Anybody practice with heavy/over-sized cueball?

mattman

Registered User
Silver Member
I personally own and practice on a 9ft GCI. In my city, the only league play and tournaments are on bar-box tables. I was thinking lately that I think I should be practicing with either a heavy or oversized cueball to simulate the fell of what I ALWAYS play in competition.

Also, the bar boxes around town are Valley brand. Does anybody know what most of the newer Valley tables use as a cueball....heavy or oversized?

Thanks,
Matt
 
I went to the Valley website and they say there cueballs are magnetic....does that mean they are heavier?

Thanks
Matt
 
From what little I know about bar tables, the magnetic cue balls are the answer to the older oversized balls. They weigh the same as a standard cue ball.

If I were playing on a table with an over sized cue ball, I'd practice with one. The centers don't line up on balls of different sized and on shots where the object ball is frozen to the rail and you want to run the shot down the rail, the hits are much different.

Also, of course drawing the ball has to be practice to get the speeds down.
 
Now that I have seen what a Valley aramith ball looks like, via the internet, that is what most of the tables I play on use.

So now I need to find out if they are heavier or not. If not, there is no reason to buy one and practice with one.
 
If it is in fact the Valley Aramith cue ball, you're in luck. I think this is by far the best coin op ball. This is because it is the right size, almost the right weight, and does not have the "metal slug" in most magnetic cue balls that makes them roll funny. Whatever they say the weight is, the ball plays heavier than a real ball. It is not terrible, but noticable. Also, the surface of the ball is very poor quality compared to their Aramith Super Pro, Pro Cup, or Brunswick Centennial cue ball, so this affects play as well. The APA did a major downgrade when they went from the Diamond Smart table/Aramith pro balls to the VAlley/Aramith magnetic ball setup. Too bad. I guess we just have to live with it. The magnetic ball is not horrible, but not great either.

My $0.02,

Kerry
 
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