Bring your own billiard balls to pool hall

Patrick Johnson said:
Can you elaborate? What does this mean? Why?

I’d think new clean and slick balls would spin more easily…
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I think the idea is that the side spin does not take as much and as a result a lot of maximum side position plays don't work. A student of mine has a home table and if you shoot up the center of the table, you can't spin to the side pockets. More importantly, using inside follow on a nearly straight shot to spin 2 rails out of a corner works very poorly.
 
ShootingArts said:
js and his buddies used a set of balls he brought in for years.

Saying these things I bolded in your post have value and a set of balls you are accustomed to play with doesn't is ridiculous. As an example, my measle ball rolls long compared to the balls at the hall I usually play at. If I put the measle ball in a match I have an advantage because I already know how it plays, the other player doesn't. Putting sixteen balls on the table that you know and the other player doesn't is a very significant advantage.

Sure the other player likes how the nice clean balls play. However, you know how they play, big advantage.

Hu
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Hu, I was there front row (well, there were really only two rows, lol) at the DCC high run event going back to the EW and watched John shoot many times.

Sometimes we’d sit and chat while someone else was shooting and I even had a go at it a few times. John used the same set everyone else did.

Lou Figueroa
 
DeeDeeCues said:
So, do you make them take off their glasses? Do you allow them to use a glove? Can they use a tip tool?

I'm guessing that very few people play with you more than once, and they probably get real busy shortly after starting the session. How many guys have suddenly had their wife go into labor while playing a set with you?
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actually i get plenty of big action games. and gamblers that bet, dont even try to bring in their own balls. as no one that bets would let them do that.
generally you also dont let him on his home table at the room. you play on a neutral one.

you guys wonder why guys that bet high and super players give up posting here, as the fools and idiots challenge everything they say so they look good.
 
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lfigueroa said:
oh good grief.

There are all kinds of things you can do to the balls -- Bob has mentioned waxing every other ball. And yes, road players have sometimes tried to sneak in their own CB. I have had a heavy CB sneaked in on me. Trying to draw it it was like it was glued to the table. Mosconi used to travel with his own set of balls. There is an account of a player wiping down the CB with his own towel (infused with silicone spray). His opponent would get down to shoot and it would take off like a jack rabbit.

You can even mess with the table. There is one story about a 1pocket match where a player knew the table and pocket his opponent favored. He went in the night before and drove pins into the facing of that pocket making it way more difficult to pocket balls. I also recall a story about a 3C match. One of the players used a system based on aiming at various fixtures around the room. The night before his opponent and crew came in and moved the table a few inches, just enough to throw the guy's systems off. There are all kinds of things that can be done, but that's not what we're talking about.

Lou Figueroa
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yea lou isnt that a good reason not to let someone bring in their own balls. im not talking a 20 dollar a game social bet. then do what you want.
 
AvidCynergy said:
I noticed that at the pool hall that I go to the balls are a mix of Aramith standard and premier balls as one set. I also noticed that the cue ball is a random no name measles ball that collects chalk marks fairly easily.

How much of a difference will it make if I buy a set of Super Aramith Pro pool ball set and use it at the pool hall?

Would it be a worthy investment in your opinion or is the difference in play/enjoyment negligible and I should just stick to what is available at the pool hall?
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Spend energy and time on perfecting a straight stroke and the fundamentals. Do not spend energy on minutia.
 
Patrick Johnson said:
Can you elaborate? What does this mean? Why?

I’d think new clean and slick balls would spin more easily…?

pj
chgo
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The balls spin easier but it doesn't mean they grab in the table as much. The slicker they are the harder it is for them to grab on the table.

Slick balls work in your favor when you are firing balls into your pocket because if you hit the jaws of the pocket with a ton of spin the balls won't spin themselves out of the pocket like they will on a dirty table.
 
I bring my own IF I know I'm getting into action of notable consequence. Otherwise I don't bother.

If for no other reason than racking. Most of the rooms around my parts have been around long enough to have balls in varying states of wear. Those sets will inevitability be mixed together and now you have a rack of balls of varying sizes. Good luck getting a decent rack with that garbage.
 
maha said:
yea lou isnt that a good reason not to let someone bring in their own balls. im not talking a 20 dollar a game social bet. then do what you want.
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My experience has been that when there’s big money, most pool rooms bring out the good set: a nice, barely used, polished, high end set of balls they keep for just such state occasions — so advantage to the guy used to playing with those… no?

Funny moment: I flew out to NJ to play JB for $10K and I go up to the counter to get a set to practice with and Ed, the genial owner of Sandcastle says, “Sure.” And he pulls out three sets of immaculate balls from beneath the counter, and says, “ Your choice.” It was kind of funny to me because I was immediately reminded of countless movie scenes where someone pulls out various sets of pistols before a duel. Anywhos, being used to nice balls there was one less thing for me to worry about.

Lou Figueroa
 
but lou would you and or your backers, side bettors, or whatever. would have allowed john to come prancing in with his own set and say lets play with these.
or would you insist on using the balls the house provided.

would you have accepted and your buddies because as you said it would look nitty. you might but i bet your others would not.

thats my point that is being scoffed at.
other than that we are fine with what you do.
 
maha said:
but lou would you and or your backers, side bettors, or whatever. would have allowed john to come prancing in with his own set and say lets play with these.
or would you insist on using the balls the house provided.

would you have accepted and your buddies because as you said it would look nitty. you might but i bet your others would not.

thats my point that is being scoffed at.
other than that we are fine with what you do.
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It wouldn’t have mattered to me.

Now, as a bit of gamesmanship, given the very particular and abnormal circumstances leading up to that match, I might have said something but that would have been just to fook with him. But normally, if the balls were legit, I’d be fine with them.

We were both still playing on an unfamilar table so it really wouldn’t matter.

In any case I’m thinking we really shouldn’t be talking about that match… it’s like saying Beetlejuice three times.

Lou Figueroa
 
Bob Jewett said:
Nope. I don't think any player ever used a separate set of balls. Diamond provided a machine just for the 14.1 and the balls were cleaned multiple times each day.
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Pretty sure it was video, might have been an article or even just a caption under an image where I noted that john, Corey Deuel, and a few others used a set of balls john brought in. It has been some years now and far too long ago for me to specify which years. It happened at least several years back to back. I noticed simply because I would have objected loudly if I had my money up, uneven playing field. Might have been 2005 to 2008 range but I wouldn't swear to it. I noted it because I was amazed it happened.

Speaking of amazed, I was amazed how much better a thirty dollar set of balls I brought in played than a mismatched group of balls that were of at least three different designs in a nice pool hall. After that I noticed details about balls. I would make a quick pass through the trays at a pool hall and be sure I was at least playing with balls of all the same design.

I did note that when touring at least some part of his career Willie Mosconi demanded a recently recovered table and traveled with his own balls. I suspect he didn't always get a fresh table but it was one of the things he expected.

The owner of an old hall I loved had ten foot tables with two and a half inch slate. Each table had a set of clay balls and the balls never swapped tables. I remember the seven on my favorite table was awful, I tried to make it with a firm short shot. The four was about halfway between the seven and the rest of the balls. All of the stripes played about the same. It has been over forty years and I still remember the importance of knowing those balls. Directional cloth on those tables too. With twenty ten vision I could watch a ball shot slowly side to side bumping over the weave. That was somewhere around 1990 and 2000. Those tables were dinosaurs then. No airconditioning either, a huge hole in the wall with a maybe six foot fan pulling wet air in off of the Mississippi to try to cool things a little.

Hu
 
SeniorTom said:
That doesn't sound like much of a reason, it almost sounds like bragging to me. I would have to have a good reason to bring my expensive Centennials to the pool hall and use them. Absolutely, you would get more consistency from those then a set of possibly mixed balls, but you are not going to play league or tournament with the set you bring, but most likely will be using the pool hall sets. People practice on the table they are going to play competition on to get the feel of the table, and I would rather play with the set of balls I am using in competition to get used to them as well. I have a set of dynospheres I keep in the trunk of the car, but I never bring them in because of my reasoning.
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The trunk? I would be afraid they would warp. It happened to my chalk.:p
 
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