I disagree.
What happens is that playing safe becomes harder and more delicate to get the CB into a position where the jump cue is not viable.
Exactly, the safe becomes a lot harder than the escape. In a situation where I had a razor delicate safe to play and the percentage was not high that I'd snooker my opponent where he couldn't jump, and I knew my opponent was the jump-master, I might probably be better off mashing the OB into the 9 and slop something in.
buckets said:
people talk about jumping like it's easy
sure you can learn a serviceable jump stroke in no time, but it's not like every shot is gonna be a hanger
I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that you got someone making a razor thin cut on the OB, go two or three rails to snooker your opponent behind a small cluster, and your opponent takes out a jump cue because they have the shag felt on the table and jumps out of scratching, or even pockets the OB. On lower level tournaments I think that's fine, but for the highest levels of competition I think they should use slicker cloths to at least make it a little tougher, or at least not make reaching for a jump cue a reflex action when there is as little as a 1/4" gap. If the artistic billiards guys can do it on their slick-cloth heated tables, then the upper echelon pool players could do it with lighter balls. At least it wouldn't be a "gimme" for them.
Again, I'm not against it, just against making it easy for the pros, almost seemingly on purpose.
jc said:
I can beat the ghost without chalk on a good day on my 9 foot table. And I'm a very lowly player in the big scheme.
Center ball is most of what you need. The rest are wants
Yeah, but do you play the ghost for money?
One could paly position with only center, center draw, and center follow. But what I think differentiates (and maybe elevates) our game from darts, bocce, horseshoes, or whatever, is that we can effectively use side-spin as well on the cue ball, to effect shots that would be impossible without it. Even soccer players discovered this, and make some of the craziest curved goals I've ever seen.
Ralph Kramden said:
Last room I was in had a sign..
NO Jump shots allowed.. Jump cue used here will become firewood.. the management
Well, as I mentioned, they could get rid of the carpet many places that have these signs use for felt, and it would be very difficult for any but a few to jump a shot. You see on the weekends - there are many young players that jump their cue off the tables because they have a tendency to jack the butt end up when they shoot near a rail or such, and always strike the cue ball hard. Combined with them holding the cue forward, and the thicker cloth, they inadvertently jump the cue ball. The side benefit is that the more expensive cloth won't tear as easily.