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Thoughts ... Russian Kenny is out of prision

jay helfert
u12armresl said:
You know better than anyone Jay, if you had to guess the over under, what is Cliff's "can I hold" unpaid amount over his lifetime?
He bit me in Indy for a room, food, tournament and a ride, then as I'm walking out of the room, cash.
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One more on Cliff, who I happen to like very much but he has/had a major gambling problem. I stake him in the U.S. Bar Table Championships; travel money, free room, food allowance daily and paid entry fees. Probably cost me less than a thousand all told back then. He wins both divisions for 5K each plus the $1,000 bonus for winning both. 11K Total. I feel generous, take nothing off the top and split it 50-50 with him. We go down to the cage to get the money and maybe ten guys are following us. I ask Cliff "What's all this?" He says he owed all of them 100 each! He had been borrowing money to take a shot at the dice every night.

So we get the money and he pays all these guys but still has maybe $4,500 left. I go to my room and advise him to do the same. About 2 AM there's a knock on my door. It's Cliff, "Can I borrow some money?" WTF! He said he had some bad luck in the casino and just needed 300. Can I give it to him? I'm too sleepy to argue and hand him the money. An hour later, knock knock again. Guess who? Now he wants 300 more to buy a ticket to get back home to Atlanta. This time I tell him to let me hold your cue. It's a sweet hitting Meucci. He gives me the cue and I give him another 300. I find out later he lost that money too and ended up taking a bus home. He never bailed out the cue and I finally sold it for 300 a couple of years later.

I have some stories involving well known players who begged, borrowed and literally stole money from me. But these will go with me to my grave. In the end my conclusion was that I'd rather be on my end of it then theirs.

I cannot fault Cliff too much. We made money together when he was in his prime. He just couldn't hold onto his end.
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Thoughts ... Russian Kenny is out of prision

jay helfert
maha said:
maybe it teaches his kid to be street smart and not a fool or ninnie as he grows up. that is more important to most of things to learn.

most of the good gamblers i know become very rich and had great families and lives.

and did what they wanted to do every day they woke up, instead of going to a job and saying yes sir or no sir.
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You got that right! My last real job was when I was 23. Of course running a large poolroom is a lot of work, but you are the employer, not the employee.
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Question about tip shape...

Bamacues
I have been at this game for over 60 years.

Pretty much all I ever heard or saw was "nickel or dime" shaped playing tips.

Recently, it appears that some of the top-level players are using tips that are almost totally flat.

Some even (especially snooker players) appear to have intentional "mushroom" built into their tip install.

Am I imagining things? Is there a particular logic to the cue tip shapes that I am not getting?
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Barnhart Roasted Maple Shafts, aka Kielwood

Bamacues
Bavafongoul said:
I just acquired my 2nd Cory Barnhart Kielwood shaft from Superior Cues. As always, Martin is a delight to do business with. I didn’t complete Payment until Sunday and the shaft arrived this morning (Wednesday) by 10:30 AM. Martin packed it as securely as any cue, shaft or any merchandise I’ve ever received. He deserves cudos for outstanding packaging. The shaft is gorgeous but looks matter less than how the shaft plays. This new shaft is for my radial pin Scruggs cue, or maybe it should be referred to as a Scruggs/Cochran cue.

The below photos show you the 4 KW shafts I have and 2 are for my Scruggs cue. Of course, I still have the orig. maple shafts but Kielwood just plays so much better than the orig. shafts are in storage at home. The new shaft is 12.6 mm and weighs 4.04 ozs. flat faced wood. My other Barnhart KW shaft, lighter in color, is 12.85mm and weighs 3.81 ozs. Either shaft plays better than my 4 oz. orig. maple shafts. Forgot to mention Barnhart roasted maple shafts are 29.5”.

If you are not a devotee of carbon fiber, get your hands on a KW shaft but do yourself a favor and try to get a little heavier version KW shaft. I have tried some lighter weight KW shafts & you can keep ‘em. 3 of 4 KW shafts I have are 4 ozs, are not cored and sans any weight inserts. I played with my new Barnhart shaft today. Never tried it, straight out of my case and I broke and ran a rack of 10 ball easily. The shaft shoots as straight as I’d ever want or desire. And I think it looks nice with my Scruggs cue butt. Anyway, you can decide for yourselves.


p.s. My 12.85 mm Barnhart radial flat faced shaft might be for sale. I know a cue maker that
can build me a 12.6 MM curly wood KW flat faced shaft that could weigh as much as 4.25 ozs.
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It is extremely difficult to beat Cory's kielwood/roasted maple shafts. I also have a 1/1 roasted ash shaft that Cory built for me to experiment with. It is also an excellent player. There is just something about the wood, when it gets roasted... then you add Cory's taper and quality of build... just really difficult to beat.
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