Funny pic/gif thread...

I miss having a Labrador / lab in the house ! It could be the challenge of training them to become a hunting partner and even more so a companion animal for all reasons !
I miss getting woke up by a cold damp nose nugging my hand or whatever other part of my that isn't covered by a blanket ha ha

Another thing I miss is the look of accomplishment when they make a retrieve for the first time on a difficult bird .
I could go on and on but all that will do is possibly bore you and make me want to go get another lab puppy !

dear diary: a 14.1 journey to nowhere

You have learned some lessons well, and others not at all. I don't mean to be overly critical, but you have to work on your end pattern plans.

1. You cleared up most of the problem balls at the correct time, and in the beginning of the rack I can't really fault the way you went about things. Granted I might have done things differently, but it's a matter of taste really.

In your first rack you made a classic and fundamental mistake. When you have a ball close to the rail and you have to move the cueball down table, you never try to get low on it. Stay high, make sure to have an angle so you don't end up in the position of death: Straight in with both balls near the rail. Walk over there to find out where you want to get. You might be surprised at how high you can stay and still have a good shot with control. You got out of trouble this time, the next time...perhaps not.

2. You do seem to understand which balls connect with eachother, giving you more control over the cue ball and smaller movement, but some times when you have a long(ish) shot you seem to go a little crazy and hit it too hard and with the wrong english. I noticed this in your earlier videos as well. The shot on the one being the prime example. You last shot on the 7 was perfectly doable, had you not put inside english on it. I'd take my medicine here, hit it with straight draw and taken the longer shot, I might have even put a touch of outside on it to make sure what happened to you, could not possibly happen. The angle on the breakshot is alpha and omega. I'll take a long shot with an angle over any length of straight in. For a side breakshot, the further the break ball is away from the rack, the more angle you generally need on it. Play on tighter pockets for a while, and you'll know why.

3. Once the balls are all open, take a pause, walk around the table and make a plan for the end pattern. Remember that the end pattern is there to make the ending of the rack as close to idiot proof as possible, not just to look smart or knowledgable. The 7 and the 14 are both dreadful key balls to the 8. The 12 was your only good one. Had you not bumped the 14, the 7-14-8 could have been, not good, but defensible if you could set up well on the 7.
thanks man. i think i’m realizing that i dont get to just snap my fingers and be a straight pool player. i can practice all the different theories and order of operations and end patterns and make the damn balls, but not all at once. if i could, i would have by now.

the end patterns do seem to be what i struggle with the most.

When i very first started playing this game, i would play a combination of 9.1 and take 5 over and over and over again. i think i’m probably due for another session of that.

And yes, bumping the 14 was my ultimate demise there. I wanted to use one of those balls by the corner as the key and the 7 as the k2.

its hilarious to me that when i turn my brain off i get better scores, but it doesnt feel like im learning anything or getting better. Still, i gotta hope that going through these cycles of trying really hard and missing everything somehow seeps in so that when i turn my brain off and shoot, i’m making better decisions in the long run.

World Top 200 Players by Fargo Rating (April2026)

What are you smoking? I want some.

Edit: Shane is a way more refined player today than he was over a decade ago. He's made many improvements on his wobbly stroke and has been even more accurate in the past 5-10 years. Shane today would give 2007 Shane the 6 or 7 ball. The knowledge and shot repertoire he has gained in his arsenal is enough to beat young Shane.
No, I want some of what you have:):):):):)

Is a pool tournament not gambling?

I read the whole article. That new rule where you can only deduct 90% of your gambling losses (against your winnings) does sound really dumb. It made a good point that poker winnings are thin margins, and that 10% swing will completely change many player's taxes.

It doesn't jive with other tax laws. In the stock market, I've had years where I had 100k in profits, and 100k in losses. They wipe each other out. If the same rule was applied to that, the losses would be capped at 90k, and I would have shown an IRS profit of 10k that I'd then owe taxes on.

IDK how this affects legit professional pool players that legit file taxes with their pool winnings. From what Rexus posted above, they would file as a professional, not as gambling winnings, in which case this change would not seem to apply at all. But again, I have no idea how the real pool pros actually do their taxes.

World Top 200 Players by Fargo Rating (April2026)

The best Shane played was around 2007-2012. He was dominating everything and everyone! Both in tournaments and action matches. The main game was 10 ball, and he had the break down better than anyone else alive. Now the game is back to 9 ball, and his break advantage is not as large. Plus he was younger, hungrier, and probably shooting a bit straighter than now.

i disagree.. you're probably right about the creep, but your take is too sweeping here

World Top 200 Players by Fargo Rating (April2026)

One caveat, that older list was not the entire fargroate list (as is the new list from today). It was only the players entered in the 2015 US Open who were established.
Thanks, I should have noticed that.

I don't think Biado is a 40-pt better player today at 40+ years old than a decade ago, nor Shane a 20-pt better player than when he took down three consecutive US Opens. The Kos, Shaw, etc, etc.

I'll definitely take 2015 Dechaine over 2026 Dechaine.

The only person who has the data to answer or at least attempt to answer how much is drift vs actual improvement also has the least willingness to be forthright.

Vintage 1970 Adam XR7

Vintage 1970 Adam first catalog XR7 cue. This is an extremely rare and very hard to find cue. I had it refinished/restored by Proficient Billiards a few years ago. This cue does have a few issues and will need a new ferrule and tip. Also there is some cracking of the finish at the joint that you can feel with your finger nail. The shaft has a steel insert and when you screw into the butt it feels like play from side to side as it’s screwing in. Once it’s screwed in it is tight and there is no problem. Both the shaft and butt have a wobble but it plays good it seems to have a slightly thinner handle.

Butt: 28 3/4” 14.8 oz
Shaft: 28 3/4” 3.6oz 11.95mm


$375 shipped


IMG_3258.jpeg
IMG_3259.jpeg
IMG_3251.jpeg
IMG_3254.jpeg

IMG_3257.jpeg
IMG_3260.jpeg
IMG_3261.jpeg
IMG_3267.jpeg
IMG_3311.jpeg

Attachments

  • IMG_3269.png
    IMG_3269.png
    856.9 KB · Views: 18

World Top 200 Players by Fargo Rating (April2026)

The best Shane played was around 2007-2012. He was dominating everything and everyone! Both in tournaments and action matches. The main game was 10 ball, and he had the break down better than anyone else alive. Now the game is back to 9 ball, and his break advantage is not as large. Plus he was younger, hungrier, and probably shooting a bit straighter than now.

Filter

Back
Top