Pick a game or sport, any of them! It is a longshot to become rich. Players in the NFL have an average two year career the last I knew with a lifetime of pain and minor injuries at best. Maybe one in a million or less that dream of playing in the NFL make it, and that might be your best chance at a pro game or sport career.

The odds suck at being in the top one or few percent in the world or less at anything, and that is what it takes to be a pro. Look at olympic athletes. Technically amateurs but most never had a childhood to get to be world class. The chinese government and others are selecting children, babies, with potential when they are three years old and telling them and their families where they will go to school and what pursuit they will follow to try to be world class in, the best in the world.

It's not easy to be a financially successful pool player, but don't kid yourself it is much easier to be financially successful anything else in the sport or game world. Generally speaking, you have to have a gift, and a hellacious work ethic! If I had a child that wanted to be an athlete I would try to guide them to a noncontact low impact sport with long careers.

It isn't easy in pool and pool may be one of the tougher sports or games to be financially successful in but it is a mistake to think it comes easy for any success at sports or games. There are few sports I would encourage my children and grandchildren to play. Pool is lower than most things on that list. That isn't to say other things are easy though.

Hu

Bump.

Bump.

Bump.

Is there an order page somewhere?

I'm a fan of Mike Gulyassy cues and shafts , I think they hit a ball as good if not better than most .
I'd give him a call so the information you get is correct and straight from him .

I'll take the 30". I sent you a message. -Rick

fish2 said:

Here you go.

After a couple of year or so I got my cue, Maple burl handle, which was purchased in 2023, Mallee burl I got in Australia in 2024.


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Really sick. Who did the work?

How does pocket size affect shelf depth? If so is there a tool that a “good” table mechanic could rent, not like he’ll need it often, to take a little off the slate to reduce the depth without affecting anything else, or am I just totally clueless?

@dendweller
Mezz Wx900 hits pretty stiff, its a minor step below in energy transfer compared to standard cf shafts.
The Wx900 reminds me of a Z3 , but the Wx900 has more feel, alhough it seems slightly more deflective than the Z3.

Very cool congrats, 2026 is starting out great for you! What size and color .. table/cloth?

Lépine said:

After further checking, I see I was incorrect and you were absolutely correct. Not rare at all, but harder to come by. For my playing preferences, I noted that Tigerwood is very lively and maybe preferable to the more universal birds eye maple. As a side note: I was having a conversation asking if Tad made BRW Tads. I assumed that there were none since I have not been able to find one that is clearly BRW and not maybe Tigerwood or Cocobolo. From the person who would know, he confirmed that yes there were a small number that were made, but the reason BRW TADs are not more common is that Tad Kohara did not like the wood. It pinged too much, I found that ironic. Seemed to me that everything about the way TAD cues are made, the goal is to get a nice clear ping. Tad instead preferred BEM and thought that was the best wood overall. Fred pointed out that in terms of performance and feel, he felt that Tigerwood does some things better than rosewoods. I decided to have new shafts made for my Tigerwood merry widow since it seems to play really well and is the nicest feeling TAD I have experinced. It is also the only big pin I have experienced so not sure if it is the big pin or the wood that is contributing the most to the feel. Off the cue goes, DHL must love me.

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I know a couple of cuemakers who don’t like BRW primarily due to the fact it’s hard to find stuff with good color and figure. They think people are more infatuated with the name than anything.

Ok I'll admit I don't get / understand this one ^^^^^
Or is she a he ?

Kris_b1104 said:

There is literally no incentive for someone to quit their day job and practice day in and day out to chase tournaments in the US. WNT needs to make it more financially appealing and accessible to more regions, then everyone will come out of the woodwork.

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Most of your post was excellent, but I have a problem with this part of it.

First of all, WNT has made itself accessible all over the world. In the past three years alone, they have added ranking events in each of Scotland, Poland, Spain, Vietnam, Colombia, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Maldives, Finland, Morocco, Portugal, Sarajevo, Bucharest, Manilla, Orlando, Jacksonville, Boston, and Seattle. No tour in the history of our sport has been more committed to making its tour accessible than the WNT.

Second, it is not the job of the event producers to make pool more financially appealing. The event producer, to maintain its business model, must keep prize money in line with revenue growth. Of course, Kevin Trudeau disagreed, and his IPT folded under its own financial weight in its first year.

Hence, the future is dependent on revenue growth, and both event producers and pro players must share the burden of making the game more marketable. Unless they work together to manage both the pro pool product and the game's image, things will not progress as they should in pro pool.

The future of pool is not about whether event producers will "step up to the plate" with more prize money. It is about whether event producers and players can work together to make pool grow to the point that greater prize funds will be financially sustainable.

The interview is great!

Blomdahl I feel doesn't really get the credit for what he did to Efren in the 90s. When Efren was in his prime.

Dr Cue gonna need a new Protege.

garczar said:

i never read every post in any thread so i have no clue just where this one went off the tracks. there's so much idiotic shit spewed on here its hard to separate pure bs from anything resembling sane thought.

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Yeah, this one started on the spur and never hit the trunk.

But thanks for the skinny on the slates.