Back from Peoria

[Williebetmore]

I watched during my breaks in play with rukiddingme and Kathy in Cincy and I can attest there were very few misses,

Wally,
You are too kind. I'm on day 10 of a 90 day workout schedule designed by Mark Wilson to help my game progress - I'm seeing significant improvement each day. I'm EXTREMELY hopeful that TheOne will be purchasing the brew when next we meet ( but, of course, I was also hoping that gas would be 25 cents a gallon, and that Heather Locklear would call me for a date).

 

[TheOne]

I watched during my breaks in play with rukiddingme and Kathy in Cincy and I can attest there were very few misses,

Wally, its hard to miss from the chair!

WillieEverGetOnTheBreakBall, if I get my own table you might need to bring that road trip forward!

 

[Williebetmore]

Wally, its hard to miss from the chair!

WillieEverGetOnTheBreakBall, if I get my own table you might need to bring that road trip forward!

TheVerySmallInteger,
I missed NOTHING from the chair (way too much chair time though).

I'm rooting for you (but secretly hoping that you choose the Gabriel with the 3 inch pockets; running 200 on that equipment would be somewhat difficult).

 

[TheOne]

TheVerySmallInteger,
I missed NOTHING from the chair (way too much chair time though).

I'm rooting for you (but secretly hoping that you choose the Gabriel with the 3 inch pockets; running 200 on that equipment would be somewhat difficult).

The IPT has made it a tough call now, which cloth and what pocket size? TO be honest I would probably have got 4 1/4 pocket size anyway, or 4.5 as I think it helps your game, but of course this isn't ideal for straight pool

I'd be suprised if i didnt go for fast cloth though, love playing on it too much!

Still 200 on tight pockets would be very tough, but given my practice time would increase 20 fold you never know!

 

[Williebetmore]

The IPT has made it a tough call now, which cloth and what pocket size? TO be honest I would probably have got 4 1/4 pocket size anyway, or 4.5 as I think it helps your game, but of course this isn't ideal for straight pool

I'd be suprised if i didnt go for fast cloth though, love playing on it too much!

Still 200 on tight pockets would be very tough, but given my practice time would increase 20 fold you never know!

TheTinyDigit,
I like your chances on fast cloth, with medium or bigger pockets (your ball pocketing on video was very impressive).

The IPT situation certainly makes choice of cloth a problem. That cloth they use JUST SUCKS!! After playing on it for a few hours I can say that I don't like it. It is not much slower than nice worsted Simonis, it has tremendous problems with "pilling" and cleanup is very difficult. It also seems to wear quite fast, and would have to be replaced WAY too often. The balls just skid down the rails; the amount varies shot to shot - way too unpredictable; and reverse English does NOT seem to "take" as well on this cloth - limiting the kinds of shots that can be attempted. It just seems cheap and crappy to me.

I just don't see why they don't make a nice Simonis that is slower, but still with nice worsted cloth. That would probably be the best of both worlds.

I think you'll find 14.1 more difficult on a very slow cloth (the rack doesn't just "fall apart" when you touch it).

 

[TheOne]

TheTinyDigit,
I like your chances on fast cloth, with medium or bigger pockets (your ball pocketing on video was very impressive).

The IPT situation certainly makes choice of cloth a problem. That cloth they use JUST SUCKS!! After playing on it for a few hours I can say that I don't like it. It is not much slower than nice worsted Simonis, it has tremendous problems with "pilling" and cleanup is very difficult. It also seems to wear quite fast, and would have to be replaced WAY too often. The balls just skid down the rails; the amount varies shot to shot - way too unpredictable; and reverse English does NOT seem to "take" as well on this cloth - limiting the kinds of shots that can be attempted. It just seems cheap and crappy to me.

I just don't see why they don't make a nice Simonis that is slower, but still with nice worsted cloth. That would probably be the best of both worlds.

I think you'll find 14.1 more difficult on a very slow cloth (the rack doesn't just "fall apart" when you touch it).

I'm pleased you said it, but to be honest EVERYBODY I've spoken to about this has pretty much said the same thing, the players don't like it, the pool halls dont like it, the fans probably don't like it if it reduces the shots available. Jimmy M sometime ago made an excellent post about this subject and why it was just silly to revert back 1 generation to the equipment used. This was obviously done at Sigels request but it didn't help him much now did it. IT just makes no sense at all, the pro snooker players play on super fast cloth, most tennis tournaments aren't played on grass anymore but faster clay courts, and the greens at most golf majors like Augusta are super fast. At the end of the day everyone plays on the same surface, 8 ball shouldn't be about massive strokes anyway, I hardly saw one on the TV matches I saw, if its played right it should be like straight pool and picking the right patterns.

Yes its a good thing that balls aren't as easy to make on the break, but that is probably just as likely if they stick with 4.25 pockets. This is one decission which I hope the IPT will reverse, they picked the best balls, the best tables, why mess with the cloth grrr! I hope they eventually see sense, I know they did it for marketing reasons but if its crap theyre not going to sell many to anyone but the players.

I'll probably gamble on a quick cloth, chanes are I'll probably be playing in other tournaments too with fast cloth anyway.

 

[Williebetmore]

I'll probably gamble on a quick cloth, chances are I'll probably be playing in other tournaments too with fast cloth anyway.

TheWon,
I also failed to mention the little "holes" that are developing in the IPT cloth. There are multiple abraded areas developing on the table (cloth on probably less than 2 months). I think they are "burn marks". On Simonis, these are just whitish, discolored marks. On the IPT cloth they appear to be wearing away through the cloth - I think they are going to be little divots, then little holes. I, for one (no pun intended), would NOT be anxious to change the cloth on my table every 3 or 4 months.

P.S. - In tennis, grass is faster than concrete, which is faster than clay (the slowest surface) - which of course means very little in the grand scheme of things.

 

[TheOne]

TheWon,
I also failed to mention the little "holes" that are developing in the IPT cloth. There are multiple abraded areas developing on the table (cloth on probably less than 2 months). I think they are "burn marks". On Simonis, these are just whitish, discolored marks. On the IPT cloth they appear to be wearing away through the cloth - I think they are going to be little divots, then little holes. I, for one (no pun intended), would NOT be anxious to change the cloth on my table every 3 or 4 months.

P.S. - In tennis, grass is faster than concrete, which is faster than clay (the slowest surface) - which of course means very little in the grand scheme of things.

Damn my tennis sucks!

Simonis it is!