Recent content by GideonF

I used to play in a pool hall with the old hanging lights with metal shades. If you are dumb enough (and I was) you could ding your shaft on the lights. Also, using the bridge in some places with cheap metal bridge heads was dangerous.

Someone posted about that foldable metal V rack they use at Ultimate Pool. It’s definitely portable - and to my surprise the poster above says it works well.

To me the problem are cheap spots. The old Master spots were pretty good. The best I’ve seen are the Simonis spots. Super thin woven material. Although I see from their website that they may not work on Teflon coated cloth. https://www.simoniscloth.com/product/simonis-table-spots/

Have you tried Alex’s Pristine shaft?

A different point, but why do so many pool halls have no line running from the spot toward the foot rail? Would help getting the rack straight (and make the people who intentionally tilt the rack more obvious).

When I watched the shot in replay he undercuts the ball a fair bit and the CB comes to the rail a few inches from the scratch in the corner pocket. If he cuts it thinner he’s obviously going closer to the scratch. Perhaps that was in the back of his mind?

My assumption was always that it allowed the player to have a smaller shaft diameter (and thus less deflection) while preserving the benefits of a larger tip. I did just do some googling and found this from 20 years ago: “The reason why players have been adopting the mushroom tip is because...

I agree with many of the comments. Diamond Wooden Racks are good, but they can get beat up. Also, it is common in my experience for them to get gummy at the point the balls touch them, which often causes balls to stick to the rack (thus unfreezing when you pull the rack away). This crud can be...

What’s interesting to me is that a number of players have had a year or two where they seem like they are better than anyone else. But then it fades and tney are “just” another top 5 or 10 player. Filler FSR Fedor Yapp But it’s not new really. Mika had a couple of those years. Alex. Darren...

Yeah, I’m pretty sure that was the idea. Hence the no safety rules - gotta keep it moving.

The major tournaments all have a referee entering something onto a computer, which does the math for them, I assume. I don’t see why you couldn’t use a pencil and paper, assuming you are old enough to know how to do math without using a calculator. As I understand it from a Chinese friend...

From the equipment specs: “The cue tip may not be of a material that can scratch or damage the addressed ball. The cue tip on any stick must be composed of a piece of specially processed leather or other fibrous or pliable material that extends the natural line of the shaft end of the cue and...

How is it defined? Many of the major tips are leather or other fibers that are impregnated with resin. Leather and fibrous materials are said to be permitted. Others, like the Taom 2.0, were a different composite material (not phenolic, I believe). I’m sure nobody has the resources to do...

Yes, as I understand it.

It’s funny how we perceive “overseas success” when it’s Shane. He was runner up in two World 9b Championships back to back in that period. His loss to Big Ko was one where Ko just got more rolls - that’s not to dismiss Ko’s win, but it’s not like Shane played bad in the finals.