Amaury said:

Somebody said forward balance helps imparting more action on the cue ball

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Did somebody say how?

Amaury said:

rear balance help shoot straighter (reduce deflexion I think).

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Deflection is caused by the mass of the first several inches of the shaft, not the cue’s overall balance.

pj
chgo

sjm said:

Wow, the fan who enjoys multiple disciplines has never had it better!

WNT offers great 9ball events all over the world. Predator's PBS offers great 10ball events all over the world. For those who prefer 8ball, there's the Ultimate pool tour, the English 8ball Tour and Heyball. Even one pocket fans have a new tour to watch in the south.

I don't see the need for each of these tours to diversify into disciplines other than their primary one.

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Of course you're right. I'm totally fine as a fan. It's this diversity that is competing with the WNT. Maybe they could have casted a wider net.

skor said:

I think that pool fans are the worse fans in the world… nothing is ever good enough 🫩

The pro snooker tour play just snooker, same game, same table, same cloth color, same players, just different location and it works great.

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This is the model. As a cue sport fan, I have the same problem with snooker.

skor said:

In fact in all the sports, they play the exact same game by the same players in different locations… Tennis, basketball, football etc.

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There's WAY more variety in other sports. Tennis plays on different surfaces, golf on different courses, and team sports play at unique venues and rotate between teams.

skor said:

WNT = World Nineball Tour
It’s doesn’t make any sense to play any other game.

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Correct with that name. I like the PBT model better, but of course that failed.

I won't deny Matchroom knows what they are doing.

kpfleming said:

I had to turn off the audio of some of the WNT/Matchroom US Open coverage because they invited the 'great guy' Joe Rogan to sit with the commentators and make inane comments. At the beginning of one of the matches he even referred to FSR as SFR, before I turned the sound off. I have no idea how much worse it got after that.

Speaking of that coverage... does anyone know of a place where I could watch the end of the FSR v. Capito final? The ESPN streaming service cut off the broadcast when ESPN2 switched to a different event, and the score was 9-8 FSR I think.

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So I'm curious, besides the SFR gaff, what other horrible inane comments did Joe Rogan make?

As for the original post, what other major sports tours play different games besides the one seen on TV? I know Tennis does doubles but even that doesn't draw as much as the regular singles tournaments. What, car racing?

Anyway, the only thing I do not like about the WNT is the grey cloth and the dull looking balls. It literally makes everything look dead around it. Even still, they are doing fine at what they set out to do and like sjm above mentioned, if you enjoy other disciplines, there are plenty of other entities holding tournaments for them. I love watching Ultimate Pool and would watch it over any WNT event.

Mensabum said:

Interesting how it refers to a jump as a foul. Jumps were legal where we played. No jump cues back then. Just your daily player.
We used to spot balls that fell on fouls or scratches, not just move on. CB always in the kitchen. Only push you got was after the break.

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No jump cues but jump rods were common in some areas. Just a metal rod around sixteen-eighteen inches long with a tip glued on one end. These were often specifically outlawed. I let people use them unless they demonstrated they were good with one.

Same thing with jump cues until recently. Letting the other player use a jump cue was an advantage for me. No complaints except the wasted time. People are getting good enough with jump cues now that jumping can be an advantage.

People forget Earl was never against jumping. Jump rods and jump cues brought others up to his level jumping and those were what he was against. Anybody wanting to jump with their playing cue was welcome to.

Hu

5 pins players like to have system to move the weight forward for certain shots.
for example https://vaulacues.com/sistema-vibraless/


I asked one time what was the point of it on a carom forum. Somebody said forward balance helps imparting more action on the cue ball, rear balance help shoot straighter (reduce deflexion I think)

I think having more weight in the shaft share the same idea.

I'm just parroting here, I am too bad at this game to share my opinion.

Mensabum said:

Welcome to the club bro.
Somebody call for Rip Van Winkle??

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The secrets to the world aren't secret anymore! The circle track racers were the worst, followed by pistol shooters. I would be talking to a racer in private. "I have learned a great secret, I will tell you but you have to promise not to tell!" They tell me the secret. "Dude, that was published in the national magazine last year!"

The thing is, all of the secrets are different ways to get you close. If you can't make the adjustments for the particular playing session you are in all of the secrets don't mean diddly!

There was a beautiful two rail "Z" style bank to get you into the side pocket when it was blocked. It wasn't too hard on the old ten footers fifty-sixty years ago. I watched two very good players, fair to say world class shooters, alternate a half-dozen or so shots at a time on a modern clean shallow cloth table. After dozens of tries neither shooter ever pocketed a ball. That was one of the early shots I learned and I could drop it consistently on the old equipment including a crap cue off of the wall!

I tried the shot a handful of times on a modern table. The pocketing percentage is so low it is foolish to try the shot. On the other hand it is a great one to get your opponent to waste time on!(grin) I shoot it once in a blue moon when circumstances are perfect including some balls positioned to make the pocket play big.

Which reminds me of a saying I used to use to annoy opponents. I think it might have been Cisero Murphy that said dead balls were harder to see than to make after seeing them. When making one of these shots where the shot was harder to see than to make I would repeat Paul Newman's(Butch Cassidy's) words from the big movie of the day, "I have vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals!"

Actually relevant to the mental game, another trick is to carefully study the rack a minute or three when it is opponent racks. Spend enough time studying the rack and the opponent will always ask what is the problem. "No problem, just looking for something to exploit." That word "exploit" has a nasty ring to it and some of the best known slug rackers around get very careful racking for me after that!

While on the subject of the mental game, how to make your opponent go mental that is: When I catch somebody cheating and there is no ref or other recourse I have found it blows minds to act like I am cheating. Block the view of the shot from my opponent, then jerk my head around to look at them as if checking if they saw something.

I can often draw a scream of "FOUL" "Really, what did I do?" Now they will start guessing since they haven't seen something that didn't happen. If it had happened they couldn't have possibly seen through my body to call the foul. With a referee that might draw an unsportsmanlike call. Without one, the call goes to the shooter!

Ultimately pool is a gentleman's and ladies game. If it is call your own fouls you can simply ignore them as some do. Many events have the opponent calling fouls but also state that the opponent has to stay in the chair while a player is shooting. Ever see an official referee sit in a chair for the entire match?

I am never the one to start cheating but when the other person starts the cheating game I can bring things to levels the other player never dreamed of. "Cue ball fouls only" doesn't really mean that. However when somebody tries to abuse that rule I rake the table next game just leaving the cue ball and money ball on the table and them lined up for a tap in. "Cue ball fouls only!" If the other person wants to play we quickly arrive at working rules after a little yelling and crying.

Hu