Probably my best playing achievement

C

Cameron Smith

is kind of hungry...
Silver Member
The short version of the story is, I ran 131 today in practice using a house cue. I'm beyond ecsatic, and blown away that I could achieve that with such a crap cue.

I've been playing next to nothing in the past four months. I've been going back to school and the program is incredibly busy. As a result I've played roughly 6-7 hours since August. Incredibly when I do get back to the table for a practice session, it's not that terrible. It does take roughly an hour to feel like my old self, but by then I have to leave.

I credit much of my ability to retain a semblance of my old form to an adjustment in my bridge hand right before I went back to school. This has helped my alignment considerably which has allowed me to play more consistently and also play better using a house cue (because it's easier to keep my stroke perfectly straight).

I got out of class early today and had to kill time before meeting a friend for lunch. With time to kill but no cue to play with, I decided to have a go at playing with one of the house cues which I almost never do. Previously my high run playing off the wall was 52. I broke that immediately with a 67. Satisfied with my achievement, I continued knocking balls around until I got to the 52 mark and realized I had a chance to break my house cue record once again. Well not only did I do that, but I blew past it and 131 balls.

Not bad for a guy who never plays hahahaha :p
 
That's awesome Cameron....Nice Shooting, maybe you should take the house cue to a cue maker and have a joint put on it, either that or start looking for a 59" case for it !!!

-Steve
 
stevekur1 said:
That's awesome Cameron....Nice Shooting, maybe you should take the house cue to a cue maker and have a joint put on it, either that or start looking for a 59" case for it !!!

-Steve
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Cameron could probably use the tip that was shared in another thread (the Main forum) by Drawman, where Will Prout had shipped Drawman a custom cue and the package arrived severely damaged. (The punchline being that Will had first put the cue in a length of PVC pipe before putting it in the carton, and this saved the cue.)

Cameron could make a trip to the nearest orange box (Home Depot) near him, and purchase a 60" length of PVC pipe with end caps. Then, he could arrive into his pool hall swinging that thing around, doing his best "Walking Tall" impression. :p

Oh, by the way and all humor aside, congrats to you Cameron! Being able to "play off the wall" is a skill us NY'ers really admire. And to run a 131 doing so -- damn you! You should be shot! :D

-Sean
 
Cameron Smith said:
I credit much of my ability to retain a semblance of my old form to an adjustment in my bridge hand right before I went back to school. This has helped my alignment considerably which has allowed me to play more consistently and also play better using a house cue (because it's easier to keep my stroke perfectly straight).
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Congrats (coming from a 14.1 newbie with a current high run of 8 (yes, that's eight...gotta start somewhere :) ). I'm curious what adjustment you made in your bridge, if you care to share.

Thanks,
Chris
 
Thanks guys, I really appreciate it.

14-1StraightMan

It was a dufferin table, 4.75" pockets. Dirty cloth. The balls split well enough, but I had to be reasonably accurate as the pockets were spitting out anything that was played a little lazily.

cstrombe

It was a very slight adjustment but made a huge impact. It's hard to explain it, but I used bridge with my wrist angled inward (especially on open bridges). This was pointed out to me by an excellent snooker player. His tip was to have your index finger (on an open bridge) pointing at the ball your shooting. It helps with a alignment and keeping my stroke straight. I used to have to compensate and became proficient at it using my predator cue and my john parris, but any time I played with a cue that wasn't as well balanced it threw off my stroke.....a lot.

Recently besides this, I've played a few times off the wall with my gf and I've been able to run racks of 9 ball and 8 ball with quite a bit of fluidity. I can't wait to see what I can do when school is over and I can play more consistently.
 
Geez! With a house cue!!! Congratulations on your achievement, that is great to hear.
 
Congrats to you. I am a firm believer that it is the archer not the arrow
People think a $500 cue will make them better as you have proven this is not so I wish you much more joy and high runs in this great game
 
Congratulations on the run, Cameron!

That is very impressive. That house cue probably never made more than a few balls in a row before you picked it up. Now it can brag to all its friends!
 
Williebetmore said:
Number 6,
Great playing. They must have buckets for pockets there in "the village". If only you could leave....

P.S. - thanks for the open bridge info, definitely worth a try.
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Haha, I have the whole series on DVD I keep meaning to re-watch it.

The open bridge thing will work best if you have a habit of turning your hand outwards or inwards. I've started playing primarily with the open bridge considering I'm most comfortable with it due to my snooker background. Also, I've noticed players such as Hohmann and Ortman playing almost exclusively with an open bridge, so I thought "meh, why not". The results have been promising.
 
gerard soriano said:
Congrats to you. I am a firm believer that it is the archer not the arrow
People think a $500 cue will make them better as you have proven this is not so I wish you much more joy and high runs in this great game
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Thanks,

I tend to agree with you. THough I think a good tip is still very important. I shyed away from some spin shots that I normally would have played. But my potting was top notch. So ya, straight piece of wood and a good tip is all ya need.
 
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