Mr 600

[jason]

Yet none of them saw one ball being made in person must be CNN beat reporters

1

If CNN reported on it, they would say the record didn't count because he didn't mark his pockets with a coaster on every shot.

 

[jrctherake]

The point remains that breaking the run was not covered widely in the main stream media because, nowadays, it would be considered an obscure record.

It is also true that the PR on this, such as it was, was slow by any measure and that cost them whatever publicity they might have gotten. They chased the car and didn’t know what to do once it was caught.

Thanks for the compliment.

Lou Figueroa

Understand and your welcome sir.

Jeff

 

[lfigueroa]

Here is something on topic that I wrote a good number of years back for the American Cueist.

Who's your Daddy?
By Frank Almanza
Once upon a time, a long long time ago, born to the green felt was a little game. During his toddler years, he was known as "little line up", and in his adolescent years, people came to know him as "14.1 continuous". When he matured to an adult, he became known as Mr. Straight Pool. As he grew up, having prospered from his fans admiration, he found himself living on the better side of the tracks, opposite from his cousin, old Mr. One Hole.

Mr. Straight Pool's reputation grew in stature, as he became the game of choice for all the big tournaments around the country. He developed all the pride and prestige of nobility. Thus, he acquired a reputation everyone wanted to be associated with. His rules of play had all bases covered, and defined all the situations that could arise. He had all the rules that were needed for a match to continue without creating arguments. Penalties were assessed to the naughty for not following his rules.

He was a game born to show off all the polish a master cueist had to offer, along with their tuxedos and all that stuff. The legends of that time got so familiar with Mr. Straight Pool and were so good at pocketing balls in succession, that it looked like they were just out for a Sunday stroll. They would be at the table pocketing balls until they got tired of walking around the table, ended their run by choice, or when all the spectators, their opponent, and referee fell asleep. Sometimes they themselves looked like they were asleep.

The abilities of the Mosconies, the Mizeraks, and the Segals made this game look like child's play. After all the balls were opened up to a certain degree, everything was basically just mop up till they got to the last three or four balls, than they would pause to select a key ball or break ball or something like that. Who knows what, but I'm sure they did.

It would be a rare occasion that we would see maybe a bank shot, a deep cut shot, or anything that might resemble some excitement. When they got tired, they just went and sat down while inviting their opponents up to the table to see how may balls they could run before they also tired themselves out. And so it went for many years until one day a new kid came to town.

This gutsy new comer came to town like a cowboy busting down that swinging door at the saloon and just using nine balls. Imagine that! This upstart hit the country like a house on fire. This guy was just as exciting to watch, as it was to play. Move over Mr. Mosconi and make room for Mr. Strickland.

But what about rules for this new little guy? Could they use the same ones as straight pool? Heck no! Something else was needed. How about maybe a heavy-duty penalty after a foul that would give the incoming player the ability to put the cueball anywhere on the table? Yea! That's it. That ought to perk things up a bit. We'll call it "ball in hand". Coincidentally, this rule change just happened to agree with television. How about that? Now we have this new game called "nine ball" that would keep everyone wide eyed with its bank shots, jump shots, kick shots, combos, masses, and some giant opening game break shots too. In this game you get to see all of what pool has to offer, including luck shots.

It wasn't too long before he became the game for most tournaments. Along with the approval of all the spectators, estimated time of matches could now be predicted, thus giving more flexibility in scheduling tournaments. Albeit nine ball surely is an exiting game to play, as well as it is to be a spectator of, and to play it well it requires a good deal of skill.

Sure sounds like goodbye to Mr. Straight Pool, doesn't it? Well let's see. Now the Barber speaks…

Contrary to what you just read, Mr. Straight Pool is not dead. He is alive and as healthy as he ever was. He has only been moved to the back seat because nine-ball can be fitted into tournament formats much easier. Our up and coming players of the future, having been saturated primary with nine-ball, need to expose themselves to some of the finer aspects of pool, if they have aspirations of becoming top notch.

Seems like a formal introduction to Mr. Straight Pool is in order. Let's see what the daddy has to offer.

Straight pool only looks easy, because a skilled player has developed the ability to make it look that way. Take it from me, if you want to elevate your nine ball game, then what you need is a regular dose of straight pool to help you gain the discipline, knowledge, and concentration that is needed for all other games and not just nine ball. Your game will benefit in position play because it will insist that you place the cue ball to a more precise location as opposed to most shots that you would accept in nine ball. Correct angles on position play are what will enable you to stretch out higher runs.

Breaking up clusters and getting a feel for where the cue ball will come to rest is a huge benefit you can get from straight pool. This may enable you to secure position on a stationary ball that could be used as an escape valve if needed. If these stationary balls don't get moved, they could turn into lifesavers and help you stay up at the table longer. This is very important unless you know for certain where the clustered balls will come to rest at after the break up.

Other important benefits we can derive from this game, because of it's nature, would be to identify kiss shots, combinations and how much a ball will throw one way or another. Having the knowledge to see a cluster of balls and to pretty much know the flight of each ball during a break up is quite an advantage.

Playing safe in straight pool with and open table could be quite a challenge and may require quite a bit of ingenuity, but these are the things that make us stronger. There are so many things to be learned from this game, These are just a few, but you will have to get into it and see for yourself.

Translating the knowledge that you gain from straight pool into your game of nine ball will make you a much more effective player. There are some things that you can't hide from your opponents and that's knowledge and cue ball control. Elements that are passed down from the big guy "Mr. Straight Pool".

In my opinion, this is the best game to play if you want to possess all the skills and knowledge needed for all other games. It also is a good way to gage your progress. As your skills develop, your runs get higher. In order to reach higher levels of play, what is needed is a well-rounded game.

Now go ahead and ask "little nine-ball" who's your daddy? He'll tell you.

Thank you, Frank Almanza. The people mentioned in your stinger played by the rules and JS played by his rules and cast all other rules aside, so that record may stink for a very loooooong time.

I would agree JS set a record with 626 continuous shots that few care about. Mosconi's 526 is anchored in time and stone, without question.

It is true that 14.1 is a fabulous game on its own and one that will help you with any other kind of pool you’d care to name or play.

But other than at a few strongholds like NYC it has been fading for a long time. On those occasions I practice it I am inevitably asked, “What are you playing?” or “Why are you breaking that way?” For all practical purposes straight pool is something of a lost art.

Way more people know and play 1pocket now than 14.1.

Lou Figueroa

 

[one stroke]

Not being convinced something happened because you didn't see it in person or on video yet is perfectly rational. It's the insistence that because of that you conclude it definately didn't happen that I am baffled by.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

Never said it didn't nor would I say it did, I'm baffled that its taking months to edit and produce a few hours of video , ,
I'm equally baffled at how stopping cleaning and polishing the balls is a acceptable practice during a run , I thought that part of the challenge of a long run was fading the changing conditions ,


1

 

[logical]

Never said it didn't nor would I say it did, I'm baffled that its taking months to edit and produce a few hours of video , ,

I'm equally baffled at how stopping cleaning and polishing the balls is a excepted practice during a run , I thought that part of the challenge of a long run was fading the changing conditions ,





1

Did you mean excepted or accepted...they are pretty much opposites?

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[logical]

I remain a skeptical dissident.

I don't think that will surprise anyone. While I disagree with 90% of what you've posted on this topic and with 100% the direction you've taken the debate..I will say this.

With your ability if you really want to jam it up John and break it off the way you seem to I hope you are holed up somewhere with a video camera trying to lay down a 627 run because nothing else really matters here. So get to it, show us the video and we'll give you the well deserved praise and attention...just like most of us are trying our best to give John.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

 

[pt109]

Never said it didn't nor would I say it did, I'm baffled that its taking months to edit and produce a few hours of video , ,
I'm equally baffled at how stopping cleaning and polishing the balls is a (excepted )>practice during a run , I thought that part of the challenge of a long run was fading the changing conditions ,


1

I’ll assume you meant ‘accepted’....
...so what do you think of snooker refs cleaning any ball on demand?....usually the cue ball.
Or golfers cleaning their ball on the green?

In 9-ball tournaments, I clean whitey with my cue towel every time I break....
...is that cheating?

Chalk flies when pool is played....wanting more pristine conditions shouldn’t be a problem.
....although you and Lou seem to think so

 

[lfigueroa]

Never said it didn't nor would I say it did, I'm baffled that its taking months to edit and produce a few hours of video , ,
I'm equally baffled at how stopping cleaning and polishing the balls is a excepted practice during a run , I thought that part of the challenge of a long run was fading the changing conditions ,


1

No edits!

Lou Figueroa
wanna see
the whole thing

 

[lfigueroa]

I’ll assume you meant ‘accepted’....
...so what do you think of snooker refs cleaning any ball on demand?....usually the cue ball.
Or golfers cleaning their ball on the green?

In 9-ball tournaments, I clean whitey with my cue towel every time I break....
...is that cheating?

Chalk flies when pool is played....wanting more pristine conditions shouldn’t be a problem.
....although you and Lou seem to think so

Well, when I speak of cleaning the balls I'm talking about cleaning them not because there's a speck of chalk on a particular ball, I'm talking about the practice of polishing 14 balls *with the intent* of giving the shooter a better spread on subsequent break shots and doing it *over and over* during a run to that particular end.

The mountain should get steeper the higher you go. That's part of what makes it an achievement to get to the summit. Polishing them up every few racks is putting an escalator on Mt. Everest.

BTW, I should add that, not having seen the video, I have absolutely no idea whether any of this happens during the 626. I was just speaking to the point in a general kinda way.

Lou Figueroa

 

[one stroke]

Well, when I speak of cleaning the balls I'm talking about cleaning them not because there's a speck of chalk on a particular ball, I'm talking about the practice of polishing 14 balls *with the intent* of giving the shooter a better spread on subsequent break shots and doing it *over and over* during a run to that particular end.

The mountain should get steeper the higher you go. That's part of what makes it an achievement to get to the summit. Polishing them up every few racks is putting an escalator on Mt. Everest.

BTW, I should add that, not having seen the video, I have absolutely no idea whether any of this happens during the 626. I was just speaking to the point in a general kinda way.

Lou Figueroa

I pretty sure there are more than one in that Billiards Digest article that would say excatly that if they were asked

1

 

[wayne]

If anyone is interested in what is happening with the video of the 626 you just need to go to Facebook and search John Schmidt. He is an open book type of guy. It sounds like it will be released very shortly.

(see what he thinks of the 1% who are haters)

The BCA received the whole video of the 626 before validating the record.

 

[pt109]

Well, when I speak of cleaning the balls I'm talking about cleaning them not because there's a speck of chalk on a particular ball, I'm talking about the practice of polishing 14 balls *with the intent* of giving the shooter a better spread on subsequent break shots and doing it *over and over* during a run to that particular end.

The mountain should get steeper the higher you go. That's part of what makes it an achievement to get to the summit. Polishing them up every few racks is putting an escalator on Mt. Everest.

BTW, I should add that, not having seen the video, I have absolutely no idea whether any of this happens during the 626. I was just speaking to the point in a general kinda way.

Lou Figueroa

A young Alex....about 21 years old...we were in a room in western NY....
....he played a 200 ball runner from NYC...to 150 for a couple hundred.
They agreed to quit at one apiece....the table and balls looked like they hadn’t been
cleaned for a month....NOBODY RAN THIRTY IN THOSE TWO GAMES.

If anybody wants to keep playing as everything gets dirtier...they don’t like the game enough.

 

[one stroke]

I’ll assume you meant ‘accepted’....
...so what do you think of snooker refs cleaning any ball on demand?....usually the cue ball.
Or golfers cleaning their ball on the green?

In 9-ball tournaments, I clean whitey with my cue towel every time I break....
...is that cheating?

Chalk flies when pool is played....wanting more pristine conditions shouldn’t be a problem.
....although you and Lou seem to think so

Not a big fan of it but that's Apples and Oranges ,
If I'm trying to break the most free throw record would it count if I made the rim bigger and used a woman's basketball ball ?

1

 

[pt109]

Not a big fan of it but that's Apples and Oranges ,
If I'm trying to break the most free throw record would it count if I made the rim bigger and used a woman's basketball ball ?

1

Not sure what you mean here...are you implying that JS played on pockets unfairly big
compared to the table Willie played on?

 

[one stroke]

A young Alex....about 21 years old...we were in a room in western NY....
....he played a 200 ball runner from NYC...to 150 for a couple hundred.
They agreed to quit at one apiece....the table and balls looked like they hadn’t been
cleaned for a month....NOBODY RAN THIRTY IN THOSE TWO GAMES.

If anybody wants to keep playing as everything gets dirtier...they don’t like the game enough.

That may be true today but it certainly wasn't true in the 14-1 era even if they hand wiped balls it still is not the same as cleaning the balls in a ball cleaner with polish never mind the cue ball doctoring I hear about , maybe Lou can shed light on these effects

1

 

[one stroke]

Not sure what you mean here...are you implying that JS played on pockets unfairly big
compared to the table Willie played on?

I haven't seen the table to measure pockets and shelves but certainly a new cloth on today's tables make them play much easier we see it all the time balls kisses the rail a diamond or better up and still goes ,,
Look it's a great feat no matter how you cut it up , I wish the circumstances were duplicated as close to possible but the were not ,
So to me yes JS has the record on that table at that time but that's his record, he really set his own record
He didn't break Willies record because it wasn't on the same table size and conditions period ,,

1

 

[jrctherake]

Well, when I speak of cleaning the balls I'm talking about cleaning them not because there's a speck of chalk on a particular ball, I'm talking about the practice of polishing 14 balls *with the intent* of giving the shooter a better spread on subsequent break shots and doing it *over and over* during a run to that particular end.

The mountain should get steeper the higher you go. That's part of what makes it an achievement to get to the summit. Polishing them up every few racks is putting an escalator on Mt. Everest.

BTW, I should add that, not having seen the video, I have absolutely no idea whether any of this happens during the 626. I was just speaking to the point in a general kinda way.

Lou Figueroa

Lou, I agree, when playing 14.1 the ob nor the cb should be polished "after" the initial break shot, only before the first inning.

After the initial break, IMO, the balls can "wiped down" with a clean towel but not polished again.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of using polish. Sure, the rack opens easier, especially later in high runs but, to me balls bank unpredictability when polished and my runs, even in my best runs, I usually end up having to bank a ball or two to keep it going and polished balls and me don't get along when banking.

If I could get into 20+ racks without having to bank even one ball, I may feel that polish was ok since my odds would be higher. I quit dreaming that pipe dream long ago since my lifetime high run is half of that.

Once a banger always a banger....yep, thats me but, I sure do like to play sir.

Jeff

 

[Black-Balled]

What are you nutballs talking about now?

Making up rules after play is over.

626. Likely done. Get on with your day.

I went 65+ mph on a bicycle. Plenty of pros say their max is 60. You think I walka round smiling about that?

 

[one stroke]

What are you nutballs talking about now?

Making up rules after play is over.

626. Likely done. Get on with your day.

I went 65+ mph on a bicycle. Plenty of pros say their max is 60. You think I walka round smiling about that?

lol I go 30 miles at 20 mph on the beach thru the hills and on the trails never peddling loving my rad mini lol

1

 

[one stroke]

Lou, I agree, when playing 14.1 the ob nor the cb should be polished "after" the initial break shot, only before the first inning.

After the initial break, IMO, the balls can "wiped down" with a clean towel but not polished again.

Having said that, I'm not a fan of using polish. Sure, the rack opens easier, especially later in high runs but, to me balls bank unpredictability when polished and my runs, even in my best runs, I usually end up having to bank a ball or two to keep it going and polished balls and me don't get along when banking.

If I could get into 20+ racks without having to bank even one ball, I may feel that polish was ok since my odds would be higher. I quit dreaming that pipe dream long ago since my lifetime high run is half of that.

Once a banger always a banger....yep, thats me but, I sure do like to play sir.

Jeff

Having watched Bobby Chamberlian practice countless times I've never seen him clean or wipe down balls ever during a run ever , he just doesn't believe in his mind it counts if he does that ,

1