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Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

Hi all. As the subject says - are there any 3-cushion tables in the UK? I know of one in Haringey but hoping for something further north.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Dan-cat

When I was travelling in Colombia a few years ago I was itching to play pool. Hadn't played for a few weeks. Finally in a town called Calli I stumbled across a billiards hall down an alley and excitedly went in. A sea of tables... Must have been around 30... No pockets.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Holden Chinaski

Very popular game in Belgium. But only popular with the older generation, not the youngsters. It's a very difficult game.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

Holden Chinaski wrote:Very popular game in Belgium. But only popular with the older generation, not the youngsters. It's a very difficult game.


I'm actually going to Belgium in May, COVID-willing, do you know anywhere to play? Every time I google 'billiards Belgium' or 'billards Brussels' I end up with snooker/pool halls (which don't seem to have carom tables).

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Holden Chinaski

primitivesludge wrote:
Holden Chinaski wrote:Very popular game in Belgium. But only popular with the older generation, not the youngsters. It's a very difficult game.


I'm actually going to Belgium in May, COVID-willing, do you know anywhere to play? Every time I google 'billiards Belgium' or 'billards Brussels' I end up with snooker/pool halls (which don't seem to have carom tables).

Three cushion is popular with the older folks so it's usually played in local small pubs. I'm sure there are snooker and pool halls with carom tables, but there won't be many. In Ghent there is one big snooker and pool hall I know of where they have two carom tables:

https://www.snookermartinus.be/nl/test2

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby rekoons

Yes it is indeed an older folks game, I have the same impression.
Nearer to Antwerp there is this club which has 2 big and 4 small carom tables (and 10 snooker tables as well!): De Leug

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Holden Chinaski

In Belgium we call this game 'driebanden' in Dutch or 'carambole' in French. Maybe this will help you to search in Google.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

slow response again - I've found a couple of places in Belgium that I'll try when I am there. nothing here outside Haringey though. I am going to have to become very rich and buy my own (and then give up when I realise how hard it is).

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

I played for 90 mins in Leuven at the KBC Zanzibar club.

They put me on the training table - 8x4 - which was wise, as the sport is bloody hard.

I made a good break with some fella watching and he complimented me. My game started to go to rubbish and he gave me a good couple of pointers and I ran a break of two.

He then wandered back to the bar and without my guru I was lost.

The physics of the game are interesting as the balls are heavier and the heated table allows for quite extensive roll.

I made another break of two and found I could make the set shot of object ball in corner reasonably well.

Anything else, particularly anything requiring heavy spin, was too hard. Those pros are artists, I a barbarian.

Brilliant fun and the highlight of a nice trip.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Holden Chinaski

primitivesludge wrote:I played for 90 mins in Leuven at the KBC Zanzibar club.

They put me on the training table - 8x4 - which was wise, as the sport is bloody hard.

I made a good break with some fella watching and he complimented me. My game started to go to rubbish and he gave me a good couple of pointers and I ran a break of two.

He then wandered back to the bar and without my guru I was lost.

The physics of the game are interesting as the balls are heavier and the heated table allows for quite extensive roll.

I made another break of two and found I could make the set shot of object ball in corner reasonably well.

Anything else, particularly anything requiring heavy spin, was too hard. Those pros are artists, I a barbarian.

Brilliant fun and the highlight of a nice trip.

Nice to hear that you were able to play! It really is a very difficult game. Sounds like you had a good time. Where does your interest for the game come from? Do you watch three cushion games on Youtube?

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Dan-cat

Love this!

So how does the scoring work? Do you set a target at the beginning say first to 5? And when you say a break of two you mean you managed to three cushion cannons in a row?

I found a place here in Gandia, Spain that is a dedicated Carom club. However… it’s not like any pool club I’ve ever seen. For a start there is no bar. Everyone was dressed in these strange white uniforms (I think there was some kind of tournament going on) and the lighting was harsh and bright like a hospital. The clientele were mainly teenagers.

My mate and I took one look at each other and instinctively turned on our heals without saying anything and headed to the dingy pool club we usually play and ordered a beer.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

This is a reply to both - from what I see most pro games are first to 40 (but if player one gets to 40 first then player two has the opportunity to get there on their next turn). One point for making a carom and that's it. No fouls, no deductions (as far as I know). Turn over when you miss.

There were some innovative games on Kozoom over lockdown that had three players and first to 10 to win a set and then x amount of sets for the game.

It is quite an insular culture from what I can see, Dan-cat, but the fellas at the club in Leuven at least were really enthusiastic to have an outsider come and play their game. Maybe your club in Gandia would be too?

Where does my enthusiasm come from? I definitely saw it on Eurosport as a kid and dismissed it as pointless. For me the fun was pocketing, and then safety.

But I started to get a little bored with pool. It's a fun sport and I like some of the varieties like rotation. But then someone introduced me to cowboy pool and it just clicked that I really liked making caroms.

So yeah, I started watching videos of Daniel Sanchez and Sagnier and Blomdahl on youtube and was just really into it. Having played it now you can see how some players are like mathematicians and some are artistes. It's a game for all brains.

There's a documentary where Ronnie O'Sullivan goes across American 'hustling at pool' but he mostly plays with quite a bored expression until he is introduced to 3 cushion (I'm sure he's seen it before) and he just lights up and loves the challenge of every new shot being a problem to solve. Sadly they don't stay on it too long.

Also I play quite a bit of Virtual Pool 4 - obviously not the same as real life - so I had some basic expectations and knew how to strike the cueball for the break. But yeah, beyond that, headscratching all the way.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby acesinc

Hi PrimitiveSludge. With an interest in 3 Cushion Billiards, I imagine you have already seen this video, but I will post it anyway for any who have not. I first saw this as a wee lad, probably six or seven years old and I have come back to it from time to time since the YouTube was invented.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdVRvYnqj6w

I cannot say with certainty but this cartoon may have been the spark for my love of the cue sports and indeed, the greater video content being about maths in general (MathMagic Land") may have been the start of my path toward Mechanical Engineering. 3 Cushion Billiards is by a distance the most difficult cue sport that I know (having never played the Russian Pyramid, I cannot speak for that). I think 3C Billiards makes Snooker look rather easy by comparison. The one time I did play it, I managed a break of 3 by the grace of God, but on the other hand, I scored a total of 7 points (including that 3) over the course of about an hour. While I am fascinated with the talent required to play the game and I have the greatest respect, the game play itself did not hold my interest. My love remains in the Snooker.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

I have seen that video and I think it is really interesting and good. Anyome reading this should watch it.

The gameplay really interested me beyond the initial novelty; I completely have fallen in love with it.

There was one shot, which to any reasonable club player was straight forward, that I got that I was just so pleased with myself - far more than any difficult clear-up in pool or getting out of a snooker.

Image

Two options - come off the left of the yellow with a lot of right and try and bring it around the top, right, and bottom rail - or come off the right with a lot of left and try and correct the angle so it hits the red off four cushions - top, right, left, bottom.

I opted for the second option and it rolled right up to the red and tapped it with its last breath.

Most of my shots were terrible failures but this was one that I got and I meant to get and it felt gooooood.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

mantorok wrote:Primitivesludge, slightly OT but I play a fair bit of VP4 too, do you play online?


not played for a little bit but yeah! i can't remember if my username is this one or sevendaughters. Probably the latter one.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

oh I made a little video. I was playing alone - so it was hard to film. This was pretty representative of my experience (except I slightly snatched the stroke in order to grab the camera):

https://twitter.com/ButterMagnate/statu ... 2209977344
Last edited by primitivesludge on 07 May 2022, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

Decided to go back to Belgium/NL for a quick 3 dayer in June. A day of billiards and sightseeing, train over to Den Bosch for the European 3-cushion champs, and then if I'm feeling flush and I can find someone, might try and get a lesson? I think I've gone mad here and I'm LOVING IT.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Holden Chinaski

primitivesludge wrote:Decided to go back to Belgium/NL for a quick 3 dayer in June. A day of billiards and sightseeing, train over to Den Bosch for the European 3-cushion champs, and then if I'm feeling flush and I can find someone, might try and get a lesson? I think I've gone mad here and I'm LOVING IT.

Wow, you really this game don't you! :hatoff:

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

We don't have 5 pins as such (at least I have never seen it here) but bar billiards is a similar principle, I think? The table is different and both players shoot from the same end. Tends to be quite rare, I've only seen two tables in the wild.

Anyway, I found myself with 3 free days mid June and flights were very cheap. And then I find the Euros are happening on those days? I've not gone mad: it's a sign!

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby primitivesludge

hey Dan-Cat, your local gaff in Gandia is hosting the European Artistic Billiards Champs if you want to see guys competing in billiards trick shots. Probably not, but at least you can scope the place out.

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Dan-cat

primitivesludge wrote:hey Dan-Cat, your local gaff in Gandia is hosting the European Artistic Billiards Champs if you want to see guys competing in billiards trick shots. Probably not, but at least you can scope the place out.


Primmy thanks for this!! I will check it out

Re: Playing 3-cushion in UK

Postby Raiel

I played this when I was in Germany many years ago. Fastest table I have ever played on. My highest break was two. Very enjoyable, but difficult game.