Recent content by Bob Jewett

Diamond used to be a distributor so maybe they have some stock left in a back room.

And then there are the top snooker players who have the toe of their "back" foot more forward than the other. I wonder if that's the best way for them to stand. Maybe it is. It looks bent and awkward and uncomfortable to me.

When you break at nine ball, do you put the cue ball fully behind the line?

Just look across the table even with the two headstring diamonds. See whether the ball is more to the left or right of the diamonds. I think that is easier than seeing whether the edge of the ball is to the left or right of the center of the diamonds, because the situation is symmetrical and...

No love for Shaun? He's the favorite now.

How about thin off white and then long, short, short. At least three ways to score. I think the kiss can be avoided.

I was commenting about a deflection test.

You can get much more useful results by shooting straight at an object ball. Leave the cue ball spinning in place. How far the cue ball moves to the side tells you how far off you were from perfect.

Kicking out in style. Next, be sure to breathe out as the stick comes forward.

I have never seen any rule book that uses whole ball.

The position of the ball has always been decided by its center in the official rules. Some say "base of ball", but then you get into arguments about how large the contact patch is. I think it's only Derby City that does whole ball for nine ball. Also, they allow multiple hits on a close ball as...

I see there are similar products to the CueTracker available for under $30. It looks like it would cost under $20 to make the original. At $50 it would be worth a try. At $500, there are much better ways to spend you pool training dollars.

The BCA rules for 9-Ball were not usable until after 1985 or so. In their defense, I don't think they organized any 9-Ball tournaments. Their optional pushout rule quoted above is pretty bad. The second foul is only failure to hit. A scratch or no rail doesn't give ball in hand.

I see that Neil Robertson has asked for a ban on the old chalk. I don't blame him. Ronnie's table looked like a battlefield. Remember when players were expected to clean up after their screw shots?

As I recall, all balls spotted. If your opponent scratched on the break, and the 1 ball was behind the line, it would spot first and then anything else that was down. This could make it really hard for him to hit the 1 ball, and he was already on the first foul.