Is Your Cue Right For You? Does Professional Instruction Pay Off? How Would You Know?

Quite the question, er uh questions. So yes my cue is right for me. I did pay for professional lessons and it paid off. Well I know from the results.
My cue is a Joss East made for Cole Dixon by Danny Jane's. Cole was my main source for knowledge on pool cues. Cole's sensitivity regarding the hit and feel of the cue was very discerning. His statements indicated that 2 cues made by the same maker and to the same specs could be hugely different to him. 🤷‍♂️
He spoke of the different cues he would prefer for different games. The most obvious being for pool or Billiards or Snooker.
For straight pool where short precision shape was rewarded a stiffer hitting cue was good. When playing 9 ball there was a lot more distance and multiple rail paths required, so a cue with more flex was prefered. His explanation compared the cue to the pole used for pole vaulting. While the flex is on a smaller almost microscopic scale it is a factor. The taper and joint and ferrule and tip all add up to give a unique hit and feel.
Bill Stroud Joss West cues with an ivory joint and ferrule have a unique feel. I shoot with a Joss East cue made for Cole in the 80s. It's stainless joint and ivory ferrule with a pro taper and 19 Oz.
Soooo when solicitation of opinion on a internet forum, uh let's just say consider the source.

New 14.1 personal best! (bittersweet)

A pair of 84's certainly isn't bad! Certainly far better than I have ever done. I have probably set a high number in games in a row won but I was usually gambling and trying to keep the other player on the table.

My race is run and I will never see 84. At a guess I might have ran about half that. One thing that might be worth trying is just banging away until a run gets over fifty or sixty then bear down. About half the strain of trying to run a hundred from ball one.

If you can run 84 you can run 100. Get it done, then buy a decent plaque for your wall! How about buying the board and leaving the number blank until you break a hundred. That will keep you thinking!

Hu

Phoenix Open - August 18-22

BIH miss is inexcusable from a pro of his level. but biado also has one of the best mental game in the sport, he probably has already forgotten about it
It may be inexcusable, but it also may be reasonable when most side spin causes skidding, again, unless you played on these tables in the last couple of days, it's hard to understand.

Now don't get me wrong it was entirely possible to run out on these tables, I did so many times, but the balls many times wouldn't do what you'd expect especially when trying to do something a little more involved. I don't remember missing with bih, but at least a couple of times the cb did something completely unexpected on a shot with bih.

Kielwood Snooker Shafts?

I played alot of snooker and mostly used wood(10mm) shafts and the occasional switch to an ash 3/4 cue or 2pc that i still have. I never heard of Kielwood until recently and as far as deflection went if I could place the black on its spot and the CB on the brown spot and cut it in the corner with full side and hit the rail just by the side pocket the shaft was good.
That's a tough shot. The pros would probably struggle with that one.

Kaci, pro pool and prize money

David, you didn't just move the goalposts on the league's profits—you completely moved them on player salaries too.
The Old Narrative You Are Relying On:
The old talking point was that WNBA players make next to nothing and the league is just a subsidized charity case.
The 2026 Reality:
Under the historic new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), the entire pay structure completely fundamentally shifted:
  • The Salary Cap Pool: Exploded from $1.5 million per team in 2025 all the way up to $7 million for the 2026 season.
  • Average Player Salary: Has officially surged past $580,000.
  • The Baseline Minimum: Even a rookie coming right out of college now commands a $270,000 baseline minimum.
Your Double Standard on Goalposts:
First, you claimed the league shouldn't exist because it loses money. Proven wrong.
Then you shifted to "well, individual teams lose money."
Now you are trying to lean on the outdated myth that they make "next to nothing".
The Desperate Pivot Back to Pool:
And now, right on cue, you suddenly try to pivot the entire conversation back to pool's economy—which is completely irrelevant to what either of us were actively debating! You realized your WNBA facts were completely dead, so you ran back to a completely separate topic to find a safe zone.
A business does not multiply its employee payroll cap by nearly 500% in a single calendar year if it is a failing enterprise facing extinction. You are trying to fight 2026 financial balance sheets using 2018 talking points you heard on TV. It is a completely different world now. Changing the subject won't hide the scoreboard. Take the L and move on.






And as soon as the ghetto succeeds in driving the golden goose out the league will plummet right back to irrelevancy and brokedness.

Hope these girls save some money because hard times are one player leaving away from returning.

Most people still can't name ten WNBA players or five teams. I know I can't and don't care to learn about them.

Funny pic/gif thread...

What they forget is that they may get old skin may start to sag and stretch in ways they can't imagine then whatever will they do ? Ha ha
I've been asked if I have something against tattoos , I don't have anything against them what so ever , it's just not my thing besides I've been disfiguring my own body since I was a young kid getting more bumps , bruises and cuts not to mention surgical scares that I earned the hard way !

So why should I give someone some of my hard earned money to disfigure myself even more ha ha !
I had my mom last week ask me why I had scars on my shins and my wife has asked about them several times. I said "Mom, that was from racing bmx and skateboarding as a kid.

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WPBA Fine of $2,000

Logistics matter in concurrency.
No, they don't. Events are either concurrent or they are not.
Does concurrent mean same weekend or does it take into account location and travel expenses for the player.
It means that there is at least one day on which both of the events are being contested simultaneously.
While the WPBA does whatever it does to get sponsors, it doesn't have the players on payroll from what I remember.

So if a player can drive to an event close to where they are, shouldn't they be able to play it?
In almost all cases, they are permitted, but if it means skipping a sanctioned WPBA event, probably not. Read paragraph two in post 7. WPBA pros can play in most events, but a women's only event that is not WPA sanctioned (such as the Women's Ultimate Pool event) is an exception, possibly irrespective of concurrency.
So the Friday night tournament at the local room is off limits when the player is in the business to make money for
their next event. I see some problems here with the requirements if this is the case because now it forces them into
the gambling scene to make funds and is that the reputation we want with the public?
Again, read post 7.

Phoenix Open - August 18-22

It's diffcult to reiterate enough how difficult the tables were playing. A combination of the new felt (I had someone comment on the silicone content in the felt that will eventually wear off but I wasn't aware of any silicone in the cloth) and the balls, they do seem to skid way easier but that could be the cloth or whatever; however, I've played on many conditions, including new felt, and this played different than anything I've played on.

I saw many 800 + level players miss shots you wouldn't expect them to. I"m not going to name names. Maybe as we get into the top 32 and the weekend it will get better as the cloth gets more worn, who knows, but I wouldn't be so quick to blame the players.
Appreciate your response. I'm a low 500 and would have missed pretty much every ball on the table, so I'm not one to speak. I'm just not used to seeing someone of Biado's stature fall in such a key moment.

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