VarmintKong said:

I have very much enjoyed what I’ve heard so far, but I Hoover up anything pool related so I’m easy.

My father in law is not easy. The man is a chronic complainer and excuse maker. I love him enough that I made a “Larry’s No Complaints” playlist for when he comes out to the shop for a smoke. “Damnit Laurance! You gotta smile when Tony Joe White comes on. You know if it’s too loud, you’re too old!”

Anyways, he comes out today to tell me how he would do my job and dismissively harrumphs as he asks what I’m listening to. Podcasts aren’t cool to him.

Imagine my surprise when he laughs out loud when Mark Wilson mentions that Frank Stellman made him mop the floor and take out the trash.

Dag-Nabbit! I can relate!

I just smiled at him and thought to myself that I had sex with his daughter last night… and this morning.

Click to expand...

That's too funny!

Chopdoc said:

. Some find it more naturally while others need to be more deliberate and need help

Click to expand...

That was my experience with sports in school. The football star had so much natural talent that he excelled at physical tasks the first try. Well everything except bull riding. He did try it though. at 6 foot and 210 lbs he just wasn't built for that.
I, on the other side of the natural talent scale was still able to attain all league status by studying and practicing. Well all American level coaching played a big part in my success at baseball and football.

Kim Bye said:

Turn it upside down, use the least amount of penetrating oil you can, let it sit for fifteen minutes and it should come apart.

Click to expand...

Is WD40 acceptable. Have BreakFree and Tri-Flo.

Ever so slightly bad behavior when the match was already over and a handshake had been extended does not really show a bad attitude. I doubt this incident rates in the top 10,000 examples of bad attitude in 2025 in pro pool.

Personally, I found it much more objectionable when Carlo Biado, after pocketing the winning 9ball in the final at the World 9ball, jumped up on the table BEFORE shaking Fedor Gorst's hand.

"Real science" and peer review held that the world was flat and the sky a half dome over it. Also that the earth was the center of the universe. A lot of our science of today will be just as bad although we are as unwilling as the scientists of that day to believe it.

There are a few issues with the conversation as always. For starters, terminology. We call high deflection shafts "low deflection" because we are talking about the effect they have on the cue ball, not the effect of the impact on the shaft. Starting off with bass ackwards terminology is bound to lead to confusion.

Second source of confusion, we are talking about effective end mass, not end mass. As has already been proven, effective end mass is affected by both the stiffness of the shaft and it's ability to deflect. If a tip can't deflect it's end mass can be practically zero and it would still cause great deflection in the cue ball. Mount a "low deflection" shaft in linear bearings an inch or less from each end and it becomes low deflection no more.

While conventional wisdom holds that only the mass a few inches from the tip matters, I have spent time with a 12 ounce 11mm diameter at the tip house cue with the soft plastic ferrule that comes with a house cue. That combined with the heavy cue ball in use at the time had more deflection of the cue tip than the low deflection equipment of today.

Very flexible tip and ferrule, very low mass of the entire cue, the result was that making standard allowances for deflection that worked with a standard house cue I missed the object ball several inches when the balls were six feet apart. None of the shafts marketed as low deflection have given me that result. With apologies to Barbara Mandrell, I was low deflection when low deflection wasn't cool!

Pool wasn't a priority in my life at the time and it took me several months to make that cue work. Only three of us had those cues, sixty inch snooker cues with milk duds, and I proceeded to win the weekly pool tournaments until I had to quit, I was bad for my friend's business as everyone else knew they were shooting for second place.

Cue ball control was unreal with that cue and after mastering pinpoint cue ball placement with that cue for six months or so I found I could have control to ridiculous levels with any cue on the wall. I beat some of the very best, them using their cue with a hinge in it, me playing off the wall. Only fair to admit that was with cues I played with a lot and in rooms I knew very well and they didn't.

Too late now, but I wish the shafts would be referred to properly as high deflection shafts. It would save a lot of angst and I think promote understanding. When the shaft deflects a lot, the cue ball deflects a little and vice-versa.

My dollar and a quarter worth, inflation has been a bitch lately!(grin)

Hu

Yes

bbb said:

good post
could you give an example of a correct answer but not demonstrating understanding the answer?

Click to expand...

In high school the senior football star needed geometry to graduate and get his scholarship. He hadn't passed geometry.. So the senior was in my sophomore geometry class. The teacher seated him next to me. I was careful to keep my arm out of the way during the tests. He got the answers. I got stories of his accomplishments with the ladies. .He passed geometry but I still didn't have luck with the ladies.

336Robin said:

I did most of my gambling in bars and always knew where to put the cue so I could find it.
Bars seemed to always have someone that wants to play cheap.

Click to expand...

Yep.

Back in the day that was the trick. To hide it in plain sight.

I'd also place a little mark on it so I could find it again when someone else ultimately found and moved it...

billiardshot said:

I know this been ask before about one piece cue? But who got a one piece cue hidden away in a Bar or Pool Room?

Since, I'm too lazy to do a research in AZBilliards Forum.

I did carry a cheap looking one piece cue, with ivory ferrule and hard tip trumpet. Into the bars or my regular waterhole hidden in the corner by the bar!

It was a 55" Ramin wood cue.

So the question .... who else carry their own one piece cue?

Click to expand...

I did most of my gambling in bars and always knew where to put the cue so I could find it.
Bars seemed to always have someone that wants to play cheap.

Chopdoc said:

In surgery we say: The operation was a success but the patient died."

In medical academics I don't give credit for correct answers. I only give credit if the person understands the answer. I am not a professor, I don't give grades per se. But I have "failed" someone that answered all questions correctly but could not demonstrate understanding those answers.

Just as in pool pool, it has to be the complete game that matters. It is a whole entity, with all the parts working together. Just as you should not over-celebrate one small part of it that you do well, you can't let one small failure crush you either. All of the components work together synergistically. Mastering one thing will not master the game just as certainly as the weakest thing will break the game. At the same time, focus demands that when taking the shot, nothing else matters. The last shot is over, the next shot does not exist. There is no game. There is only the shot.

When the skill, aptitude, and knowledge all come together and you achieve mastery, it's like when Neo saw the Matrix. It's a different plane of existence, you see the world differently, and you command the ability to step into and out of that state of mind at will. Some seek that all their lives. Some find it and lose it. Some find it more naturally while others need to be more deliberate and need help. While there are certainly commonalities, each experience is different. No one method or approach works best for all at all times, and for each the best methods evolve over time as they grow and change. Adaptability is key. This is what keeps it interesting for me.

I could never do this professionally if there was a magic standard formula for performance success. I would die of boredom. When I look at someone else that advertises such a magic standard formula, or that some others say is the single best key to success, I automatically know that is wrong. There are those methods that help most, the people in the middle of the bell shaped curve. But even for them, a more dynamic and individual approach will produce better results that are more sustainable. So, my opinion is that when one adopts some individual method or approach with success, if they adopt that approach as their new religion and stay with it only, they have automatically stagnated themselves and limited their possibilities of performance. That includes my own services. There are maybe five doctors that can function at my level in the country. That's great. Yay. But I also know I am not "it". If someone limits themselves to what I offer, they are doomed.

Click to expand...

good post
could you give an example of a correct answer but not demonstrating understanding the answer?

Brother, to me, the old Schon stitch ring R2's are basically the perfect cue. Bonus points if it has the light/natural stain on the maple. I don't know how to explain it other than they just look like players.