@JasonATX
Thanks for the reply
I decided to get one
Will post my 2 cents

Whyte Carbon break shaft user here. I bought the shaft because I couldn't get Predator to sell me a break shaft with a radial joint to fit a custom break cue. So far I have no regrets in my purchase. If you want a shaft you can only use on a Uni-loc joint go with the Predator. At least for now the Whyte Carbon shaft allows for use on just about any break butt available.

tim913 said:

You can lose a hill-hill match with your opponent making a slop shot. Your opponent continues in the tournament and you’re out. I’m not going to go through every tournament to see who would have been eliminated if it weren’t for luck, it shouldn’t be part of any game of “skill”, horseshoes maybe, but not pool

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The loser lost because he didn’t play well enough, not because of the lucky roll at the end. Unless in an alternate break format where the opening break was decided by a coin flip instead of lag and each game was a break and run. Except in that situation it is the losers fault alone. If there was a single shot or situation in all of the games leading up to the hill- hill game where the loser could have done something better and won a game, it is his fault. All his fault. Gave the opponent a chance to get lucky. That’s sports, that’s life. If the loser played his absolute best, the harsh reality was that it wasn’t good enough in that match. But it will be good enough some other time probably.

That said, don’t try to take luck out of games. It cannot be done. And should not be done. In any sport worth watching with pretty even match ups and small margins, stuff happens.

Duane Remick said:

Curious....
Are you trying to achieve a specific hit or feel or????

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I want to know if i take my Ultraskin medium and compress it if it will replicate the feel, hit ,and chalk adhesion of a Ultraskin hard.

I want a hard playing tip put on my playing cue.

gregcantrall said:

The problem with layered tips is the glue layer. As the tip wears the glue is at the point of contact at times. This changes the tip / ball interaction. Fly specks on whitey is evidence of the glue layer leaving the tip. The lost traction could be the fraction that caused a miss. Triangle is my go to tip.

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While I have noticed this, it is only when the glue line is close to the edge of the tip that it really matters.
So, when I do tip-maintenance, I just make sure the glue line is not close to the edge.
{{A dime radius helps here over a nickel radius}}

Sometimes trying too hard to force progression will stagnate one.

It’s hard to accept that it takes time.

Simply playing pool in general applies to all the things you listed.

You can’t fake or force experience.

If you could teach a toddler everything you know in life in the time it takes to snap your fingers. What would that look like?

That’s a rhetorical question.

Skyler Woodward just played the most embarrassing match I have seen him play since I started following pool in late 2021. Missed some shots badly, but worse, he played nonchalantly like he didn't have a care in the world.

Handed, just handed, Lu Hui Chan a win. Chan played OK, but Sky should have beaten him handily.

SA96 said:

Matchroom need to fix the fornat.

How can Kraus vs Alcaide face each other in loser's round 4?

When other round 4 games involve 2 rubbish players?

Having a high seeding should give you an advantage, even if you drop into loser's bracket.

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There are always going to be a few matches like this in the last stage of the loser's qualification.

Krause lost to journeyman Matt Edwards (742 Fargo) in the second round. That's how he was put in this spot.

Alcaide lost to Nguyen Ahn Tuan in his third match, 9-4, during the winners qualification round.

Again, you are going to run into a good opponent at that stage. By the way, Alcaide barely won his prior match, 9-8, over Marcel Price (727 Fargo).

Fans don't want to see lopsided matches for the first two and a half days of the tourney. Krause and Alcaide put themselves in the position.

In my opinion, this marketing/ production behavior allows Predator to charge about $1000 a cue. The demand allows Predator to raise prices and save them money in storage space. They create a hype that make people willing to spend more just to be in the club.

I also don’t believe that Predator sells out in 5 minutes all the stock to individuals, dealers and resellers come first.

A lot of things I think of as "systems" are more baselines. For example, in the picture, where the ball is on the first rail, if I hit the ball 1/4 ball with a little english, that's where it's going to go. And of course, I know the running lines/tracks that connect rails 2-3-4-5. Half ball hit and they all shift one diamond. If you want to do that all by feel, knock yourself out. I find it's a massive shortcut to just know these incredibly easy to memorize numbers. I just look at where the first ball is and I know, "It's going to 30, will hit the 1st diamond from the corner on the 3rd rail, the first diamond on the 4th long rail and then heads back towards the other corner. Takes me literally two seconds in my head.

Then I know where the second rail will hit/needs to be hit based on where the first rail is hit. Again, easy to memorize. If there's a position where it's easier to base it off of the second rail hit, you know that already. And then again you know the track that goes to rail 3-4-5. That covers probably 50+% of the shots you're going to make. It's like a simple system that connects all kinds of shots together.

Simple stuff like if you're doing a short table shot, you hit the first ball with lots of spin and go perpendicular into the long rail, the spread will be 18. So if the first ball is at 10, the third rail will be hit at 8. Works the same way going the long table, except it's double, 36. That kind of thing takes me ten seconds to memorize. Personally I wouldn't bother feeling it out.

Same thing, like if the object ball is touching the long rail and you hit it 1/2 ball with no english, do you know exactly what the cueball diamond spread is? I just memorize that and then I can adjust from there. I don't see why I would want to "feel" that when I can just shoot the shot once and memorize one number. If you memorize 1/4 and 1/8, too, now you can make the cueball go practically anywhere you want.

Now say a rail first umbrella type shot, yeah I'll just go system on that. If I had five years to practice them all day long, I would but I don't.

Not all "systems" are 50-40-(2/30) or whatever.