either
Alright, let's say you're about to enter a large tournament with a good payout, or a gambling set with enough in the middle to make a few payments on your toys.
Do you want the balls clean, or do you want them filthy?
This is a case of either works. I am used to playing with both clean and dirty balls. If I am playing john schmidt with his almost obsessive cleanliness fetish, give me the grubbiest balls in the place!
I bought an old bar table and stuck it on the back porch, covered but only a wall and a half. Left the balls out overnight and they almost stuck to my hand the next morning as in open my fingers, turn my hand upsidedown and they would stick to my palm. Being a born again bachelor I stuck them puppies in the dishwasher! Came out cleaner than I could have hoped for.
In heavy traffic I can do things with dirty balls I don't think are possible with clean polished balls. Then again, if I only have a tiny window to go through, I trust clean balls to be more consistent, less likely to surprise me. Those clean balls don't hold near as much chalk dust in my opinion.
Dirty or clean depends more on how bad it might bug my opponent than anything else. I can make either work. Clean cloth and newer cushions are more honest, again either will work. I was surprised to read that Valley recommends new cushions every two years in commercial use, maybe every ten years in home use, more often if the table sees a lot of play.
I think dirty balls and ratty equipment give me a small advantage playing most of today's young players. Not much, but a little. The advantage grows a lot if the person I am playing starts complaining about conditions. I'm getting as bad as anyone about expecting nice conditions though!
Hu