Alex Higgins!

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121651359#Comment_121651359

Explain it please.

You appear to have described an impossible shot and talk nonsense when questioned.

I can play most shots just not with the accuracy of the pros all the time. I've played on club tables and I've played on pro tables and what you describe, if I understand you is not possible. I don't care who was playing it.

Asdfgh2020

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121657488#Comment_121657488

+1 I’d like more detail on what you describe also…it defies the laws of physics…….

lbunnae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121657778#Comment_121657778

Plus 2.

eeepaulo

I met him in a hotel in Killarney, a seven ball tournament, some pros where there, John Higgins, Williams, Doherty, King, must be 20 years ago, John Higgins was either just finishing his ban or near the end.

He was playing someone I'd never heard of, they refused to let him bring alcohol into the arena, first frame went to snookers needed, so I went for a pint. I'm waiting for my pint, look over and Alex is stood next to me, I asked how he got on, 'lost the first but I'm just loosening up' ordered a double vodka and orange I think. He tried to bill it to his room but he must of been comped the room for the appearance and the bar man had been told no.

Bit sad how far he fell.

(I'm also interested in that break)

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121651359#Comment_121651359

No point talking to others here either so because the last few posters are very interested to see not about how he made the ball swerve but moreso how he swerved the laws of physics.

I think you have been had to be honest. Either someone is winding you up or if you saw it with your own eyes, a red was left sticking out of the pack alittle or something to make the impossible possible.

tomhammer..

Would it not be possible to swerve into the pack

and reverse the cue ball back some way

Not saying it is

dickdasr1234

Hilarious talk about the 'laws of physics' from people who obviously know nothing about the laws of physics.

Again, have none of you ever seen the cue swerve in the course of a screwback? The answer lies therein.

I have seen that much backspin imparted by an untalented amateur. If you haven't seen that happen then you haven't seen much.

dickdasr1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121657488#Comment_121657488

Have you ever seen anybody screw back the full diagonal length of the table from a ball sitting directly over the corner pocket?

I don't imagine you have - I've never seen or heard of anybody else do it, Higgins did - in the 70s with heavier balls and slower cloths.

He simply did things no-one else could do.

With regard to the nonsense I was talking, please elaborate.

ps What part of "witnessed" did you not get? It seems your limitations are not confined to ignorance of the law of physics.

mickdw

Yep I'd accept the full length screw back. A good player with plenty of power and timing would have a go at that or at least partially achieve it.

Re the break. With a properly setup triangle of reds, exactly half ball contact is possible if aiming straight down the table, slightly better than half ball if aiming from yellow or green spot to the pack.

So taking a half ball contact, the natural path of the white is obvious. To attempt to drag the white off that path to such an extent that it comes back to baulk area without hitting cushion would take a level of backspin that would not be possible even on todays cloths.

Playing from distance, to retain that level of backspin would take a power shot. A power shot from baulk with a half ball contact the other end of the table is not coming back to you without hitting cushion or another ball knocking it back up.the table.

Did Alex play the shot you witnessed as a masse?

dickdasr1234

Who's talking garbage now?

How can you screw back that distance from a masse shot?

I' ve told you I saw it with my own eyes. You want to play with a geometry set.

I've never seen anyone but Higgins achieve either screw-back described.

He could do what no-one else could.

He was an artist. He envisaged what no one else thought possible so rest assured that you're not on your own.

Goodbye

dickdasr1234

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121661429#Comment_121661429

At last, someone with a brain. Tremendous side and backspin not achievable by mere mortals.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121668549#Comment_121668549

I wouldn't rule it out

Higgins would be the man alright

Ya'd be swerving in anyway to make contact otherwise ya' d definitely be defying the laws of physics

manofwisdom

He was box office at his peak. Got people who previously had no interest in snooker interested.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121668603#Comment_121668603

Popularized the game alright

mickdw

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121668548#Comment_121668548

I was only asking about masse as while it would be impossible from the D, it would be possible if played from well down the table although not really reachable then.

So you are going with the swerve into the pack theory now that someone else came up with it. You didn't mention it before.

I can see a level of backspin being retained on a mild swerve. Any large swerve at that distance wouldn't have enough retained spin to cone back to baulk.

Do you play the game yourself at all or do you just witness everything.

dickdasr1234

I played the game at international level alongside Paddy Brown, Paddy Miley etc. I didn't think there was much point in explaining anything to people who are utterly ignorant of the 'laws of physics' and whose understanding of snooker is limited to their own experience.

I told you what I witnessed- you called it 'bullshit' and later accused me of talking nonsense (while declining the invitation to elaborate).

Why am I bothering to answer you at all?

Please go away.

mickdw

In my opinion Jimmy white in same period could get more work on the cue ball but that is a matter of opinion.

I'd like to see jimmy attempt this break

tomhammer..

It would be an interesting question for someone like Steve Davis to give his opinion on it

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121669530#Comment_121669530

It was immediately obvious that you'd have to swerve into the pack

There's clearly no other way it could work

According to the laws of physics😁

mickdw

Clearly no other way but that wouldn't work either so not so obvious really.

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670082#Comment_121670082

You're being a bit argumentative here

I said obvious if it could work

You didn't add to conversation except to say the laws of physics would be broken

In theory the laws of physics probably wouldn't be broken if you could pull off the shot

eeepaulo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670012#Comment_121670012

Would you describe it to me please, i would genuinely love to hear what happened. You said it was at pontins, was it an exhibition? tournament? just a night out?

dickdasr1234

Pontin's pro-am early 80s. Higgins v Reardon (tournament was won by a teenage John Parrott).

Higgins out of his tree, tripping over flowerpots, Reardon's eyebrows doing a dance to the Higgins tune.

Higgins twitching and grimacing, launched his cue at the White and left the audience (well me anyway) wondering were they hallucinating.

I got the impression that this wasn't the only time this occurred as Reardon seemed more jealous than astounded. Alex just watched the cueball return as though it was an everyday occurrence.

It was live. No advance warning and no opportunity to review. Describe it? Very little to be said other than Higgins dug into the cue-ball like nobody can, straining the limits of wood and leather.

fatbhoy

I'm with team dickdastardly 🤣

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121670014#Comment_121670014

With certain spin shots maybe, but when it came to backspin Higgins naturally cued wrong with a sort of jutt that could create deep screw and odd shots no one else could do with their natural cueing.

As for the shot we're talking about, it wouldn't surprise me if Higgins pulled it off, he did mercurial things others couldn't, especially in exhibition environments.

From the yellow spot, coming into the pack with deep screw on the left, with the cueball jutted as he strikes it, I could see him pulling off that shot tbh.

Even the shots I posted with Virgo, many could pot either with several attempts. But to pot both, in a row, on your first attempt drunk, after calling them, knowing full well you'd get them, is absolutely ridiculous and something I don't think anyone else would be capable of

gormdubhgorm

This is a funny one Alex Higgins and Jimmy White playing Pool in the 1995 Mosconi Cup - Doubles v America (Bobby Hunter/Mike Massey)

Alex stops while and reprimands the crowd for being unfair to the Americans, then proceeds to go on about a potential "rerack" if the Americans want it. As Alex said he was "in control" but in reality looked like he was struggling as to what to do. Mike Massey quickly says to him "you are not in control"

https://youtu.be/qoJbOOwEUVA?si=HLAdPWMo8geVnqbh&t=2235

This one is more of the mean spirted side of Higgins.

Higgins v Thorburn UK Championship 1984. Thorburn was letting Alex use his cue extension. Thorburn at the table nominated "Green". The referee called a foul seven - because he did not hear him. The ref was John Smyth an Irish fella from Dublin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Smyth_%28snooker_referee%29

Alex claimed not to have heard anything. Then Thorburn refused to let him used his cue extension afterwards.

https://youtu.be/kvGvLNdwUUI?si=MjKjk3uhSSuF3zV_&t=46

tomhammer..

Remember that

I'd say Thorburn was a thick fukker all the same

GreeBo

I think its the difference between being a great potter vs a great snooker player.

A bit like golf, the guy who hits the ball the best isnt the best golfer.

The Golden Miller

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121671694#Comment_121671694

Didn't he hit Higgins before that? Bit of an axe to grind there

tomhammer..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121671706#Comment_121671706

?...