jay helfert said:

Pool is half mental and half physical! Never forget that.

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I think it is more of a silding scale.

When you first start learning it may be close to a 50-50 split, but once you start developing the physical skills the scale startes sliding way over to the mental side.

HitHrdNDraw said:

I played in the event… the pockets were 4” and all the rails banked short. So if you hit the facing, it spit the ball out….

Brutally tough, although Atencio looks like he is playing on buckets…. Otherwise
Guys just cinching balls then playing safe…. Great venue, great event…. Arc tables are great, wish they had those

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They don't look 4" (comparing to past Mosconi and UK Open tables), but i'll defer to people that were there.

Is the general sentiment that the Arc is better than the Apex? I've only played on early, stock Apex and i was...not impressed. The only thing i liked was how flush the pockets were to the top of the rail. I thought they felt...cheap?

Cornerman said:

Wasn’t Guama up 9-1 to start? Are we saying he didn’t know how to play on that newly tightened cushion when he was winning, or was it only when was losing that he wasn’t used to the better conditions.

A great look for pool.

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he's quoted some page back, saying more or less the gaffy table knowledge advantage was his spot

iusedtoberich said:

Sounds like Guama prefers Goldcrown’s over Diamonds! Sorry, I couldn’t resist

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Sounds like he's a typical scumbag pool player.

Stiff people, be addicted to drugs, steal...doesn't matter.
He will have legions of like minded scumbag followers and backers (a dime a dozen) who will gladly put him in games and laugh with him how they all got one over on whomever they rip off the next time.

This is the way of the pool world.
Zero accountability.

I've seen a few very old cues made from white oak. There should be no problem, per se. Oak is a very strong and stable wood. Both species are not horribly far off of hard maple in density.

The problem with oak is that it will look like you went to a house and cut balusters out of a staircase and made cues from them. Oak is not an attractive wood and has wide-open pores. Finishing to anything near what a cuemaker should be aiming for will not be easy. Oak also tends to shatter out when working.

I have used cherry and walnut in cues, so you don't have to buy a $200 piece of burl to start. There are 'exotic' species that are affordable and interesting. Things like purpleheart, sapele, canarywood, etc. work well and look the part.

Play TOI style for a few hours or days without worrying about how much you may feel uncomfortable or miss.

After that, you won't worry as much about center ball and you may get a new perception of the game.

couldnthinkof01 said:

If the angles the pockets are cut at are weird... Shooting balls into the facing from certain angles makes balls rattle.

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This is why I live by Eddie Felson's "Nice clean pocket drop"
What's the point if you can't blast the ball down the rail and make the ball, but instead have to dribble it in ever so gently so that it doesn't bobble. Let alone hang up on those stupid shelves of extra slate that make diamond tables extra retarded.
It's 100% not worth it.
If you can't hit it in at a decent pace down the rail, it's stupid