Loser pays, the winner takes it all

Pool is a great game. It has skill, tactics and a cooler cachet than its elder brother, snooker.

In England, pool is very much a pub activity. The tables are generally small and badly maintained and most people aren't sober when they play. Chinese pool is a more serious business. At Beijing's plush Ding Junhui Club, a snooker and pool hall named after China's most famous snooker player, would-be Dings hire private rooms for their potting practice and even perform stretching exercises prior to the start of play.

While enjoying a casual knockabout with a couple of friends at the club, several boys carrying their own cues arrived with their parents for after-school practice. Though I was taken aback at first, I can't help but applaud the parents' forward thinking. As snooker's popularity in China soars, there is without doubt superstardom and vast riches awaiting home-grown prodigies.