That's the full chapter, ladies and gentlemen.

Thank you so much to anybody who can find the time to review my work and offer feedback, it will all be much appreciated.

Best wishes.

the trickshot diagrams are mesmerizing.

Many thanks, Tuma.

Your kind comment is very encouraging indeed because the diagrams in my sample chapter above are very much a temporary first draft, just a quick fix to help readers visualize the shots described in the text. The final artwork will be photo-realistic and shown from a multitude of angles, undoubtedly a significant improvement.

Best wishes and sincere thanks again.

I just posted your poster on a friend's facebook. She travels around professional ladies events so she has tons of people that may see it that might be of help. I really hope you find it!!! This thread was fun to browse, so it's the least I could do.

Hello, Lord Crispen.

What an excellent idea! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to help out like that, it really is genuinely appreciated.

Could I perhaps be extremely cheeky and ask if you might include my other $250 reward poster for the Roman Numeral Balls as well?

Best wishes and sincere thanks again.

So it turns out Ruperman is just a big troll. I'm not sure we can trust anything he says. Everyone knows there's no sunshine in England.

Hello, Didace.

It's actually been TOO hot for me these last couple of weeks, a real heatwave. A bit cooler now, though, thank goodnesss.

Best wishes.

Ruperman,

I hope you don't mind some mild critique. I find the subject fascinating, and the diagrams are great. On the other hand, I like the ineluctable use of multi-syllabic latinate vocabulary as much as anyone, and even I think it's a tidge over the top.

No one use of it is problematic, but when taken as a whole chapter, it goes beyond signature to almost parody, in my opinion. I'd suggest taking at least one fancy word from each paragraph and replacing it with a simple anglo-saxon turn of phrase, twere I your editor. Heck, I might go so far as to say from each sentence.

Why hasn't this happened yet?

^^^^^

^^^^^^

Thanks for sharing the pictures and stories of your collection, Ruperman. Awesome stuff. gl on your quest.

Kinda fun to read a little of that writing style. But rather than comment further on the style, I'll just point out on the dollar bill trick shot, going 9 rails and controlling distance within 3 inches is of course, a long shot. I'd say that shot could be done maybe 1 in 10 on a table you'd been practicing on for several hours.

Good morning, Garick.

What a superb review, sir, beautifully written and sincerely appreciated!

Furthermore, I fully accept your sentiment that my writing is maybe a touch verbose, old-fashioned even, and wholeheartedly agree such a style will probably alienate some readers. I did agonise over the issue in the early days but eventually decided as the book is a labour of love and not really a commercial venture to stay true to myself in the hope it produces a genuinely original work.

Many thanks again and kind regards.

Good morning, Isolated.

Thank you very much for those kind words, they're very much appreciated indeed.

Best wishes.

Good morning, Sparks.

Ah, and therein lies the hustle, sir. The challenge looks like a ten-to-one shot (or much longer) but in reality at the hands of an expert it is more like six-to-four. The multi-rail aspect actually makes the shot easier.

Best wishes.

Fair enough. It has certainly done the bolded. As I mentioned, it is really evocative in small doses, and I doubt this is the sort of book that many will sit down and read cover to cover, so it may work out just fine. I did find it a bit prolix when I went to read the whole chapter, though.

As a dude who used to hang on my old man's shirt tail while he strolled around snooker tables in the midwest, I lament, often, that there is not a single snooker table in metro-Phoenix, an area with more than 4 million people. MAybe I should be grateful, as I'd likely have no other interests and spend my entire life with a cue in my hand. Instead, I get my fix on flyordie.

I'd love to watch live matches. What channels broadcast them?

Hello again, everyone.

I thought a few might appreciate seing a rather special piece I have in my collection of all things snooker, pool and billiards. This snooker cue was crafted by the renowned luthier, Roger Bucknall, in the mid 1980s as a prototype. It is genuinely unique, no other telescopic cue in the world comes even close to its quality. Bucknall's client list today reads like music royalty: Keith Richards, Sting, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger etc are among those using his bespoke guitars.





To give a further example of Mr Bucknall's supreme craftmanship, take a look at the sublime work of art he created for the cover of a cue company's brochure. To carve such a beautiful and anatomically correct human hand is an admirable skill in itself, but when one learns that the cue is part of the same piece of wood I hope you'll understand we are dealing with a true master of his craft.

The cue was not simply placed into the palm afterwards; note how its splices carry on through the knuckles. Imagine starting with a single block of timber and having the insight not only to envisage what might be possible, but to then execute those thoughts with such clarity and perfection. It is extraordinary.



Best wishes, I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

wow.

This is an excellent thread ruperman.

Thank you, gentlemen, I'm glad you're enjoying the thread.

Best wishes.

Your reputation is a bit on the line here sir. I'm determining if this shot is as doable as you claim, by testing it. I'll get back to you!

But for sure, your comment that the multi-rail aspect makes it easier, makes zero sense. As does your "6 to 4" odds claim. Would be fascinated on how going multiple rails assists in speed control. I'm pretty sure you do play pool at a decent level, that right?

I could be in for an embarrassing lesson here shortly, but dang if I can figure how what you're saying is correct. Please enlighten!

If I ever obtain a pool table, pac man balls are my next purchase. Good stuff!

Sorry guys, but I gotta throw a turd in the punch bowl here.

It appears that Ruperman is a bit of a hustler himself. Indications are, unfortunately, that he doesn't play pool well, if at all, and I base that on the dollar bill 9-rail trick shot he includes in his book, as well as his response to my questioning it.

I happen to be a pretty decent pool player. Not being much of a trick shot guy, I hadn't seen the 9-rail "dollar bill" shot before. Just from looking at it, it immediately appeared pretty tough. With no research, I queried the Rupe on it, and his response sent up red flags, with his claiming "6 to 4" odds on it for an expert (uh, not 3 to 2?, lol) but more, when he stated that "the multi-rail aspect actually makes it easier." That is a patently false statement, and anyone who has played a bit a pool, would know as much. Obviously multiple rail bank shots decrease distance control, for several reasons, but suffice it to say, billiard rails don't magically correct and attenuate a ball's speed as it bounces off multiple rails. That's pretty basic. No decent pool player would say that, unless he was assuming his audience wasn't well versed in pool. Well that's not the case here, unfortunately for him.

I texted my buddy earlier, who as a GC III in his garage, and I asked him to try this shot. He's an excellent player. He texted me back after an hour of shooting the shot, "lol, who is saying this is remotely doable with any consistency?" He told me he tried it maybe 100 times, got on the dollar bill once or twice, and close a number of times, but not on it.

Then, I went to do some research and quickly discovered this is a fairly well known trick shot, and is typically used as a tie-breaker in trick shot contests, with the person getting closest to the dollar bill, winning. Of course rarely does anyone actually end up on the dollar bill. Now you can easily find youtube vids of guys making the dollar bill shot, but of course with enough takes, basically any shot under the sun can be posted as a vid - which only shows feasibility, not repeatability.

There's one youtube vid that was the most telling on this particular shot. A trick shot pro describes the shot, then he says in the video "and then you hope." He hits the shot and ends up just off the bill and says, clearly pleased with the result of being close, "that would have won the tiebreaker for sure." So you get the point, the shot is doable but entirely not repeatable with any sort of consistency, and certainly not at "6 to 4." My 10 to 1 estimate is probably pretty close for a pro, on a table he's been practicing on.

And now to the Rube. Your misunderstanding of this dollar bill shot, and your weak attempt to explain away your lack of knowledge, has severely damaged your credibility, in my mind, regarding trick shots. And now, much of what you have said previously is very much in question, including your statement about balls getting "worn," like the yellow 1 ball because it's racked at the apex. Lol, no, that's also totally wrong.

And now I get your writing style! What it lacks in content and insight, you attempt to make up in grotesquely verbose prose. It reads as quite childish frankly.

Sorry bro, you've been exposed as a charlatan.

Cool thread tho.