Recent content by Riley Pitchford

Good mechanics are getting few and far between and the ones still around have more work than they can handle. Why arn't the table manufactures or the Billiard industry training new ones?

In the 90's at the Reno tournaments most all of the pro's were great with the fans. I remember a fan came up to Johnny Archer when he was warming up for a match and asked him how he broke the balls so hard. Johnny stopped what he was doing, racked the balls and gave his cue to the guy and said...

Try Decot. Their glasses are designed for pool players, by pool players, and when fitted properly THEY WORK.

Decot Hy-Wyd Sport Glasses are the best and they are made in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I am Riley Pitchford and I started Pitchford Optical 30 years ago to provide quality prescription glasses for the billiard industry. The frames are designed to locate your line of sight thru the center of the...

I had both eyes done abought 10 years ago by an ophthalmologist that played snooker and billiiards. He understood what I needed. If you are considering this surgery, find a guy like that to discuss your options.

Start by taking lessons to learn good solid fundamentals.

I have 860 on my Gold Crown and I use a Kirby vacuum with a rotary brush. Then once a week I fill a 5 gal. bucket 1/2 full with warm water and add 1/2 cup of Woolite then take a damp white towel and wipe down the bed and rails and let it dry. You will be supprized how much dirt comes up. After 8...

If you have an inexpensive cue then anything will do. The more expensive cues require more protection to protect their value. I have 3 Whitten cases. The first one I bought from Joe Witten 30 years ago. After 5 years the zipper broke. I contacted him to get it fixed. He returned it 2 weeks...

I started playing with a Crown tip in the 60's, but they have not been available for many years. I used a Le Pro for a few years until they changed something in the way they were made. They would mushroom and required continual maintenance. I tried putting them in a vice before I glued them on...

I have had a GC 2 for 30+ years and have moved it to a new house once. If you have the right guy to set it up correctly (like I did) they will play great and last for ever. However those guys are getting harder to find.

When Tony was living in Manteca he had a 5 X 10 anniversary that had a white line worn in the cloth at the center from the head rail to the foot rail from hours of a practice drill to stroke straight.

Tony was my friend. We met while I was putting together a pool tournament for the promoters of the Sports & Boat Show in San Francisco in the mid 70's. However it never came to be but our meeting became a friendship that lasted over 40 years. I was involved in many of his projects and he in some...