it's been alright. tony had a funny scratch yesterday against lunda in an otherwise great runout. i think it was the last or penultimate rack. both seemed puzzled on the path the cb took

stream quality alright, commentary i mostly mute

Fat Ralph used to bet pretty high in years gone by. 50 and 100 dollar 9-Ball when that was serious money. He must be over 60 now.

DJKeys said:

Grady Matthews and Allen Hopkins both did this, and they played great. I am not sure how they developed this, but it works for some players.

-dj

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Allen Hopkins had a Poke stroke, right? I read that when he was growing up, playing on his home table, he did not have enough room to have a long back stroke (if I am saying that right), due to the walls being too close to the table(?), so he was unable to go back much, on his stroke, before follow through.

Anyways, that is not what I was talking about.

BasementDweller said:

Gorst, SVB, Tyler, Bergman, and .... Skyler.

It doesn't matter if they earned it or not, Matchroom needs the most competitive U.S. team to try an keep this train on the rails.

The team listed above, if given a month or two to get dialed in....ahem...Skyler...ahem.... would actually have a fighting chance. We still haven't seen a comfortable Gorst in MC play. If he plays well, the pressure would minimize for everyone else. Gorst is the key. If he plays like the number one player in the world, the U.S. could actually win. Still underdogs, but maybe +150 or so.

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Your dreaming.

Not sure on that. They just say new online and from the pics appears authentic.

ShootingArts said:

Somebody got me one night, never knew for sure who or what. Another night I felt something small and solid in my beer. I didn't even finish the game, late for the door! I was only a few minutes from home and when whatever kicked in I wanted to be locked behind my own doors!

It was funny, people got jarred in certain places seemed like more than people jarring everywhere they went. Same clientele two places, one people would get jarred, the other not. I think somebody working there was in on the jarring, in fact I know they were!

Hu

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I was in a little town named Guernsey, WY for a job maybe ten years ago. I'd go to one of the two local bars so I could practice on their bar box for a big(ish) tournament coming up in Gillette, WY. One night they had a small 8b tournament and I won it pretty easily for like $150. I was having a beer with a local lady after the tournament when I started feeling a little "off". I was a pretty big drinker back then, so I figured something wasn't right when I started feeling that way after just starting my third beer...

I decided to go outside for some fresh air and just decided to drive home and go to bed. That's the last thing I remember from that night. I woke up at about 6:00am, butt-naked, in my bed in the garage apartment I was renting. Don't even remember the 1/2 mile drive home. I had a splitting headache and was very cold. There was a trail of my clothes from the wide-open front door to my bed. Hopped in the truck to hit the local pharmacy for some aspirin and there was my third beer still sitting in the cup holder.

I'm not sure what happened. Maybe someone wanted my money? My cue? Who knows. The bartender was a very flamboyant homosexual, and one of my buddies guessed that he was trying to take advantage of me (I get hit on a lot by that community...). Either way, I still had my cue, my cash, and my butt didn't hurt, so all-in-all it wasn't a terrible experience!

sjm said:

It's mostly a joke.

The point is that unless Team USA gets over the finish line at some point, the Mosconi Cup will lose its shine as an event and could even disappear. I'm sure all the players realize that this annual drubbing threatens the long-term prospects for this event. Hence, by taking a dive, I meant letting the Americans win.

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even when the team scoreline is quite lopsided I still think the individual matches have often been close and quite exciting. But there is definitely a negative air about the Mosconi because it's been so one sided in recent years. I definitely understand your fear, and I think it's a great event. Would be a shame if it did go into decline. I'll always naturally root for Europe, but I really do hope it's a close scoreline for everyones sake. Don't think even most Europeans want to see another European win by a big margin.

Maybe some of these players use getting down on the shot as part of their alignment routine and feel that practice strokes would throw that off. Just a thought.

There are a few top players like that.
I say, whatever works for you is good.
Practice strokes are not ment to adjust final stroke speed, just to make sure that the stroke is straight, if you don’t need it then it’s fine

sjm said:

My best guess is that Johan won't see it differently.

When the opposition consists of five players that are all formidable, it makes no difference.

Looking back, 2025 Team Europe consisted of:

Filler, the best 9ball player in the world
Shaw, the best player at the Mosconi Cup of this generation of players
Labutis, who had won the Hanoi Open weeks before the Mosconi and was in great form
Neuhausen, who came in on fire with second in Hanoi and first at the Peri
Alcaide, who always plays well at the Mosconi and who had won the Philippines Open weeks before the Cup

All of them were in great form, so the team did not have even one weak link. I don't think changes in the matchups would have made even the slightest bit of difference.

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I get your argument, but Neuhausen was a debutant who really should have been beaten by Styer if Styer's bottle hadn't crashed, presuming the rest of the match goes the same way there is no way Gorst or SVB wouldn't have let him off the hook.

Opening day had doubles matches between FSR & Alcaide v SVB and Gorst and 2 debutants Neuhausen and Labutis v Thorpe and Styler. U.S lost both matches, swap the ties about and I think there is more chance SVB and Gorst beat the 2 debutants. Much was made of team Europe having 2 debutants being a disadvantage and the U.S kind of let them ease into it instead of putting pressure on them with their team selections. Can't remember for certain, but think that match might have been the start of Tyler Styer missing shots he shouldn't have after playing well to get in a potentially winning situation.

Not saying my approach guarantees a U.S win, but I think it increases the odds for it slightly.

Admittedly you could say putting Sky out in the first singles against Shaw was following my strategy of weaker players out first and the 2nd singles match Filler beats Gorst which does back up your argument about strength and depth. Can't remember now if both captains made the choice to play the first singles or was that mandated?

crocdoc said:

Any idea on a retail price?

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STL 17 "type" Schon built a couple versions of this cue over the years
new retail is approx $$ 1800.00

uk_9_ball_convert said:

I feel like the U.S always puts up Gorst and SVB up early against Europe's best players where it's 50/50 who wins and if they lose it starts to look terrible for America.

Most pool captains seem to have the convention to put out their best players first. When I played in a team if we knew our opponents were better we'd always put out our weaker players first, it's basically a free hit, let the opposition waste their best players playing guys that weren't likely to win anyhow. Then have our best players playing players they could actually beat. If your poor players cause an upset you can win, and even if they don't you have a good chance of getting a draw. Best way to play it when your outgunned IMHO and I'm always amazed the U.S never takes that approach at the Mosconi. Wonder if Johan will see the strategy differently.

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I like the strategy, but Europe has no weak players.