muskyed said:

Watching it on Youtube TV. Pretty nice on a 65" TV. Her form has went all to heck in this match. Not like she normally plays. Kaylee is a way better player but Veronica loves her pool and that is all that counts. We play a lot together, she's my wife's best friend.

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I knew Veronica when she was in the Mankato MN area. Great player and just all around good person! I haven't seen her in many years, but it doesn't look like she has changed much at all!

Chili Palmer said:

Centeno and Bergman are the exceptions, I will generally watch all of their shots.

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Don't forget Drago and Soufi.

skogstokig said:

mike had no business being in that final. being seeded TO the final was nothing other than a monetary gift from his buddy KT..

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I just read this so my apologies for being six months late.

It literally was Mike’s business! Of course it was a monetary gift from his buddy Kevin, Trudeau, and it was Mike that brought Kevin Trudeau into the Pool world. The whole IPT was Mike’s idea and of course he was gonna get paid. I’m not saying good or bad here. Remember that every Hall of Famer that even showed up got paid. That was one of Mike’s biggest beefs in pool was that the best players in the world of a game that millions played never got the financial income that other sports did.

Did Mike deserve to be seeded into the finals? Of course not if you’re looking at the current best players in the world at the time. But that’s not what this was about. At the time of the IPT Orlando event, Mike Sigel was still arguably considered the greatest living poolplayer, who had retired a decade earlier. It was meant to be a flashback to the Hall of Famers and gateway for current players to get a higher paycheck. Sigel set the rules. So I suppose if Sigel didn’t get his seat in the finals, maybe IPT never happens. Good or bad,

Xdecemberguy said:

Has anyone ever played 8ball but with 9 ball rules?...maybe 8 ball advanced...ex. after break if you make a ball choose either the high or low set and go in order. Obviously if choosing the high balls start with the 9 and after the 15.. then you pocket the 8... ever hear of this game?? Just a thought..

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Yep. Rotation 8-ball. Sometimes as a spot. Saratoga is a short rack version.

Thanks guys. Got from it from Muellers. They had catalogs full of cues. Cue shopping was great back then.

jay helfert said:

There are two cuemakers that I know of here in Pampanga. Looks like it could be from one of them. They often use cheap wood imported from Malaysia or Indonesia, prone to warping. This cue would sell new here for about 10,000P, which is about $150.

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Thank you.

I do think it was assembled there with KPS parts. Or at least the shaft was made there. It's just too random that an exact, and I do mean exact, KPS design would be identified as a Pampanga cue. The cue I posted was almost certainly refinished though. We can tell because these cues almost universally develop a slight finish ridge along the butt rings which this one does not have, and the bottom edge of the butt cap has been slightly rounded indicating sanding.

The top level Orchid cues are nice. I have several. I bought one brand new (NOS) 1990s one for $150. The others I probably paid around $100 for.

To give an idea of what they went for back then we can see this 1997 cue with original invoice for $250 which would be about $525 today.

It happens to be the exact same model and sold 2-20-2024 for $170 after 12 bids. But again, the cue this thread is about one that had a raminwood shaft.

There are several varieties of logo on these cues, some from Germany, some US, others Asian. Some say "USA", some don't. Some of them were "white label" and sold through a variety of distributors.

Occasionally you will find an Orchid among some nice cues in a collection. LINK

Before 1999 the logo was placed inside an oval. From June 1999 to the present Viking eliminated the border entirely for their mainstream lines, printing just the stylized "Viking" script text with "USA" directly underneath it. This freestanding layout debuted with the launch of the VM Series and K Series in 1999 and continues to be used on models today.

The VM17 followed the Q18 in 1999, same design with different colors.

The cue posted has the current logo.

Based on this combination of the design/colors and the logo, it looks like a very late production Q18, which puts it in early 1999.