Simonis Heads Up

[ThinSlice]

I can tell you this for sure, over the last 39 years working on pool tables in the commercial industry, I've seen a lot of changes take place, some good, some bad.

But one of the most impacts I've seen is the cost of cloth going sky high, and because of that, pool room owners as well as bar owners going way to long before replacing the cloth on their tables, seriously effecting the playability and attraction to play on pool tables with cloth clearly worn out. This is not a good thing for this industry when it comes to attracting players to pay the higher rates to play pool.
Then, all the other cloth manufacturers following in the footsteps of Simonis, coming out with THEIR worsted woolen cloth, "just as good as, but cheaper than Simonis just to secure their place in the market as well, everyone is after those sales dollars!!

Because of the cloth wars so to speak, there has been a Domino's effect such as jump cues, faster and faster cloth, higher and higher costs of changing cloth, which cloth should I buy, the whole chain reaction.

Before the worsted woolen cloths hit the market, there was no such thing as jump cues, because you could make a jump shot with your playing cue, no problem.
Today, I swear every player I see playing on a league has a jump cue, and just can't wait to use it, but can't run 3 balls in a row, can't draw the cue back, and have all learned to pity pat the cue ball around the table because the cloth is so damn fast! It's getting to the point that its damn near impossible to level a table anymore because the cloth is so sensitive to ball roll, or grain tracking!

Pool has changed so much, and in my opinion, not for the good of the sport, but rather for the good of the market place sellers!!! This sport has turned into a sales platform for everyone selling anything to do with pool, to the point that those sales platforms could give a shit less about the sport, because if they DID care, they'd be taking a portion of their sales profits and kicking them back into the support of this sport, but they don't, unless it's to sponsor players in the hopes of using those players to create more sales!!!

Its my intentions to do what's right for the sport, not what's best for those that feed off of it!!!

Glenn, your intentions are in the right place. I think that sometimes it’s hard to move the needle in what I consider to be the right direction. It’s kinda like the current political climate where people just follow a trend not knowing anything about that trend. I get into debates here on AZ all the time about pity-pat pool and the speed of tables. It DOES NOT help pool for the table to be faster. Nor do I think over tight pockets help the game. It takes away the stroke of the players which then lends to a boring game. Many will argue this but then many if not most of the current day players have a pity-pat stroke so of course they like the current trend. I find it lame.

Constantly overrunning the cue ball trying to control cue ball speed and then hitting soft to compensate. This does nothing for a persons stroke. It ruins the game is what it does.

I can say that for one pocket, I can understand tight pockets and fast tables because you are forced to hit balls slower a majority of the time just by the nature of the game.

You know I wish and want things to change I am just skeptical about how much you or anyone can make that change effectively. You do have my support however. Whatever that’s worth.


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[realkingcobra]

Glenn, your intentions are in the right place. I think that sometimes it’s hard to move the needle in what I consider to be the right direction. It’s kinda like the current political climate where people just follow a trend not knowing anything about that trend. I get into debates here on AZ all the time about pity-pat pool and the speed of tables. It DOES NOT help pool for the table to be faster. Nor do I think over tight pockets help the game. It takes away the stroke of the players which then lends to a boring game. Many will argue this but then many if not most of the current day players have a pity-pat stroke so of course they like the current trend. I find it lame.

Constantly overrunning the cue ball trying to control cue ball speed and then hitting soft to compensate. This does nothing for a persons stroke. It ruins the game is what it does.

I can say that for one pocket, I can understand tight pockets and fast tables because you are forced to hit balls slower a majority of the time just by the nature of the game.

You know I wish and want things to change I am just skeptical about how much you or anyone can make that change effectively. You do have my support however. Whatever that’s worth.


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Just like money changed the game into what it is today, money can make major changes to improve the game for the betterment of the sport as well, those who play the game, will prosper, those who don't, will always complain, yet never amount to anything in this sport other than being a bystander! Just as they've been for years as this game changed into what its become today!

 

[iusedtoberich]

Terrible news. I hope Simonis rebuilds and doesn't close permanently.

 

[realkingcobra]

Terrible news. I hope Simonis rebuilds and doesn't close permanently.

Well, if they do, you can always support Predator cloth!!

 

[garczar]

Does it have a name or designation yet?

SW is not new. Been out since at least 2017. Not sure if Strachan even sells it anymore. They may have re-named it.

 

[ThinSlice]

Careful Glen you have a google snipper on your hands. They will google you to death. I have seen it happen it’s not pretty! Ever watch walking dead? Sorta like that but you can’t find them and they haunt you in your sleep.


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[9balltherapy]

Anyone have any updates on Simonis shipping cloth? I am close to being done with my Gold Crown 1 restoration and need some 860 HR in tournament blue.

 

[bradsh98]

Anyone have any updates on Simonis shipping cloth? I am close to being done with my Gold Crown 1 restoration and need some 860 HR in tournament blue.

As of yesterday, it is still unavailable. However, I have heard from a reliable third-party source that there is a shipment inbound. Though, I have not been able to confirm.

If you don't want to wait, I would recommend Electric Blue... It is ever so slightly darker, but it matches blue chalk much better. I like it better than Tournament Blue.

 

[rexus31]

As of yesterday, it is still unavailable. However, I have heard from a reliable third-party source that there is a shipment inbound. Though, I have not been able to confirm.

If you don't want to wait, I would recommend Electric Blue... It is ever so slightly darker, but it matches blue chalk much better. I like it better than Tournament Blue.

I thought HR only came in Tournament Blue and Green?

 

[bradsh98]

I thought HR only came in Tournament Blue and Green?

HR comes in:
Blue Green
Simonis Green
Royal Blue
Tournament Blue

I missed that he was looking for HR.
Electric Blue is available in 760/860

 

[9balltherapy]

Hey all,

Anyone got any updates on HR coming in?

 

[Sheldon]

One of my suppliers called Simonis yesterday, and they said they should start shipping Tour Blue HR in December.

 

[Fatboy]

Which is why a Professional pool player won't complain about the playing conditions of a pool table, they'll just simply adjust their game to the conditions, whereas an amateur will complain and blame all their problems with their game, ON THE POOL TABLE!

I’m not going to blame the pool table, I’ll just blame you!!!! J/K

Hope you had a good Christmas

I’ll give you a call soon,
Take care
Eric

 

[clydeNbonnie]

Believe it or not, the new cloth Simonis and I are about to come out with. Its almost identical to the Stevens 22oz superweave cloth the world played on up to the mid 80's. Not to be mistaken for the Mali thick weave cloth of that time frame, or the CharlesHouse, Forrester, or any other cloth from that era. Stevens cloth was the high end woven woolen 80/20 wool/nylon blended cloth that most higher end pool rooms used from the early 50's up until Mali bought Forrester, who had bought Stevens.

But to all those that think they know something about the cloth from the past, its NOT the think napped cloth they're referring to, and its a lot more player friendly. Spin is much easier to perform, with 50% less effort required on Simonis 860HR, which means you shoot softer, yet get the same results. Its not a pity pat cloth, because you have to shoot a little harder to get the distance you want, because it don't have that continuous roll to the balls like Simonis 860HR has, yet it supports the player with the stroke required to keep the cue ball in check.

Its hard to explain, but easy to see the difference when playing on it.

And its available in Tour Blue, which is the best color for seeing the balls, and for the least amount of friction.

And cost is about 50% or more LESS than Simonis 860HR

I will say Glen recommend this cloth, so I bit and tried it. At first, I was damn, getting the cueball to go multiple rails required a straight stroke with speed. However, you can still slow roll follow and slow roll draw with ease. Starting to love it. Not only that don't need a jump cue for some jumps.

 

[boogieman]

I will say Glen recommend this cloth, so I bit and tried it. At first, I was damn, getting the cueball to go multiple rails required a straight stroke with speed. However, you can still slow roll follow and slow roll draw with ease. Starting to love it. Not only that don't need a jump cue for some jumps.

Good to hear, I believe I'm going with this cloth when cloth change time comes up. This damn HR is a tough one to wear out! I've played the hell out of it and it still plays like new. I might just have to change it anyway, I'm excited to give it a try.

 

[dendweller]

So I'm watching a stream this afternoon and upstateAL says something about knowing who bought out the flooded simonis. Makes me wonder if you should be a little careful about buying it for a bit.
Anybody hear this anywhere else?
He may have been joking, hard to tell.

 

[fxyxdx]

Much faster than 860HR though.

Andy 988 is slower than HR we use it specifically on two tables with fast rails to slow it down. Whoever said andy 988 is faster than simonis either, did a side by side comparison of old simonis vs brand new simonis which isn’t at all a fair comparison or just simply doesn’t know what they are taking about. It’s slower, I can assure you.

 

[fxyxdx]

And that's your opinion, not fact based. I've used the Andy988 cloth on some installs as well, and it didn't last a well as the Simonis it replaced.

The actual cloth life seems to be similar but the color of the cloth fades way way faster and it doesn’t look as bright and new nearly as long as the simonis…. We have put andy and simonis on tables with ray a day of each other more than once to see this effect. Also certain colors of andy wear worse than others .

 

[Sheldon]

I've got some of the new 860 HR tour blue and it stretched quite a bit easier than it used to. Seems ok other than that though. My source gets it directly from Simonis. He recently got a half bolt and they told him they probably wouldn't ship any more until April.

 

[PracticeChampion]

Anyone having issues getting tournament blue in 8 ft? Local place is replacing 3 - 8 foot diamonds and the mechanic said simonis is getting hard to find but he found 3 in green