I thought most people play snooker in Ontario Lex
@The Prowler
On the west coast hardly anyone plays it
I think you would be right back in the 1970's and earlier. There used to be quite a number of pool halls in my city (they were "pool halls", but the tables were all snooker tables). Modern Billiards, Imperial Billiards, Gentleman's Billiards, Lucky 7...there was a bowling place that had at least two snooker tables, and another bowling place that had about 10 snooker tables. The place that we are buying our pool table used to be down the street about half a block and the owner had a little lunch place beside the store (the next store unit on the block) and in the back he had 4 snooker tables. There were place all over the city with one or two snooker tables.
But now a very low percentage of cue sport players play snooker, Senile
@Joe. The is only one place in town that has snooker tables and they only have two I think. I was there about 2 years ago and I forget for sure, but most of their tables are 9 foot pool tables.
Pool, games like 8-ball or 9-ball, have much easier learning curves than snooker. So casual players tend to stick to pool.
For one, the tables are smaller. Usually 8 or 9 foot table, versus a 12 foot snooker table. That mean most shots are a shorter distance, which is easier. A 9 foot pool table is about 40.5 square feet. A snooker table surface is about 72 square feet. That is about 78% bigger. A huge difference.
The pockets on a snooker table are tiny compared to pockets on a pool table. Obviously smaller pockets make potting the balls more difficult.
Another big difference is the corners. Snooker table corners are rounded. Pool table corners are cut straight. If you hit the corners on a pool table, the ball will probably drop into the pocket. On a snooker table, the rounded corners make it much more likely that the ball will bounce away from the pocket. This is especially true for shots that are made along the rail. On a pool table, you can make those shots with a fairly fast shot. On a snooker table, the aim has to be precise, but the speed of the shot has to be slow enough that the ball will drop into the pocket; too fast and it will almost surely bounce out.
Snooker balls are also smaller than American pool balls, which makes it more difficult.
Personally, I like snooker more than 8-ball or 9-ball. But right now I would struggle to play a good game of snooker. I used to play a bit and I was decent, but it has been a while. Give me a few months with my pool table and I should be able to play a decent game of snooker.