Frosty said:

First and foremost I meant you no disrespect. Your post here adds more context than your initial one, and I have in my time also seen these things you express in your latest post.

Just as you added more context, perhaps I should have added more to my initial post regarding the situation I spoke of. My group, the “older gamblers”, while we play all games, the main focus of our gambling sessions is one pocket. The younger players I spoke of, aren’t kids, more 20-30 something’s, just younger than us. They play well, just rotation games though.

The interaction actually started with them talking when they would walk by, just loudly enough for us to hear, about “old farts that play 1 pocket because we can’t see, or play we’ll enough to play 9 or 10 ball anymore”. The chide I referred to in the match that unfolded was one of us replying “well if you want to actually bet something, we can play some even 9 or 10 ball right now”. That’s how the match came about, they put up the best of their little group, pooled their money to post the stake, and got schooled.

So as I’ve now provided more context you can see that it wasn’t quite what you thought it was. We gamble because it’s always been our way from those of our speed and our era. We can’t just quite understand them, they play well, more than well enough to get into action, but they rarely do, or as I initially stated, only for peanuts and amongst each other. It’s lost on us, it just appears that as time has passed, the younger generation is just different than ours.

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Thank you for the clarification, it gives a clearer and funnier view of the situation. BTW, I'm 82 and one of the old farts but I see good changes with younger players. They are starting families, purchasing homes, etc., and have a better use of their incomes. And they have a lot to learn about life.

fjk said:

He designed and played with a Scruggs for a while. I owned one of those cue and it had a letter from Steve. Shooulda kept that.

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I sure thought it looked like a Scruggs. He has a lot of matches on Accu-stats with that cue, then. Thanks for validating that.

I would say OBs have a better hit than McDermott and Predator (owned all 3, including a 6 point OB with the OB Pro+ plus a Roadline LE 3 and a P704). My current Carmeli player is definitely in a different league given its balance and hit. Also have a Jim Pierce that I like. Additionally, out of all the LD shafts I've tried over the last 15 years or so (more than 10), I've always gone back to my factory maple that came with my cues, so the OB / Pro+ combo was sold. Only LD shaft in my 3x7 playing bag is a 12.5mm 3.8oz Dominiak Kielwood with a thread insert that runs a little on the tight side.

skip100 said:

Nathan Childress (not Childness) looks like the only US player?

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Most US players don't need the Wnt points. They just pick a "Captain" that will put them on the mosconi team

I hope Nathan does well but that is some seriously tough action

I’ve received a private message on this subject, so just in case anyone else is interested in such things…

The exhibition cards shared recently are a combination of real photographs and computer-generated images. The 4x4 or 6x4 formation top right of the page are actual balls, photographed individually to avoid lens distortion and then grouped together afterwards to look natural. If one tries to capture them all at once the outer balls have a frustrating tendency to appear egg-shaped. An old mobile phone camera is all I have available, so managing light and focus levels often requires Heath Robinson style contraptions around my kitchen table.

The fifteen-ball diorama along the bottom of the provenance card is part reality, part virtual CGI. The coloured cloth is real but the balls are entirely computer generated, carefully rendered to resemble the real balls to the best of my ability. This process often takes rather a long time, dear reader. My computer is twenty-eight years old, still running Windows 95, and the software used (Corel Dream 8) has been obsolete since about 1999… rather like me, in fact.

With regards the typography and typesetting, this has always been a particular fascination of mine. I flatter myself in thinking there is perhaps a little more behind the descriptive paragraphs featured on the cards than might first meet the eye. Naturally, all word processors feature some kind of justification function to manipulate text into something more aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Personally, however, the manner in which forced margins affect word spacing and tracking annoys me. I therefore prefer to choose words very carefully so each line is exactly the same length without squashing or stretching. I realise this is horribly OCD but I just cannot help it.

Apologies for the lengthy post!

Best wishes.

jasonlaus said:

Isn't he the one that put Searing on the map?

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The story I heard was he critical of Searing's early work told him he needed to improve his quality (specifically, the evenness of his points).

I just use the one closest in diameter to the dead or live centter I'm, going to chuck it up in.

He designed and played with a Scruggs for a while. I owned one of those cue and it had a letter from Steve. Shooulda kept that.

skor said:

No, that's physics. simple test shots will prove it.
For some reason I remembered the OB and the 314 playing very similar but after last night I can assure that they don't.

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Well ive never played with a 314, but I have a Z3 and an OB pro+ and the play pretty much identical, YMMV

Bob Jewett said:

That's not the room he's talking about. One of the Great Entertainer chain of pool halls was in downtown San Francisco (a few blocks from 5th and Mission, but I don't remember exactly where). It had at least two private rooms, with one or two tables in each room. It was not far from the SF Chalkers. I remember a snooker championship being held there.

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Chain of pool halls? Where else were they located during their existence? Does anyone have any pictures of all the locations? Was the Concord, CA one (went and worked there during the mid 80s) part of the chain? Is it still the same owners through all 3 (or more) locations from Concord to SF to now San Mateo?

Balabushka, he had a Szamboti at some point, then RB cues for many years (various cues), then closed out with a Searing. I think he may have had a Scruggs in there at one point, but that could have been an RB.

gambler67 said:

Rhino in excellent condition, upgraded Kamui soft tip, upgraded buffalo leather wrap, joint protectors, choice of either 4" or 8" carbon fiber extension, 19 oz and standard 58", 3/8 x 11 joint

$550 with 4" Venmo/Paypal shipped

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bump....