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Ray schooled me on his opinion of the benefits of a sharper taper, so I started experimenting with them. I switched to an open bridge for about a year, which was a pretty bold move for me to make on tour, and I played with the carom shaft for a while, and then switched to an American shaft...

Freddie, I think it's understandable for people to think that he made cues mostly for the carom players. When I first met him in the early-mid 90s, it was at an international championship carom tournament at Sang Lee's room in NY. At that time --- correct me if I'm wrong --- the two main carom...

I was going to mention your name because I had a vague memory of your having one of his low deflection shafts. I played with a few of them, I guess at varying stages of development. It started when I told Ray I had a Predator shaft made to fit his cue. That didn't go over well with him at all...

I heard the same. Ray probably worked out a deal with Predator to use the hole.

Not laminated but the top of the shaft past the ferrule was hollowed out. I recall that he said he had a conversation with the guys at Predator to make sure he wasn't infringing on their patent.

A lot of people don't know this, but during the last years of Schuler Cues under Ray, he was experimenting with low deflection shafts. He would send me prototypes to give him feedback. They were actually very good and played just as well as the early Predator shafts. I think he had them on the...

I couldn't say 100% for sure, but from what I understood, neither father nor son were cue-makers. I think the son was learning and the father was the investor. Noel would know for sure.

Ray actually sold the shop to Terry Trim before he passed away. Ivan and Noel offered to buy the business, but for some reason, Ray refused. I don't know why --- maybe Trim made him a better offer --- but we all felt it was a mistake to sell it to Trim, who's main reason was for his son to have...

I think you were in good company playing the way you described. Wasn't that Allison Fisher's way of approaching her shots?

That's really interesting. Not meaning to go off track but my friend and great 14.1 and 9 ball player, Gene Nagy, studied Buddhist monk archers and their technique and applied it to pool, creating his 'drop and shoot' method, where you don't take any time at all over the ball. You just drop and...

Everyone gets into alignment from a standing position, so being higher at address makes no difference in terms of finding the line of the shot. Remember, most of the aiming work is actually done while standing erect some distance from the table. Just make sure you plant your foot on the shot...

Well, the shot line doesn't change so the stance around the shot line can remain pretty much the same as with a player who stands lower. The biggest difference is in the arm swing. Once you start to stand a foot or more above the table, there will be some form of an elbow drop in the stroke...

My wrist hangs straight down at address and remains straight throughout the stroke, unless I intentionally unlock it for a particular type of effect, and I recommend the same to players. One example of a wrist release during the stroke would be a hard break shot. Another would be when the cb is...

Recurring bad habits are the result of a poorly trained sub conscious mind. Our sub conscious mind only knows repetition and is incapable of judging right from wrong. So, making the same mistakes repeatedly without correcting them is basically training your sub conscious mind to keep doing them.

If you're looking for immediate gratification, then watch TV and don't play any sports.

Right. Now you've got it. Too much vitamin K = thicker blood.

Yup. For sure. My dad was on blood thinners for over 25 years. Can't miss a blood test, have to stay on top of the numbers, don't make any major dietary changes, stay in touch with your doctor and adjust your dose based on his or her recommendations.

Great! Glad it helped. So now you have to analyze why so you can prevent the problem from recurring. What's your analysis of why your cue was going off line?

No worries. It didn't take any time. Remember, I used to play on tour. If I can't read a table in a quick glance, then I didn't deserve to play against the top level women players. I think you have the right idea in challenging yourself. Just make sure you remember that your sub-conscious mind...

You got the vitamin K part right, and the part where you need to keep your diet consistent right, but vitamin K is a blood-clotter, not blood thinner. Green leafy vegetables are high in vitamin K which can thicken your blood if eaten in abundance.