Lowell said:

I was thinking about doing that, would it be reasonable to expect that they'll stay fresh for a few years?

I had a bad experience with a stock Tiger Everest tip that came with my cue, it must have been old because that thing was rock hard

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I don't know much about life cycles of leather tips but leather does get harder with age in certain situations. I tend to go through tips fairly quick so I couldn't say for sure.

Thanks for sharing. Do you know why they're playing American pool? I would have assumed American pool tournaments would have been a rare breed these days.

It's really interesting seeing the Chinese specialists try non-Chinese pool. From the few minutes I watched, they're way worse than you would expect. Dai Yong was surprisingly bad and seemed like he didn't have much experience on these tables.

jbart65 said:

Matchroom isn’t going to all single elimination. They are just adding variety. As sjm pointed out, almost all the top 50-60 players make it to the round of 64 in a single elimination tournament with 128 players. I think there were only two or three upsets in the Arizona and Philippines opens.

The reason so many Euros skipped the Philippines was because the Qatar Open was starting a few days later. More might have shown up otherwise, but probably not the usual number.

My guess is WNT will add another 128-player event next year in Europe, perhaps before the European Open.

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There were 9 upsets in the first 2 rounds of the Arizona

OLD GROWTH MAPLE * *
3.8 oz - 4.2 oz

(you asked , i answered) I M H O

as a viewer I get the argument for the smaller field and less meaningless matches. I'd imagine if I was pro, I'd prefer double elimination. With winner breaks you can lose a match without having much of a chance. Can't see why people would take the risk flying half way round the world to play in a winner breaks single elimination tournament. If they want the single elimination tournaments for more variety maybe the should also make them alternate break tournaments and keep the double elimination as winner breaks.

Don't buy the argument the shorter tournament is less expenses for the pro when they are deliberately having a run of tournaments closer together. Are many of the European/Asian players really flying back home between Florida, Yuma, Phoenix and the U.S Open?

I play Banks, caroms, combos, Masters out always., when playing my friends. No no need to win, and I prefere them playing, not just standing in the corner.

rexus31 said:

The US Open Final will air on ESPN 2.

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I wonder if it will be live or delayed.

Looking at the list, the only surprise winners in retrospect are Krause and Dang Jin Hu. Krause, because he obviously lacks a complete game. He really should have lost to Johann Chua in the 2024 European Open, but Chua had a surprisingly severe case of nerves.

Hu has great talent, but he had not been playing regularly on the tour at the time of his surprise win in the one and only Spanish Open. He beat Marc Bijisterbosch in a hill-hill thriller. We haven't seen much of him since.

The World Nine Ball Tour was publicly announced in April 2023, but unofficially the tour was created in 2022 with the launch of the U.K. and European opens.

Since 2022, WNT has held 26 events it describes as majors. Fourteen of the events had repeat winners. Twelve players have won a single major in that span.

So 46% of the time a big event had a new winner, but more than half the matches are repeat winners.

There are six repeat winners. They are Joshua Filler (3), Aloysius Yapp (3), Fedor Gorst (2), SVB (2), Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (2) and … Davide Alcaide (2).

Single event winners are (chronologically):

Dennis Grabe (Arizona 2026)
Moritz Neuhausen (European 2026)
Pijus Labutis (Hanoi 2025)
Carlo Biado (WPC 2025)
Johann Chua (Hanoi 2024)
Mickey Krause (European 2024)
Robbie Capito (UK 2024)
Jayson Shaw (Hanoi 2023)
Ko Ping Chung (US Open 2023)
Dang Jin Hu (Spanish Open 2023)
Eklent Kaci (UK Open 2023)
Alban Ouschan (European 2022)

That's unfortunate about the customer service, but I did buy a new cue from them recently (through an authorized dealer) and the quality was excellent.

Soo oh. My fitness program includes a pool table and lasts an hour every morning. A luxury for a retired senior citizen
The squat is where we er uh I start. Sometimes comes with a fart.

Any Cloth? Out of Saratoga WY?

sjm said:

Agreed. We do it because we enjoy it, but comparison across generations is a very inexact science, arguably even a pointless pursuit.

Ultimately, when we look for the greatest, we look for who succeeded against their contemporaries most consistently. While, as you note, it's about more than trophies, what all the super-greats have in common is excellence in the high pressure situations at the majors. By generation, Greenleaf dominated his peers the most, then it was Mosconi, then Lassiter, then Sigel. More recently, it has been Shane and now it is Josh. These are the players that have mass-produced titles at the majors, especially at World Championship events.

In the end, there's no real way to compare a Filler to a Sigel. Each mass-produced major titles against the players he faced and has a resume that is mind-blowing. Best is to just appreciate both of them for what they achieved.

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I’m just curious. You named the people who dominated various periods but no mention of Effren or Strickland. Is that because you don’t consider them to have dominated or that they were both in a similar time so no one stood above the others?

Ok so I know I must be dumb but where on the app do you sign up for a 1 month plan? I can't find it anywhere.

That cue needed a refinish from the jump. Whatever is on it is too thick. Nice looking cue it will be stunning with a refinish.

"We Play to Have Fun." Is a favorite quote from Coach McHargue. It gets the delayed qualify Er.
"It's Easier to Have Fun, When We Win!!!"
His high school football teams were excellent.
The absolute Bad News Bears transition from not winning A game of football in 2 years.
His first season they lost first 5 then won the last 6 with a team that might have been just 13 that stayed with him and his extra tough training regimen.
The next season brought undefeated with a larger number that stayed the training. I think it was 28 games straight before my team as I was the under size center and outside linebacker and first down field on the Kick coverage. Plus first in The Wall sideline kick returns. If done right it scores.
I made All League
My athletic training at USAFA got me college credits to a Master level title.

u12armresl said:

Scooter will be here.

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That brings up another very good point in all of this. He's not exactly a set of car keys or earbuds that are hard to find. Dude shows up at events all over the country regularly and is not inconspicuous. This is still 8 months away but I'm sure he will be at the Expo next April.

Ask him about the cue in person.