Fun Fact: it is illegal for cue's in bars or pubs to be straight. A state regulated 8 degree bend is required on all cues. A recent addendum of the law also saw the removal of tips from 25% of the available cues.
@@Breakfromlife I have $5 cue sticks with ferrule and tip added that squirt/deflect 1/2 of yours. Via thinner brass ferrules, thinner tip diameters and even have tried carbon fiber ferrules. They make the so called zero deflection cues look like sledge hammers. Accue-rate (name by memory) was a scam, based on slow hits which allowed swerve), for a net zero deflection.
Years ago when I couldn't afford a good cue I took a cheap cue that had that same amount of warp as the one you have shown and straightened it then turned it on a lathe to bring the tip size down to 10mm - it worked good enough but when I finally did get a quality cue it made a world of difference.
@@jj5106 There are some Chinese clones of Taylor Made cues, but the ones Gary himself stocks are all handmade in Basildon. I've never seen a Taylor Made cue that was machine spliced.
My first cue cost £5 second hand. Was a decent cue, long and nice and light. My current cue now cost £35 and. Its all about how much are you willing to pay for a semi decent cue. I am quite happy with my 3 section cue. Had it for 2 years and doing very well with it
@@seanotoole4868 It was a Rex Wlliams powerglide ,I still have one ,even down to the slight extension added and the Hendry name plate ,not a cue I could use but a nice one to have in the rack .
I have two cues both under 100 and are amazing, first one cost me £60 of amazon including everything from case to extention and works brilliantly second one bit more expensive but preforms just as well
Dude. I just bought my very first cue. I spent £80 and I'm initially very happy with it, it's a cuesoul 57" 3/4 joint. can't wait to take it for a test run to see how it plays. I can already tell I'm going to be able to cue a lot straighter with it. And the difference compared to club cues is staggering.
Owned my current cue for 20 years. 2 piece customized, bottom half from a £100 cue, top half from a £25 cue. No other cue has ever played so well. Now over 300 centuries and counting
When Ken Doherty won the WC in 1997, he done so with a warped cue nobody claimed at his local snooker club as a child, for just £2 having haggled it from £5 (claimed his mom didnt have £5, but shrewdly returned £3 back to his mom). He still uses this £2 cue today!
I would love to see the difference between a cheap and expensive cue with the same tip size. The reality is most of what you are describing is going to be a consequence of the physics involved with the size of the tip. Must admit I am not a snooker expert to your level but I am a physics expert and the difference in 8-9mm vs 11mm will be substantial. (Ok noted I commented too early - but I think it does prove the point)
That's because Pool balls are bigger and weight more than Snooker balls. So you can get consistent spin with the Pool cue using Pool Balls on a Pool Table.
james from Ile des Soeurs, qc, canada Loved this video. I recently purchased a used Riley ashwood snooker cue from GBR as it is it difficult to find a low cost ash cue in canada. I paid 15 quid plus shipping. I have never been happier. Cue has a slightly smaller tip than I am used to (8.5mm) but, like you, I switched out and results were immediate.
Love from Birmingham England your vids have helped me so much I was making 20+ brakes but not consistently after I started watching your vids I’m making 30+ brakes an 20+ breaks quite consistently you have helped so much thanks your straght cueing vids helped the most ❤️
Very good video, I started with a cue that cost £10 from Sports Direct, which was reasonable for the money, however the butt had a split in it. Since I have changed to a nearly new hand spliced cue I got for a bargain price, and even I can feel the difference. I would always advise buying the best equipment you can afford.
I found 3 cues secondhand for $40 Australian - seller said they all needed work - went to look and found 2 x BCE Heritage Mark Shelby 1’s and a Dufferin Dot (with ‘Happy 21st Simon’ engraved in the butt - Guess Simon didn’t like playing too much) - all in very good condition - minus the tips. He’d picked them up in a job lot and couldn’t work out how to screw a new tip onto them so sold them for a song. 😆. Sure, not mega dollar cues, but not too shabby either for the price and a pack of tips - one of the BCE’s suits me perfectly so I’m very happy. For those looking, keep your eyes peeled on the classifieds. 👍
I could never put a finger on what was wrong when I went to pool bars after work and why I missed so many easy shots since all shots were close range shots on a pool table - I just blamed the alcohol. Now I know its those cheapy crappy pool cues with those fat horrible tips. Great vid :)
I must say, all the cues I've had (Bar one which I won at a raffle after playing against Steve Davis last year, sadly lost but gave him a good game, the one I one was the cue he used and signed) have been second hand from the local market. Majority have been pretty nice but my favourite purchase was a Rapier branded cue which has a triangular joint for quick release, incredibly lovely feeling cue and definitely my favourite to play with. Only cost £10! Oh and Todmorden, England!
Stephen Hendry and Ken Dohery played their careers with very cheap cues. I think it's more about what you're used to playing with. Going from ash to maple or vice versa makes it even more difficult. The tip is more important than anything.
This is one of the most interesting and thought provoking snooker videos I have seen to date. I am bad, but there is just a possibility that I am not quite as bad as I thought I was.
Great video. In the USA they're paying absurd amounts for pool cues. I found this video in trying to find a good reason to not buy a cheap cue. The problem being "cheap" in the USA, for a pool cue, is about £40 from a store like Tesco. Any billiard store might have cues that start at £100, but name brands are more likely to start around the £250. Granted American pool, the Queen's pool, and snooker are all three different games, it never made sense to me that our equipment would be far more expensive. Furthermore, it felt even more strange when I could not find any videos breaking down and testing the differences as extensively as you outlined in this video. So thank you
Paid £30 second hand for a Horace Lindrum club cue made from maple, as soon as I got it my game somehow improved drastically I made a 70 break first time playing a frame with it, managed a 160 in practice just potting reds and blacks, got very lucky finding it feels like it was made just for me 🤣
@@xxSouth Yeah in practice only reds and black on the table kept replacing reds as I went, No moving the white ball though wanted to practice cue ball position\Control around the black spot my goal for that day was to make a century break before I left the table which I did. A very proud moment though for me at least anyway.
Being from Athens Greece I'm use to playing with cheap and crooked cues in pool centers. My pool cue which I've been playing with for about 10 years and also used in tournaments costs 40 Euros.
Bought a 2 pce cue for $50.00 Australian 20+ yrs ago, still use it. Went to a cue shop last week to just browse and looking at composite cues for $80 just seemed a gimmick. Give me a good wooden cue any day. Flash and price don't make you a better player, but how it feels in hand and technique makes a difference IMO
Made my first ever line-up century with a £30 Ronnie O'Sullivan signature cue from Argos (I was unemployed at the time not long coming out of college and I couldn't afford anything better). The quality of the ash probably is better with more expensive cues but it was pretty standard specs, straight ash shaft, brass ferrule and I had a Talisman tip on it (back when Talismans were actually good). Think the price was only so low because there were absolutely no inlays or splicings, it was just painted.
It’s a difficult one because you really want to go somewhere where you can try the cues. The best thing you can do is find some who either makes them or sells them in your area. Not always easy however
Check out Andy Travis on facebook or search for uk pool on there and it will come up with a group where people sell cues, my cue was about 220 from Andy Travis 7 years ago maybe, custom weight tip size etc and he refurbed it when a crack developed about 5 years in to using it with no maintenance and not exactly kept as good as it should have been! :-)
Well there's no much snooker in Argentina, maybe none, so I watch this kind of videos just cus I'm curious, but I've learn from this that sometimes only a little bit of sidespin is what ruins my shots on pool, thank you lol
I used to play league pool in a top bracket in the Thames valley, I used a standard pub cue to much laughter from everyone.... I won most of my matches. As long as you take the time to get used to what you are using then you can be good with anything.
Excellent video! Don't get me wrong - cues are important, no doubt about that. But you do not need to spend a lot of money on expensive cues to get a good cue. I see American players spending into the thousands of dollars on a cue and they can't shoot a lick. I see Filipino players (I presently live in the Philippines) play with bar cues that cost less than 1000 pesos ($20) shoot super well and destroy these foreign players. There are only three things that matter with a cue." 1. Feel 2. Deflection 3. Tip Get a combination of these three things that suit your game and go from there. Last year I was given the chance to play with a Predator Revo (I think that was it). It was a nice cue but I actually shot better with the 1000, beat to hell, flat tip bar cue! If I had played more with the Revo I would have gotten more used to it, and that brings up another point. Get yourself a cue you feel comfortable with - get a good tip and shape that tip in a proper way - and then get used to playing with the cue. NO need at all to spend a bunch of money on expensive cues. As I mentioned, I am here in the Philippines and regularly practice at a place Efren Reyes goes to. He does not play there but if he grabbed a 1000 peso, beat to hell, crooked stick, with a rock as a tip, he would still destroy every player that goes into that bar. Your experiment with a cheap stick still showed that talent is the most important thing. You made break and runs with a cheap stick that most with the best sticks could not make. Don't get carried away with really expensive cues. The return on investment in the quality of play is not worth it.
That’s right, a lot of players round here have paid a lot of money for a cue and never played the same again. Also I may use this comment as script for an upcoming video
I used to play pool for a pub team and used a cue I bought for around £30. I didn't exactly set the world on fire, but I played reasonably well but in recent years, when I play in pubs and use their own cues, I play much, much worse. I always put that down to me being out of practice but now I'm wondering if the problem isn't down to really low-quality cues that have taken a lot of abuse over the years.
Hello, John here from Armoy, Northern Ireland. I really enjoy your videos and I've just noticed that Sports Direct are selling what looks like a 2 piece maple cue for only £10.00 which made me think of your £10 cue challenge. I don't know what it would play like but it has to be good value. Keep up the good work.
I know pool is a bit different, but didn’t Mick Hill win multiple world championships, with a cheap cue his old man bought him as a kid? Hi, from Woodend, Victoria, Australia.
My old man was a good player.He use to just pick up any cue and run a riot (figure of speech) He use to say its the hand that holds the cue that matters. Me on other hand an average player has a £60 Cue and i quite enjoy it. Had it for 7years now! So use to it cant play with a different one now! love your videos. Great content
Sports direct sell a BCE ash 2 piece snooker cue for £15 which I thought why not and bought it. The cue had a slight curve which I straightened out, shaped the tip and put some cue balm on it and I’m pretty impressed. Think I’m going to put a new elk master tip on it though as the tip isn’t the best but overall not a bad buy for £15
@@Breakfromlife going to head into a shop in bristol where they have a practice table. not going to risk buying online. keep up the good work. love the vids.
U need to give a cue a few days trial.. I bought a new cue to try out,and did not like it.. My good cue got damaged and sent to get fixed . So i had a few days with the spare cue and ended up keeping it.. as it was a better cue in the end, after hating it for the first half hour.
If only you had a really high speed camera so you could see the differing vibrations of the Cue. You'd probably see that the snooker Cue bends when doing spin shots allowing it to grab onto the ball for a slightly longer period of time than a very solid Cue. If you ever do, make sure you put me on the map from Grand Marais, MN on the deepest, coldest lake in the Western Hemisphere!
Steve Barton on BartonSnooker did the same thing with a cheap snooker cue, and he also came to the same conclusion! Good video, good work, thanks so much from Canada! 🗺🏔
I am more of a pool player, but I have played snooker a couple times and I am very intrigued by the game I just have some serious questions about the game and the technology that goes into it. I just am curious of why has pool technology kept evolving such as ball technology as well as cloth innovations and cue and shaft innovation? I know Snooker is a more traditional game and more refined if you will but does that mean that snooker cues will remain the same for the next 100 years? Why are snooker cues still made of the same material with no much innovation in lower deflection technology? Why are there no jump cues in snooker? I do not know a ton about this sport but I am very curious please forgive my ignorance. Thank you for the help! I love your videos by the way I just found your channel!
Unfortunately there isn't as much interest in the game of Snooker thus less investment in discovering new technologies and methods, whereas considerably more people play Pool. The U.K. is a very small country, not much bigger than two American states, plus Snooker is not anywhere near as popular as it was back in the 80's; but it has become an obsession in China, where new technologies will be developed.
@@FART-REPELLENT but pro snooker players make 10 times as much as pro pool players? I figured all that sponsor money would be from the manufacturers of tables clothes cues etc?
What is the right snooker cue tip for long shot success? I have a 9.5mm tip and find it hard with long shots as accuracy is not always on point. Any suggestion please?
I was using my fathers cue after he died but couldn't get higher than a nine break then a few years ago I paid £70 for a cue and my game improved massively although I only play occasionally I was getting 20 plus breaks with an occasional 40 plus which considering how little I play for me is quite good.
Payed £70 for my cue and its hand made 100% maple. Came with a super stylish case also hand made and a full metal and maple extenders.. My friend when he saw it thought I payed over the £300 pound mark. You gotta shop around and you will find that you can buy a decent cue for a decent price. I had a craftmans cue (tourament cues in rothwell) and I hated that cue, you can test the cues there, dunno why I bought it and that cost me over the £170+ mark. Cheap doesn`t always make it a bad cue just gotta find the balance. (:
Advertised one of my cues on eBay. A prospective customer asked if it was warped. My reply lacked a crucial comma after the first word and read - “No cue is straight”. Wonder why I got no bids 😂
I had loads of cues I like used to blame the cue if i played bad and got rid and became addicted to buying them My fav brands where parris stamford and TW and the best asian brand i felt was maximus but I actually played my best with much cheaper cues ...One was a james Butters cue that cost 150 (sold and bought back that cue 3 or 4 times now and made over 300 profit will prob buy it back again if i ever see it for sale) I had it in my head it was a cheap cue but it was a real player and I hit my high break with a North west cue which was 300 ish the ash used in the NW cues was actually better than in most cues today i think and they were very under rated.. Its up to the player what he likes Hendry won world titles with a bent maple piece of crap conny and ken Doc cue cost less than a fiver and Sean Murphy used a whippy old antique . You can get some nice rack cues in clubs that have nice response I made a ton with one once after tip fell off my ultimate that rack cue cost less than 3 quid. it had flat down was quit responsive and stiff .. should have bought it from the club owner ..I never made one with that parris ultimate many Parris cues are good even lower in range and I had some crap too that where top of the range people buy the badge but its bs. A lot depends on tip which is why you stuggled.
I found my dads old snooker cue in the shed a couple of days ago and I said to him do you want to use it as we go snooker with my uncle and cousin every week and he said no so I now have a £55 cue it’s ash Loving it though better than the ones in the club From Essex UK
I've got a couple of nice cues I bought over a decade ago. They are Peradon hand made cues. One has a smaller ferrule, 8.5mm I believe. for Pub pool tables (red/yellow balls) that is a 3 piece. Where as my other cue has a bigger ferrule probably like 10mm not sure, and it is 3/4 Joint 2 piece. But I do believe having a good tip on the cue is the most important thing that WILL have an effect on your game.
Peradon Cues are utterly CRAP at best, I've played with them; I once scored my highest break of 43 using a brand new £25 Club standard Maple cue, it played considerably better than Peradon cues.
@@FART-REPELLENT but the thing is all you need really is a good tip. Maybe they are crap I've not had too many high breaks with my peradon but the pool cue (8 ball) with smaller tip has done me decent for years
Challenge request! Try single drill several times with balls of different sizes - snooker (52mm), pool (57mm), pyramid (68mm). The idea is to compare how size of the ball affects aiming difficulty compared to ball/pocket size ratio.
Just about to buy my first cue... you mentioned it isnt easy to find a cue which is perfectly straight (and i noticed a slight wobble when you rolled the £15 one across the table). How much of a wobble is acceptable? Also, when you marked up the cheap cue was this just so that the most straight part was perpendicular to the table and straightest with respect to that 180° imaginary vertical line? Thanks for video, helped me decide not to pay through the nose. 😅
Before even watching the video I'd like to say that anything beyond £150 and you're not paying for the quality of the cue, just for the decorative splicings and brand. £150 hand made cue is a reasonably cheap investment for a relatively actice amateur player and it will not put you in any disadvantage compared to more expensive cues. And a quality cue will last a very long time if you handle it with care so learn to play with the one you bought and stick with that.
Hi I love ur vids, I’ve been watching them for a while now, as a beginner like me, I’m 11, can I practice snooker on a six foot table or do I have to use one of the bigger ones that u have
Height helps but obviously comes with age (I'm 28 and still waiting to grow!) but you can learn a lot from playing pool and transfer over to snooker when you're taller... Just my thoughts anyway, master your left arm too and become a future Ronnie!
You still make much higher breaks with the cheap cue than i do with a decent one these days.I love the sport,but just don't play as often,or well as i used to.
Alec Lindsay from Anchorage, Alaska! Sorry to say we've only got a handful of snooker tables up here, but doesnt keep me from watching. Keep the great vids coming~
Fun Fact: it is illegal for cue's in bars or pubs to be straight. A state regulated 8 degree bend is required on all cues. A recent addendum of the law also saw the removal of tips from 25% of the available cues.
🤣🤣🤣
@Anonymously Yours If they're too straight then it can cause indigestion.
cue's what? Did you mean cues?
Utter bollocks u massive fucktard lol😂😂😂
I’ve actually found only one straight cue with no warps. I couldn’t believe it
This confirms it. It's not me, it's my cue.
If this was your cue then that would definitely be right
@@Breakfromlife I have $5 cue sticks with ferrule and tip added that squirt/deflect 1/2 of yours. Via thinner brass ferrules, thinner tip diameters and even have tried carbon fiber ferrules. They make the so called zero deflection cues look like sledge hammers. Accue-rate (name by memory) was a scam, based on slow hits which allowed swerve), for a net zero deflection.
Colin Colenso ok
Lmfao. Legendary comment
Hehehehehe first you need some practice , then try to figure out
4 hours for a 131 break is still at least twice as fast as Ebdon.
Years ago when I couldn't afford a good cue I took a cheap cue that had that same amount of warp as the one you have shown and straightened it then turned it on a lathe to bring the tip size down to 10mm - it worked good enough but when I finally did get a quality cue it made a world of difference.
I paid £195 for my current Phoenix Master after owning an £80 Taylor Made.
My Phoenix is noticeably better but my highest break is still 35 :(
Need to pay more to get a higher break. pay2win
Taylor made cues are all chinese imports. They are machine made. Every single one of them. Go john parris always
@@jj5106 There are some Chinese clones of Taylor Made cues, but the ones Gary himself stocks are all handmade in Basildon. I've never seen a Taylor Made cue that was machine spliced.
@@jj5106ton praram cues are cheaper and just as good or better
Paid £5 for my first cue in 1993. Used to make regular 50+ breaks with that. It was ridiculous the amount of spin you could put on the cue ball.
My first cue cost £5 second hand. Was a decent cue, long and nice and light. My current cue now cost £35 and. Its all about how much are you willing to pay for a semi decent cue. I am quite happy with my 3 section cue. Had it for 2 years and doing very well with it
could have mentioned the classic that stephen hendrys cue was second hand for like 50 quid and also slighlty bent
Nick Trousers but back in the day house cues (the one Steven used) were so much better then cues you would find in a local snooker hall
@@seanotoole4868 Yeah you are definitely right about that
@@seanotoole4868 It was a Rex Wlliams powerglide ,I still have one ,even down to the slight extension added and the Hendry name plate ,not a cue I could use but a nice one to have in the rack .
True saw the interview
It still cost a weeks wages back then so nothing's changed.
I have two cues both under 100 and are amazing, first one cost me £60 of amazon including everything from case to extention and works brilliantly second one bit more expensive but preforms just as well
Dude. I just bought my very first cue. I spent £80 and I'm initially very happy with it, it's a cuesoul 57" 3/4 joint. can't wait to take it for a test run to see how it plays. I can already tell I'm going to be able to cue a lot straighter with it. And the difference compared to club cues is staggering.
As long as it has a decent tip and yiu get used it. It'll be fine. How'd you get on with it?
Owned my current cue for 20 years. 2 piece customized, bottom half from a £100 cue, top half from a £25 cue. No other cue has ever played so well. Now over 300 centuries and counting
And a amazing snooker player I've been a fan
@@borisjohnson5536 Thank you, that's very kind👍
@@bottlecap57 no thankyou! For the efforts to snooker my friend 👍😉
When Ken Doherty won the WC in 1997, he done so with a warped cue nobody claimed at his local snooker club as a child, for just £2 having haggled it from £5 (claimed his mom didnt have £5, but shrewdly returned £3 back to his mom). He still uses this £2 cue today!
I would love to see the difference between a cheap and expensive cue with the same tip size. The reality is most of what you are describing is going to be a consequence of the physics involved with the size of the tip. Must admit I am not a snooker expert to your level but I am a physics expert and the difference in 8-9mm vs 11mm will be substantial.
(Ok noted I commented too early - but I think it does prove the point)
So if you ever want to seriously get into snooker. Spending your weekly wage on a cue is probably the way to go.
You only ever to buy one decent one, will do you for a long time and trust when I say this it makes the game more interesting and fun to play
Who tf makes 150 a week?
@@bigjuicychicken535 I think most of us can afford 400-500 on a cue.
That's because Pool balls are bigger and weight more than Snooker balls. So you can get consistent spin with the Pool cue using Pool Balls on a Pool Table.
james from Ile des Soeurs, qc, canada
Loved this video. I recently purchased a used Riley ashwood snooker cue from GBR as it is it difficult to find a low cost ash cue in canada. I paid 15 quid plus shipping. I have never been happier. Cue has a slightly smaller tip than I am used to (8.5mm) but, like you, I switched out and results were immediate.
Love from Birmingham England your vids have helped me so much I was making 20+ brakes but not consistently after I started watching your vids I’m making 30+ brakes an 20+ breaks quite consistently you have helped so much thanks your straght cueing vids helped the most ❤️
Very good video, I started with a cue that cost £10 from Sports Direct, which was reasonable for the money, however the butt had a split in it. Since I have changed to a nearly new hand spliced cue I got for a bargain price, and even I can feel the difference.
I would always advise buying the best equipment you can afford.
David from Shetland. Hendry's cue was £40 and bent. Alex Higgins told him it was only good for growing tomatoes.
I found 3 cues secondhand for $40 Australian - seller said they all needed work - went to look and found 2 x BCE Heritage Mark Shelby 1’s and a Dufferin Dot (with ‘Happy 21st Simon’ engraved in the butt - Guess Simon didn’t like playing too much) - all in very good condition - minus the tips. He’d picked them up in a job lot and couldn’t work out how to screw a new tip onto them so sold them for a song. 😆. Sure, not mega dollar cues, but not too shabby either for the price and a pack of tips - one of the BCE’s suits me perfectly so I’m very happy. For those looking, keep your eyes peeled on the classifieds. 👍
I could never put a finger on what was wrong when I went to pool bars after work and why I missed so many easy shots since all shots were close range shots on a pool table - I just blamed the alcohol. Now I know its those cheapy crappy pool cues with those fat horrible tips. Great vid :)
I usually play better after four pints. Perhaps it's nerves: Bill Werbenuik was the same.
my first cue was £9.99 a 2 piece snooker cue from argos, was honestly not bad but that was 2004...
I must say, all the cues I've had (Bar one which I won at a raffle after playing against Steve Davis last year, sadly lost but gave him a good game, the one I one was the cue he used and signed) have been second hand from the local market. Majority have been pretty nice but my favourite purchase was a Rapier branded cue which has a triangular joint for quick release, incredibly lovely feeling cue and definitely my favourite to play with. Only cost £10!
Oh and Todmorden, England!
Stephen Hendry and Ken Dohery played their careers with very cheap cues. I think it's more about what you're used to playing with. Going from ash to maple or vice versa makes it even more difficult. The tip is more important than anything.
This is one of the most interesting and thought provoking snooker videos I have seen to date. I am bad, but there is just a possibility that I am not quite as bad as I thought I was.
Couldn’t have put it better
I love how much you go into detail! Very informative
Great video. In the USA they're paying absurd amounts for pool cues. I found this video in trying to find a good reason to not buy a cheap cue. The problem being "cheap" in the USA, for a pool cue, is about £40 from a store like Tesco. Any billiard store might have cues that start at £100, but name brands are more likely to start around the £250. Granted American pool, the Queen's pool, and snooker are all three different games, it never made sense to me that our equipment would be far more expensive. Furthermore, it felt even more strange when I could not find any videos breaking down and testing the differences as extensively as you outlined in this video. So thank you
Paid £30 second hand for a Horace Lindrum club cue made from maple, as soon as I got it my game somehow improved drastically I made a 70 break first time playing a frame with it, managed a 160 in practice just potting reds and blacks, got very lucky finding it feels like it was made just for me 🤣
160? Sure thing pal
@@xxSouth Yeah in practice only reds and black on the table kept replacing reds as I went, No moving the white ball though wanted to practice cue ball position\Control around the black spot my goal for that day was to make a century break before I left the table which I did. A very proud moment though for me at least anyway.
Being from Athens Greece I'm use to playing with cheap and crooked cues in pool centers.
My pool cue which I've been playing with for about 10 years and also used in tournaments costs 40 Euros.
The best snooker channel!
Bought a 2 pce cue for $50.00 Australian 20+ yrs ago, still use it. Went to a cue shop last week to just browse and looking at composite cues for $80 just seemed a gimmick. Give me a good wooden cue any day. Flash and price don't make you a better player, but how it feels in hand and technique makes a difference IMO
Made my first ever line-up century with a £30 Ronnie O'Sullivan signature cue from Argos (I was unemployed at the time not long coming out of college and I couldn't afford anything better). The quality of the ash probably is better with more expensive cues but it was pretty standard specs, straight ash shaft, brass ferrule and I had a Talisman tip on it (back when Talismans were actually good). Think the price was only so low because there were absolutely no inlays or splicings, it was just painted.
Great lesson in value! Sending thanks from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada!
Where is the best place to bye snooker cues from as I wanna hold cue in my hands to see what it's like but can't off ebay in UK brighton
It’s a difficult one because you really want to go somewhere where you can try the cues. The best thing you can do is find some who either makes them or sells them in your area. Not always easy however
Check out Andy Travis on facebook or search for uk pool on there and it will come up with a group where people sell cues, my cue was about 220 from Andy Travis 7 years ago maybe, custom weight tip size etc and he refurbed it when a crack developed about 5 years in to using it with no maintenance and not exactly kept as good as it should have been! :-)
John Paris in London
Well there's no much snooker in Argentina, maybe none, so I watch this kind of videos just cus I'm curious, but I've learn from this that sometimes only a little bit of sidespin is what ruins my shots on pool, thank you lol
I know about the Aramith balls and about cue prices. Now I have to convince the love of my life that a snooker table looks good in our living room.
2:05...love the cutaway to the bar brawl.
Still better than every single cue I've ever used in a bar here in Idaho, USA!
try to thin the first 30 cm with some sandpaper down to 9 mm and you will have way less deflection in my opinion
I used to play league pool in a top bracket in the Thames valley, I used a standard pub cue to much laughter from everyone.... I won most of my matches. As long as you take the time to get used to what you are using then you can be good with anything.
Excellent video! Don't get me wrong - cues are important, no doubt about that. But you do not need to spend a lot of money on expensive cues to get a good cue. I see American players spending into the thousands of dollars on a cue and they can't shoot a lick.
I see Filipino players (I presently live in the Philippines) play with bar cues that cost less than 1000 pesos ($20) shoot super well and destroy these foreign players.
There are only three things that matter with a cue."
1. Feel
2. Deflection
3. Tip
Get a combination of these three things that suit your game and go from there. Last year I was given the chance to play with a Predator Revo (I think that was it). It was a nice cue but I actually shot better with the 1000, beat to hell, flat tip bar cue! If I had played more with the Revo I would have gotten more used to it, and that brings up another point.
Get yourself a cue you feel comfortable with - get a good tip and shape that tip in a proper way - and then get used to playing with the cue. NO need at all to spend a bunch of money on expensive cues.
As I mentioned, I am here in the Philippines and regularly practice at a place Efren Reyes goes to. He does not play there but if he grabbed a 1000 peso, beat to hell, crooked stick, with a rock as a tip, he would still destroy every player that goes into that bar.
Your experiment with a cheap stick still showed that talent is the most important thing. You made break and runs with a cheap stick that most with the best sticks could not make. Don't get carried away with really expensive cues. The return on investment in the quality of play is not worth it.
That’s right, a lot of players round here have paid a lot of money for a cue and never played the same again.
Also I may use this comment as script for an upcoming video
I used to play pool for a pub team and used a cue I bought for around £30. I didn't exactly set the world on fire, but I played reasonably well but in recent years, when I play in pubs and use their own cues, I play much, much worse. I always put that down to me being out of practice but now I'm wondering if the problem isn't down to really low-quality cues that have taken a lot of abuse over the years.
Always nice to learn from you all the way from Amed in the North-East of Bali, Indonesia
Seeing you play with the pool cue, it matches about the level that I am with a proper 150 euro snooker cue.
Before you made all the adjustments that is.
Hello, John here from Armoy, Northern Ireland. I really enjoy your videos and I've just noticed that Sports Direct are selling what looks like a 2 piece maple cue for only £10.00 which made me think of your £10 cue challenge. I don't know what it would play like but it has to be good value. Keep up the good work.
thank you for share. And I have a question that which kind of Tip you choose for your nomal Cue, soft or hard or Middle?
I know pool is a bit different, but didn’t Mick Hill win multiple world championships, with a cheap cue his old man bought him as a kid?
Hi, from Woodend, Victoria, Australia.
I always wanted to try a snooker cue on an American table
mate u should change the tip of the cheap cue and then do this experiment
Love your videos man, please keep then coming😊, love from Johnstown NY
My old man was a good player.He use to just pick up any cue and run a riot (figure of speech) He use to say its the hand that holds the cue that matters. Me on other hand an average player has a £60 Cue and i quite enjoy it. Had it for 7years now! So use to it cant play with a different one now! love your videos. Great content
Sports direct sell a BCE ash 2 piece snooker cue for £15 which I thought why not and bought it. The cue had a slight curve which I straightened out, shaped the tip and put some cue balm on it and I’m pretty impressed. Think I’m going to put a new elk master tip on it though as the tip isn’t the best but overall not a bad buy for £15
I have a riley cue with bill werbeniuk signature how much it goes?
I felt your relief as that black went in!
Hello from Lithuania, my name is Povilas. Fun video to watch, your narrative voice is quite nice to listen. Keep up the good work.
Love that dedication
From Johannesburg South Africa
Great video mate, should have put the cuesoul tip on
great vid, breakfromlife guy. looking to buy a new cue now ive been playing a while. very useful info. love the graph.
Just remember that is the likelihood of it being any good. You could pay a lot of money and still get a bad cue. Or one you don’t get on with
@@Breakfromlife going to head into a shop in bristol where they have a practice table. not going to risk buying online.
keep up the good work. love the vids.
I wonder if the unwanted additional side spin has anything to do with pool tables being shorter?
It's the larger diameter of the tip/shaft. More weight at the top end of a cue equals more deflection.
Sounds like a good practice tool! Improve concentration and focus to play every shot perfect
U need to give a cue a few days trial..
I bought a new cue to try out,and did not like it..
My good cue got damaged and sent to get fixed .
So i had a few days with the spare cue and ended up keeping it.. as it was a better cue in the end, after hating it for the first half hour.
I think we have found the guy who's gonna make our novel game look cool :-D ! No but seriously, good work! :-)
If only you had a really high speed camera so you could see the differing vibrations of the Cue. You'd probably see that the snooker Cue bends when doing spin shots allowing it to grab onto the ball for a slightly longer period of time than a very solid Cue. If you ever do, make sure you put me on the map from Grand Marais, MN on the deepest, coldest lake in the Western Hemisphere!
I see you’re still missing Southern Hemisphere pins! Here is Henrique from Londrina - Paraná - Brasil / keep up the good quality content
Would love to see a video of a slightly more expensive actual snooker cue, if that is possible of course.
Great video, cheers from São Paulo, Brazil.
Hi, I recently bought a maple cue from wood cues, is has alot of whip to it, the shaft is very flexible. Whats your take?
Hey! great video! Just wondering have you ever got a maximum break? If so how many times? And was it in a tournament or at home
From Nairobi, Kenya 🇰🇪
Steve Barton on BartonSnooker did the same thing with a cheap snooker cue, and he also came to the same conclusion!
Good video, good work, thanks so much from Canada! 🗺🏔
I am more of a pool player, but I have played snooker a couple times and I am very intrigued by the game I just have some serious questions about the game and the technology that goes into it. I just am curious of why has pool technology kept evolving such as ball technology as well as cloth innovations and cue and shaft innovation? I know Snooker is a more traditional game and more refined if you will but does that mean that snooker cues will remain the same for the next 100 years? Why are snooker cues still made of the same material with no much innovation in lower deflection technology? Why are there no jump cues in snooker? I do not know a ton about this sport but I am very curious please forgive my ignorance. Thank you for the help! I love your videos by the way I just found your channel!
Unfortunately there isn't as much interest in the game of Snooker thus less investment in discovering new technologies and methods, whereas considerably more people play Pool. The U.K. is a very small country, not much bigger than two American states, plus Snooker is not anywhere near as popular as it was back in the 80's; but it has become an obsession in China, where new technologies will be developed.
@@FART-REPELLENT but pro snooker players make 10 times as much as pro pool players? I figured all that sponsor money would be from the manufacturers of tables clothes cues etc?
@@johntanner611 Only the top 3 make money from sponsorship deals. American Pool tournaments pay bigger prize money.
@PSYCHIC_PSYCHO intresting... I bet Ronnie makes more though than the top pool player thought right?
Love from Nepal.
Great to watch you play, and your information on snooker is a gem.
What is the right snooker cue tip for long shot success? I have a 9.5mm tip and find it hard with long shots as accuracy is not always on point. Any suggestion please?
I was using my fathers cue after he died but couldn't get higher than a nine break then a few years ago I paid £70 for a cue and my game improved massively although I only play occasionally I was getting 20 plus breaks with an occasional 40 plus which considering how little I play for me is quite good.
Payed £70 for my cue and its hand made 100% maple. Came with a super stylish case also hand made and a full metal and maple extenders.. My friend when he saw it thought I payed over the £300 pound mark. You gotta shop around and you will find that you can buy a decent cue for a decent price. I had a craftmans cue (tourament cues in rothwell) and I hated that cue, you can test the cues there, dunno why I bought it and that cost me over the £170+ mark. Cheap doesn`t always make it a bad cue just gotta find the balance. (:
Advertised one of my cues on eBay. A prospective customer asked if it was warped. My reply lacked a crucial comma after the first word and read - “No cue is straight”. Wonder why I got no bids 😂
I had loads of cues I like used to blame the cue if i played bad and got rid and became addicted to buying them My fav brands where parris stamford and TW and the best asian brand i felt was maximus but I actually played my best with much cheaper cues ...One was a james Butters cue that cost 150 (sold and bought back that cue 3 or 4 times now and made over 300 profit will prob buy it back again if i ever see it for sale) I had it in my head it was a cheap cue but it was a real player and I hit my high break with a North west cue which was 300 ish the ash used in the NW cues was actually better than in most cues today i think and they were very under rated.. Its up to the player what he likes Hendry won world titles with a bent maple piece of crap conny and ken Doc cue cost less than a fiver and Sean Murphy used a whippy old antique . You can get some nice rack cues in clubs that have nice response I made a ton with one once after tip fell off my ultimate that rack cue cost less than 3 quid. it had flat down was quit responsive and stiff .. should have bought it from the club owner ..I never made one with that parris ultimate many Parris cues are good even lower in range and I had some crap too that where top of the range people buy the badge but its bs. A lot depends on tip which is why you stuggled.
I found my dads old snooker cue in the shed a couple of days ago and I said to him do you want to use it as we go snooker with my uncle and cousin every week and he said no so I now have a £55 cue it’s ash
Loving it though better than the ones in the club
From Essex UK
I've got a couple of nice cues I bought over a decade ago. They are Peradon hand made cues. One has a smaller ferrule, 8.5mm I believe. for Pub pool tables (red/yellow balls) that is a 3 piece. Where as my other cue has a bigger ferrule probably like 10mm not sure, and it is 3/4 Joint 2 piece. But I do believe having a good tip on the cue is the most important thing that WILL have an effect on your game.
Peradon Cues are utterly CRAP at best, I've played with them; I once scored my highest break of 43 using a brand new £25 Club standard Maple cue, it played considerably better than Peradon cues.
@@FART-REPELLENT but the thing is all you need really is a good tip. Maybe they are crap I've not had too many high breaks with my peradon but the pool cue (8 ball) with smaller tip has done me decent for years
The cue could be maple then again it could be MDF, as if there is a difference if you're only going to use to for pub brawling.. lol
I make My own cues haha pool cues but with brass ferules it's a Nice crossover , greatings from Irapuato, México ✌️
What about 17 oz and 22oz ? light and heavy? which is better for player❤
loving your videos, im imporving my game alot! Im from Bath in the UK !!
Love your graph !
Whatchamacallit, ah yes: nice infographic man :-)
Ah the £10 que the same one my local bowplex uses
Would like to see a john parris cue comparison to your own cue.
Challenge request! Try single drill several times with balls of different sizes - snooker (52mm), pool (57mm), pyramid (68mm). The idea is to compare how size of the ball affects aiming difficulty compared to ball/pocket size ratio.
Just about to buy my first cue... you mentioned it isnt easy to find a cue which is perfectly straight (and i noticed a slight wobble when you rolled the £15 one across the table). How much of a wobble is acceptable? Also, when you marked up the cheap cue was this just so that the most straight part was perpendicular to the table and straightest with respect to that 180° imaginary vertical line? Thanks for video, helped me decide not to pay through the nose. 😅
I love peradon pro cue i think its very decent cue around 200 pounds. I hope to own this cue one day. love from Greece
ive had a few Peradon cues and they are really nice.
Really love your videos, you change my game. From Lyon, France
How much for a titanium one? my brass one has split after not playing with the cue for almost 1 yr due to Covid.
Watching from Zagreb, Croatia
Good on you mate as it’s hard for that not to effect your confidence but doing it for our viewing pleasure
Funny video 😂😂😂 thank you mate! Btw greeting from Hong Kong
Before even watching the video I'd like to say that anything beyond £150 and you're not paying for the quality of the cue, just for the decorative splicings and brand. £150 hand made cue is a reasonably cheap investment for a relatively actice amateur player and it will not put you in any disadvantage compared to more expensive cues. And a quality cue will last a very long time if you handle it with care so learn to play with the one you bought and stick with that.
Hi I love ur vids, I’ve been watching them for a while now, as a beginner like me, I’m 11, can I practice snooker on a six foot table or do I have to use one of the bigger ones that u have
Height helps but obviously comes with age (I'm 28 and still waiting to grow!) but you can learn a lot from playing pool and transfer over to snooker when you're taller... Just my thoughts anyway, master your left arm too and become a future Ronnie!
Watching from lincoln, uk. Great video pal
You still make much higher breaks with the cheap cue than i do with a decent one these days.I love the sport,but just don't play as often,or well as i used to.
Alec Lindsay from Anchorage, Alaska!
Sorry to say we've only got a handful of snooker tables up here, but doesnt keep me from watching. Keep the great vids coming~
I never really considered what you have in Alaska actually
@@Breakfromlife snow and Eskimos I imagine 🤣
Why don't cue sports use steel balls and a steel cue tip? Might eliminate all these problems
Good video.Hello from Bosnia ❤ 🇧🇦
Thanks ,
From Nepal