iusedtoberich said:

I believe it's always been the side pockets are .5" larger than the corner pockets. This was in the old days of 5" corner pockets being standard, and 4.5" being about the tightest ever made.

In today's time of 4" corners, I think the sides might be more than .5" bigger, but I'm not sure.

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A half inch is the only rule I've heard. Making the sides smaller to match the shrinking corners makes shots from some angles to the sides impossible. That doesn't happen for corners -- harder but not impossible.

When checking out a new table, I like to see how close to the side rail the OB can get and still be makeable. Measure on the end rail how many diamonds out the ball is coming from. Less than one is an easy table.

Biloxi Boy said:

The only essential thing missing was GIRLS, but somehow we lived through it.

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That's funny. When I first met my wife I own a pool room at the time and she would come around all the time even before we got married. She asked me once and I think she was serious talking about the pool players she says are these guys all gay? Don't any of them ever have girlfriends or go out with girls.

sjm said:

interesting time to take a cheap shot at American pool. By dead money, do you mean like Manas at the PLP or even deader than that?

FYI, what is best for everyone, Americans included, is that as many highly skilled cueists as possible show up at every one of pool's majors. That's what makes the sport more exciting to watch and what makes it grow.

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Yeah, we've mentioned expense/travel logistics for players from other continents. There is also overlapping schedule issues even within Europe. There are some pretty good players in the Eurotour event right now

The only essential thing missing was GIRLS, but somehow we lived through it.

mjantti said:

Mr SLOW!

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Fixed that for you

He played great for sure, just have such a difficult time watching him!

First big shocker. Max Lechner (Fargo 817) is ousted, 7-9, by German Hermann Hoyh (Fargo 738). I don't think Hoyh has ever beaten a top player.

Lechner appeared to plateau a few years ago. To get better, he hired Alex Lely as coach. I could see that his safety and tactical game improved. Lely also worked on getting Lechner to calm down and be more mentally focused.

It seemed to work for a bit. He had some big wins. He finished in the top eight in the Florida and Hanoi opens in 2025. But more often than not, he'd be ousted in the final 64 or final 32 at big events.

It's possible he's lost some of the bite or aggressiveness that served him well in the past. In any case, Lechner is 36 now, and like Mario He, he seems to have hit a wall.

iusedtoberich said:

I didn't read the thread.... weren't all the top players 50 years ago going from town to town, robbing the shortstops, and shacking up with their girls for the night? hahaha.

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There was different classes of players. You had scufflers who went around and were very careful.
Then you had mid-level good players who could make a buck and knew who to avoid.
Then you got the next level players. Players who could go into a room and we're pretty confident they could beat most anybody they probably had there and knew when to pull up.
You had the lamb killers. Very good players who avoided equal players. They specialized in playing weaker players and giving weight to get action.
Then you had the ultra hustlers. Players that would prey on hustlers. They could beat the guy who got a call to come to the pool room because someone was looking for action. They feared no one and would often bust out the pool room.

It was a fun time back then to see a stranger come through the door and you knew something is going to happen tonight. Quite honestly it was just like on the movies. You pulled up your chair and settled in for a night of pool action.

Still for sale?

MattPoland said:

I think he doesn’t care if he’s right or wrong and has a strong appreciation for the idea that all his shenanigans spur up social media engagement and regardless of the look, it’s good for bringing attention to the production. And with that he’s mostly having fun with it.

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Agree. Any news is good news. Look how much everyone is talking about it. Emily loves Karl right now.

Scrunge19 said:

There’s no way he’s a hall of famer.

A high run of 820 and a US Open 20 years ago isn’t anywhere close to outweighing his complete lack of meaningful titles.

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I agree with you, but here’s the question. Is it harder to win a us open or run 820 balls?

Rubik's Cube said:

Hello, Side Pocket.

I have about sixty pool ball sets, sir. It is not a particularly large collection in terms of quantity, but I flatter myself in thinking it includes some exceedingly rare and desirable examples.

My personal sphere of interest is the late twentieth century from the 1960s to the 1990s… to me a golden age of modern plastics and phenolic resins. Like yourself, dear fellow, I am fascinated by the origins of ball sets and try to record their historical provenance as accurately as possible.

Much of my collection can be seen on the Pool Ball Collecting thread on this forum… an absolute gold mine of information and frequented by many very knowledgeable enthusiasts.

You would be most welcome to join us.

Best wishes.

RC.

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The thread can be found here and has tons of pictures and valuable info:

It’s all Come to price, there are plenty of selling ads for Tascarella cue. What’s your budget range? So we know, last time I saw a guy did This in facebook. He wanted a Tascarella for 2k budget or less.
Just asking, no hard feelings

Pro golf wants top players play each other more often. See top of a WSJ story below.

Pro pool has tried this. Matchroom had the World Pool Masters, for instance, but it has appeared to be abandoned. The PLP is an odd version of this. Perhaps WNT or Predator should create a new WPM, maybe one with the world's top 32 players, with a double elimination stage.

***
Wall Street Journal:


Professional golf is about to undergo its most radical overhaul in a generation—and the changes could hit the PGA Tour as soon as next year.

The Tour’s entire schedule is being rewritten to add top-tier events with smaller fields and larger purses to pit the best players against each other more frequently.

New venues are under consideration to bring tournaments to major markets such as New York. And the playoffs could adopt a match-play format, as the Tour imagines the drama of No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and five-time major champion Rory McIlroy going head-to-head with the season on the line.

mnorwood said:

With his US open 9 ball title, his list of regional tournament wins and now this I think he has earned hall of fame consideration.

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There’s no way he’s a hall of famer.

A high run of 820 and a US Open 20 years ago isn’t anywhere close to outweighing his complete lack of meaningful titles.

JasonATX said:

Since when does that matter to Chinese manufacturers? They don't respect copyrights or patents most of the time.

For OP - prety sure you can find them on Temu Shop and the like for around $100 new. Haven't seen one so I can't speak to quality.

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I'm guessing it at least helps them avoid getting delisted by platforms like Amazon