A lot like poker - enough luck to keep the less skilled interested, but skill will win in the long run. I play a lot with my 12 year old son.

Oh I haven't played a lot of snooker, and my highest break ever was in the 40s (I think the reds were particularly kindly placed for that break!).

I was a much better 8 Ball player in my 20s (not pro level or anything), but I'm sure you'd agree that the amount of dedication and skill required to excel at Snooker is FAR greater than 8 Ball.

127 is pretty damn impressive - anyone capable of putting a break of that size together clearly has some real ability.

Hello again, Sumey.

Your comment about the comparative difficulties of pool and snooker really made me chuckle, sir. I'm a member of a few cuesport forums and that particular debate has often descended into the most vitriolic and abusive chaos.

I personally found snooker more difficult but probably best to leave it at that, old chap!

Best wishes.

Hello, Pokeraz.

Apologies, I have only just noticed your kind post on the previous page. Thank you, sir, much appreciated.

Best wishes.

Ruper,

Sparks has strong opinions, but he’s willing to learn and humbly apologize if proven wrong.

What’s your success rate at the trick shot he was questioning?

Good afternoon, El Diablo.

No apology is necessary from Sparks, it's all water under the bridge with no hard feelings on my part.

To answer your question though, sir: Today my success rate for any skill shot of this nature would be very low for a number of reasons, the most salient being that I'm no longer good enough.

Even at my best I could never match Mike Massey's strike rate of seventy percent, but I reckon three or four out of ten would be a fair appraisal.

Best wishes.

Sometime in the early 90s a pro 9-ball tournament was held in Columbia, SC, and Steve Mizerack was there. Depending on when this ocurred, I'd have been ~15 or so. Made my parents take me to watch.

We were sitting in these small risers which had been set up, watching Mizerack in a race to nine. He fell behind but rebounded and finished out the match with a 9 on the break ... later my parents surmised the fix was in, which was devastating at the time since I was trying to learn all I could.

Was it? I have no idea. Probably not.

Years later I got the AccuStat tape of that match and was amused to hear the announcer say, just before the final break, "What Steve needs right here is a 9 on the break ..."

Anyways. He won the match and signed my book, but my parents managed to make me suspicious of it all that day ...

I do recommend The Color of Money, Tevis' follow-up to The Hustler. I think a few other people on 2+2 have the same fascination with the book. It looks at Fast Eddie's life several decades removed from his match with Fats, and is a story of what it takes to recover one's youth and spirit in middle age. I may be due for a re-read soon ...

I always recommend the book with a caveat: It was written in the mid-80s as a follow-up to a novel from the late-50s. There's plenty wrong with it, in some of the ideas and language. Aside from Queen's Gambit, Tevis didn't treat his female characters well.

Nice quality upload...

Good commercial. Good thing he had that last rail...

good thread

if we're recommending books, Playing off the Rail by David McCumber is an outstanding book written by a guy who spent a year or so staking a pool hustler in the 90s

even as someone who rarely picks up a cue, I found it a fascinating read

Superb contributions to the thread, gentlemen!

Thank you so much for the wonderful stories, videos and recommendations, they're all sincerely appreciated.

Best wishes.

Here's a photograph of one of the many Jack Daniels balls in my collection. I believe this was one of the famous whiskey brand's earliest advertising forays into the billiard world, and still one of their best examples in my view.

subscribed just to see if sparks become worldclass at pool to prove someone on the internet wrong !

Good afternoon, everyone.

I've been really surprised by all the kind comments and enthusiastic reception to photographs of my collection, such a response was sincerely appreciated indeed.

It got me to thinking that a few of you guys might be interested to hear about a great event currently featured over on the AZB cuesport forum. A good friend of mine has decided to donate several sets of desirable pool balls at various times throughout the year, starting this month with a rare box of Eagle Eye Stripes. The thread is on the MAIN FORUM (last time I looked it was page 2) under the heading "Announcing a GIVEAWAY promotion for pool ball collectors."

Other than solving a little word search puzzle by way of an entry qualifier, there is no commitment, cost or catch whatsoever. A person is just required to email the correct answer and, if your name is drawn from the hat on August 20th, a brand new set of beautiful billiard balls (plus other accessories) will be delivered to your doorstep free of charge. I asked my buddy for permission to tell folks over here about his promotion and he said "go ahead, everybody welcome."

Best wishes.

Here's a rather unusual Jack Daniels ball. The logo is very deep, apparently sunk about a centimetre below the surface. Apologies, the photographs don't really do it justice.

And here's his more familiar cousin.

Here's two more single balls from my collection: McDermotts purchased approximately thirty years ago. I like the fact that these older shamrocks are shown in outline, the newer versions being coloured green.

Fantastic thread!


Did your buddy ever get back to you on this? I like to look at the pictures.

Hello, Didonk.

He did indeed, sir, he visited the thread but had some issues posting via Tapatalk (I might have that name incorrect). He's an extremely busy fellow in a high pressure job, but I'll try my best to tempt him over here one day.

Best wishes.

By the way, sir, he is the same fellow who is giving away some rare pool ball sets (mentioned in my earlier post) if you fancied having a go?

Best wishes.

Good evening, everyone.

Here are two images of my friend's phenomenal collection, not complete by any means I should add. A few of the wonderful sets featured are worth well north of four figures believe it or not. Hope you enjoy.

Best wishes.

Mr. Rupert,
I hope this finds you well. You seem to be a polite person and I thank you for your posting. Do you have pictures of fancy billiard/pool tables handy? Like somebody noted earlier, we don't see too many cool set-ups like snooker tables in public places, in the U.S.

Dear Ruperman (if I may...),
What a good bit of wholesome fun this thread has turned out to be! Your enthusiasm and good nature are incontestably contagious.

Might I venture to impose on you a bit of unsolicited constructive criticism? Your use of commas, my friend, could use a quick refresher. I hope you take this with the good nature with which it is intended. Your writing is in so many other ways a delightful escape.

With gratitude and grace,
cassette