Player or Equipment?

[BrooklynJay]

Hey Jay...Is this NEW math? I always thought that the remainder after 90%, was only 10%! J/K!

Scott Lee
www.poolknowledge.com

You guys need to get out of the poolroom more.

There's a famous quote from Yogi Berra that said "Baseball is 90% mental - the other half is physical." It was my little 'joke' which would have been funny if anyone got the reference.

Geez. Once you have to explain it...

Football - Ball with Helium & Air Mixture will go further than All Air.

Mythbusters did this a while ago. (Love that show.) If I remember correctly there wasn't any noticable difference in how far the ball travelled.

 

[Nine Ball]

Ok, because of another post in here I am curious what everyone in here thinks now.

How many of you think if you have the best pool cue, the best tip, etc. That you will play a lot better?

How many of you think if you have a good pool cue, and a good tip, that the only thing that matters is the person running the cue?

The reason I ask this is because I am one of the people that feel that a good cue, and good tip in the hands of a great player can be more deadly than someone with all the best gear.

I think the person running the cue is the reason that the shots are accurate and true.

Each and everyone shoots different, so to me that is why there are so many different cue, and tip combinations.

After all, most of the cue makers out there are making some really high quality stuff. So to me it all comes down to what feels right for you.

I don't like the way Schons hit, but I know several people that do, and I have beaten people with Schons, and people with Schons have beaten me.

So I just think it comes down to what feels natural for you.

Anyone else have a good opinion about this?

Buying the best will not improve your skills. This is obvious. All a good player needs is something he's comfortable with.

 

[RBLilly]

Yes

Hey Nine Ball, I totally agree with you. Thank you very much for the comment.

 

[GTeye]

While I agree for the most part that it's skill and not equipment there is an exception to this rule.

Those at the bottom of the skill scale most definately will benefit from some types of equipment, such as a low deflection shaft.

It isn't going to turn them into some professional top notch pool player or anything like that but it certaihly will cause them to pocket some more balls than usual.

It's simple physics, if a low deflection shaft like a 314, z or ob1 causes the ball to be thrown offline less than a player without alot of pool skill. who most likely is going to be cueing that ball differently every single time they line up a shot, is most definitely going to benefit from the fact that the ball isn't being thrown offline as much, which is going to cause more of those poorly cued balls to go into the pocket. The pocket is not the width of a ball so while a better player will hit the shot in center pocket, someone cueing the ball poorly may very well,due to low deflection, wind up rattling it into the pocket anyway.

If you gave your kid sister a low deflection shaft, they will pocket more balls, on those shots where they have it lined up halfway decent but aren't cueing that well. They won't be runnng out tables due to it but over the course of the night they are going to make a handfull more of balls and to someone who plays pool as opposed to a pool player, it will make them enjoy the game more.

As for low deflection shafts not shorterning the learning curve, I don't totally agree there either. Again it isn't going to make some insanely huge difference but it's going to help a little. For most people it's going to be alot easier to adjust your aim over a smaller distance than it is over a greater distance and once again since the pocket isn't the width of a ball, having a smaller distance of aiming adjustments needed logically the margin for error also scales as well. When your dealing with angles, anything that lessens the variables of those angles is going to make adjustments easier and give more margin for error when trying to hit that contact point which is going to result in more balls being pocketed.

In the end it's skill that makes a pool player but equipment does help and aid people in learning, playing and every aspect of every sport. It won't make someone instantly a professional but there is no reason to assume pool is different just because it's the game we choose to play.