Black-Balled said:

I think it more likely to find the girl doesn't want to go coz of what she chose to wear.

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used to have a girl come in the room wearing a short skirt. had to tell her (eventually) when she took a shot, we could tell she didn't shave.

Here's a pic of my Chad Carter Bloodwood and Holly he made for me. The leather wrap wasn't installed yet, of course.

garczar said:

not legal anywhere. please.

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I have rules at my house, you must have one of those cues to play pool on my table, so there's that.

skip100 said:

And people wonder why women don’t want to go to the pool hall.

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I think it more likely to find the girl doesn't want to go coz of what she chose to wear.

skogstokig said:

people say the same about the current crop of snooker players. yes there were more characters in the 80's and 90's. but some of them were on blow and most of them were drinking.

but i agree. and it's definitely a challenge with this multitude of nationalities to portray their background stories.

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I would question if they even have a full sheet worth of information on most of their players, as I rarely hear anything interesting about any of them during the broadcasts other than they won this or that.

Bob Jewett said:

Curiosity killed the one pocket player.

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Knowledge is power and well...he knows now it does not often go!

Bob Jewett said:

Yes, I've seen that kind of a rack. As I recall, the rack touched/pressed the balls on the back of the rack as well. I think one problem with them was it's harder to drop the balls in. Mostly, people are used to using a simple triangle.

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Yes. I usually place the balls on the table in roughly the right place, and place the triangle over them. While true, a lot of different methods are currently used, and I find it odd that that one didn't make it in the marketplace of ideas.

Thank you kindly.

jbart65 said:

Isn't every baseball game the same game over and over again? Every NFL game? Every Premier League game?

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No. The baseball and football stadiums are all different. Those games intrinsically have more variety from one game to the next. The teams are composed differently. Just the weather alone brings about more variety than found in pool.

jbart65 said:

This is the way of sports. Only golf and tennis have some variation, with the selection of golf courses or the variation in playing surfaces. But the best players play mostly the same no matter what course or surface.

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I'm considering this from the view of a casual sports fan. What separates one tourney from another? Maybe it doesn't even really matter anymore because global sports don't really have to appeal to the general population. Instead, they can appeal to just the diehards worldwide and build up an audience just from them.

jbart65 said:

I am fine with seeing high-level pool in a consistent format over and over again.

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I really like pool but this fan may need more variety in the future. Why watch anything live if you can just watch a match from 6 months ago that you missed? Especially if it all feels and looks the same.

jbart65 said:

That said, WNT has tried to vary things by using different locales and different brands of tables. Diamonds and Rassons don't play quite the same. Humid Vietnam is different than a drier UK or European Open.

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They need full bleachers to create the right atmosphere that makes these events interesting to anyone other than us. That's just a start. There's other things they could try with their broadcasts that would make them more interesting too. Early round matches with 4 tables per comm box. Commentators bouncing back in forth in search of the most interesting racks and matchups. I've seen a little of this but not at a fully produced level.

jbart65 said:

Lots of pool players have interesting characters, it seems to me, but they have been taught in many parts of the world not to show it. Takes time to change.

There is only so much that can be done, however.

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True. I've been accused of looking a gift horse in the mouth once or twice. I mean, I actually haven't but I could have been.

If Matchroom sees this through, they are competent enough to probably figure out all of my minor critiques as they go.

Black-Balled said:

As Corey said:
Sometimes you gotta see if it'll go.

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Curiosity killed the one pocket player.

Patrick Johnson said:

View attachment 840557

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And people wonder why women don’t want to go to the pool hall.

Chua is a good person, surrounded by others of the same.
To be great.... the greatest (which he almost is) has no room for this ''wallflower'' dialogue.
The meek don't survive.
They made the wrong bet.

nmh2008 said:

I think the point is that pool has a storied history of hustling, cheating, and just general shady characters - much of which is tied to the gambling culture.

Matchroom is trying to bring a level of professionalism to the game - it must clearly define what is crossing the line, and have a robust mechanism in place for enforcement.

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Lumping gambling and cheating together still blurs the lines and that kind of thinking doesn’t do pool any favors. The truth is, you’re never going to separate gambling from pool. They’ve been tied together for over a century, for better or worse. The negative connotations that come with pool are part of its history, shady characters, hustlers, smoky rooms, and money changing hands. That is the real deal. It’s also part of what gave the game its soul, its edge, and its legends.

Gambling isn’t the problem, cheating is. There’s a difference between a guy betting $100 on himself in a tough race to 7or 11 and someone waxing cue balls to gain an edge. The first is competition. The second is cheating.

I love this game, but it’s like boxing in many ways. It always had a rough image, and parts of that image are earned. But professionalism and grit can coexist. If Matchroom or anyone else wants to raise the game’s profile, they don’t need to sanitize the sport, just draw a fat line between ethics and cheating. And enforce it without exception.

Bob Jewett said:

I was thinking the same about the eight ball. There is also the possibility that he was playing for some other pocket, but overhit it. On the other hand, sometimes you just get a feeling that a "wrong" shot will work, and it does.

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As Corey said:
Sometimes you gotta see if it'll go.

Other than Filler and the Ko brothers, most of the top 30 to 50 players will be in Florida it appears. Another sizable contingent of Pinoys.

The Ko brothers have been a bit scarce this year - Big Ko was not sharp at the WPC. I assume the brothers are playing in the world games and will go to the rest of the big WNT events.

The Florida and US Opens offer a big chance to lock a few players into the Mosconi or Reyes rosters.

For the U.S., only Fedor is a lock for one of the three auto bids.

The other two spots are almost certainly going to be snared by SVB, Tyler or Sky. It will be good to see Woodward back in the mix. He has played very few events this year due to injury, wedding, etc.

https://www.wntlivescores.com/rankings/mosconi-ranking-2025-usa

Team Europe is more of a race. Kledio might be close to a lock if he does decent enough in upcoming tourneys. He jumped to No. 1, barely ahead of Filler, after his semifinal appearance at the WPC.

Filler isn't playing in Florida and he might miss Hanoi as well to play in the World 8 ball championship, so it wouldn't take much for a few players to overtake him. Have to wonder if he even cares. Perhaps the shine of the Mosconi is gone for him. We'll see. Be curious if MR would make him a wild card.

Team Asia is almost set. Biado is a lock and Yapp looks like one, too. Chua is primed to be the third auto-bid, but Jefrey Roda and Bernie Regalario are within striking distance.

If an Asian player won the US Open, he would jump into the top three.


The World Team is supposed to be picked on merit (points). If so, Fedor is the only lock. Any other Americans would probably need to win either the Florida, US or Hanoi Opens to be thick in the running.

Thecoats said:

All the digits are there .

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I stand corrected!

Black-Balled said:

I'm noting Hennessy.

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All the digits are there .

But but someone is waxing the cue ball BS.