yankee817299 said:

His work is absolutely outstanding. Jerry and I talked about the design that I wanted and he was very accommodating. The cue has a very special meaning for me, so it was placed on the wall rack, never chalked, never hit a ball, but I look at it every day.

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Obviously, when you buy or get a cue as a gift, inheritance or any means, it is yours to do with as you wish.
When it comes to pool cues, it really all comes down to 3 things: design execution, construction & performance.

You can easily appreciate the masterful way Jerry builds a cue and think of it as artistry. So displaying it to admire
is quite understandable. The beauty of the design, whether simplistic or ornate, is easy to behold and just enjoy.

What I have never understood is stopping there. Just being pleased to own that very cue should be sufficient and
for some cue owners, that’s all that’s needed. To me, that’s akin to ordering a Tomahawk Steak at a famous steak
house and after it arrives, I photo how wonderful it looks and smells as it was sliced but leave without tasting it.

Owning a special cue, regardless of its rarity or price, involves playing with it. I want to, I need to form my own
Impression and opinion of the cue and its playability. The cue can look splendid but judging on appearance alone
is rather short sighted and naive. Otherwise I am deferring to others about how well or great a Jerry R. cue plays.

I can’t rubber stamp the opinions of others if I don’t also have an opinion. I’m not some shill. Over the years I owned
more than a few cues made by really top names like Mottey, Black, Stroud, White. I can tell you about the feel and how
the cue and shafts differed and what I loved too. Mottey’s piloted ivory joints are equal to the feel of a flat ivory joint.

So I feel obligated to play with a cue I get, especially if I ordered it. It’s like having a classic car and never driving it or
ever enjoying owning it in public on an occasional drive. So when someone asks you how does that gorgeous Jerry R.
cue play, what’ya say? Oh, one of his best, or amazing….or so I’m assuming…..I dunno know & I’m not even curious?

Jerry built that cue to be appreciated for its functionality, i.e., performance, as much as it’s curbside appeal. If you just
look at it, it’s basically a piece of wood working art. A cue should fulfill its purpose which is to hit a cue ball. If you are
a great cue maker, then your cues should hit a cue ball better than another cue for some players. And the only way that
happens, and can ever be judged or verified, is to actually play with the pool cue.

When you fail to do that, you really can’t personally refer to that cue as a great hitting pool. You could say that others have commented Jerry R. cues do play amazing. But honestly, about all you can do is attest to the cue’s appearance. For me, it’s entirely different. I play with all my cues that have flat ivory joints because the cues were built with specs that are the same sizes & weights from shafts to cue butts and even use the same tips. I want to enjoy the playability of my pool cues.

I don’t care how much a cue costs. If it were mine, its’s going to get played. Otherwise, I don’t see any reason to own it.
I have a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in 30-06 still unfired. I inherited it and the only reason I haven’t shot it is this rifle
would lose a lot of value because used pre-64 Model 70 Winchester in immaculate condition sell for a lot of money. But
a new unfired one, well, that’s a rifle you want to sell using a professional gun auction house because that’s big bucks.
Otherwise, all my other rifles and handguns are used. Heck, that’s the sheer enjoyment of owning them and so are cues.

Side-Pocket said:

I may be way off base here, but after watching videos on numerous methods to bank shots off any rail, I still don't know which is the best method or system. My personal preference after reading both of Freddy Bentivegna's books, is fractional aiming of the OB based on how it lines up to the banking rail. This typically is the method I use to make most of my bank shots and, since I am only an amateur, I make about 35% of the banks I attempt. My accuracy is higher on straight back banks on the short rails.

After all of the systems I've looked at, I still am wondering what system do the pros use? I see players like Thorpe, Woodward, Van Boning, Chohan and others, Reyes in a class by himself, do unbelievable banks and they slam those shots into the pockets. I'm just wondering if they use one system, a combination of several, or they just have the vision for the angle after playing for so long.

It would be really nice to have a path to study one proven method that reallly works for all bank shots, or maybe to know that there isn't just one method that fits all.

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The Science of Pocket Billiards by the late Jack Koehler has the best information on banking available.

Read it carefully. He covers many factors, but only a couple of them are really significant. His methods are sound, both in theory and practice. If you reduce your bank shot analysis to the most significant factors, you should do well.

You may have unrealistic expectations, however. Some of the best bank pool players in the world shoot less than 50% en route to winning major tournaments. Shooting 35% may be better than you think.

You can also learn a great deal by watching videos of the best bankers on youtube. Look for the ones with the overhead view. Don't try figuring out where they aim or how much spin they put on the cue ball. Look at the shots they select for successful banks. They all focus on particular types of shots.

Lowell said:

Table time is on the expensive side where I live, so I tend to get most of my practice in after league night. I mostly just work on long, straight in shots and try to get a feel for better mechanics.

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If that's your practice routine, I think you should expect progress to be very slow if it happens at all. For the first six years I played, I arranged for my practice time to be free or very cheap.

How about instructors where you live?

straightline said:

Couple things, they never give you the file and you need Prime forever (I think).

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Correct, that's what the plugins are for. Apparently, if you have an actual kindle it's not that hard. Download Calibre, download a plugin called DeDRM, plugin your kindle and you can transfer them to Calibre. I'm not going post all of the instructions but again, use my search term above and see what you find. And as mentioned, I have not done this specifically so can't confirm, but I would venture to say it works.

As far as Prime goes, I don't know. I only have a few books on Amazon and honestly, I haven't even looked at it for a few years until this post. But, I don't have prime and they still work.

My dear old dad jumped into Normandy with the 101st Airborne on D-Day.

Bavafongoul said:

Jerry made cues like the grand masters of cue making. He was so knowledgeable about the greats,
especially George Balabushka’s cue making. I was fortunate to have him build me a couple of cues
one of which we collaborated on the final design. His cue making is flawless and Jerry’s demeanor
is just friendly & pleasant as can be. He is a man of his word and he made my cue buying experience
not only exciting and enjoyable but memorable to this very day. Dean Campbell introduced me to Jerry.

Jerry and I collaborated on one of the 2 cues he made. the other cue was a replica of the prettiest Tim
Scruggs cue I ever saw owned by Kevin Lindstrom. I asked Jerry to make one just like that design but
he declined. He said he doesn’t like stealing another cue maker’s design. So I asked what if I changed
the look with different veneers and he was okay with that. So I sent Jerry a photo of Kevin’s Scruggs cue.

Jerry suggested using ivory instead of Elkhorn for the rings. I was worried about durability and he asked
how many ivory ferrules have I had to replace since all my other cues have them. I said never and so we
used ivory everywhere. The cue turned out splendid and the hit is really firm even at 18.5 ozs.

The 2nd cue turned out like a golden sunset with the forearm. It is really one of the prettiest combinations
I’ve seen and I’ve viewed lots of cues. Jerry and I talked every 2 weeks while my cues were underway and
talked about cue making, his fondness for fishing, and even his approach to winding down his cue making.
It was my good fortune to have met Jerry whom I still consider a dear acquaintance. His cue making is great.

I feel lucky to have been introduced to Jerry and Bob Owen in late 2012 and both built me two customs at the
same time. The first cues were completed within a month of each other and I ordered another cue from Jerry
and Bob within 2 weeks of getting the first cues. They had to rush the builds to finish before the CA ivory ban
took effect ion July 1, 2016. Well, both cues arrived Memorial Day weekend 2016. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

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I feel you're pain and after giving it a great deal of thought I do believe that I could somehow manage to play a few thousand racks of pool with either of those pool cue's thank you for sharing pictures of them with us !

sjm said:

Wow. While some have suggested that WNT and Predator should do their best to avoid scheduling clashes with each other, asking the major event producers in pool to schedule around an independent one-pocket event is a bit much.

As we saw, there were a few that played both events. The world pool calendar is so busy these days that expecting event producers to work around each other is unrealistic. As we have often noted on AZB, collaboration between WNT and Predator in setting the schedule would help, but it seems very unlikely at the moment.

Finaly, Josh did put his superior abilities to work and won $40,000. He is better than Fedor at rotation pool, but Fedor is probably still just slightly better than Josh at one pocket. Josh made the right choice.

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It would have been better to watch Josh and Fedor battle it out at Buffalo’s where the winner gets $40,000 and the Calcutta worth $150,000 that gets split up. If Josh and SVB would have been there the Calcutta probably would have been $250,000 to the winner. Not bad for an independent tournament.

WNT is doing the same thing next year.