I look at the jump stick as a progression of the game. Twenty years ago nobody used layered tips. Nobody says layered tips should be illegal because they are not made of one piece. How many players use a shaft that does not come with their stick, ob1, predator. Nobody is saying you can't use a Predator shaft because it is not made of one piece of wood. How about the ob1. Should it be banned because the ferrule changes the way it plays. All aspects of life change over time. Many of these changes make something easier. The jump stick is one of them.
Jumping, and Use of Jump cues
- Thread starter CocoboloCowboy
- Start date
SJDinPHX said:
Sorry man but if you had attended any of my sales exhibitions then you would know that jumping not limited to hangers.
Yes, the success rate is lower depending on the intentions, but that only shows that complexity of the shot.
With any shot you have to calculate speed and spin and aim correctly and then stroke correctly to have any chance of success.
With a jump shot you have all the same criteria PLUS the the need to properly judge the correct angle to strike the cueball.
Had you attended my exhibitions where I showed the full range of jump shots - making balls mid-table and getting shape, jump-banks, jump-kicks, stop shots, draw shots, follow shots, sidespin shots, jumping into clusters, long distance jumps into small targets, close jump shots - then you would not hold the opinion that you do, at least I believe you wouldn't.
Again, it's not about kicking vs. jumping. They are both aspects of the game that players must master in order to play at the highest levels.
A good player understands when the kick is the right shot and when the jump is the right shot.
count me in...
I wholeheartedly agree... I think all the "old school" purists are of the same mind. Why are we making the game so easy. We live in an "instant world". Everyone want immediate success... look Ma... I bought this jump cue and now I can jump over a ball and sometimes get lucky and sink a ball or fluke a safety. "Put me in Coach... I'm ready to play... today".
I cannot deny that it takes a lot of time and effort to become really skilled at using a jump cue. However, its like the game is evolving into a circus act...
I feel like the "top players" are almost robotic in their games. They aren't really challenged. They know immediately after the break who will win the game and can deduce who will win the match. When you watch the best players in the world compete... they show no excitement... just the same routine replayed over and over. The technical "improvements??" that have been made in the last decade or so have taken away the individualism that made the game great in the past. Now its break and run... break and run... break and run...
Ho hummm....
I'm actually glad that I am not, nor ever will be at the level that the game is as unstimulating as it appears to the top level player.
SJDinPHX said:
I wholeheartedly agree... I think all the "old school" purists are of the same mind. Why are we making the game so easy. We live in an "instant world". Everyone want immediate success... look Ma... I bought this jump cue and now I can jump over a ball and sometimes get lucky and sink a ball or fluke a safety. "Put me in Coach... I'm ready to play... today".
I cannot deny that it takes a lot of time and effort to become really skilled at using a jump cue. However, its like the game is evolving into a circus act...
I feel like the "top players" are almost robotic in their games. They aren't really challenged. They know immediately after the break who will win the game and can deduce who will win the match. When you watch the best players in the world compete... they show no excitement... just the same routine replayed over and over. The technical "improvements??" that have been made in the last decade or so have taken away the individualism that made the game great in the past. Now its break and run... break and run... break and run...
Ho hummm....
I'm actually glad that I am not, nor ever will be at the level that the game is as unstimulating as it appears to the top level player.
catscradle said:
Because what you call hopping is actually scooping and is a foul because you are carrying the ball on the cuestick over the blocking ball. You are not stroking in a forward motion you are lifting in an upward motion when the side of the cue tip contacts the cueball.
Thus it is a foul, the same way that swiping a ball with the side of your cue is.
Striking the ball from above the equator eliminates this foul and all possible arguments over whether a foul was committed or not.
SJDinPHX said:
Hey Dick,
(who is more than "a very good player" btw)
I've known you since I was 14-15 yrs old. You know my game - I never had a jump cue. But I have been building a few.
We have an old Phoenix friend who has a saying something like "its better to look good than play good" (apology KW if I have it wrong). So here is the latest jump cue I built. Owner says it looks good and it plays good.
Last edited:
Shortside K said:
You must be watching different pool than I do. Pool played at it's highest level is boring. Auto racing played at it's highest level is also boring.
The pool that I see however shows a lot of drama and excitement as to what happens when the shot is dicey, what happens when a player is hooked, how do the players handle the pressure?
The recent World Pool Championship finals was a great testament to this aspect of pool.
Top players are robotic because that is what it takes to play world class pool. But not are are that way. Keith McCready and Bustamante are two examples off the top of my head of two players who exude all kinds of motion at the table and stil play lights out. No one could ever accuse Strickland of being robotic.
Jump shots add to the flavor of the game and jump cues bring a wider range of flavors for the players to choose from.
Jack Madden said:Hey Dick,
(who is more than "a very good player" btw)
I've known you since I was 14-15 yrs old. You know my game - I never had a jump cue. But I have been building a few.
View attachment 59355
Saw that on your website... That is to pretty to be a jump stick.
JB Cases said:
Yes I've heard it referred to as a scoop shot, but I think it can be done without fouling though I'm not going waste my time trying, I've got a jump cue.
JB Cases said:
John, though I rather see the game without the jump cue I don't give two hoots whether or not they ban it. However, I have to disagree with this statement, the jump cue definitely detracts from the enjoyment of watching the game, might as well go watch a trick shot contest, yawn. Compare Reyes' "shot heard round the world" with pocketing a ball with a jump, there is no comarision in the pleasure of viewing the two.
catscradle said:
I guess we will have to disagree as to what we enjoy watching then.
In 2006 in the World Pool Championships one of the players got into a safety battle and deliberately maneuvered the balls so that he would have a jump shot on the next safety by the opponent.
The object ball was completely locked up with no way to kick to it. The jump shot was a very close one with a very small target area.
The jumper, Ricky Yang if I remember correctly, jumped into the cluster, made a good hit and resafed the opponent. And it was planned. The announcers went nuts, the crowd went nuts.
There have been many examples of such jump shot artistry in championship play. Generally these shots make the highlights.
I like both. I appreciate all the skill that it takes to make jumps, kicks, stop shots, draw shots, force follow, and generally just to run out under tremendous pressure.
Efren's shot was incredible for sure but even he admitted that he got lucky - and this time he meant it. I will be happy to give the great Efren Reyes odds on the money that he cannot pocket that ball 10% of the times he tries it. I bet that 50% of the time he sells out on that shot.
I am sure that Earl Strickland would give Efren ten swings at it again for all the cheese.
How about Fong Pang Chou's jump shot in the Challenge of Champions against Francisco Bustamante in the Sudden Death game for $50,000?
The seven ball was out in the field and Fong had to jump it table length and back cut it into the pocket. He nails it and the cueball swings around the table and ends up close to the eight that he has to shoot in the upper corner, also a tough shot, which he makes and then the 9 for 50gs.
And this is also a good example of Bustamante playing the wrong safety. Bustamante had a safety option available that would have cut off the jump shot and forced the kick but he chose another route leaving Fong the jump shot. Allen Hopkins was announcing and he called it exactly right. Had Bustamante played it Allen's way then he probably would have won.
However in that same set Fong also came with an incredible one rail reverse kick shot to pocket the object ball and run out. So it appears as though the more well rounded player won that day because he had both kicking and jumping skills to use.
Here is a great video of proper kicking and jumping - although Pan got ROBBED on the call. Kelly one rail kicks the 3 ball with the right speed to move it down table and keep the cueball uptable hoping for distance. She gets lucky and hooks Pan win no viable kickshot. Pan Xiao Ting eyes the 3-9 carom but she knows that she has to not only hit the 3 first BUT she needs to stop the cueball from following the three in. She nails it only to be robbed by Steve Tipton on a bad call.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7IkOc-CbrM&feature=related
I don't see how this display of prowess isn't entertaining but different strokes for different folks I guess.