even flowing stroke that stays on the baulk-line from the beginning of the stroke to the end of the stroke!! These first 3 drills are 60% of the game of snooker: 1) the line-up of the body and cue, 2) being able to cue in a straight line and 3) shooting the cue ball in a straight line!

If you have tried drill #1 & #2, you may find that you are not quite lining the cue up with the baulk line or that you are having trouble getting the cue to go through in a straight line. There could be an error in your approach to the line or it might have something to do with your grip! In most pool books I have read, the grip is not discussed to any great length. I believe the reason to be that most professional players do not have an issue with their grip, their own talent and grip allows the cue to move in a straight smooth line. I have no-ticed a number of various cue

grips, here is an overview of the various types: #1 the wrist dead straight in line with the forearm and elbow #2 with the elbow out to the side, which takes the grip into the palm of the hand #3 wrist is turned out to the right which would bring the cue to-wards the fingertips. I have seen professional players with all three grips, each one suited to their basic style of play. Steve Davis is #1, Ray Reardon is #2 and Patsy Fagan held the cue with his fingertips and managed to win a UK title or two back in the late 1970’s! They all work, but a certain grip might be better suited to a player then another, so try drill #1 & #2, try the various cue grips to see which one might work best for you!

#1 grip straight down from the elbow #2 grip towards the palm #3 grip towards the fingertips

- Drill #3 the Cue Grip -