hang-the-9 said:

Maybe I have a bad memory, but I don't remember ever seeing everyone in the top 10 at over $100,000 in earnings. Is Matchroom and the Predator Pro Series doing thing right? Are the players making extra from the Chinese 8 ball events? It used to be maybe 2-3 players were over 100k for the year, not the top are way over that.

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Poolhall60561 said:

If you have the time and energy sell all the good stuff individually. Bundle up the ok stuff and dump or give away the stuff nobody wants.
I’m facing a similar situation. After 60 years of collecting I guess it’s time to let it go. I’d like it to find a good home. If my family ends up with it,
it will be given away or put in a dumpster.

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jay helfert said:

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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middleofnowhere said:

You having said that, I have very little interest in watching today's pool. When I watch it on YouTube I find myself fast forwarding just to see who wins. The idea I would be driving hundreds of miles to watch a tournament today, not a chance.

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jimmyg said:

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billiardshot said:

Best way to thin out collection cues and books... List separate, or bundle in one sell list? Wife said "Time to clean collection" Already started listing items.

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Bob Jewett said:

Sorry, I meant the true odds, not what a bookie gives up. The bookie has to make a living. They can't, generally, offer a fair bet.

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sjm said:

As it turns out, I have been attending events for fifty years, so it is easy to compare.

It is much more entertaining today. Pool was not a truly global game fifty years ago, and, at least for me, part of the fascination of pro pool today is seeing great play from pros coming from all over the world.

Pool was a largely American game fifty years ago, but now the list of 800+ Fargo players includes players from each of Singapore, Albania, Iraq, Vietnam, Lithuania, Bosnia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Serbia, Spain, Poland, Taiwan, Scotland, Greece, Austria, Russia and Estonia. None of these were considered pool playing countries fifty years ago.

Pool is a truly global game now, and the rate at which great new players are emerging in every corner of the globe is breathtaking to behold.

Pro pool as a truly global sport blows away pool as a chiefly American sport, and it's getting better and better.

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Hungarian said:

I’m a laggard on adopting it. Everyone swears by it though. I’m a hair too cheap for it.

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skogstokig said:

we've all had those brain farts. to then argue it's not a foul is just hilarious

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