Here ya'll go. Last year's thread. You can just cut and paste the same crap.

jbart65 said:

As for Matchroom, it desperately wants a better U.S. team and a more competitive event, if just for its bottom line. Frazer has been darn near pleading and crying for the U.S. to play better and win.

Matchroom is bringing more events to the U.S. precisely because it still is one of the most lucrative, if not the most lucrative, market for the WNT. Frazer has said repeatedly she hopes it helps to develop more American talent.

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Anyone who thinks MR is intent on Euro blowouts is delusional.
Drama sells and they want/need the US to perform better in these events.

There was a definite difference yesterday in shot making, especially under pressure. Too many unforced errors on the US side and you could see it reflected as the European team seemed to play stronger as the day went on. Going to be difficult at best for the US to come back unless they clean things up a great deal in Day 2.

JolietJames said:

The Euros have the break dialed in which is worth about a 2 ball spot. The US can't figure out the break so they start every rack at a disadvantage.
Do they have these same tables for practice leading up to the cup? SVB, Gorst, and Styer practice their breaks a ton. They should not be struggling with it like they are.
Also, rolls create momentum. Aside from the slop in the first doubles, this is a scenario that happened yesterday:

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You are spot on. The U.S. has not broken as well. I think Gorst and SVB both had dry breaks in their doubles loss, and Fedor scratched twice on breaks yesterday.

Safety play is another bugaboo. Europe got some lucky rolls, but they almost never attempt low percentage shots. The US does it regularly.

Sky also had one of the worst pushouts I've seen in a big event. He gave Shaw a clearly cuttable shot that would get him up and down the table to shoot at what should have been a hard-to-reach 3 ball.

lfigueroa said:

What I do know is that I was at the International Open a couple of weeks ago and the word was that the Europeans where not in attendance because they had decided to stay close (Scotland?) and prepare as a team in the days leading up to the MC. I think the US players were at various events, or none at all, like the Ultimate and the International.

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Shaw and the Euro team announced a few weeks before the International they were skipping the event and holing up in Scotland for almost two weeks. Widely known.

The U.S. team got together after the International and evidently had a week of structured practice.

I don't think any team needs more than a week.

As for Matchroom, it desperately wants a better U.S. team and a more competitive event, if just for its bottom line. Frazer has been darn near pleading and crying for the U.S. to play better and win.

Matchroom is bringing more events to the U.S. precisely because it still is one of the most lucrative, if not the most lucrative, market for the WNT. Frazer has said repeatedly she hopes it helps to develop more American talent.

lfigueroa said:

IMO, at this level of competition, you do not waltz in and play on equipment that is as different as these tables -- pockets and cloth (don't know about the balls and any secret sauce being used to polish them), without a few weeks to dial them in.

Our guys have the talent but don't do the prep.

"The will to win is not nearly as important as the will to prepare to win."
Bobby Knight

Lou Figueroa

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Pool is often played in waves of momentum.
When you make nothing on the break or do not have an open shot while your opponents do, you lose.
The Euros have the break dialed in which is worth about a 2 ball spot. The US can't figure out the break so they start every rack at a disadvantage.
Do they have these same tables for practice leading up to the cup? SVB, Gorst, and Styer practice their breaks a ton. They should not be struggling with it like they are.
Also, rolls create momentum. Aside from the slop in the first doubles, this is a scenario that happened yesterday:

Euro breaks poorly, pinning the CB to the bottom rail but the lowest ball goes 3 rails to a few inches off the bottom rail for a run out.
The US breaks poorly, pinning the CB to the bottom rail and the lowest number ball is all the way up table with balls in the path.
It can be a tough thing to overcome. I've lost some $$$ sets by thinking, "Well, the breaks can't be that lopsided in the next set." Yes they can.

It's difficult to get in stroke when you start your racks with either sitting down form an empty break, or rolling out for your opponent.
This has been an all too common theme in several of the last MCs.

Sure, talent levels are not equal here. The US team has given away more games than the Euros too.
However, if the breaks were even, the US would have gotten at least a point yesterday.
They had better spend their off time practicing the break if they want to avoid a shutout.

DrCue'sProtege said:

I will know for sure what the problem is. That being me.

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Everyone has been telling you this since you started crying about not being able to break and run out, but you don't want to admit it. Instead, you run and buy a new piece of equipment, thinking it will fix the issue.

Many positive reviews of Becue at AZ post below from 2017.

SSP said:

My David Tice custom cue with wooden shafts had a very similar sound to my Becue with the Prime II 12.0 shaft

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As far as the sound of the hit, YouTuber mentioned in post#23 above that the Becue hit with a sound like hitting ball with bamboo (?). Listen yourself at video at 3 minutes 15 seconds linked in post #23 for the sound. Sounds more like a tonking sound to me. The YouTuber presenter thought Becue's white ferrule produced a crispy sound while the clear ferrule made for a tonking sound.


Criticism in 2017 post, however, that Becue gave only fluff in its description of Becue's "Aurora" vault-plate description. Repeated today by Mensabum in an AZ post about Rhino's Must shaft. Description on Becue is still vague saying only that vault plate made of rigid and non-deformable materials that make for a low-weight front end.

Reviews listed in the 2017 post:

Merek: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=446014
Tony Longoni: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=448262
Cardigan Kid: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5824066&postcount=93
Tate (a short version of the full review) http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5824310&postcount=99
Hawaiian Eye: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5833813&postcount=127
Mr. Bond: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5835921&postcount=130
Agent 99: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=456959
LWD (customer service review): http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=456861
MeeLosh: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=5931913&postcount=27
gregnice37: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=473361
jrctherake: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showpost.php?p=6134208&postcount=2
BmoreMoney: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=473446

The 2017 AZ post is at https://forums.azbilliards.com/thre...ite-cue-interview-with-the-cue-makers.442251/

Rail compression and multi-body collisions are definitely the two main difficult points of pool simulation.

The theory of this model assumes the bodies "do not change configuration" during the collision, but there is an equation for displacement of the contact point during the collision. I've thought that it could be used to approximate the rail compression. Maybe I'll try that out before moving on.

As for multi-body collisions, I agree that they're difficult without numerical integration. I have played around with standalone numerically integrated break simulations using Project Chrono, an open-source physics simulation engine. It has support for Hertzian compression forces like those used in these simulations. The results were pretty realistic, but the simulation time isn't great. I've worked a little on integrating (no pun intended) these collisions into my simulator. That's what I'm going to move on to after I wrap this up.

And if this model doesn't work out for rail compression, I could probably use Project Chrono to do a simple FEA simulation with a few springs.