sbrownn said:

Yes, the red circle Aramith cue balls are the standard here in western Washington state also. Too bad they only work in tables that are not bar boxes or only when the bar boxes return trays are open, which usually means free / league / tournament pool.

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Our red circle Cue ball works fine on our Diamond smart 7 foot coin table.

Bob Jewett said:

Has no one thought of taking the train?

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Well, I looked into it. My best bet is from LA, not San Diego. The only train is not every day and gets into Yuma at 3AM. I assume that will be fine. Coming back I leave Yuma at midnight and get to LA about 6AM. Again, no choice. Round trip is $93.

GideonF said:

The probably kept him out until then because nobody could bring themselves to vote for someone with a poke stroke like that! Every time I see him on video I’m shocked that it works so well.

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And not just the stroke. Sometimes (often) his whole body was still looking and standing at the path and table and his opponent , and he would fire away with amazing speed control.

jimstone said:

... I'm using this shot x 20, 50 or 100 times as my metric. How many times out of 20, 50, or 100 should I be able to pocket the 8 ball before I can call my stroke straight, and move on?
Is this the best path to attain this goal? Thank you

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That shot doesn't tell you if your stroke is straight. It just tells you that you can pocket a ball on a straight shot. There are players with crooked strokes who can make that shot consistently.

Instead of two junior divisions they could have added a seniors.

There is only 180 degrees.
Those diagonal drills, besides being too cramped, only tempt the player into best average. That said, playing those cramped (jacked/elevated/inclined) shots is part of using a pool table. More useful would be a variety of shorter shots - IOW, less distance to agonize over. They would be quicker to set up, and work your visual acuity in practical zones as well.