church66 said:

No, the World Championship is not going to Saudi Arabia​

The long saga over the future of the Crucible will soon be at an end​

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I guess "soon" is a relative term. WST has spoken.

The contract with the Crucible has been extended to at least 2045. 500 seats will be added. There's probably a press release somewhere.

I have mixed views on Emily Frazer's leadership. She's dedicated. She has a ton of energy. She's obsessed with making the tour a success.

Yet she is trying to popularize the sport and make the WNT succeed by sheer force of her personality. It won’t work. It doesn’t work in any sport.

If anything, leadership by personality tends to divide people. Such leaders come to be seen as playing favorites. WNT would achieve more success by professionalizing its entire operation.

With Predator, I don't know who to credit - or to blame!

Consistency is key. Consistency (and early release) of scheduling. Consistency of major events. Consistency in getting a spot in an invitational.

Matchroom has erred in my view by how it metes out spots for the Mosconi and Reyes. If you want players to play in most big tour events, you need to give them a reason.

The Mosconi should award the top four spots based on points. One wild card is fine. Two is too many. The event could be expanded to six players.

The World Team concept for the Reyes sucks. Make the opponent the US or Europe. The top four also qualify on points. not the jerry-rigged system used now.

Simple truth is, selection has come to be seen as political because it is. That hurts MR's credibility with players and cheapens the events.

Keeping Josh off Team Europe two years ago was one thing. Keeping Filler and SVB off Team World was another. Everyone saw through that.

SBC said:

Break closer to center ....start 1 diamond in from side rail. Alter where you contact the 1.

BTW magic rack breaks are not going to break the sane as a wood rack.

Can work on making 1 in the side as well, as a fallback to when you aren't making the wing ball.

All the while controlling the cueball to center table or to come up table some with the 1, if you are making the wing ball. Have to break with some slight draw.

Not a ton of good breaking instructions out there. Ask some tip players in your area that play 9 foot pool .... they will know more than anyone where you are.

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What's weird is that some nights at the bar, I'm killing it. Other days like last night, I might make a ball elsewhere, but not the wing ball. I remember seeing a video somewhere saying what to change, but I can't find it now and can't remember.

I'll experiment more on my table without the magic rack. On my table, when the wing ball doesn't go in, the ball pattern is different than the 7ft table. I don't get a lot of opportunity to practice on the 7ft table, so I'm not sure how I'm going to fix it. I asked a really advanced player last night, and he had no real advice. He said don't worry about it basically, and then I watched him dry break a bunch in his games.

jbart65 said:

The two businesses are too different. A maker of cue and cue products and a media broadcast company.

Matchroom would never get into the product-making business. The revenue and margins are too small.

If Matchroom did decide to exit the pool business some day, it conceivably could sell the rights of the US Open, WPC and Mosconi/Reyes to Predator. Then Predator would dominate the pro scene entirely.

Predator is a small company, though. Best info I could find suggests $5 million a year in revenue.

Matchroom generates from $220 million to $280 million a year in revenue based on public info I could find. Only a tiny, tiny fraction of that is tied to pool.

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Even better that the two companies have different skill sets. They each handle the part they are good at.

Cool! I had forgotten about that game. A friend had one I remember playing. Get Smart is a great bonus.

Island Drive said:

After the break.... the only ball that spots during a roll out situation is the 9.
If the shooter says ''roll out'' & intentionally hits the 9 off table, would his opponent get ball in hand?
Rules say No.

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Knocking a ball of a table is a foul, when doing a push out you must make a legal stroke so would be ball in hand. Not ALL rules are suspended when calling a roll out. For example, you can't move the ball with your hand, or the butt of the cue, you must execute a legal hit.

3kushn said:

The rule was collecually called "Roll Out"

A player that didn't have a shot could roll the CB to a position that presented half a chance.
The oppoent took a look and decided to take that chance or give it back.

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Anytime ‘shoot again’ option is best for ring games. Not sure how that would work for heads-up play though (?). Might simplify the game by doing away with mandatory foul penalties (shoot from the kitchen after scratch), ‘Loss of turn’ foul penalty would then also be optional for non-shooter.

I tried it today on my table without the magic rack and I'm much less likely to make the wing ball. I'm racking it pretty tight. I don't see any gaps, but there definitely seems to be a difference. We'll see. I'll keep trying it with and without. I'll probably take the magic rack and try it on the 7ft table too.

ldmitchell said:

I feel that CA bonds best with clean flat surfaces. When installing leather tips, like Ultraskins, I sand flat with 220, then apply a layer of CA. I let the glue soak in for a moment, spray it with accelerant then sand flat again before installing.
It all takes time. And when sanding care must be taken to make it really flat.
When using epoxy, break tips, then I do want a rough surface.

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This is what I have always done. I don't really care if one or two companies don't require or recommend sanding, it only takes a couple seconds so what does it hurt?
BSTS, sanding is just good insurance it is flat. Prepping with CA definitely helps with leather tips and will always do this. Non-leather tips I just scuff to be sure the tip is not concave or convex.

I have just recently started using epoxy for break tips. Never had a problem with any of the break tips using Gorilla Glue Gel CA. Even the ones people say are tough, like Bulletproof, White Diamond, Outsville etc. but recently I had a guy with a battering ram break knock of the new tip 3 times within just a few breaks. This last time I use epoxy and so far, it's been on a week. Used JB Weld epoxy not sure if there is a better one to use.

skip100 said:

Maybe they could merge. That’s what usually happens when both sides are looking at the situation rationally.

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The business models are very different, too.

Matchroom sells tickets to its events. It runs a paid subscription viewing service. And it has scattered deals with TV stations around the world. It's trying to make money, or at least generate more money.

Predator generally doesn't sell tickets - it opens its event free to viewers and airs them for free on YouTube. Nor does it have any TV deals at all.

And yet, Predator is shelling out a competitive amount of money. The prize fund for the men's 8-ball world title in St louis in early April is paying out $300,000 - more than what the WNT paid for the Euro Open, the upcoming Florida Open and the Florida Open.

Where is Predator getting the money? The company does not appear to be trying to earn profits on airing pool tournaments. It can't afford to lose money, either. So it has events with smaller fields and it keeps its production simple to minimize costs. The YouTube video quality is good, but these are no-frills events.