# Snooker: "Chess With Balls" **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** billiards-pool\ **Created:** [August 3, 2020, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179 "2020-08-03T18:37:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/21 "2020-09-12T10:23:32Z")
I watch when the spirit moves me, but am more interested in Korean 4-ball carom billiards. I started watching snooker on a regular basis back when I lived in Maoming and the sports network showed it a lot. I don’t have TV service in my apartment in Beijing, so my TV craving is satisfied by online videos. I do enjoy watching snooker from time to time though. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/22 "2020-09-12T10:49:30Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > Korean 4-ball carom billiards Is that where there are four balls on a table with no pockets and each player must hit two balls with every shot? [Four-ball billiards - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-ball_billiards) I’ve never watched a game of that but it does look quite good. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/23 "2020-09-12T11:09:03Z")
Yes. I’m only familiar with the two Asian versions of the game, Korean and Japanese. In the Japanese game, you get one point for hitting two of the other three balls on the table and two points for hitting all three of the other balls. In the Korean game, you do not score a point if you hit the other player’s cue ball and your turn comes to an end. There are a number of other games played in Korea on the pocket-less billiard table, but by far the most popular is the basic four ball carom game. I got rather good at it the first time I lived in Korea and still practice when I visit the country–sadly, thanks to this pandemic, that’s not since February. You can watch [this YouTube video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjTDbn3CTPo) from a match three years ago, between Lee Seon-gi and Song Gir-yong. Click on the CC for captioning, then click on the little gear symbol and select Subtitles/CC, click on the little \> to the right, and select auto-translate, finally selecting English. Or just ignore the announcer. Oh, you should also select 1080p for the quality. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/24 "2020-09-12T11:15:54Z")
Thanks you for telling me to put on the subtitles: “…will be in charge of this game, and he’s half handsome” 😂 ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/25 "2020-09-12T12:55:17Z")
Yeah, that’s hilarious commentary, isn’t it? Reminds me when a friend of mine while we were stationed in Japan asked me how someone as ugly as I am (FTR, he was just joking–I’m not even close to ugly) had such a beautiful girlfriend. I told him, “Not all of me is ugly”. 😉 Snooker still fascinates me, though not as much as a couple of other games. The Brazilian version of snooker is pretty cool. Power snooker is very entertaining–time limit on the game, power play, power zone, power ball, loud and wild crowd, and it’s sort of a combination of regular snooker and continuous pool. A four ball game, Kaisa, reminds me a bit of snooker only in that the rules are complicated; otherwise, it’s more like English billiards. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/26 "2020-09-12T13:47:48Z")
I just discovered this website, [cuetracker](https://cuetracker.net/), wlhich gives cricket statistics and results. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/27 "2020-09-20T14:20:15Z")
That woudl be snooker stats & results. Sorry about using the wrong sport’s name. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/28 "2020-09-20T19:24:29Z")
No worries! It’s quite an interesting site actually. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/29 "2021-05-03T19:09:00Z")
Just watching the World final - is anyone else watching? Selby is very very good isn’t he? I’m rather hoping that Murphy turns this around though. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/30 "2021-05-03T21:17:27Z")
I was hoping for a last frame thriller, but Selby is a worthy winner. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/31 "2021-05-03T21:21:51Z")
And with a fourth world championship he really does now rank amongst the greats. ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/32 "2022-04-30T14:45:25Z")
I’m going to revive this thread simply because Ronnie O’ Sullivan and John Higgins are playing an absolutely murderous semi final at The Crucible, with 5 century breaks by Ronnie already. I don’t always find the time to watch ,but this World Championship has been brilliant up to now. We’ve even managed to get our kids into watching 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/33 "2022-04-30T16:10:01Z")
Both semis are outstanding. ROS in irresistible form but he has had a kind draw - Higgins the first snooker player he’s faced really. Did you see the final sesh of Selby and Bingtao? 85 minute frame - it was like a Shakespearean drama. Obv right up Selby’s street but he didn’t engineer it particularly, it was just a very awkward lie of the balls. Fan played brilliantly to stay in contention, but Selby finally broke him, and then missed a relatively simple clearance. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/34 "2022-04-30T16:24:08Z")
Watching the final session between Judd Trump and Mark Williams now. Fascinating match. Mark Williams came back from 1-7 in the first session and now got his first lead at 16-15 (best of 33). ETA: Trump in a break now, everything points to a decider in frame 33. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/35 "2022-04-30T16:49:03Z")
Yep, Trump won the frame, decider now. My dilemma is that at the same time, Sportschau shows the Bundesliga matches of today and I switch back and forth between football and snooker. ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/36 "2022-04-30T17:23:55Z")
Quite the conundrum 😄 ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/37 "2022-04-30T17:26:56Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > Fan played brilliantly to stay in contention, but Selby finally broke him, and then missed a relatively simple clearance. This is the drama that behooves snooker. A bit like cycling in that sense. Thanks for letting me know I’m not the only one savouring this and enjoy watching. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/38 "2022-04-30T17:40:09Z")
Well, the drama in the semi-final lasted till the very end, the final frame lasted 40 minutes. In the end, Mark Williams’ comeback didn’t pan out, Judd Trump won 17-16. That’s a Trump I’m going to grant a win, for a change. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Drsunflower1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drsunflower1/32/12711_2.png) [@Drsunflower1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drsunflower1)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2022, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/39 "2022-04-30T18:02:15Z")
Good to know. I’ll be watching the conclusion of O’Sullivan v Higgins tonight. With a bit of luck Ronnie will have to take on Judd for the final. Thanks for the update ! ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179/40 "2022-05-01T20:31:05Z")
Fancied Trump to compete here but he’s struggling. Played some terrible shots at this level. O’Sullivan looking very comfortable and threatening to run away with it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/snooker-chess-with-balls/917179.md?page=3)