Any snooker players in OOT? I need a new cue...

[I.Rowboat]

Years ago, when I was in college, I spent an inordinate amount of time playing pool. This was in the dark days before teh Interwebs and their magical tubes of knowledge/pr0n/poker/etc. Simpler times, simpler amusements. Anyway, at some point, bored with playing pool but not good enough to play billiards, I discovered snooker and became hooked -- snooker is a great, challenging, complicated and often humbling game. Snooker : pool :: chess : checkers.

Unfortunately, the US is sort of a wasteland for a snooker player, and even when you can find a local room with a snooker table -- and I am lucky to be near an excellent room with two quality 6 X 12 tables -- it is very hard to find decent supplies. Specifically, I'd like to buy a good-to-very-good 3/4 snooker cue + 29" extension, similar to this one:



The local pool/billiard supply place has a couple of US-standard two piece snooker cues, but I'd like to purchase a proper 3/4 UK-style snooker cue, like the one above. I figure I'll probably need to order it online from a UK supplier or via eBay from a UK seller and have it shipped to me in the US. Unfortunately, I have no idea who makes a good snooker cue or what a fair price would be. ~$300, including shipping, is probably at the upper range of what I'd like to spend.

Is anyone on OOT familiar enough with snooker cues to recommend a brand, model, or shop? I'm only playing for fun, but I appreciate quality. I see lots of cues on eBay, all from UK sellers, but I have no way of knowing the relative merits of one over another.

Any help would be appreciated.

[HDPM]

I think Paris cues are supposed to be the snooker thing aren't they? Try searching for them. I get the impression snooker cues tend to be cheaper than pool cues for whatever reason. I think snooker players and billiard players tend to spend less and go for more function, but I may be wrong. I think you can probably get a good cue and case for the money you want to spend. You might also try posting on AZ with this uestion, there are players from all over and I know of at least one American who has some snooker cues like that. If you can't find an answer, PM me or re-post and I can e-mail or PM the guy I think has gotten snooker cues here in the US.

[I.Rowboat]

[ QUOTE ]
I think Paris cues are supposed to be the snooker thing aren't they? Try searching for them. I get the impression snooker cues tend to be cheaper than pool cues for whatever reason. I think snooker players and billiard players tend to spend less and go for more function, but I may be wrong. I think you can probably get a good cue and case for the money you want to spend. You might also try posting on AZ with this uestion, there are players from all over and I know of at least one American who has some snooker cues like that. If you can't find an answer, PM me or re-post and I can e-mail or PM the guy I think has gotten snooker cues here in the US.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks. I may be dumb, but what's "AZ"? And yeah, I'm more interested in function than snazzy looks.

After posting my original question in OOT I did a little digging and found some snooker forums (which was about as hard as Googling "snooker forums", duh.) I got a few good leads through that. Craftsman Cues looks very promising, as they make a variety of good cues in the price range I was looking at, and I can specify weight, length, tip diameter, etc.

Anyway, thanks for the suggestions. I'll look into Paris cues as well.

[HDPM]

AZ is AZ Billiards website which is a popular one. Also, what do they mean by 3/4 cue - is that what they call it when it has the extension or something. I have only seen a couple of snooker cues IRL and have never hit with one.

[I.Rowboat]

Yeah, a 3/4 length cue is when the joint is 3/4 the way towards the back of the cue, and you can unscrew the butt end and screw on a longer extension.

Thanks for the AZ web site, I'll check that out.

And if dinpoker sees this thread and would like to offer an opinion, I'd welcome it.