Dirty Balls!!!

Black Cat 5791

I get all the Breaks
Silver Member
AAAAuuuugghhhh!!!!!! That's how I feel, can someone please explain to me how playing with dirty balls affects shot's especially on cut shot's. I've been playing on a new team this fall, and the place that the league is played out of is a real dive. Tables are dirty and slow, and the balls are dull and dirty with impact marks.

I'm about to quit the team because my play in this joint is horrible, I've only won 3 out of 10 matches this session and I'm out of my mind with this joint.

Please any insight would be appreciated.

Black Cat :cool:
 
Ever consider bringing your own set of balls and chalk? Or just ball cleaning solution and a microfiber cloth.
 
AAAAuuuugghhhh!!!!!! That's how I feel, can someone please explain to me how playing with dirty balls affects shot's especially on cut shot's. I've been playing on a new team this fall, and the place that the league is played out of is a real dive. Tables are dirty and slow, and the balls are dull and dirty with impact marks.

I'm about to quit the team because my play in this joint is horrible, I've only won 3 out of 10 matches this session and I'm out of my mind with this joint.

Please any insight would be appreciated.

Black Cat :cool:

Use spin to throw the balls in and use more draw than follow. Expect the cue ball to bounce up off of balls when you use speed for position. This causes you to lose spin on the cue ball. You may have to use more spin and less speed to get there.

Best,
Mike

Best,
 
More Cling!

AAAAuuuugghhhh!!!!!! That's how I feel, can someone please explain to me how playing with dirty balls affects shot's especially on cut shot's. I've been playing on a new team this fall, and the place that the league is played out of is a real dive. Tables are dirty and slow, and the balls are dull and dirty with impact marks.

I'm about to quit the team because my play in this joint is horrible, I've only won 3 out of 10 matches this session and I'm out of my mind with this joint.

Please any insight would be appreciated.

Black Cat :cool:

When a table is dirty, the balls walk more, rails usually play like they're wet, too. So that changes everything with cue-ball position and banks, they play wider with running and shorter with reverse, the rail holds the ball more when dirty, too. The main thing to remember though, is the cue-ball sticks to everything, rail, object ball, and cue-tip, a little longer when dirty, at least that's how it acts and feels! Just stick with it and you'll find it's not that difficult to play well on wet, and dirty equipment, you just have to get comfortable with those adverse conditions. The good news is, it will help develop power in your stroke, just look at the Pinoy's!;)
 
Black cat I don't know if you remember me or not but you used to have a table(maybe you still have it)that inspired me to have one made by Diamond just like it.
Anyway back to dirty balls;) I could write volumes on the subject, The only problem is I don't write very well:embarrassed2:. I play strong.... unless the balls are dirty, if they are clean I am tough to beat. I built a polisher and when I am serious about practice I will polish both sets of balls so I can change them out after 90 minutes or so.

My Diamond plays tough enough with out the problems of the balls being less then clean. There is a major problem with skid not to mention un-predictable throw and push when balls are close together. But the worst part is when playing balls off the pocket facings they will rattle bad. Its got nothing to do with tight pockets or deep shelves but rather balls that are to grippy, they just react in away that I can not fade. I know if you hit the middle of the pocket they will go in but if you want to cheat the pocket or are slightly off on your shots then a large percentage of your shots will hang.

I have also noticed that balls that are never cleaned play decent(whats up with that?)I have a table in the lunch room where I work and the balls never get cleaned and play fine but then the table is filthy and it has buckets for pockets.

For me the diff between my game on a Diamond or a tight Gold Crown is huge> Cuebuddy = A player when things are clean or a low B when things get sticky;).
 
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Thanks, for the input. I'm experiencing all of the things, I never in the past 11 years played under conditions like these. I've alway's played under the best of conditions. These conditions change everything and I'm going to take all the help I can get. I suppose I'll have to adjust, this info will help.

Thanks, all.

Black Cat :cool:
 
Black cat I don't know if you remember me or not but you used to have a table(maybe you still have it)that inspired me to have one made by Diamond just like it.
Anyway back to dirty balls;) I could write volumes on the subject, The only problem is I don't write very well:embarrassed2:. I play strong.... unless the balls are dirty, if they are clean I am tough to beat. I built a polisher and when I am serious about practice I will polish both sets of balls so I can change them out after 90 minutes or so.

My Diamond plays tough enough with out the problems of the balls being less then clean. There is a major problem with skid not to mention un-predictable throw and push when balls are close together. But the worst part is when playing balls off the pocket facings they will rattle bad. Its got nothing to do with tight pockets or deep shelves but rather balls that are to grippy, they just react in away that I can not fade. I know if you hit the middle of the pocket they will go in but if you want to cheat the pocket or are slightly off on your shots then a large percentage of your shots will hang.

I have also noticed that balls that are never cleaned play decent(whats up with that?)I have a table in the lunch room where I work and the balls never get cleaned and play fine but then the table is filthy and it has buckets for pockets.

For me the diff between my game on a Diamond or a tight Gold Crown is huge> Cuebuddy = A player when things are clean or a low B when things get sticky;).

Cuebuddy how've you been? No unfortunately I no longer have my table. I will one day get another just like it. Man I miss that thing. Thanks for the input tho I'll put it to good use. I'm not used to loosing like this makes me really angry, cause I couldn't figure out what was going wrong.

Talk to you soon, BC
 
AAAAuuuugghhhh!!!!!! That's how I feel, can someone please explain to me how playing with dirty balls affects shot's especially on cut shot's. I've been playing on a new team this fall, and the place that the league is played out of is a real dive. Tables are dirty and slow, and the balls are dull and dirty with impact marks.

I'm about to quit the team because my play in this joint is horrible, I've only won 3 out of 10 matches this session and I'm out of my mind with this joint.

Please any insight would be appreciated.

Black Cat :cool:


One thing you could do for yourself is to take a micro-fiber cloth and squirt a little Novus1 on it and in about 3 minutes give the whole set of balls a little clean up. If they're really bad, use Novus2.

Lou Figueroa
 
One thing you could do for yourself is to take a micro-fiber cloth and squirt a little Novus1 on it and in about 3 minutes give the whole set of balls a little clean up. If they're really bad, use Novus2.

Lou Figueroa

+1 with this suggestion.
 
I think thats why a big % of the older players and players from places where the humidity is high most of the year spin the balls in. When I was young and playing in bars, there was no/or rarely any A/C. Put that together with most places not cleaning tables or the balls very often or at all. Most of the players didn't have any idea how important clean balls and A/C or dry conditions helped your game. This was just one of the many things why a player that knew how to spin the balls in could make a living hustling pool in bars. Now all that is commonly known by most. Johnnyt
 
True dat, Johnny. Also, getting there early and hitting a couple hundred to get their feel helps.
:p
 
Kevin, if you want to bring your team to a pool room, with no bar, and play on decent equipment, 9' tables, with clean balls, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.
If you want to leave your team and join a team in this place, I'm sure someone can use you, depending on your SL.

BTW, this is a Monday night in house league.
 
Kevin, if you want to bring your team to a pool room, with no bar, and play on decent equipment, 9' tables, with clean balls, let me know and I'll point you in the right direction.
If you want to leave your team and join a team in this place, I'm sure someone can use you, depending on your SL.

BTW, this is a Monday night in house league.

Hey Rich how've you been? I got on this Team because it was a Sunday Night 9 Ball Division close to home. If you have any ideas let me know. I'm a Solid APA 6, low 7 in 8 & 9 ball playing on and with good equipment ;)

This place I'm at has me playing like a 3. It's blowing my mind, I can go from breaking and running 8 or 9 ball on a 9' table and show up at this place and not run more than 3 balls on a bar box. Go figure, hence my frustration.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Black Cat :cool:
 
Dirty Balls

Posting to ask a question more than offer advice. Could it be possibly that the conditions you're playing under have as much effect as the balls themselves do? I tend to believe that both "where" a person plays and "why" a person plays makes a big difference on "how" a person plays. For instance, I play in a place that still allows smoking and some nights the smoke is much worse than others. IN addition to dirty ball in poor condition, I do not enjoy being there and I know my game suffers. Next session I'll probably move elsewhere. The environment effects my attitude toward the game and toward some of the people as well, and it has an effect on my game. I've taken a lot of sport psych. classes while doing a more serious sport and know ways to "tune it out", but I since I do it for fun and I'm paying to play I don't want to. If I was training for a national tournament or Olympic trials I'd approach it differently. I practive with my own balls and keep them clean and can see lots of differences when I play with the dirty gummy ones. But after a few shots I adapt pretty well. The big reason for my occasional poor performances is that I just don't enjoy the envirionment including the dirty balls that play like mud from the dirt and smoke.

barryc
 
Hey Rich how've you been? I got on this Team because it was a Sunday Night 9 Ball Division close to home. If you have any ideas let me know. I'm a Solid APA 6, low 7 in 8 & 9 ball playing on and with good equipment ;)

This place I'm at has me playing like a 3. It's blowing my mind, I can go from breaking and running 8 or 9 ball on a 9' table and show up at this place and not run more than 3 balls on a bar box. Go figure, hence my frustration.

Have a Happy Turkey Day!

Black Cat :cool:

Kevin, Big Daddy's, in Glen Burnie, has a Monday night APA 8-ball league. We play on Gold Crowns and Diamond Pro's and they keep the equipment in good condition. I'm sure some team can use you for the next session.
 
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