What's With Cleaning The Cue Ball So Often?

Rich93

Rich93

A Small Time Charlie
Silver Member
I'm referring to the Worlds Tournament. In the final game yesterday they were cleaning the cue ball all the time - after every rack and sometimes during the rack - and still there were skids. If the commentators solved this mystery I didn't hear it, so I ask the group:

* did the chalk that one of the players was using "ultra-stick" to the cue ball?
* did the product used to clean the balls just attract more chalk sticking (though the ref appeared to be using a dry cloth)?

I think we've all seen the video of Irving Crane playing Joe Balsis and running 150 in 1966. The cue ball was never cleaned once and there were no skids (at least I think this is true). What changed between then and now?
 
Positively Ralf

Positively Ralf

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I'm no expert on the matter, but I just think it's another one of those small things some players are nitpicky about. Again, what do I know, but that's just what I think.
 
Texas Carom Club

Texas Carom Club

9ball did to billiards what hiphop did to america
Silver Member
it was a little annoying, and im used to seeing the ball cleaned in billiard matches

ball material,chalk,cloth material

how much air conditioning was there back in those days in pool halls?

i dont remember earl asking for it to be cleaned at all
 
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Dave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Well, the answer may be on Immonen's vest.... He's sponsored by Kamui and if he uses the chalk, that may be the reason. It's very soft.
I 'd be more annoyed by a skid that cost me a match than an annoying impatient viewer.
 
Rich93

Rich93

A Small Time Charlie
Silver Member
Mika was using chalk from his vest pocket and not chalking after every shot. If he is sponsored by Kamui, might he have been using Kamui chalk? Might that chalk have been the problem? Just asking, have never used it myself.

Edit - Dave, our posts crossed! You and I are thinking along the same lines. If our theory is right, shouldn't this chalk be banned?
 
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neonlight

Registered
Simple. A chalk mark on the QB will cause an object ball to skid off line on a slow shot. 14.1 is a game with the majority of shots at slow speed. A great run can end quickly if the chalk on the QB impacts the object ball. I have had it happen too many times. I now carry a ball marker so I can clean the QB.
 
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Dave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Rich93 said:
Mika was using chalk from his vest pocket and not chalking after every shot. If he is sponsored by Kamui, might he have been using Kamui chalk? Might that chalk have been the problem? Just asking, have never used it myself.

Edit - Dave, our posts crossed! You and I are thinking along the same lines. If our theory is right, shouldn't this chalk be banned?
Click to expand...

We are thinking along the same lines.

i was referring to the logo on Immonen's vest, not what's in his pocket... not sure what chalk he actually uses.

Banned?... No, Just call it the new, new thing... or maybe the new [foolishly] expensive thing, or the new highest horsepower thing.
I'm sticking with Master... thank you very much.

Hmmm... but now that he's prevailed and won the "World" title. I'll reconsider what I put on the end of my broom stick.

Ironic.... what calls attention to the chalk is how annoying it is, not how you can draw two table lengths when applied properly... no quality stroke necessary. :-]

End of rant.

Safe travels and no skids.
 
lfigueroa

lfigueroa

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Total guesses:

#1 The CB had a lot of abrasions on it from being used in 9ball/10ball games with super hard tips on break cues.

#2 The high adhesion chalk was sticking to the CB and transferring to the OB balls.

In either or both cases, contact between the CB and OBs on either a point of abrasion on the CB or a patch of chalk on the CB or OB would provide extra friction and a skid.

Personally, I'm voting for theory #1. I've been using a band new red circle with zero break cue miles on it and have gotten a grand total of one skid in many, many hours of play.

Lou Figueroa
 
Rich93

Rich93

A Small Time Charlie
Silver Member
Dave said:
We are thinking along the same lines.

i was referring to the logo on Immonen's vest, not what's in his pocket... not sure what chalk he actually uses.

Banned?... No, Just call it the new, new thing... or maybe the new [foolishly] expensive thing, or the new highest horsepower thing.
I'm sticking with Master... thank you very much.

Hmmm... but now that he's prevailed and won the "World" title. I'll reconsider what I put on the end of my broom stick.

Ironic.... what calls attention to the chalk is how annoying it is, not how you can draw two table lengths when applied properly... no quality stroke necessary. :-]

End of rant.

Safe travels and no skids.
Click to expand...
If I recall correctly, Strickland had a skid that ended his last turn at the table. I was looking away but heard the commentators talk about it. I'm surprised he didn't raise the roof over his opponent's chalk. Or maybe Kamui sponsors him? Doubtful, but I guess pool pros are divided into two groups - those who are sponsored by Kamui and those who want to be.
 
Rich93

Rich93

A Small Time Charlie
Silver Member
lfigueroa said:
Total guesses:

#1 The CB had a lot of abrasions on it from being used in 9ball/10ball games with super hard tips on break cues.

#2 The high adhesion chalk was sticking to the CB and transferring to the OB balls.

In either or both cases, contact between the CB and OBs on either a point of abrasion on the CB or a patch of chalk on the CB or OB would provide extra friction and a skid.

Personally, I'm voting for theory #1. I've been using a band new red circle with zero break cue miles on it and have gotten a grand total of one skid in many, many hours of play.

Lou Figueroa
Click to expand...
But I bet you use Master. Right?
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
The measle ball, which I believe to be the best cue ball, was not being used.

Skids were numerous in the earlier rounds of the event. Eventually, many of the players got fed up and had the cue ball cleaned at a very high rate.

It's worth noting that snooker balls are cleaned numerous times each rack.
 
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Dave

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I believe the balls were new. Can anyone verify this?
Part of Aramith's sponsorship seems to be new balls for their events.
The boxes were out in view and the balls were machine washed after each match.
I don't think they had been used before the tournament.
The balls weren't spreading very well though.. who knows why?
Maybe just the humidity in the room later in the day. The AC was certainly going.
I'm sure the high runs over the years could be compared.
It would be interesting to see those numbers. I'd say the last two years had many more 100 ball runs,
The whole room had new cloth.
That second table had problems with at least two pockets, which I saw demonstrated pretty clearly. The TV table was said to be very tight... less than 4.5" corners, however I did not measure them.
 
A

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Rich93 said:
If I recall correctly, Strickland had a skid that ended his last turn at the table. ...
Click to expand...

Earl's last miss (at 270) was a break shot; no skid there. The one you probably are thinking about was the 12-ball miss that ended his second-to-last inning at 265.
 
Danimal

Danimal

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mika requested the cueball to be cleaned often - at the conclusion of one rack he had the key ball cleaned, then the cueball, then the break ball. After that play was paused to clean off the entire set of balls.

I don't recall Earl requesting to clean the CB much at all, although the ref did clean it just about in between every rack as a matter of course.

Earl did seem to catch a couple of nasty skids, and they seemed to of occur after inheriting an "unclean" CB following Mika's innings.

One might suspect that Mika's chalk of choice could have been a culprit.
 
Bob Jewett

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
lfigueroa said:
Total guesses:

#1 The CB had a lot of abrasions on it from being used in 9ball/10ball games with super hard tips on break cues.

...
Click to expand...
The balls were brand new right out of the box at the start of the tournament. The set for my match with Orcullo (first round) had never been played with before or run through a polisher.

In my match with Earl, he had a horrible skid/miss on a very short combination that a drunk Girl Scout could have made if you held her up to the table. Neither of us could believe it. I got up to shoot and noticed chalk all over the cue ball. "Is it OK if we clean the cue ball?" "NO," says Earl. So I didn't. It was amusing to see he was having the ball cleaned fairly frequently in later matches.

I think Earl may have caught a scratching cue ball, too. He needs to learn the rules.
 
alstl

alstl

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I keep a sheet of paper towel in a couple of pockets on my table and clean whatever balls fall in those pockets + the cue ball every rack to prevent skids.

Regarding Irving Crane in 1966 he was probably playing with clay balls and when the sport transitioned away from mud balls Crane complained about the new balls skidding.
 
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