Bump.

Bob Jewett said:

Does pool in the US need to change in any way to make the US more competitive? How can that change happen?

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More commercial money and attention are the only options, and neither looks promising, even with ESPN dipping its toes back into the water.

Unless pool became an Olympic sport, I don't see how the change can happen. It will remain individual initiative in the U.S. - there's nobody with the resources or ability to do the organizing.

Toadshot said:

I agree, shoot with both but really like the forward balance of a 1.75” shaft extension. 1.5oz.

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Wouldn't the mid cue extension make it more rear weighted? My thinking is that the tip stays in the same place with or without extension so that dictates where you hands are so you would have more of the heavy end of the cue sticking out of the rear.

jbart65 said:

After reviewing the pool of top players in this thread, I am even more impressed with SVB's high level of play over a long career. It really is astonishing.

If the records I am seeing are correct, Shane won his first major titles in 2007 at the age of 24 (later than I thought). He just won another major title 19 years after his first one at the age of 43.

No one else has been that good over such a long span in the 21st century. Only Earl Strickland had a similarly long span of winning big championships.

Shane's not done, either.

There's been a lot of great players over the last 25 years, but very few have had staying power. Others who have had sustained success include Niels Feijin and Carlo Biado, but they are not close to SVB's level.

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Ralf Souquet probably had more staying power than anybody who ever chose pro pool as a career, having won his first European Championship in 1989 and his last thirty-three years later in 2022. As has been suggested by some of our most prominent European posters on this forum, it is arguable whether Filler's career has yet eclipsed that of Souquet. Of course, Filler's career will far eclipse that of Souquet before he unscrews his cue for the last time.

Mensabum said:

I tried playing left handed - once.
Looked like a developmentally disabled blind gorilla with Parkinson's.

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Sounds like The perfect stall. Er uh playing with the parking brake on.

And yes, we have discussed this lol. Maybe Darren Appleton's method of using his midfoot as a landmark rings a bell?

lfigueroa said:

Lately I've been seeing a few very lovely cues for sale I'd have bid on in the past -- real knock outs.

But nowadays I want any cue I buy to be fitted for an extension -- IMO it's almost impossible to play without one. In the old days I would have never thought about it. But now, after playing with two cues fitted for an extension, I just can't bring myself to buy a cue without.

What say you?

Lou Figueroa

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I wouldn't let the absence of a butt extension keep me from buying a cue that I really fancied. You should be able to find a local (maybe) cue maker to modify the cue for a butt extension and maybe even build a matching extension, or just use carbon.

I love his stroke and this was some good content. But I'm not convinced of the tight grip observation. It looks 'tight' during practice strokes but I think we'd have to measure his grip pressure at tip contact to know for certain.

Seem to remember Buddy Hall's grip hand looking similar to Filler's and we know how effective his stroke was.

The legends will always be legends, but it has never been harder to win a major pool tournament than it is today

Jimmorrison said:

Everyone keeps mentioning the seven ball, but was that really the deciding factor? Shane was ahead, until he scratched on the break, Filler took the lead. Then a few racks later, Filler scratched on the break, SVB won it from there. Looking at the break statsAtLarge, it would appear SVB outbroke the field

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The score was 7-7 at the time of Filler's two misses on the 7.

If Filler pocketed the 7, he would have gone up 8-7, and it would have been his break.

Shane broke well, but Filler made the 1 ball on each of the eight times he broke in the match.

What was the, well, killer of Filler was a scratch on the break in game 12 when Josh was up 7-4. He never won another game.

Every part of one's setup affects and depends on the others. The entire point of starting with the feet is to get all the other parts where they need to be. This goes out the window completely if you start lunging forward or getting cramped bc your feet are too far/close to the CB and you throw off the relationships between body parts which you are trying to set up the same way every time.

Two things may help...
1. If u notice you're a bit too far back, just scoot forward with your feet and move the entire setup forward. Or just get up and restart, placing your foot a bit closer to start.

2. Build your setup around your cue. Many instructors teach this way and this was the method I learned from the first book I read on pool many years ago. You place your cue on the shotline where it needs to be, then you place your feet and take your stance.

The tricky part with #2 is that you go from standing with your head to the side of the cue and then get down over it so there may be some aiming distortions. Maybe CJ addresses this in his vid which I haven't seen yet.

GideonF said:

My buddy just asked me the following:

“what's your advice for playing against someone really slow? my adhd makes me lose interest and focus really fast watching slow players”

Now I don’t have ADHD and I’m fairly slow myself, so I’m not the best person to give advice. Anyone here have experience or good advice?

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I've got no advice, nothing puts me on tilt like playing a guy that lines up a hanger on a 7' valley table with 5" pockets for 45 seconds.

It makes me play like I'm that one ~60 yr old European snooker player who used to play 9 ball and make Earl look like he plays slow