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A cue is the most vital element in the game of Snooker and it is essential to own your snooker cue if you are actually looking forward to develop your ability in playing the game. While you are buying a cue you will get a variety of choices. Choosing the right type of cue is very important when you wish to excel in the game.  Bought cues may come with a cue tip pre-installled.  make sure that this tip is suitable for you before playing.  Some cheaper cues will install an extremely poor variety of tip on the cue while custom cue makers will often ask which type of tip you prefer to be installed.

The standard length of a cue is around fifty-eight inches and the recommended weight should be not more than seventeen ounces. Snooker cue tip vary in sizes but 10 millimeters is taken to be the standard size. Although experts use 9mm and 11mm tip sizes, it is best to learn the game in a 10mm tip size. At the end of the cue a ferrule remains attached so that it can prevent the tip from splitting.

Most of us play snooker in our leisure. We are well aware of the rules of the games but sometimes we tend to miss out on the other aspects of the game. One such thing is the types and fittings of the Snooker Cue tips.

Most of the Snooker cue tips nowadays are made from various types of leather, the process manufacturing of which is still a very well kept secret.

Various pieces of equipment are available for cue tip fitting.  There are various vice grips, sanding pads, tip glue etc.  It’s best to experiment to find a system that works for you.

If you are playing Snooker then it is very important for you know about the cue tips. There are different types and fittings of cue tips available in the market.

Hard tips are really good to use but it ’s a players personal preference which tips are best.

Here are some very popular cue tips,

-Elk Master is a fine tip made by Tweeten and it is regarded as the most popular soft cue tip across the globe.  This is one of the most popular tips for snooker.

-LePro is one of the most popular cue tip used across the world. This is a medium hard tip.

-Moori is a type of a layered cue tip. This cue tip manufactured from pigskin. This is the choice of the professionals. It is available in all types such as hard, medium, and soft.  Layered tips give a different feel and consistency of shot.

The game of artistic billiards is as interesting as its name. If you wish to play artistic billiards, your shots require absolute precision. This game demands a player of great caliber as the shots are taken from pre-determined positions. There are 76 pre-designated shots and they are categorized according to their difficulty of execution. As a player of artistic billiards, you do not have the choice of taking a shot from a position of your choice.

If you are one of those who have a knack for hitting the bulls eye every time, you can take a shot at artistic or fantasy billiards. Accuracy and precision rule the roost in the game. There are a total of 500 points up for grabs. Depending upon the difficulty level of hitting each shot, points are assigned to each of the shots. For a comparatively easier shot, a maximum of four points can be scored. If you manage to take a clean strike at the most difficult shot, you gather 11 points in your kitty.

Your cue is your tool to success. A player can use a maximum of twenty different kinds of cues, each of them designed to hit from a particular position. With a whole range of improvised shotmaking techniques in your armor, you can emerge as a successful player.

Do you wish to become a professional billiards player and join the ranks of all time greats or at least be in the same league as champions.  There are many who have made it to the top by virtue of their talent and sheer hard work.

Apart from playing the game earnestly, you also need to take care of certain finer points. For example, joining a club of professional billiards players or interacting with state level players would give you an insight on how the game is played on professional level. Participating in tournaments that attract maximum viewer attention and are extensively covered by international channels like World 8-Ball Championship, 9-Ball Challenge and U.S Open One Pocket Championship and is the perfect way to enter the realm of professional billiards.

Professional billiards players look up to a win in any of these tournaments. You also tend to earn respect amongst the followers of the game. Following the career of these players would give you an idea about how to chalk out your career plan and go about it. Finally but most importantly there is no other alternative to continuous practice and it is the key to becoming a professional billiards player.

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Does thinking about indoor games evoke memories of endless sessions of pool and snooker with your friends? If you are an avid fan of billiards or snooker, you must know about the different types of balls used for the different games. A game of carom is never played with the ball used for American style pool game.

Lets take, for example, the ball sets used for snooker games. The standard snooker balls measure 52.5 mm in diameter, however some balls also measure 52.4 mm. They have no standard weights, however, they usually weigh around 3 g. On the other hand, for a game of three-cushion, straight or balkline, you need balls that are 61.5 mm in diameter.

If you specialize in the game of Russian pyramid, you need to use a different set of billiards balls (with 68 or 72 mm diameter) from those used in Bumper pool (balls with 52.5 mm diameter). The blackball (British-style pool) uses 4.76 cm cue balls and 5.08 cm object balls, while the American-style pool uses balls with 5.715 cm in diameter.

Do you know how the balls where initially manufactured? They were fashioned out of ivory from elephant tusks. However, today phenolic resin is the most common material used for manufacturing these balls.

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Cue sport involves balls of different sizes, colors, coatings and patterns etc that determine friction coefficient, resilience and hardness. Earliest pool balls were made of clay, wood and later ivory but contemporary balls are manufactured by plastic materials that are not prone to chipping or cracking.

In carom billiards, balls are not numbered and 61.5 mm in diameter. Here four/three balls are played with two red object balls and one white/yellow cue ball for each player. American style pool balls are larger than British pool balls and are widely used worldwide. These are 2.25cm in diameter with 0.005cm tolerance, colored and numbered. Typically there are nine-ball or eight-ball games played by fifteen balls in pocket billiards. In a British style blackball game 5.08 cm object balls and 4.76 cm cue balls are used but without any numbering. Twenty two colored balls of same weight and of 52.5 mm diameter (tolerance 0.05mm) are played in snooker.

In Russian Pyramid and Finnish Kaisa games, all-white numbered object balls are played by yellow/red cue balls. These balls are 68 mm or 72 mm in diameter. Bumper pool requires eight object balls and two special balls of approximately 52.5mm diameter. Also there are some special training balls for beginners and novelty balls like Blacklight, Boble ball, Tag ball etc.

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There are different types of billiards or pool table that are used for the game of billiards. The table could of any shape ranging from round to L-shaped and multilateral. You simply need to know the methods of maintaining the table. According to the cleaning experts a pool table must be cleaned with the help of a vacuum cleaner. The plain vacuum cleaner will not only remove the chalk and the powder marks but also clear the table of the excess dust that gets accumulated due to the game.

However, if a vacuum cleaner is not readily available then you can definitely opt for a pool table brush which will serve the purpose temporarily. A brush must be available in a game room since it is capable of getting rid of the dust left behind by the chalks and the talcum on the pool table. If you want the table to be absolutely free from dirt then it is recommended that you use both the soft bristle brush and the vacuum consecutively. Moreover, to get the maximum output you must brush it near the pockets and from one end to another.

It is always safe to use the brush that came with your table while purchasing the product. You need to vacuum the cloth and iron it properly to get the maximum performance out of it. Finally to avoid such circumstances covering of the pool table with a cover is highly recommended.

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Becoming a professional billiard player is not only a matter of talent, practice and expertise. This requires promoting a talent. If you want to promote yourself, if you want to be professional, you need to know few strategies of the game beforehand.

Following are the essential tips for becoming a professional billiards player –

Tip # 1 Practice. The first tip definitely is your dedication, sincerity and hard work. World champions like Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes are known to practice for long hours, sometimes stretching even 10 to 12 hours.

Tip # 2 Not only practicing, you need to study the other professionals as well. Make yourself acquainted with the world champions, with their playing style, their special talent, their game plan, their career plan and their lifestyle. Make yourself one such a holistic plan.

Tip # 3 Now you are enough prepared to make your appearance. Join pool league. Develop a network. Test yourself at regional and local levels.

Tip # 4 At the next level, take part in high profile matches. Contests like World 8 Ball Championship or ESPN’s Ultimate 9 Ball Challenge will definitely build your image as a professional. If you win, then you definitely are.

Tip # 5 Last but not the least, be an opinion leader. Master your game and reflect your wisdom in your lifestyle and living.

If you want to taste the classic fervor of billiards, then artistic billiards is the one you need. The artistic billiards or fantaisie classique is a type of carom billiards originated in Western Europe.

This tests how well you can handle difficult shots with 76 pre-set shots. The perfect execution of the most difficult shot has 11 point, where 4 point is given to the perfect execution of the least difficult shots. Thus total of 500 points you can score in 76 shots.

The shot-making techniques of this game require you to have high skill, patience, analysis, logic, and artistic talent. There are definite postures exclusively for artistic billiards, not found in other types. Few of the most used game techniques are masse, force draws, jumps, force follows, kicking etc.

There are around 20 cues available. You can choose one from them depending upon the shot you require. For a tip, try masse with short and light cue that has a flat, hard and wide cue tip. Each shot is given three chances to perform.

So if you want to test how special you are, and how well you understand this game, go for artistic billiards. It would be the ultimate assessment of your talent and skill