I’m curious how many casual billiards players (snooker, pool, etc.) are aware of the squeeze effect, or “offset plant.” When two balls are touching or almost touching, a transmitted directional change will be opposite to what one might expect.
In a championship match between Akani Sonsermsawad and Ronnie O’Sullivan, Akani may have lost the match because he didn’t know about the “squeeze” effect. The link will open at the relevant point in time; listen to the commentary by masters Dennis Taylor and Stephen Hendry. Dennis seems amazed that Akani misjudges the shot — I wonder if Akani was just unaware of the squeeze effect!
I’ve never been a real billiards player, and I’m only aware of the “squeeze effect” because a stranger pointed it out many decades ago in a pool hall. (And that was in the context of a single-ball shot instead of the two-ball plant in the video. A single-ball “squeeze” is simply an illegal push shot, since it will be the cue-stick rather than the cue-ball that is doing the squeezing.)
I’m only aware of it having watched an awful lot of professional snooker with expert commentary, as per your example. I suspect even then I might have a brain fart if I actually encountered the situation at the table. But that’s not too surprising - what is surprising is that a professional didn’t seem to know about it.
Since we’re discussing snooker, in the final this evening O’Sullivan was on another level. He barely missed a pot, unlike some earlier matches when I think he was lucky to win.
Since we’re discussing snooker, I thought the final of the China Open a couple of weeks ago between Mark Williams and Yan Bingtao was extremely entertaining. It had more mistakes than tonight’s final, but was still a very high standard and a great battling performance by Williams. Amazing the longevity of Williams, Higgins, O’Sullivan, and others - Williams won his first ranking title four years before Bingtao was born!