Recent content by Wayne Crimi

I agree. Shaw runs balls with brute pocketing and cue ball skills. John plays 14.1 like it used to be played years ago. There's obviously a ton of skill and knowledge involved, but sometimes it feels like art.

To run that many balls is amazing and should have made him feel euphoric, but to be that close to the record and not break it monumentally frustrating, especially because I think it's possible the miss was on a skid and not a scratch or lockup. All time great 14.1 player.

Are there going to be any more attempts by him or others?

All I can say is that when I bought my first low deflection Predator shaft (when they first came out), my shot making went up a level as soon as my brain got used to the new smaller deflection adjustments. Also, my occasional misfires where I put a touch on English on the cueball I didn't want...

The great mystery to me is how much of players "shooting straighter" today is due to superior cues and cloth vs better stroke and technique? I know for myself, when I play on a slower nappy cloth my accuracy takes a signficant hit due to swerve from English (both accidental and purposeful). I...

It would be really nice if the data was downloadable to a spreadsheet or if there was an inquiry function so we could slice and dice the ratings and track ups/downs, improvement, put more weight on recent games for young players who may be improving rapidly, look at 500 or 1000 game chunks...

I'll make one last point. I'm not a chess player, but I follow the game and ratings. I would assume Fargo ratings were developed to be similar to chess ratings. Chess ratings move around much faster than Fargo ratings even though the top players take turns beating each other just like in pool...

I'm highly sensitive to what you are saying because I'm a gambler and need to do exactly what you are saying. I just do it subjectively because I don't think a formula can capture form changes correctly (young players improving, old players declining, personal problems impacting performance...

I hear everything you are saying, but to me anything over maybe 18 months is probably close to irrelevant as long as the player is active. Players have good and bad years depending on what's going on in their lives and to some degree luck, but they don't really have fully lucky or unlucky years...

You can certainly argue about a match here or there, but that's always part it. You and your opponents are going to have some matches where you play over your head and some under (or get the better of the rolls) . And that would be very important over a single tournament, but 3 tournaments is...

The Florida Open and US open have convinced me that Fargo's rating approach is a tad too long term oriented. IMO it should weigh more recent efforts a little more than it does now. Aloysius Yapp is rated 835 now. That's very high. With a rating like that he has a decent shot to win almost any...

Did they alter the rules on those shots? I'm an old timer. I may have even been at that tournament. I attended a lot of those Roosevelt Hotel tournaments. Back in those days, no one would call a foul on those as long as you shot down with a quick stroke and both the object ball and cue ball...

Interesting that he brought up Hopkins. The first time I saw peak Hopkins play he was playing 9 ball in Queens NY at the Golden Cue. He missed one shot in over an hour of play. He was insanely good that night. I was a teenager at the time and tried to mimic his stroke a little because I...

I have to wonder how much of that is the more accurate cues, more accurate cloth, lower nap cloth and simply getting used to playing on tighter pockets. I certainly don't know. With some of the high deflection cues and rugs they used to play with years ago even the slightest accidental...

good one