Wednesday, September 1st, 2021 -- The game I love, sport rather is pocket billiards, although any game of billiards, pockets or no pockets -- really any billiards game I like to watch. I call it a sport, because if you've ever entered one of these big, open events that pros like Johnny Archer get into, like I have, then you know you need to be an iron-man or woman grinder to make it through that kind of endurance test of pool. It's easy to get fatigued under those conditions. And you need to be able to consistently run out to have any chance at all, because everyone there can run out a lot of times, or it seems like that.
And I’ve watched so many of the greats in the game, too many to even begin to list, but just watching how they address the table and shots, I’ve learned so much about how to be a better player -- knowing full well that I could probably never play to that level, just enjoying being a top-level amateur, though probably not as good as some of the very best amateurs, as I’ve heard that in the playoffs of the APA Vegas yearly tournament, some of those players that win it are 750 Fargo rating, which is pro level, but as long as they don’t make their living playing pool, then they are still “amateur”. I will cover more in the “Jason Jones” article, where we explore the difficulty level of major amatuer events hosted by the APA, and other topics related to him, his game, some pros he’s beaten -- cool billiards stories of legend and lore, but true in reality.
Check out some of the best shots of the 2021 World Pool Championship:
The game I love has multiple colored spheres, 7 stripes (9-15), and Eight solids (1-8) for a regular type game of pocket billiards I mean, not snooker or 3 cushion or something, but the balls are various colors, as anyone that’s played the game knows, yellow for the one, solid, and yellow for the 9, stripped -- so many colors red and blue and green -- and it used to be mainly green felt, but now there are red felts, blue, and others, though I still prefer the traditional green myself. To each his own pool table color...so many options.
Check out Simonis cloth:
And then you have the tip options: hard, medium, medium-hard, medium-soft, medium, soft -- the spectrum, buffalo tips, cow hide tips, layered tips, phenolic tips -- tips for jumping, tips for masse, tips for touch, and tips for breaking, and so many brands, and even different colors, or completely clear tips -- so many choices you can customize right down to custom fabricated tips by cuemakers in some cases.
I like those Chris Renfro Tips. Check them out:
Then you have so many glove options to choose from, and price ranges, as with the tips.
I like the below glove option:
So many different kinds of chalk -- and price ranges, though I still prefer Master’s for myself -- to each his/her own. And chalk can be pricey these days, because I remember several years back and there was mainly just Master’s on the scene, and you could get a gross of 144 pieces for 19.99 on Amazon I think -- but that was several years back now.
(now 36.95):
Get Great White Chalk and thank me later…
Check the link below for the chalk I like best when I don’t have Master’s:
Carbon fiber shafts…
Check out Jacoby:
So many options for the players that love only the best equipment…
What a great day to be a pool player and fan of the game!
Check out up and coming major events at such as the US Open at Matchroom:
Follow the diverse heritage of the game as history is made throughout the year at these events, so many top players -- both male and female.
Speaking of History, check out the history of the game by Ra Dyer at:
Lots of good billiards links in this article...