I gambled nightly for over ten years. During some of that time I had a table at home that led to some testing too. I played with a cue from 15 ounces to 26 ounces in small steps then jumped to 32 ounces. No real surprise, most comfortable play was from about 18 ounces to 20, very common weights to play with. However, the lightest cue offered the most control.
A few years after my testing which had included adding weight at the joint and right at the buttcap, I started playing with a twelve ounce one piece snooker cue on mostly bar tables with the heavy cue ball. That stick was hell to learn to shoot. It was extremely low deflection, at least in memory lower deflection than any of today's cues. It took several months of play to play well with this cue but then pure magic took place.
While I owned cues they stayed home and I gambled off the wall. Part of the schtick, and I wasn't particularly handicapped as long as a cue had a tip and the weight wasn't broken loose. I could play with a loose weight but it was awkward and impossible to shoot with any rhythm to my stroke.
Back to the twelve ounce cue: It was uncomfortable to shoot, I relate it to being like trying to drive a twelve penny or bigger nail with a tack hammer. However, I developed very close to perfect speed control with that stick, angles too. After a few months I had cue ball control down to a level few would believe with that stick. A few more months and that level transferred to the sticks I could usually find playing off the wall. Nineteen ounces or less and I was golden. For the next few years I played road players and all off of the wall.
The cue became just another variable to adjust to like the table, lighting, smoke, noise, any other conditions where I was playing. Just one more adjustment to make. A nice straight cue with a smooth surface where it glided through my hand was nice, nice to find a fifteen to nineteen ounce cue too but none of these things were a must. I grabbed the first cue I saw a decent tip on off the wall, shook it as I took it out of the rack, and took it if it didn't rattle, Most places with the neglected cues a decent tip generally meant a badly warped cue. I would roll it on the table next, usually with my opponent watching. Often the tip moved up and down a half inch to an inch or more. "Good enough for me!" and I would use it. Index the warp to vertical and it worked just fine.
A nice cue that you use all the time is nice. Not a must when playing well over forty hours a week. The one time I fell into the zone for hours playing pool, the longest I have been in the zone doing anything, I was playing with a piece of crap off the wall in a small town country honky-tonk.
Hu
