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Really good thread here. What we have seen is that some interpret pool as the serious tournament scene, others interpret it as the action scene, and yet others interpret it as the culture in the poolroom itself. In fact, in this respect, this thread has been what AZB is all about. Most of us...

Couldn't be further from the truth. The quality of instruction has skyrocketed and the online resources available for learning the game's underlying theory is leaps and bounds above what the old masters had available to them. Yes, the players of today have a huge edge over those of yesteryear...

Read the thread title.

Thanks so much for this! As I've confessed before on AZB, most of my knowledge about Keith's past exploits comes from your posts and you have enlightened me once again. The truth is that, although I saw pool up close fifty years ago and still get to do so, I loved it then and I love it now. I...

Thanks for your input. Mike Sigel was my favorite player in the early 1980s. I was glad to be present for his first world championship. I knew him just a little back then, but now he's a close friend. I had breakfast with him as recently as November 2025. I have suggested on this forum that...

Sorry, but these were not the visible players of fifty years ago. Fifty years ago today, the US Open 9ball was having its very first edition and pro pool was still mostly straight pool. Sigel was still primarily an action player that had just turned pro at the time who would hit the...

Much truth in this. I have often commented on this very forum that the switch to four-inch pockets, an overcompensation for the amazing cueing skills of this generation of players has, at least to a point, robbed 9ball of its fast and loose nature. Nonetheless, the in-match interaction to...

Great post. There's no question that the decline in America's standing in the world of pro pool is, for some, a reason to view the past more favorably than the present. For me, I've never been much of a pool patriot, more inclined to enjoy great play regardless of who is producing it.

Your memory is failing you. Ed Kelly and Cue Ball Kelly were two different people. Ed Kelly is a BCA Hall of Famer and his nickname was Champagne Eddie. Cue Ball Kelly's real first name was Carl, and he was best known as a referee who dated back to the days of Greenleaf. I last saw him ref a...

All good. You enjoy what you enjoy. The biggest stars of fifty years ago were probably Mizerak, Sigel, Varner, Rempe and Hall. Were they more entertaining to watch than today's crop? Not to me. Were they more animated than today's crop? Not to me. It's a myth that the stars of fifty...

As it turns out, I have been attending events for fifty years, so it is easy to compare. It is much more entertaining today. Pool was not a truly global game fifty years ago, and, at least for me, part of the fascination of pro pool today is seeing great play from pros coming from all over the...

I have seen both of them gamble with the John Q Publics of the world giving no weight. In fact, one year my roommate played some $50 a rack one-pocket with Chohan with no spot. He won just one of the four racks played and seemed quite proud of himself.

Of course it's a donation, but how is it not an honor to get on the table with an all-time great? It's a story for posterity, no more and no less. Being able to say "I once played Fedor Gorst" would be a very big deal to many starstruck players. Anyone who doesn't see value here need not...

Agreed. The odds of this occurrence are different if the players are of very different skills. With equal skills, however, the odds of this occurrence are just 190,000 to 1 against.

The commentators better stick to commentating. Using a binomial probability table, one finds that these are the likelihoods that two players of equal skill will play eight racks and that either one of them will win exactly X racks: x=0 .0078 X=1 .0625 x=2 .2188 x=3 .4375 x=4 .2734 Hence, the...

My view here is that $100 is a bargain to play a match against Fedor, a future BCA Hall of Famer. How often and in how few sports does such an opportunity ever present itself? Obviously, if you can't afford it, that is another issue, but if you can, such a match would be a great experience...

Yeah, pretty decent field. I'm driving up there tomorrow. The best thing about Turning Stone is the hotel itself. It's the best hotel to which my pool travels take me.

I was playing pool with a visitor to New York City who had grown up on a farm in the Midwest USA. The table we played on had very loose pockets, and he looked at me and said "man, these pockets are like bushel baskets." I'd never heard loose pockets described that way before and I laughed and...

I think the cost of food is being a little overblown in this thread. Yes, it's overpriced a little, but not that overpriced, and beverages (soda, coffee, water) are all free in the food court. New Albany, eight miles away, is always a nice option, with several good restaurants.

Except for the most featured matches, you will typically find an arena seat and, as Bob Jewett noted, when there is a small crowd for a match, Pat Fleming likes it when people move up to the VIP seats, with the understanding that in the unlikely event that the person who bought that seat shows...