It's not getting away with anything -- it's just using good equipment.
And for a big match I would expect the balls to be the same as mine anywhos -- good equipment.
Lou Figueroa
Bring your own billiard balls to pool hall
- Thread starter AvidCynergy
- Start date
It's not getting away with anything -- it's just using good equipment.
And for a big match I would expect the balls to be the same as mine anywhos -- good equipment.
Lou Figueroa
If it's a big match I want to play with the best equipment I can -- and I don't care whether it's his set or the house's.
With a good set of balls the tolerances are so close they're all the same anyways -- it'd be kind of nitty to make a stink. I mean, whaddayado when you go to a tournament like the DCC and they put nice Duramith Aramiths on every table WITH the Diamond blue logo CB? Say, "Oh no, I'm used to crappy pool room balls, I don't want to play with these?!"
No difference.
Lou Figueroa
Last edited:
SeniorTom
Well-known member
Well I don't think anybody will have anything against playing with the best equipment, but if you start with your own set and then move to pool hall set you may be in for some surprises. The whole issue is to be used to the equipment you're playing with before you put anything on the line. This includes the table and the balls you are using, along with your cue and everything that you are using so you know what you are getting before you start. If that is your own set of pool balls that is fine but a lot of times that's not an option.
No, I've done that plenty of times.
I've played in tournaments with mismatched sets of ball; shrunken CBs; a measles ball on one table and a RC on the next; new cloth on some tables, old on others; tight pockets on some tables, loose pockets on others; half the tables Diamonds and the other half GCs. And what I have learned from playing with my own sets of balls -- Centennials, Aramith Pro, and Duramith -- is that when you do have to play with crappy balls you quickly detect what's going on. A few months ago I was warming up waiting for a tournament to start and missed a particular cut shot I am a huge favorite to make. I set it up and missed again. Taking a closer look at the balls I found that the CB was undersized and then I adjusted accordingly. And that's because I had a baseline to judge from.
Just in the last few months I've played in rooms in New Orleans, Louisville, Chicago, and Houston, with the house balls, lol. Trust me, I do get around.
Lou Figueroa
goin' to the Derby
again too
Last edited:
I was reading something written by one of the old greats who spent a life on the road. He always brought his own balls and tried to get them into play. He said if he couldn't get his own set of balls in play he would try to get at least his own cue ball snuck into the game. He said if he couldn't do at least that he might not want to play. I forget who this was, been many years since I read this.
One day I was playing at a very well respected pool hall. Good tables, fresh cloth when needed or before, clean place, top flight place. I happened to notice I was playing with two different pattern pool balls. Looking closer I saw I was playing with three different pattern pool balls and who knows how many different sets.
The next time I went to the pool hall I brought my own balls, a junk thirty dollar set I had bought to cut up for one project or another. It was like going from a family car to a nice sports car. Play immediately jumped a ball or more. Since this was an unexpected result I believe it was real. Later I bought some pretty decent balls. When I go to the hall I don't take the liberty of wetting down the cloth but I do keep the paper towels when I wash my hands before starting play. I wipe down the rails with these damp towels. At my favorite places they see me at a table and come wipe it down. Of course I tip nicely. It pays to take care of the house man.
Often the biggest difference between lower quality sets and higher quality sets is how finely the sets are sorted by weight. Throw multiple sets of balls together like commercial cleaners or the house man does and the value of those sets may fall sharply.
After learning for myself I have to agree with the old time road man, getting your own balls in a match is huge. Just the cue ball is pretty big. I wouldn't let somebody else use their own unless it was part of a spot. An old world billiard(three or four balls) match never came off because the players couldn't agree on the balls they would play with.
Somebody using their own bridge is something I have never seen called against although I have seen some that were a nice advantage.
Hu
One day I was playing at a very well respected pool hall. Good tables, fresh cloth when needed or before, clean place, top flight place. I happened to notice I was playing with two different pattern pool balls. Looking closer I saw I was playing with three different pattern pool balls and who knows how many different sets.
The next time I went to the pool hall I brought my own balls, a junk thirty dollar set I had bought to cut up for one project or another. It was like going from a family car to a nice sports car. Play immediately jumped a ball or more. Since this was an unexpected result I believe it was real. Later I bought some pretty decent balls. When I go to the hall I don't take the liberty of wetting down the cloth but I do keep the paper towels when I wash my hands before starting play. I wipe down the rails with these damp towels. At my favorite places they see me at a table and come wipe it down. Of course I tip nicely. It pays to take care of the house man.
Often the biggest difference between lower quality sets and higher quality sets is how finely the sets are sorted by weight. Throw multiple sets of balls together like commercial cleaners or the house man does and the value of those sets may fall sharply.
After learning for myself I have to agree with the old time road man, getting your own balls in a match is huge. Just the cue ball is pretty big. I wouldn't let somebody else use their own unless it was part of a spot. An old world billiard(three or four balls) match never came off because the players couldn't agree on the balls they would play with.
Somebody using their own bridge is something I have never seen called against although I have seen some that were a nice advantage.
Hu
Like I said, someone would rather play with crappy house balls, fine.
Amazingly, I haven’t run into that player.
Lou Figueroa
I haven't ran into that player either but I doubt they realize that they are giving me, or you, a significant spot. Playing with nice clean well matched pool balls that you know is a considerable advantage over somebody used to playing with mismatched balls. Never tested but I suspect aside from weight the different mixes and cures of the epoxies might make a difference.
For some reason I think of JS and his buddies using a different set of balls than anyone else at the Derby high run competition. That is cooking the books a bit and I would want to do the same.
Hu
Flakeandrun
Well-known member
Since my hall had a makeover (all 4" tables have black aramith balls, the 4.25" uses the white ones), I only use my own balls when I have a decent cash game lined up, maybe once or twice a month.
maybe his set has one or two of the balls with a little or more silicone on them. or has a heavier or lighter one or two.
ronnie allen had a gaffed set and a gaffed cueball he would try to get in.
but just playing against someone who feels confident with his own set gives him an advantage and you lose that by letting him have it.
but there are few money gamblers that stay ahead. and those use their head. it works together.
ronnie allen had a gaffed set and a gaffed cueball he would try to get in.
but just playing against someone who feels confident with his own set gives him an advantage and you lose that by letting him have it.
but there are few money gamblers that stay ahead. and those use their head. it works together.
yes .. all the time. I’ve never seen the bar Staff clean the tables
I don't look at it that way -- playing with a decent set of balls isn't an assist to either player.
What is of value is playing on a table you're familiar with, using a cue and tip you've fired in for months, and using decent chalk. As far as JS is concerned, my recollection is that he used the same set of balls as everyone else at the DCC high run competition.
Lou Figueroa
Last edited:
oh good grief.
There are all kinds of things you can do to the balls -- Bob has mentioned waxing every other ball. And yes, road players have sometimes tried to sneak in their own CB. I have had a heavy CB sneaked in on me. Trying to draw it it was like it was glued to the table. Mosconi used to travel with his own set of balls. There is an account of a player wiping down the CB with his own towel (infused with silicone spray). His opponent would get down to shoot and it would take off like a jack rabbit.
You can even mess with the table. There is one story about a 1pocket match where a player knew the table and pocket his opponent favored. He went in the night before and drove pins into the facing of that pocket making it way more difficult to pocket balls. I also recall a story about a 3C match. One of the players used a system based on aiming at various fixtures around the room. The night before his opponent and crew came in and moved the table a few inches, just enough to throw the guy's systems off. There are all kinds of things that can be done, but that's not what we're talking about.
Lou Figueroa
Last edited:
js and his buddies used a set of balls he brought in for years.
Saying these things I bolded in your post have value and a set of balls you are accustomed to play with doesn't is ridiculous. As an example, my measle ball rolls long compared to the balls at the hall I usually play at. If I put the measle ball in a match I have an advantage because I already know how it plays, the other player doesn't. Putting sixteen balls on the table that you know and the other player doesn't is a very significant advantage.
Sure the other player likes how the nice clean balls play. However, you know how they play, big advantage.
Hu
Nope. I don't think any player ever used a separate set of balls. Diamond provided a machine just for the 14.1 and the balls were cleaned multiple times each day.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
He's also said in the past that he doesn't allow uncalled nineballs and won't play unless he is positive he will win. I'm sure he makes a ton from one-armed elementary school students.
Zerksies
Well-known member
I'd find a new pool hall, that just shows me that they don't care.
I went to one that didn't clean the tables regulary. After an hour my hand was black. That pool hall I worked at as a kid had 18 tables and that place had 10 tables. I use to clean the entire place with the tables, polish the balls and taking out the trash in a hour. To me a dirty pool hall is just laziness and does not get my business.
I went to one that didn't clean the tables regulary. After an hour my hand was black. That pool hall I worked at as a kid had 18 tables and that place had 10 tables. I use to clean the entire place with the tables, polish the balls and taking out the trash in a hour. To me a dirty pool hall is just laziness and does not get my business.
DeeDeeCues
Well-known member
So, do you make them take off their glasses? Do you allow them to use a glove? Can they use a tip tool?
I'm guessing that very few people play with you more than once, and they probably get real busy shortly after starting the session. How many guys have suddenly had their wife go into labor while playing a set with you?
LOL. That's some funny shit right there. agree, some people you just don't want to play with.
Many years ago -- like the 1970s/80s -- it was the fashion among the better players to carry around your own cue ball. I bought a blue circle cue ball which was the favorite of most. One time I was practicing the "over the spots" drill -- straight up the table to come back to just touch your tip. I hit one pretty good but it rolled off 3-4 inches to the left. "Nice table," I thought. A few tries later, the cue ball rolled off to the right. It wasn't the table. My special, store-bought cue ball was heavy on one side.
And then there's this shot -- another cue ball with a problem...
For the original video at normal speed, see:
Lesson: if you're going to carry around your own, special balls, you may want to be sure they're OK.
And then there's this shot -- another cue ball with a problem...
For the original video at normal speed, see:
Lesson: if you're going to carry around your own, special balls, you may want to be sure they're OK.
Loaded pool balls.......Scott Lee told me he used one of those crazy 8-balls, that rolled crooked, in his trick shot shows. He would roll it down the long rail by hand, and put some spin on it, and it would drop right into the side pocket. Meanwhile, the poor college kid on the opposite side of the table could never get his normal pool ball to do the same, no matter how many times he tried.
Last edited: