Hey,

I know, it's vague! Everyone in here has probably held a pool cue at least once in their life, right? I'm kind of looking at it a little more seriously. Anyone in here play a tournament before? Entered a league? Anything of the sort?

What do you play? 1-pocket, Straight-pool, 3 ball, 6 ball, 7 ball, 8 ball, 9 ball, 3-cushion, short-banks, long-banks?(I bet there's at least one person who read that and said to him/herself "i thought there's only 8 and 9 ball")

FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT KNOW, I currently work in a pool hall in Michigan. I play 6 days a week. I am on the APA(American Poolplayers Association). My game on the league is 8 ball. My games off the league are straight pool and 9 ball.

Also, what kind of accessories/cues you packing? I've got an orchid butt with a predator shaft which is my primary cue. Using a flying pig tip on that. Strokes pretty good to my liking. Also have an Earl Strickland line Cuetec. Not the best of cues, but I got it because I got a good deal on ebay! Man, ebay sucks the money out of my pocket! The Cuetec is about as good as Cuetecs get. I don't like fiber glass cues. That's just me. The rubber grip throws me off too. I like the nylon ones. The cuetec is just showy because it's bright red! The orchid gets a lot of people who know cues just staring because it's so different from what you'd see in America.

Right now, I'm saving up for a McDermott African Gecko and I just bought a JOE PORPER cue case(i bet that caught some flourishers eyes). It's a 2X2 case and it's pretty decent for the price. One of the regulars told me to get a US$400 mcdermott 2X4 case, but I think I'll settle for the US$100 joe porper. I'm not quite rolling in the money yet, if you know what I mean.

If you're purely a magician and read that and understood every last thing... You should give me a call if you're ever up in Michigan and we'll get in a game or two... lol

tadaa,
you found 1.

we'll have to catch a game the next time i'm in town, dave!

I'm more of a snooker guy. And I can never get the difference between pool and billiards. I enjoy watching the 9-ball tournaments on TV though and admire players like Efren Reyes of the Phillipines.

Normally, when people say billiards, they mean 3 cushion. 3 Cushion is basically a 6 by 12 table(snooker size) and 3 balls which are slightly heavier and bigger than pool balls. There are no pockets in the table. The objective is to use your ball to hit a second ball, then your ball travels and hits 3 cushions before hitting the 3rd ball. It's an insanely hard game and I have yet to successfully play a game on that.

Pool is usually just 8 and 9 ball in Asia. Over here, a lot of people play straight pool, one-pocket and short and long banks. One pocket, straight pool and banks are pretty much, hitting any ball you want.

Banks is basically, every shot you take has to be a bank shot. There is no combo and you can hit any ball you want as long as you call the shot(Eg. 15 ball off 3 rails into the bottom left pocket). If you hit the ball off another ball but make the shot, it doesn't count. Short banks are 9 balls, Long banks are 15 balls.

One-pocket is hitting 15 balls. You have one pocket and your opponent has another pocket. All the balls you hit must enter the same pocket. If you opponent sinks a ball into your pocket, it's your point. If a ball goes in any other pocket, it spots back up. First one to get 8 balls in your pocket wins.

Straight pool is a crazy long game! You keep going, hitting any ball into any pocket until you reach 100 balls/points! 15 balls on the table. Once 14 balls are potted, you leave the last one and the cue ball on the table and then reset the triangle, leaving the head ball out. It's basically, the longer the streak you can carry, the better. My best streak so far is 17 balls. It's just so hard to get the cue ball to break up the triangle after you take a shot!

This guy who comes in every now and then. His name is Larry. I don't remember his last name. He taught me to play straight pool. He can run 150 balls on any given Friday. He's the #1 underground pool player in USA. He's challenged Efren Reyes to a game of straight pool with a US$20k bet and Reyes didn't want to play him. He's beaten Earl Strickland and Mika Imonen(both world champs at some point in time). He's one hell of a pool player AND he's a really nice, friendly guy!

Last time i bought 1 cheap pool cue from Msia national player Brad Kuan for RM220

Unfortunately he pass away 2 years back because of accident.

I seldom play pool nowadays, but every now and then i still play with friends for fun.

My favourite pool player is Ronato Alcano and Wu Chia Ching :)