off the wall
I played off the wall gambling for ten years. Usually played for twenty or fifty a game before the night was over, usually on a bar table. Occasionally a hundred a game. I once played off the wall for five years worth of equity in my business. I had a cue with a hinge in it at home but that was where it stayed, at home.
I usually played with a warped cue stick, if the warp was in one direction I simply indexed the cue and it didn't bother me. The warped cues were played with the least and usually had the best tips and bridging areas. I liked the lightest cue I could get but that was often a nineteen. I would play with anything from a fifteen to a twenty-one ounce cue. The hardest thing to play with was a cue with a loose weight. It wasn't a physical issue, the rattling around distracted me. A friend got free meuci cues when he bought top end video games and sold me one for fifty bucks, brand new. I played tournaments with that. I had a twelve ounce snooker cue with a very early milkdud on it behind the bar at a friend's place. I shot the tournaments there with it.
I saw a friend pick up a house cue and run eight racks of eight ball, stone cold. When you play with three or four cues most nights, the cue doesn't matter nearly as much as when you play with one cue almost all the time then pick up a strange cue. Seems like it was one of the Davises, his cue disappeared on a train. He searched frantically for another cue for several years. He was back in his home town when he hit with a friend's twenty pound cue. That was it, he had to have it at any price! He said he would retire if he ever lost a cue again. Some billiards players never returned to form after losing a cue and at least one retired after losing a cue.
How important a cue is depends on how different it is from the norm and how often you use it. The twelve ounce cue was a pain in the butt to shoot with, no pun intended. However, I was able to shoot tighter shape with it than any cue I had ever used. After awhile that ability transferred to whatever cue I shot with but it took some time. Pistols were mentioned in another post, I set one local record with my .45, three with my .38Super. The Super was unpleasant to shoot but quicker than a snake. Pool cues can be the same, the best feeling cue may not be the best shooting cue. We each have a weight that feels best to us, usually between 18.5 and 19.5 ounces. That doesn't mean it is the weight we will shoot best with.
Some people play off the wall so often it is one more condition they adapt to readily. Some have played with one cue so long not having it does significantly affect their game. I keep a little square of Scotchbrite handy and a BRAD tool. Sometimes it is fun to leave the case, cues, tools, all the gear behind, and walk into a place and play off the wall with just the tools in my watch pocket. There is a sense of freedom I don't get when I tote twenty pounds of case and gear into the hall.
Hu
I played off the wall gambling for ten years. Usually played for twenty or fifty a game before the night was over, usually on a bar table. Occasionally a hundred a game. I once played off the wall for five years worth of equity in my business. I had a cue with a hinge in it at home but that was where it stayed, at home.
I usually played with a warped cue stick, if the warp was in one direction I simply indexed the cue and it didn't bother me. The warped cues were played with the least and usually had the best tips and bridging areas. I liked the lightest cue I could get but that was often a nineteen. I would play with anything from a fifteen to a twenty-one ounce cue. The hardest thing to play with was a cue with a loose weight. It wasn't a physical issue, the rattling around distracted me. A friend got free meuci cues when he bought top end video games and sold me one for fifty bucks, brand new. I played tournaments with that. I had a twelve ounce snooker cue with a very early milkdud on it behind the bar at a friend's place. I shot the tournaments there with it.
I saw a friend pick up a house cue and run eight racks of eight ball, stone cold. When you play with three or four cues most nights, the cue doesn't matter nearly as much as when you play with one cue almost all the time then pick up a strange cue. Seems like it was one of the Davises, his cue disappeared on a train. He searched frantically for another cue for several years. He was back in his home town when he hit with a friend's twenty pound cue. That was it, he had to have it at any price! He said he would retire if he ever lost a cue again. Some billiards players never returned to form after losing a cue and at least one retired after losing a cue.
How important a cue is depends on how different it is from the norm and how often you use it. The twelve ounce cue was a pain in the butt to shoot with, no pun intended. However, I was able to shoot tighter shape with it than any cue I had ever used. After awhile that ability transferred to whatever cue I shot with but it took some time. Pistols were mentioned in another post, I set one local record with my .45, three with my .38Super. The Super was unpleasant to shoot but quicker than a snake. Pool cues can be the same, the best feeling cue may not be the best shooting cue. We each have a weight that feels best to us, usually between 18.5 and 19.5 ounces. That doesn't mean it is the weight we will shoot best with.
Some people play off the wall so often it is one more condition they adapt to readily. Some have played with one cue so long not having it does significantly affect their game. I keep a little square of Scotchbrite handy and a BRAD tool. Sometimes it is fun to leave the case, cues, tools, all the gear behind, and walk into a place and play off the wall with just the tools in my watch pocket. There is a sense of freedom I don't get when I tote twenty pounds of case and gear into the hall.
Hu