Other All things Snooker

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The Talent Scout said:
I mainly played eightball and snooker, when I lived in Tassie. When I did purchase my first cue it was a two piece no-name cue worth about $130, with the case. It was a lot better than the pub cues I'd been using when I played eightball. Of course back in the 80s and the 90s I played in a lot of 8 ball calcutta's which were usually a field of 32 players, where players were auctioned off and some players would go for big money.

Each week was different but the calcutta's would range anywhere from $350 to $1600 depending on which hotel hosted it and how many patrons were there. If you bought yourself and you won, you would collect the whole purse. On the other hand if someone else bought you and you won, you would usually get half or whatever was agreed to, before the tournament started.

Then when I first went to the RSL {the only snooker tables available were in RSL'S.} I played with my "normal" lightweight cue for about 3 years on the big tables before I saved up, and with my dad got on the "ABEL TASMAN" which later would be known as "The spirit of Tasmania" and went straight to Alcock Thomson & Taylor in South Melbourne.

After several hours of testing many cues I settled on "the one", just so happens that it was named after my favourite snooker player and who I modelled my game on, Jimmy {the whirlwind} White. Cost $700 but you've got to remember that was a lot of money at that time, in actual fact it was the second dearest cue in the store, although money wasn't an issue, it was finding a cue that was like an extension of my arm, if that makes any sense.

I then proceeded to use my cue for snooker/eightball and billiards until I retired in around the early 2000s when I moved over here to South Australia, where my fiancee comes from, who happens to be a former Australian champion eightball player.
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RSLs are good and the only place i can get on a 12ft Snooker table. I have my own 9x4 Snooker spec Harry Evans table but you cant beat being on a full size table. The size of them is just enormous and TV does not do them justice.

Taking straight Blue balls off the spot in practice from the D is like ( or seems ) 20m away to the bottom left pocket!!

My local RSL which is Werribee RSL has 2 full size tables upstairs but the cloth is worn to the shit and they wont spend a cent on em. I always take my own 3G balls and Cue etc when i go and brush cause they dont even have one and i always brush em down before and after playing.
 
Chism said:
RSLs are good and the only place i can get on a 12ft Snooker table. I have my own 9x4 Snooker spec Harry Evans table but you cant beat being on a full size table. The size of them is just enormous and TV does not do them justice.

Taking straight Blue balls off the spot in practice from the D is like ( or seems ) 20m away to the bottom left pocket!!

My local RSL which is Werribee RSL has 2 full size tables upstairs but the cloth is worn to the s**t and they wont spend a cent on em. I always take my own 3G balls and Cue etc when i go and brush cause they dont even have one and i always brush em down before and after playing.
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Absolutely delighted that you do this and shows care, much respect goes out to you! A couple of years before I left Tassie, the RSL that I'd played for {Burnie RSL} got rid of their two snooker tables which had been there for a very, very long time and replaced them with poker machines, not bad for a non profit organisation. We had won premierships and made grand finals putting our RSL back on the map, so to speak.

The day that they did this almost tore my heart out, from seeing our beautiful billiard room where so many great battles had been won and lost and visited by top players from around Tasmania to then see poker machines everywhere and renovated to make it look dazzling, I let my membership run out and never entered the place again. I had to go to the next town to play in our league and I don't drive, luckily I knew lots of people and got one of my friends to play with me, but it wasn't the same.

I am saddened to hear that they don't put on a new cloth and with the club not even having a brush for the tables is quite unbelievable. The club should have a brush, an iron and they should be looked after, that should be a guarantee!
The tables being so big, tell me about it, coming from an eightball background to the big tables took a little getting use to, I can tell you. Its much easier to go from a snooker table to an eightball table than the reverse, although not impossible.

I only hope that your RSL doesn't go the way of mine and that you have many years left to play/practice this great game!
 

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The Crucible Curse claims another victim; returning champion Luca Brecel lost overnight to David Gilbert 10-9. He actually led 9-6 before Gilbert took the final four frames. Solid Effort.

This continues the streak whereby no first time champion has ever been able to defend their title. Like Brecel, they often fall at the first hurdle.
 

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Other All things Snooker

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