Dedicated to die-hard pool players everywhere who not only have funny situations to relate, but who also wish to share their experiences, their defeats, and their triumphs with others who strive to elevate their pool game.

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From: "TheRacker" <theracker@nonya.com
Subject: Expert cue wrapping, good prices
Date: Friday, March 14, 2003 10:41 AM
Used With Permission

This is too good not to pass along. I've complained on a couple occasions about the job a certain company did on putting a stack wrap on my cue. Well, a couple weeks ago a friend of mine had the Irish linen start to come loose on his cue. He has this friend who is a cook in the dietetics department of a hospital who works with leather on the side. He asked him if he could put a leather wrap on this cue and the guy said he could. He put this wrap on, its flat leather, undyed, about 1/8 inch wide and he wound it around the cue. He said it couldn't be dyed. Hmm, ok, I guess black shoes come from black cows, red shoes come from red cows, purple shoes......... you get my drift. Anyway that isn't the best part. The guy drove a nail in the cue at each end of the leather to hold it in place. I couldn't believe anyone could be that stupid. Unreal, just unreal, if that was my cue I would not only have a ruined cue but a ruined pair of pants cause I would have shit myself on the spot when I saw what he did. Anyway I'll never complain again and this sure illustrates the old saying you get what you pay for.

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Name: Larry Sivik
Date: Thursday, November 1, 19101 at 06:24:59
Comments:

The attractiveness of a low price is long forgotten by the long and bitter taste of poor quality.

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Name: Tim Dame
Location: West Palm Beach, FLDate: Thursday, November 1, 19101 at 06:20:13
Comments:

With an Arnot Cue your opponent will get a case of “Racker’s Back"

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Name: S***
Date: Friday, November 24, 19100 at 13:41:53
Comments:

Hi S*****, Your cue is ready but your check must have gotten lost in the mail.
Arnot

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Hi Arnot - It's not nice to scare someone like that!

First, I called my credit union and they wanted to know the check number and other details. Went looking for my checkbook and finally found it. Couldn't find the check copy. Went and got the other check register and couldn't find the copy. Got panicky! Called my wife. She said, "You spent HOW MUCH on a pool stick?" Got really panicky! I said, but it's got "Attitude." She said, "I'll give you "Attitude." I said, "Never mind, I'll figure it out."

So I looked and looked some more. Finally figured out I didn't even write it - let alone send it! Wrote it yesterday. Took it to the Post Office yesterday and mailed it. You should have it by Friday - Saturday at the latest. The atmosphere was pretty frosty when she came home. I wore a coat and mittens in the house last night and this morning as she demonstrated "Attitude." She wanted to know how much I was going to make with this "Attitude" pool stick. Reminded her I quit gambling 30 years ago - she said, "Well, you're gambling now."

Then she said "I thought you were going to get rid of some of your pool sticks?" Reminded her they are pool cues not sticks. She said, "I'll show you where to stick them." Hope it warms up some or it will be a long weekend. Let me know when you expect to get it done so I can rent a locker at the pool room to hide it until things warm up around here. 8^{). Anyhow have a great Turkey Day and then go over to election headquarters and square those dip shits away. I need a new leader!
Regards, S*****

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Name: Chris Stephens Lewiston
Email:cueist1@aol.com
Date: Tuesday, August 15, 19100 at 06:07:10
Comments:

What do you do when you walk in to a tournament to make you play better while you're waiting? Here is what I do.

First thing I do is I look for the best player in the house. Then slyly I'll go put my cue within talking distance of his cue. Why? you ask. Well, here is my reasoning. I figure since my Cue talks to me as I play then cue's in general must have discussions with each other. I'm hoping just by chance that maybe that player's Cue will strike up a conversation with mine and give him some advice on how his owner plays or better yet some advice that will improve my Cue's game.

I have found that this works the best when the cues are up against a rack and my Cue is laying one slot over from his. My Cue has told me that this has helped his game tremendously and even have at times found a weakness in the better Cue's player. Cue has warned me though that breaking Cue's are big bullies and should be avoided since all they know is how to hit one ball very hard. That has not been good for my cue's wisdom and has been blamed at times when I have found myself killing a ball that was not needed to be hit so hard. Also a good female Cue is worth trying once in a while since it will give your Cue some advice on the soft touch of the game.

This has been proven when my touch is on for the evening and my Cue has been talking to a good looking McD or a classy Joss. I have been very careful to keep my Cue in its case when I'm out at the local bars playing. Seems to me that the Cue's there just want to talk about booze, women and drugs. Not too much advice on pool can they give. I figure my Cue has gotten some pretty decent advice over the years and with what it learns and what I can pick up from the players together my Cue and I have at least some wisdom we can share. Anyway it does give you some conversation to have with your Cue in the hotel room as your falling asleep on those road trips. So next time at your tourney try letting your Cue get social and see what can happen with your game.

Cue <-------as the lic. plate say's "RACK EM" Chris Stephens Lewiston.

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Name: Tom Simpson
Email: tsimpson@columbus.rr.com
Date: Wednesday, March 22, 19100 at 13:32:43
Comments:

I bought my first cue in Vineland, NJ in 1968. I was in high school. It was a $110 Doc Frye, with white Irish linen, rosewood, and yellow "burled plastic" butt rings. I thought it was very classy, and it was the most expensive thing I had bought to that time. ---- It was a pleasure just walking into that pool room and seeing my cue locked in its slot on the wall. ---- I got my next cue in about 1993, and haven't been using the Doc. At Valley Forge, Ted Harris had the right white linen on hand, so I had him give it a new wrap and restore it to its former glory. I don't expect to play much with it, but I will enjoy having it. Just looking at it takes me back a long way.

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Name: Posted from R.S.B #1
Date: Tuesday, November 3, 1998 at 10:07:17
Comments:

This may be a bit presumptuous of me, but there's two "old" posts that I remember really enjoying, and I thought others might enjoy seeing them. The first is a beautiful bit of prose from Laura Friedman, from about a year ago:

When did I become a player? How did this harmless hobby lead me into the brotherhood of bums and gamblers and assorted weirdoes that I've spent so much censored time with over the years? It happens so quickly, one day you play pool, the next you're a pool player. And once you're a player, you'll never be anything but. I can walk into any poolroom in any state and as quick as my eyes adjust to the light the others of our kind become as clear as lanterns lit from inside.

If you're a player you know what I mean. And every mother's son of them has the same story: frozen to the rail, snookered behind the eight ball, drifting into the side. He censored out on me, quit on me, stiffed me, sharked me, busted me, robbed me. He was playing above his head, on the stall, laying a spread. God, every match I play is instant dejavu. It's hill hill for the millionth time. One to two, look at you, three to four, need one more. Stuck again, ahead again. Busted again. censored, there's only ten c-notes in each poolroom, and they've been passed around since 1969. It's your turn to win, it's your turn to lose. Have I played you before? You look kinda familiar. censored, I just can't remember anymore.

Quit!? censored, you might as well ask me to change the color of my skin. And if I never hit another ball it wouldn't make a damned bit of difference -- I'd still be a player. On those dark cold nights I'll still wander blindly into some poolroom or other looking for a cup-a-joe, a little conversation. Remember so and so? censored, that boy played jaaaammm-up! Another late night at the poolroom. I creep home on the deserted highway, wondering how many other people in Los Angeles ever see the 101 empty of anything but lonely semis. --Laura *******

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Name: Posted from R.S.B. #2 Enjoy..
Date: Tuesday, November 3, 1998 at 10:10:10
Comments:

I'm 45. Started playing at 12 on a cheapie home table. Began going to the local poolroom (Vineland, NJ) at 15. I didn't realize until much later, that this was an excellent room. No alcohol, no music, just serious pool.

I still have powerful images of the good players I watched in awe in those days. I would watch the "old guys" play beautiful straight pool, and I marveled at how easy it seemed when they did it. Now, I'm one of those old guys. I feel the eyes of the young players on me when I'm playing now, and I know what they are thinking (if I'm having a good day 8-)). I still see those guys, their demeanor, their strokes, the rhythm of their play, and it helps me. Some days, I know I'm walking in their footsteps, and I feel the power of the process.

I've been doing aikido for a long time (a Japanese martial art). In the martial arts (and probably in anything that's a difficult, life-long learning process), you occasionally have a perception that you are part of a lineage, like a pearl on a necklace. You realize you are thinking/feeling/doing the same things your predecessors did. You're keeping a tradition alive, and in a very real way, you come to embody that tradition. You are its representative, and you have a duty to your art. When you step onto the mat, you have an obligation to fulfill your rank -- to BE that rank, both in physical performance and in attitude. I feel that way about pool now, too, although I'm far from becoming a pro.

I had a big block of time after college where I barely played. Then, about 5 years ago, I got serious again. This time, I made the commitment to become what I would consider a "good" player. I had never felt I reached that level, even though I paid my way through grad school shooting for money. Now, I had had years of learning how to learn, through aikido. I understood what practice was, and what "the zone" was, and had the discipline to do the work.

It's only been about 2 years for me since I finally reached that point where I am comfortable saying I'm a good player, and I'm not embarrassed to play in any room anywhere. Hal Mix used a great phrase in his book that really hit home for me -- "playing with dignity." I realized that's been an important goal for me. Pool, like golf, requires a lot of work & time before you can play with dignity. It took me 30 years in pool.

Now, I mostly play/practice by myself, at home, late at night. It's highly therapeutic to get in some "zone time" on a regular basis. These days, there is a fairly steady supply of new books, knowledge, videos, training aids, and equipment improvements. It's a pleasure to keep learning. I also totally enjoy teaching. I'm a BCA Certified Instructor. Teaching forces you to keep growing, and to keep putting things together at a deeper level so you can make it understandable for your students.

Participating in R.S.B. and becoming involved in the industry (Elephant Balls) have also been great fun for me. --Almost an old guy, Tom Simpson Dublin, Ohio.

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Name: Fred Agnir
Email: fred.agnir@nypro.com
Date: Friday, October 9, 1998 at 08:05:55
Comments:

Because of on-line virtual peer pressure, I purchased one of those clip on magnetic chalk holders, vowing never to place chalk on the rails again. I used this handy device last night for the first time during league play. Here are the results:

1) Knocked off of holder: 6-times.
2) Then stepped on chalk: 3-times.
3) Hit with cue stick: Everytime (until I switched sides).
4)Hit with hand (and turned fingers blue): Every other time.
5)Left on rail: 3-times. :-o
6)Used to mark pocket (APA): 1-time.
7)Lost chalk at bar while ordering Guinness: 1-time.
8)Ridiculed for all of the above: Countless times. :-(

Maybe I need to try the chalk-on-a-rope?
-- Fred Agnir -- Believer in special voodoo magic.

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Name: Ron Shepard
Date: Thursday, October 8, 1998 at 14:57:36
Comments:

I think a good first cue may well be a mass produced cue that feels good to the player. After all if it is their first cue then chances are that they do not know what they want in a cue. So it may be best to keep the investment down until they know exactly what they want. Also, if it is a first cue then the owner probably doesn't know how to take care of it, when to be careful with it, and so on. These are things that you just have to learn on your own, and just having someone tell them to you probably isn't enough. It is better to make these mistakes with a cheap cue than an expensive one. Now that I think about it, you shouldn't even do these things to any good cue, regardless of the cost. So never do the following with any cue:

• You leave the stick in your 150 degree car trunk, and all the glue joints fall apart and the inlays pop out.
• You leave the stick in your car trunk, which suddenly develops a leak, and you don't notice it until after that big rain, and your waterlogged stick looks like a dog's hind leg.
• You leave the stick in your -20 degree car trunk, and the plastic joint collar cracks when you put it together and break with it.
• You lean the cue against a table (or chair), someone bumps the table, you stick makes that sickening "SLAP" sound as it hits the concrete floor, your ferrule shatters, and your tip rolls across the floor.
• You don't know what to do with your stick while you rack, so you lean it against the pool table, and there's that "SLAP" sound again.
• You raise up your stick after a shot, giving the low-hanging light a good whack, shattering glass all over the table, and putting a good sized nick in the shaft.
• Some drunk says he knows how to remove that nick, so he spits on your shaft and holds a cigarette lighter next to it, and sure 'nuff, the nick dissapears and turns into charcoal. He then says, "Sorry, it worked the last time I tried it."
• You allow yourself to be interupted when you are screwing your stick together, and you don't get it tight, you hit a shot with it, and you strip out the threads in the joint.
• You let your tip wear down too far and your ferrule cracks.
• You try to put on your first tip and cut the ferrule with your razor and scratch the ferrule with your sandpaper while you are trimming the edges down.
• Another player tells you to use green 3M pads or sandpaper on your shaft, and after six months you are playing with a toothpick. Then the same thing happens with steel wool, only this time it takes a year.

- - My $.02 -- Ron Shepard

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