OT: Any shooters(pool) in here?

[nervexpro55]

Was talking with another forum member(old_fat_and_slow) about playing pool and the items that go with playing like cues-tables etc. Anybody out there a shooter and collecter of billiard items? I have been bouncing between collecting bikes and pool cues for about 35 years now. I can see alot of similarities between production-custom bikes and production-custom cues. Just like most people here once you catch the bug you can never get enough. Im not sure what i have more of bikes or cues. One day i will stop the madness, most likely when i die.
Jim

[Ken Robb]

My garage could hold a LOT more cues than bikes.

[97CSI]

Had a nice 4x8 slate-top until about 8-9 years ago. When it started turning into my bicycle maintenance work-bench I knew it was time for it to go to a new home. Don't burn many calories during a few games of 9-ball or 8-ball. Especially as one really needs a :beer: or two to play properly.

[bikemoore]

I spent several years playing on a local bar team in the Busch pool league. Had a really nice McDermott cue and enjoyed playing very much. I really liked the 8-Ball rules of league play. No arguments over whether you called the shot or what the "local" rules were. It was simple: the cue ball must strike one of your own balls first and either the cue ball or any object ball must reach a pocket or a rail. Fail to do that and its a ball-in-hand scratch. That's it. Didn't matter what kind of craziness happened as long as you met that criteria. For the shot on the 8-Ball, you had to put coaster by the pocket that you intended the ball to go in. As long as the cue ball struck the 8-ball first, it didn't matter how the ball got into that pocket.

It was funny how good I got at not losing at pool after getting my hind-end kicked every week in league play. It completely changed how I played. Every shot I essentially did a risk evaluation on the consequences of missing my shot. If a missed shot was going to result in a good leave for my opponent and I wasn't sure I could make the shot, then I chose another shot....even if the shot was more difficult to make. After playing in the league for about a year, I finally found myself playing in another bar on a normal Saturday night and found myself on the table for the entire evening without losing. It wasn't that I was that good, it was that I knew how to chip away at my side while not allowing my opponent to have any decent shots. I kept overhearing the other players complaining to their buddies that they just couldn't get any luck or any shots. I didn't tell them that they weren't getting any shots because I was intentionally not leaving them any. A solid year of the consequences of a poor leave resulting in a lost game on the next turn had taught me well.

I did have to give up the game for about 2 years when I quit smoking and couldn't go into bars or pool halls for those 2 years, but I did eventually return while staying 100% off of the smokes. Also became a cyclist in those 2 years.

Never had a table of my own and I lost the cue in a flood.

Ahhhhh....my old single days.

[beer_meister]

Nice story bikemoore.

Really enjoyed the read. Ahhh.... tha good ol' bachelor daze.

[jr59]

I have a few cues.
Mcdermott, meucci, and a carolina classic.

I use to have 100's, but I have knocked the # down some.

[Jeff N.]

Don't shoot pool like I used to, but I've got a seriously gorgeous McDermott 20th Anniversary cue, 19 oz., that I use when I do. It is one sick stick, lemme tell ya.

[Hawker]

I once saw Minnesota Fats play in person. WHAT a character and a total hustler. My father sold cars with Irving Crane (that was his day job) and "The Deacon" was quite the opposite personality...stoic and all business. A personable guy though.

[nervexpro55]

I knew there was a few of use like minded individuals on the forum, some great stories guys. After 35 years of collecting i finally got my dream table, a 9ft 1963 brunswick 6100 aka a gold crown in mint condition. As far as cues i have to many to list.