Recent content by Bert van Manen

Before there was a complete smoking ban, many rooms in the Netherlands had "smoking areas". I've said from day one, that a smoking area in a pool room is about as effective as a peeing area in a swimming pool.

All valid points, Bob. Also: 3-C is as far away from instant gratification as you can get. And the attention span of the younger generation appears to keep shrinking.

I had a short conversation with his mother once. She told me she had been pregnant for 22 months.

This should be the correct link. Sorry for posting the wrong one. https://vod.sooplive.co.kr/player/177130683

https://play.sooplive.co.kr/afbilliards6/288960026 And I'm not a fan of the guy, for obvious reasons. But he makes, in his inimitable time-wasting, yoga-exercizing, staring at the ceiling-way, 22 points in 4 innings and they were not easy. How he manages to hit the ball with 1 sec left on the...

I saw an announcement by Paul that he called it quits.

https://vod.sooplive.co.kr/player/175098179

Yes, I watched that one with pleasure. If Sameh is hot, he sizzles.

Tran has the touch of a surgeon, that much is obvious. There were two points in that run that impressed me most: on two occasions he HAD to be extremely close to the kiss in order to make the line, you'll easily spot those if you watch it back. I think 97 % of us amateurs would have avoided the...

Played between 24-26 October, I know this was in Texas somewhere. Can anybody tell me the city? I checked Professor Q-ball for results, but negative. Anybody? The video has a wonderful run of 27 by Quyet Chien Tran in the final against Luis Aveiga.

Could not agree more. My hat is off to Mazin, Ricky and the others who generously give back to the sport. On the other hand: seven K.O. match results, that's not a lot of work. And reporters being unable to publish even the final score of the final, that's not good PR.

Why does one publish groups results and final standing, but not the results of the K.O. matches? I can't see any valid reason.

I do remember a run of three in exactly that way (very soft double the rail) by Dion Nelin in the late nineties. The two receiving balls were almost in an Americain position, only a little flatter, and it all happened in the space of a single diamond.

An interesting question arises: how small can you make a 3-cushion table to maximize your average, before the kiss dangers start to counterfeit the advantages of the smaller size? We're used to 1.42 x 2.84, the regular UMB matchtables (I think commonly called "ten foot" in the US). Let's call...

Sorry, I wrote "does" when it should have been "doesn't". Now corrected.