I recall one 9 ball tournament in Portland area that had 7 footers. The power breakers were coming up dry way too often. The Elmer Fudd looking Old Timer hit em 70 percent and the balls were leaking.

From the archives of this old fart brain. Bar box 4 ×8 break was from quarter table to hit 1 ball and bounce straight back. Mostly big ball but same for either is my starting point. A few practice breaks are a significant part of warm up time, well for 9 ball.
My study of the 8 ball break lead to ,....in a race to 4 eight ball. Had 1st break a hair high of the side. My second break had it the same amount low. My 3rd break had it tracking dead heart only to get nudged at oh so close. Shrug I won anyway.

Interesting read. I'm about half way through it I think. Knew him as AJ in K-town from only him playing in some 8 ball bar tournaments and I'd play him a $5 game 1 handed vs 2 handed once in a while when I guess he was out earning his keep. The rest of the story was more than I imagined.

yankee817299 said:

His work is absolutely outstanding. Jerry and I talked about the design that I wanted and he was very accommodating. The cue has a very special meaning for me, so it was placed on the wall rack, never chalked, never hit a ball, but I look at it every day.

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Obviously, when you buy or get a cue as a gift, inheritance or any means, it is yours to do with as you wish.
When it comes to pool cues, it really all comes down to 3 things: design execution, construction & performance.

You can easily appreciate the masterful way Jerry builds a cue and think of it as artistry. So displaying it to admire
is quite understandable. The beauty of the design, whether simplistic or ornate, is easy to behold and just enjoy.

What I have never understood is stopping there. Just being pleased to own that very cue should be sufficient and
for some cue owners, that’s all that’s needed. To me, that’s akin to ordering a Tomahawk Steak at a famous steak
house and after it arrives, I photo how wonderful it looks and smells as it was sliced but leave without tasting it.

Owning a special cue, regardless of its rarity or price, involves playing with it. I want to, I need to form my own
Impression and opinion of the cue and its playability. The cue can look splendid but judging on appearance alone
is rather short sighted and naive. Otherwise I am deferring to others about how well or great a Jerry R. cue plays.

I can’t rubber stamp the opinions of others if I don’t also have an opinion. I’m not some shill. Over the years I owned
more than a few cues made by really top names like Mottey, Black, Stroud, White. I can tell you about the feel and how
the cue and shafts differed and what I loved too. Mottey’s piloted ivory joints are equal to the feel of a flat ivory joint.

So I feel obligated to play with a cue I get, especially if I ordered it. It’s like having a classic car and never driving it or
ever enjoying owning it in public on an occasional drive. So when someone asks you how does that gorgeous Jerry R.
cue play, what’ya say? Oh, one of his best, or amazing….or so I’m assuming…..I dunno know & I’m not even curious?

Jerry built that cue to be appreciated for its functionality, i.e., performance, as much as it’s curbside appeal. If you just
look at it, it’s basically a piece of wood working art. A cue should fulfill its purpose which is to hit a cue ball. If you are
a great cue maker, then your cues should hit a cue ball better than another cue for some players. And the only way that
happens, and can ever be judged or verified, is to actually play with the pool cue.

When you fail to do that, you really can’t personally refer to that cue as a great hitting pool. You could say that others have commented Jerry R. cues do play amazing. But honestly, about all you can do is attest to the cue’s appearance. For me, it’s entirely different. I play with all my cues that have flat ivory joints because the cues were built with specs that are the same sizes & weights from shafts to cue butts and even use the same tips. I want to enjoy the playability of my pool cues.

I don’t care how much a cue costs. If it were mine, its’s going to get played. Otherwise, I don’t see any reason to own it.
I have a pre-64 Winchester Model 70 in 30-06 still unfired. I inherited it and the only reason I haven’t shot it is this rifle
would lose a lot of value because used pre-64 Model 70 Winchester in immaculate condition sell for a lot of money. But
a new unfired one, well, that’s a rifle you want to sell using a professional gun auction house because that’s big bucks.
Otherwise, all my other rifles and handguns are used. Heck, that’s the sheer enjoyment of owning them and so are cues.

Side-Pocket said:

I may be way off base here, but after watching videos on numerous methods to bank shots off any rail, I still don't know which is the best method or system. My personal preference after reading both of Freddy Bentivegna's books, is fractional aiming of the OB based on how it lines up to the banking rail. This typically is the method I use to make most of my bank shots and, since I am only an amateur, I make about 35% of the banks I attempt. My accuracy is higher on straight back banks on the short rails.

After all of the systems I've looked at, I still am wondering what system do the pros use? I see players like Thorpe, Woodward, Van Boning, Chohan and others, Reyes in a class by himself, do unbelievable banks and they slam those shots into the pockets. I'm just wondering if they use one system, a combination of several, or they just have the vision for the angle after playing for so long.

It would be really nice to have a path to study one proven method that reallly works for all bank shots, or maybe to know that there isn't just one method that fits all.

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The Science of Pocket Billiards by the late Jack Koehler has the best information on banking available.

Read it carefully. He covers many factors, but only a couple of them are really significant. His methods are sound, both in theory and practice. If you reduce your bank shot analysis to the most significant factors, you should do well.

You may have unrealistic expectations, however. Some of the best bank pool players in the world shoot less than 50% en route to winning major tournaments. Shooting 35% may be better than you think.

You can also learn a great deal by watching videos of the best bankers on youtube. Look for the ones with the overhead view. Don't try figuring out where they aim or how much spin they put on the cue ball. Look at the shots they select for successful banks. They all focus on particular types of shots.

Lowell said:

Table time is on the expensive side where I live, so I tend to get most of my practice in after league night. I mostly just work on long, straight in shots and try to get a feel for better mechanics.

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If that's your practice routine, I think you should expect progress to be very slow if it happens at all. For the first six years I played, I arranged for my practice time to be free or very cheap.

How about instructors where you live?

straightline said:

Couple things, they never give you the file and you need Prime forever (I think).

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Correct, that's what the plugins are for. Apparently, if you have an actual kindle it's not that hard. Download Calibre, download a plugin called DeDRM, plugin your kindle and you can transfer them to Calibre. I'm not going post all of the instructions but again, use my search term above and see what you find. And as mentioned, I have not done this specifically so can't confirm, but I would venture to say it works.

As far as Prime goes, I don't know. I only have a few books on Amazon and honestly, I haven't even looked at it for a few years until this post. But, I don't have prime and they still work.