Pool versus Snooker

Pool and snooker are two similar sports which both entail using sticks called cues to pocket balls of different colors into six holes on the sides and corners of a rectangular table. Yet these two sports go a long way to illustrate the difference between the old organized world and the new unorganized world.

Snooker is a sport from the age old organized tradition. You are much more likely to get dressed up when playing snooker, often in a dinner suit and bow tie. You play snooker on a long table of well over two meters in length and a meter wide. You hit the balls gently, relying on their smooth passage across the slate-bedded table to reach their destination pocket. Because the table is so large, success (known as "break building": an unbroken series of pocketing the balls) depends upon using spin to position the white cue ball for potting the subsequent ball. There are set rules which are strictly adhered to, for example, if you accidentally tap a snooker ball with the end of your cue you "foul" and forfeit your shot. Snooker is played at a thoughtful, leisurely pace and some time can elapse between shots. One frame between average players can take up a good hour.

The contrast between snooker and pool is clear. Pool represents the unorganized world. You can play in any clothes that you find comfortable. The pool table is much smaller, just over a meter in length and less than a meter wide. The pockets are larger relative to the size of the balls. Paradoxically, even though the pool table is smaller, you tend to hit the balls harder because the cloth on the table (which can be and often is blue or red as well as green) is more coarse. The rules are less strict, insofar as the acceptance of minor mistakes when setting up a shot tends to be greater. The pace of pool is quicker: you don't need complicated implements such as "spiders" which are supplementary cues that let you reach areas of the snooker table in order to play shots that human size would otherwise preclude. Games between good pool players can be over in 10 minutes. There is less break building because the table is small enough for good players to pot a few balls and win.

Pool is a sport which is much more attuned to today's quicker, faster unorganized world than the more organized world of snooker. Our goals remain the same: personal prosperity (potting the balls) and the infrastructure of the world (the table) is smaller and more accessible. As with the world, pool games are played at a faster speed, the rules are fewer, innovation rather than strategy much more important. The entry barriers are lower: people who have not played pool or snooker before can pick up a short pool cue and have a go and pot something. New beginners could be playing snooker a long time before they pocket a ball. The start up costs for the pool equipment are lower, and the ease of carrying around a pool cue greater.

With its smaller table and wider pockets, pool is like technological capitalism, giving its players both the opportunity and the opportunity to pursue that opportunity.

The image of the pool player in the movie "The Hustler" contrasts with that of the gentleman in his country mansion playing snooker. As someone once said, "The best things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle". Rack up those pool balls, and play on, play on.

Author: Simon Buckingham

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