Hey everyone, thanks for responding and all the PMs. I found one and working out a deal.

JAM said:

... The stronger the turnout, the stronger the statement that American professional pool still matters. ...

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I think that for it to be a legitimate national championship, it needs to attract most of the top ten players. Here's that list:

1. Shane Van Boening USA846
2. Skyler Woodward USA810
3. Mike Dechaine USA804
4. Thorsten Hohmann USA794
5. Anthony Meglino USA794
6. Oscar Dominguez USA792
7. Tyler Styer USA792
8. Justin Bergman USA792
9. Joven Bustamante USA78
10. Josh Roberts USA780

Not sure that Joven has US citizenship. I think that Fedor is not yet qualified to play.

It looks like SVB will be in South Carolina for an exhibition for at least part of the championships.

Baby Huey said:

I think the 80's belong to Hopkins. RA was done, Efren became the MAN in the 90's and forward. Grady, Joyner and Cornbread did not have his firepower running balls. Certainly Varner could compete at a very high level but Hopkins IMO reigned supreme back then.

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I knew a gent who hung out at Varner's pool room in that 80s era. And yes, it was said that Allen reigned supreme at one pocket. It was told to me that Nick's dad addressed who was the "best", to those who asked, sharing that "Allen knows he has an open invitation to come play Nicky some one pocket for whatever he can bet, and if he can win he can bust Owensboro...but we haven't seen him yet."

This pretty much falls in to the "what's the best table" "what's the best cue" "what's the best chalk" category. Basically, it is whatever works best for you. Everyone looks at the OB & CB as part of their aiming process. Where your eyes are during your stroke is a matter of personal preference and you will find people on both sides of the argument from beginners through pros.

I think everyone can pretty much agree that stance and set up dictate aim to a large degree and if you don't land the cue tip exactly where you intend to on the cueball you will not get the intended outcome.

Sometimes it helps to look at a situation backwards, instead of saying "what do I need to do to make a shot ask "what can I do to miss the shot" with the answer being either "pick the wrong line for the cue ball to travel" or "don't deliver the cue ball to the correct line." The former is bad alignment or not understanding how the object ball reacts to the cue ball & looking at cueball or object ball last is not your issue. To me the latter is a bigger issue and it gets exponentially bigger as you increase the speed of your shot.

You need to understand what aiming means from a standpoint of how & where you need to deliver the cueball (angle, speed & spin) which is table knowledge and physics and not dependent on execution other than delivering the cueball. Where the rubber meets the road is actually delivering the cue ball accurately and the prerequisite to that is being able to deliver the cue tip to the exact spot you desire on the cueball. If you miss the first step the rest doesn't matter.

If you have a perfect stroke, just set up and fire with your eyes closed because your set up and stroke are perfect and you will rarely miss or get out of shape.

fastone371 said:

I think the best chance of getting mismatched ball sizes is when a ball is replaced from a different set because one got lost. A small ball is real easy to see in an 8 ball rack when using a Diamond wood rack or a Delta rack, when you push the balls forward you will see one in the middle somewhere that wiggles around. I don't know how much smaller it needs to be for this to happen, I never had a caliper (veneer) with me to measure.

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Yup. That's what I was saying. And to state the obvious: at a tolerance of +/- 0.003" one ball to the next could vary up to 6 thousandths of an inch while still in spec.

If a ball is made, you continue shooting!
I don’t know what is the ruling if all balls of a group are made on the break, whether you shoot the 8 or the other group, my guess is that we will never know as this probably can’t happen with normal legal rack

My guess it that since it is an open table, you can shoot the 8 for the win

I feared that, attendance seemed down in 2025 from my visit there. Hopefully it only needs a year off and possibly a different set of dates.

Rocket354 said:

Playing all the time with an extension was a fad for a couple years, no clue why. A decent number of pros did it, so lots of league players suddenly did, even ones who played only on 7ft tables. Then the pros stopped, and I don't see any more league players doing it.

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I am not a pro but I use an extension. I continue to use it to this day because I did not grow shorter over time and my wingspan has not changed. Without an extension my rear hand always ends with 2 fingers curled behind the bumper. I had a custom 2 1/2" extension made for my cue, my hand still ends up behind the wrap but that doesn't bother me. I also play a lot on 7' tables. I have seen guys at league that had cues taller than they were. Your height should dictate cue length, not the fact that you saw your favorite pro using one.

SA96 said:

These Chinese players are lucky that SVB, Fedor and Bergman don't enter these events.

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Is this a joke post? Traditional pool players would get roasted on these tables.

iusedtoberich said:

I was just in a 10 ball tournament last night with 2 640-650 that took 2:15 hrs for a race to 7, that finished 7-2. I wanted to strangle them both, as I was waiting for the winner. Does this setup have automatic shot clock capabilities? I think that's where the value is, for me anyway!

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Wow!!! 15 minutes per game. Maybe they were playing 1 pocket.

skogstokig said:

yea but muyan zhang could have won against seo, that was a fun match

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i was impressed her form and power of stroke. I bet she is coming to be monster player soon!

The project is in the business plan and allocation stage (which means it is out of my hands). All design work is complete except for maybe the box artwork, and the foam design for fitting the AC adapters. The sensor manufacturers are trained and ready. I am not going to post release dates at all because I just don't know when that will be. I will only post when they are available for sale. Sorry to keep you anxious but we just have to wait.