AJ Manas

Manas is a hard one to handicap. His runout skills and pattern recognition are super-elite and give him a chance to runover pretty much anybody, but his tactical game is under-developed and he makes some poor choices from time to time. In offense-oriented matches, he's far more dangerous than he is when he has to grind.

I'm not yet willing to call him a complete player, but if his development and decision making can catch up to his world class skills, he'll likely be a top ten player in the world at some point.

He is, in rough terms, the male Chezka Centeno, who often manages to overcome some of her tactical limitations with mind-blowing offensive execution, but covering up for tactical limitations is a lot harder in men's pool than women's pool, and if he hopes to reach the highest level, he'll have to add some of the missing pieces.

He may never play defense like a Reyes, Pagulayan, Orcullo, or Biado. That said, were he to reach Lee Van Corteza's level in beating players to the shot, his prospects will be very bright.

One thing is for sure, though. He is entertaining to watch.
Yeah, understanding the current state of AJ Manas as a player means watching him both when he bulldozes great players in fantastic displays of total offense, AND watching him in some of his losses, include big money matches, in which he eschews basic safety play in favor of firing away, seems to lose interest when he falls behind, seeing that the dog has some quit in it (perhaps because of his age), seeing that the nonchalance that makes him look brilliant can also bite him in the butt, etc.

I have watched several money matches in which there is a common refrain in the comments stream of, "If I was backing him, I would want to kill him because he just quit."

Great player? Sure.
Among the world's best? No. Not yet.

My Wife Just Doesn’t Understand

next time dont get such a worthless wife. and you may get a decent cue in trade along with some high priced chalk.

and if you want to keep your wives. try giving them a nice new vacuum cleaner for birthday or christmas then they will appreciate you more.
If I am going to get my wife a gift that gift certainly won't be a tool that she uses to clean up after me. That would be like her gifting me 5 quarts of oil and a filter for her car. 😲

Best Valley or BCA 8 ball team IYHO.

The team “Pourhouse” which was on the cover of Billiards Digest in 99. They had a slew of Masters National Championships. Their 4 regulars were John Abruzzo, Mike Bandy, Claudio Parrone and Steve Hayes. Their 5th would be a rotating strong player.

As for best team in a single year in Vegas, the British team with Appleton, Melling and Boyes was a bit unfair, hahaha.
I think Larry Schwartz played sometimes. Ran into Bandy at the derby last year. He can still dab it.

AJ Manas

I think this kid will/can be as good as he wants to be. Should he choose to get the mental side of it completely dialed in, he's Darth Vader, or maybe Yoda. He reminds me of a Tiger Woods type talent, just waiting for Butch Harmon to come along and polish the edges. Maybe a lousy analogy, but...
At the age of 19 it's an interesting time, Choose.... all pool or.....women and pool..... or hang around older men for the next five years because the games more important, might be a good move from my POV :).

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