Hi folks. I'm a Queens' fresher, and a self confessed snooker obsessive. I'm finding freshers week is great fun and all, but I'm a bit disappointed by the apparent lack of a snooker scene. Maybe it's more of a northern pastime, I don't know.

Anyway, I was thinking of joining the union society, mostly for the snooker but the debates look interesting to sit in on too (if that's possible). Are the tables there any good / available for a bit of a casual game or practice, or is it more akin to getting a game of pool in a busy pub?

Failing that, is the CSC worth the walk? Or what about WT's? I found myself there on sunday night (which took long enough but I was slightly drunk and fairly lost) and signed up but it seems a tad expensive.

Sorry for all the questions, I'm just itching to get my hand on the baize. Thanks for any help.

Hey Robert. Its good to hear from a fresher cue sport fan! Basically there's no organised snooker at Cambridge, not necessarily because people don't want to play but because its a lot easier to play pool, what with tables in basically all the colleges.
There will definitely be people on this board who will play snooker with you though. Most of us pool guys do enjoy playing it up at CSC sometimes. CSC is definitely the place to go if you want quality tables - they are really nice, and Neil Robertson is always hanging around there and practising too which is cool

The union is obviously closer - I've played there a few times. The tables aren't great, but considering they're free not at all bad. They are really old school, and set in a kind of library. Its a cool place to play snooker. And they're virtually never both booked - so you can play any time.

I'm not a big fan of WT's.

Hope that's useful!

Ps. Join the pool club too

Also...

University Sports and Social Club, right smack bang in the centre of town, two snooker tables at only £1.50 per hour I haven't played on them yet, but heard that they're ok - for top quality tables, you definitely want to go out to CSC though.

There's always quite a few guys asking about snooker at the freshers fair every year. Hopefully these forums will make it easier to get in touch with everyone, and organise some university snooker! There was a varsity match back in 2003, but that was the first one I think, and there haven't been any since. As Matt says, that's mainly because there's only a couple of colleges with snooker tables, but everywhere has a pool table.

I'll start up a new discussion board, solely for snooker (and another one for 9-ball), and we can talk about it in there and sort something out ;D

Thanks guys. I hadn't heard of the USSC, that's practically next door to me so I might have a look around there tomorrow.

I went along to the societies fair but didnt spot you. I might be interested in joining up though, can I get on a mailing list or something? I've never played pool properly but I can see myself getting into it here, two cheap tables down in our bar to practice on.

I see there are trials tomorrow too, are they individual/team? Can I assume they're at the CSC? Will I get annihilated with my lack of pool experience ? If someone would be kind enough to post some details before the internet dies tomorrow I might pop along.

hi robert,

the trials are played as individuals. We don't expect fresher's to know "world rules" which we play so don't worry about that! The trials are at csc at 11am onwards! Me and a few others from christ's will be getting a taxi from outside christ's at about 10:50am so come along then if you want.

Awesome, come along to trials - it really doesn't matter how much experience you have, just pop along and see what the standard's like, and play pool for a few hours for free ;D

Also, I've heard that Queens' have just got a nice new table in, possibly even a Supreme (rumour has it) - is this true? I might have to invite myself over to your bar to have a look...

'Tis a long walk back from there. Phew.

Just thought I'd say a quick thanks to Matt and Rob or whoever organised / paid for all that, really enjoyed it.

We do indeed have a new pool table in Queens' (at least, it looks new, it was here when I arrived ???) . It's not quite the same as the ones in the CSC but it is pretty good, I'll check the brand next time I'm down there.

No problem... it's what we're here for
Thought you acquitted yourself very well considering you've never really played much pool.

Quote

'Tis a long walk back from there. Phew.

Just thought I'd say a quick thanks to Matt and Rob or whoever organised / paid for all that, really enjoyed it.

We do indeed have a new pool table in Queens' (at least, it looks new, it was here when I arrived ???) . It's not quite the same as the ones in the CSC but it is pretty good, I'll check the brand next time I'm down there.

Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! Matt did all the hard work really, I just played around with my laptop while I wasn't playing pool, and it was paid for by the club ;D

Kate and I are probably going to the USSC tonight to try out the snooker tables, does anyone else want to come along? Not sure exactly when we'll be going, but I'd guess around 8ish...

I'm probably not going to be there til 9...

Well, how was it?

Didn't go in the end, I got onto a bit of a roll with my latest project of trying to develop a system for automatically uploading league results to the website. Is nearly there, should have it working in time for the new season...