Patrick Johnson said:

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Looks familiar...

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Looks like Joe Montana!

couldnthinkof01 said:

Bank it into the 15 and hope for good luck

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Yes. It might go in after the 15. At the same time, leave the cue ball frozen to the near cushion to be as safe as possible.

I'd bank the 8 to the middle of the table and lock them on the backside of the 10.

cueball2010 said:

I think this is the first time hearing this argument against using wood shafts. I have been thinking for a while of switching from my Revo to a 314 shaft so I can get more feedback. Maybe even keilwood. But apparently wood shafts play different depending on humidity. Humidity changes depending on the season and geo location. I mean humidity changes a lot all the time, like a rainy day. I would rather not add another inconsistency to playing pool if there is any truth to what she is saying?

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Dealer here, so grain of salt. The carbon shaft thing isn't really about skill level, it's about deflection and feel. Low deflection shafts let you get away with imperfect aim on cut shots because the ball squirts less, so yeah, that can flatten the learning curve some. But plenty of pros grew up on wood and never switched, guys like Efren didn't need a carbon shaft to shovel english on people. Pia's comments probably come from personal preference on hit and feedback, wood just feels different off the tip, more traditional thump versus the stiffer carbon response. Neither is objectively better, it's closer to picking a golf shaft flex than picking training wheels. If you're newer and want a rundown on what actually matters in a beginner cue, I wrote up a fuller guide here: https://billiardhome.com/blog/best-pool-cues-for-beginners

Swighey said:

There are more clusters. They happen more often even after good breaks. While any pro has a very good chance (and even a decent player has some chance) of breaking them up and leaving a shot, they are not 100% - so there is a degree of toughness to them, even more so for 9ft players.

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If you play rotation on 9 footers well, there is nothing to bar box 8 ball.

Looks familiar...

loggerhead12 said:

I'd like to double-bank the 8 to win this game. I know it's a moonshot, but there aren't a lot of other options. How would you go about trying it? There's a slight angle from the cue ball to the 8, so the cue ball will go toward the 14 if you hit the eight straight into the nearest short rail.

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This is doable for two reasons.
1. 8 ball is dark has picked up more dirt, contacting with spin it will grab more unless you hit it too hard.
2. Use a horizontal 9 o'clock cueing with your goal to hit straight at the short rail with a speed that allows the spin you've transferred to the object ball to grab having 8 ball rotation applied.

bm