Selection of cloth to suit specific billiard disciplines
It was in 1958 or 1959 that I'd taken a train out to a very large room on Steinway Ave. in Queens, New York and learned something about how some of those in the know once selected cloth to suit the particular game to be played.
There was a newspaper article on the wall regarding a man that worked there being one of the few that had ever run over 100 in 14.1 over 100 times. I don't know if that reference referred to tournament play or 5 x 10s or anything else for that matter, and don't even recall the man's name though it must have been in the clipping. Strangely, I do recall Harry Kramer fairly well, he was the other houseman there that replaced Arthur Rubin, a former 3-cushion great that now was managing another room in that area. I also recall a 17-year old named Joe Flesh that I'd managed to beat by just one or two points in 3-cushion. He'd only first learned how to play just three months earlier and had an incredibly powerful stroke!
Anyway, it was that 14.1 player (he died only a few weeks later) mentioned in that newspaper clipping that explained how the various Simonis cloths of the 40s were used. He said the fastest of the three cloths, Simonis No. 1, was used strictly for 3-cushion which needed the fastest cloth, Simonis No. 3 was strictly for 14.1 continuous because the slowest cloth was preferred since it helped in stopping the cueball somewhat more precisely, and Simonis No. 2 was preferred for all other pool and billiard disciplines. Don't recall any mention of snooker.
For whatever it is worth, I'll also mention how the Simonis No. 1 used in the 30s and early 40s was of the same super-fast, 100% wool and very expensive napped cloth that was re introduced many years later in Euriope as "Extra Super Roulant." The name was changed because of how the Simonis cloths of the same names (1, 2 and 3) in the late 50s and early 60s were of a much poorer quality. Quite hard for those with weaker strokes to get the ball around the 5 x 10 carom tables of the early 60s.
I don't even know what is being today in pool for I've been away from the game for so many years but do recall that in the 70s or 80s everybody seemed to want faster and faster cloths even for straight-pool. I personally feel that the speeds of cloths, angles and speeds off cushions, heights of cushions, and pocket sizes should have been left alone, but not because of what one may believe is better but because of the need for standardization.
My two pet peeves; the ones that most concern me re equipment for pool today is pocket sizes and height of cushions. I can tolerate evolution if sufficiently gradual. Natural evolution is normally is normally quite gradual and normally a good thing, but it has not been sufficiently gradual in re to pockets and cushions in pool even more so than in speeds of the various cloths.
I may have said a lot more than was appropriate for this particular thread. I'm quite passionate about pool and billiards and so I hope you will excuse my getting carried away as I have.
For ever greater understanding for all of us,
Eddie Robin
PS: I finally learned a lot about how things work here from a look at the FAQ menu--I'll now look up what FAQ actually means!!!
