Benelli said:

And what high-end pool cues have you owned that allowed you to build this informed opinion.

Because your hot take does not align with my lived experience....

And clearly you don't know shit about materials science.

Click to expand...

Frosty said:

I agree with you regarding Jerry. You’re also correct in that Mark was a very good player, as one doesn’t manage to be able to even play on the pro tour without elite skills. The same goes for Tyler, he has put in the time and has the skills, I believe he’s in possession of the top 3-4 10 ball breaks amongst all current pro players.

My initial post wasn’t an attempt to knock Mark or Tyler as both have skills of elite players. As I noted though, skills without heart, grit, whatever word anyone wants to assign to describe inner toughness in competition that allows players to bring their honed, elite skills to task in the heat of battle, when it matters is the difference between those that become champions and the “also rans”.

I’m of the belief that when you look at say, the top 20 players in the pro ranks, that the difference in their “skill levels”, is infinitesimal. Yet almost as a rule, there are perhaps a third of those 20 that are are always in the top spot in finishes, another third that always end up in the middle, and the last third that are near the end of that 20 regarding their competition finishes. So given the minimal difference in physical skills, it becomes clear that the difference is what they possess inside, grit, heart. Some have it in spades, some do not. It’s just one of those variables that is difficult to develop if they don’t inherently have it “in them”.

Click to expand...

mikepage said:

You have a mental image of a "9-foot player" of a certain skill, say 600, who can go to a 7-foot table and adapt pretty easily.
And of a somehow similar "7-foot player" who struggles on a 9-foot table because he has less transferrable skills.
But those two players don't have the same rating.

You need to find better 7-foot players to do this right. Keep getting better and better players until you find some who after a little bit keep up with that 9-foot 600 when they go to a 9-foot table. Then we call them 600s and everybody else on the 7-foot table falls in line compared to them.

In other words, 600 is the same skill on both tables because we make it so. This is the same kind of balancing that connects the city to the countryside.

Click to expand...

CocoboloCowboy said:

Well this match happened in 1988 in a different World, different place, and Pool Rooms were still many. Saw Ronnie one at Baker's in Burbank, CA on Hollyweird Way he was a character. Read where he own a Room in North HollyWeird wonder if that could have been North Hollywood Billiards, sure Jay would know. There were two short segment inbedded in this U-Tube with instructional material, IMHO PUREGOLD.

Click to expand...