Recent content by Bert van Manen

Still have my Dieckman, not going to sell it while breathing.

I can see how you would cherish that one. Well done.

Straight rail is solfège, balkline is music. The Serie Americaine is difficult to master (physically) because margins are always extremely small and stamina is a big factor. But it's not a very creative game, and the strange thing is that the better it is played, the more repetitive and boring...

I remember that. You and a friend of yours were the epitome of appreciative fans, drinking it all in. I am glad you enjoyed the experience, and Bordeaux 2016 was a pretty great tournament! Best from the Netherlands.

I bought a cheap one in the Netherlands for 60 Euro, built like a tank, never a problem. It does three balls, not six, but so what? Takes you four minutes now, instead of two.

If Bob & Bert firmly agree, resistance is futile.

One note: in the free game (at competition level) there is no choice in case of a frozen ball. You go straighr to the break-off. In balkline, you can ELECT to play the break-off, but you can also solve some situations with an "in-and-out" pique. Or, out-and-in, rather.

Great to see that the classic disciplines simply refuse to die. There's no money to be made, international tournaments are scarce, but the game simply has a reason to exist because it's basic, brilliant and beautiful. I have no idea about your current average in the free game, so forgive me if...

Here's my suggestion for the USBA: all external communication should be in four languages: English, Spanish, Korean and Vietnamese. 3-cushion in the USA leans heavily on players with an immigration background (95 % of Nationals winners in the past 40 years?), so deal with it in a practical way...

Sadly for Salazar, there are no world records for matches to 30 points. Nobody has ever kept track (which would be undoable by the way). I have seen a bunch of 30 in 4's before, can't really remember if I've ever seen a 30 in 3. Several players have been over 30 AFTER 3, in matches to 40 or 50...

Can't tell you how silly this is. The line in the second diagram is very sensitive to (even minimal) english, but it is EXTREMELY sensitive to speed. And age of cloth, btw. A little too firm and the ball will lock up between the long rails making the line way too short. Not enough speed, it will...

My money is always on Pedro. He's about two tenths ahead of the field still.

I've not been privy to any of the negotiations, but this is what I think is the construction: Drawshots, which is a private company, proposed a mini-tour intended to promote 3-cushion. You can only invite two ranked players to an invitational, any more and you'll have to pay a significant fee to...

Would be pretty pointless to try and organize a World Cup in the USA right now. For starters, half the field would say thank you but no thank you.

If you want to read anything into it: the three major disasters in the past 15 years have been a cancelled World Cup in Mexico (when players had already booked), a dumpster fire of a World Championship in Bolivia, and this Bogota cancellation. I'm not counting the cancelled World Cup in Turkey...