The Billiards Thread

An American man has built a giant pool table in his backyard.  The spots and stripes on the felt are actually bowling balls.

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A true legend and a very fine pool player.

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Ditto the above.

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Undoubtedly the most famous pool player to ever pick up a cue.

A great money player, Rudolph Wanderone was never given the credit he deserved by his peers.

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And the man who played him on film, Jackie Gleason.  Another very fine player.

Walter Tevis, the author of The Hustler, always denied his character of Minnesota Fats was based on Wanderone.  Personally, I find this very doubtful.

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Picture preview of Pokermonsters next thread,
"Why it is impossible to impart backspin on a cueball".

Good one Liam.

The necessary sighting technique for all topspin shots.

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Coupled with the correct cue action.

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Any pics of George Michael playing pool whilst at her Majestys pleasure?

No, but here's another famous singer who is no stranger to penal establishments.

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Ah.....A boy named cue.

"It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to."  WC FIELDS.

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GREAT  picture of you on the baize Pokermonster

the green baize

I did actually meet one of the legends featured in those photographs.  I wonder if you can guess which?

Peter Sellers?

Bert Kwouk on a mountain

Surely not Fields, in a W.C.?

It was the late, great Telly.  Sadly, I didn't get to play pool with him.

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Pm, when you did the picture quiz, how do you keep the photos from prying eyes in your gallery?
Is it just the matter of setting it to private, or what?

Cheers

Yes Liam.

First, create a gallery and name it LIAMCOL. 

Upload your photographs.

Before they are approved, highlight each one (individually, not as a group) hit the EDIT icon and change its destination from the default PUBLIC GALLERY setting to LIAMCOL'S GALLERY.

Then amend the privacy setting from PUBLIC to PRIVATE.

Thanks PM, i will have a go at that later.

What could possibly go wrong?

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he could screw into the centre pocket

Do you know this man?  He was an enthusiastic billiards player.

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It is Mark Twain.

Vincent Price as Dr Anton Phibes and Valli Kemp as Vulnavia.

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A scene from one of my favourite movies, Baltimore Bullet, starring James Coburn as Nick Casey and Omar Sharif as The Deacon.

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Video clips of Five Pin Billiards.

A very popular sport in Italy and Latin America.  Tournaments carry some impressive prize money.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3NO4f8Y7sc

Rare footage of legendary pool player, Rudolph Wanderone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkaTTWK322c

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex_BuaxZ3v0

I thought I'd share this humorous tale about John Pulman, the eight times world snooker champion.  Apologies for the language.

After a particularly eventful competition in the late seventies, the players were summoned to a conference to discuss certain comments that had upset the tournament director.

"Who called the organiser a cúnt?" the director angrily demanded.

"Who called the cúnt an organiser?" John replied.

Here's a little optical illusion for your consideration.  Square R and square A are exactly the same colour.

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A scene from the original Twilight Zone episodes: The award-winning 'A Game Of Pool' starring Jack Klugman as Jessie Cardiff and Jonathon Winters as Fats.

Jonathan Winters was a very fine comedian.  I always think of him as the truck driver in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

Paul Newman in his oscar-winning role of Eddie Felson in The Color of Money.  Alongside another great actor, John Turturro.

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Another clip from the 1930 Laurel and Hardy classic, Brats.

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An 18k cueball, weighing in at 1.6kg and worth approximately £42,000.

James Coburn as Nick Casey in The Baltimore Bullet.

"Pardon me, Nick, are those your car keys, or are you just glad to see me?"
"I'm just glad to see you, darlin'. It's been a long time."
"It's been a long time for me too. Say, what's that hard thing between my breasts?"
"That's my Balabushka."
"Oh. They don't call them Johnsons anymore?"

"You wouldn't tell Fred Astaire how to dance, so don't tell Nick Casey about tits."

Here's a promotional video for Tricues:

http://www.worldsnookerinfo.net/tricues-triangular-snooker-pool-cues/

It rather lets itself down, I feel, in that the gentleman using this revolutionary device appears to be an extremely weak player.  If this is a marked improvement on his standard game, the poor fellow couldn't pot a cactus.

Just bumping a few threads I wanted to save from the upgrade.  My apologies for cluttering the forum.

Just thought I'd share the fact that I pocketed six balls from the break today; four reds and two yellows, resulting in a frame-winning clearance of just five shots.

I wonder if it's a record?

My record is eight, pokermonster, including the black, which sadly resulted in me losing the game under the local rules.

I routinely pot four or five balls from the break, have potted six a few times, never seven.

I can't honestly remember my own personal best, Jed, although I did once manage to get nine balls behind the string line.

It's satisfying when the cueball jumps back to the centre of the table and stops dead in its tracks.

I prefer to play with a two-inch cueball (instead of the regulation pub white which is an eight of an inch smaller than the colours).

I play the shot so that the cue ball smashes into the front ball, jumps back to the centre of the table, and then veers back into them again, with what some people erroneously believe is topspin

The absolute necessity of hitting this shot correctly does mean, however, that I have taken out pub windows and several innocent bystanders with my break off shot. I once even managed to land the cue ball on my girlfriend's forehead at consideable speed while she chatted to her mate at the bar.

I have a friendly match tonight with a one-armed gentleman.  Believe me when I tell you that he is still a very good player, more than capable of frame-winning clearances.

He is the only person I have seen who, when playing one-handed, does not adopt the standard spear technique for centre-table shots.  Somehow he has the remarkable ability to adopt a fairly normal crouched stance and cue laterally without a bridge hand.

How often to do scratch the white in the centre, Jed?  Once or twice in 10 for me.

I rarely scratch the white in the centre, as it does not stop there but travels through what's left of the pack if I strike the shot correctly. My main danger is the off the table shot, as above. And of course the potential damage to my left knee as I hammer my left foot on the floor at the point of contact.

I tend to ease up in proper games though rather than just pub knockabouts, as any foul shot inevitably leads to the loss of the frame.

Blimey!  You must really launch yourself into the shot, a bit like Franciso Bustamente?

I've played better players than me, but I've never played anyone who hits the break harder.

What tip-size do you favour?

10mm, but I don't really have a pool cue as such, as I am loath to insult my John Parris by using it for the smaller game.

Ah, very good.  A hair over 8mm for me. 

Even though I was a cuemaker for many years I still use the same cue I purchased on my 12th birthday for £80.

I would still be using my old Stephen Hendry-endorsed racker, if some cowson had not nicked it when I left it to be re-tipped in about 1997. Didn't play for four years I was so gutted.

I have a lovely one piece Glover cue which he made at his house when he first started out over 20 years ago. 17oz ash shaft with an ebony butt and 4 snakewood splices in the butt. A friend has been hassling me for years to sell it to him, even though I can't play anymore I won't sell it.

If someone stole my wife, I would be unhappy. If someone stole my John Parris, I'd have to kill them.

Pokermonster I dont suppose you know how much a Cuecraft Regency is worth ? I cant find out any information about it. Its a 3/4 cue and appear to be in a darkish wood rather than the lighter ash colour.

Good afternoon, Wallis.

My sincere apologies for the tardy reply, but for the past thirteen months I have explored every possible avenue in an endeavour to accurately value your Regency cue.  Now, at last, after several hundred emails, letters, telephone conversations and half a dozen trips to Yorkshire, I believe the answer is at hand.

It's worth fúck all.  Sorry.

Five clearances on the bounce from the break on Monday night, all in under twenty minutes including setting up and a bit of chit chat.  Not too shabby considering my age and the fact we play old rules where one can't swap colours.

If I can get the video off the security cameras I'll post up the footage.

Good morning, Dave,  Hope you are well, sir.

Ronnie playing well today.

A rather fetching set of Aramith Pokers from Belgium.

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An extremely rare example of the Bacardi Breezer billiard balls, almost impossible to find nowadays in perfect condition.

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They are rather fetching PM, but one wonders how a game with such balls would proceed.

I trust you are well Sir.

Good morning, Jed.  :)

I'm very well thank you.  And you, sir?

There were no instructions with the Bacardi balls, but I presume they are meant for some sort of five-player cutthroat game?  I found them in New Orleans many years ago but, rather bizarrely, they are obviously designed for the British market as they're two-inchers with a smaller cueball.

I am in unusually fine spirits.

I have been playing tonight, somewhat rusty sadly. Not oiling the action enough at the moment, too busy with other stuff. First time in a long time I've not played regularly, horrible to miss balls one should pot and not get where one wants to go every time.

It is very frustrating to be in a slump of form, especially after a time away, I always liken it to playing with somebody else's arms because that's just how it feels to me.  :)

My basic technique usually stands up quite well after a summer break to be fair, but shot selection definitely suffers from non practice.  What once was automatic becomes something to be considered and that is an absolute killer to my game.

Have you ever played Speed Pool, Jed?  Break off and pot the colours in any order and the black last?

I only mention it as I recall you had a sledgehammer break and such an asset can lead to some impressive times.  My personal best is forty-two seconds, the world record being thirty-two if memory serves.  Anyway, the other evening I missed a huge opportunity which pains me to think about now.  I broke and pocketed seven balls, five yellows and two reds.  As the two remaining yellows finished up virtually hanging in the jaws, I foolishly joined in with the general banter about it being a fluke break and chatting about how I'd be achieving the unusual feat of making an eight-ball clearance in four shots.

If I had my wits about me, of course, I should have immediately treated it as a Speed Pool attempt, using the pub security cameras as timeframe evidence.  Thirty-two seconds is a helluva target and I might have just blown the best chance I'll ever get.

Thirty-two seconds? It takes that long for the balls to stop travelling.

The rules state that only the cueball has to stop before the next shot can be played, the colours can still be rolling, hence stops and stuns are the order of the day.

I won these Johnnie Walkers in a pool tournament along with a case of Blue Label.

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Another rare set.  The Criss Cross collection from Stirling. 

Try finding a set of these anywhere online, they're still listed on a few sites but nobody has had any in stock for years.

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Best player I ever seen was Rex Williams. He was a great guy too.

Rex Williams was indeed a superb player, Mac, unbeatable on his own table in Stourbridge. 

I had a few dealings with him in the eighties and nineties and I found him and his brother, Ken, rather rude unfortunately.  Perhaps I just caught them at bad times.

He had an excellent business brain, though, I must admit.  Pioneered the game of pool in Britain, a fact for which I'm very grateful.

He may have got grumpy as he got older pokermonster or perhaps different when doing business with. I found him very amicable.

I didn't know he pioneered Pool in UK. He was World Champion in Billiards for a long time. Fair Snooker player too but Billiards was his game. Pool is a great game to play but the skill of the top players is truly magnificent.

Yes, you're probably correct, sir.  In a social setting things are different.

The Stars And Stripes.

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Some recent logos/badges created for various folks.

A nice set of early Playboys.  These were superseded quite quickly by newer designs, but never bettered.

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Here's a few random balls.

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A classic phorum thread this. Great work Pokermonster

Thank you, sir, much appreciated.

A set of these Castlemaine XXXX balls, made under licence by Aramith in Belgium, are currently offered on Ebay for £110.00.  A tad expensive, perhaps, but they are seldom seen in perfect condition.

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Here's the updated Poker Pool balls from a previous page.

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Just thought I'd bump this up to the top.

The rare examples below (apologies the image is upside down) were recently found languishing in the dark recesses of a warehouse in Mainz, Germany.  Being an avid enthusiast, I realised immediately that they were the fabled Raschigs, arguably the most desirable sets for knowledgeable players and collectors alike.  The entire consignment was quickly purchased for an absolute bargain of €400.

I'll keep one set for my personal collection and sell the remainder in America for $8,000 to $10,000 (probably nearer the higher figure).  Google will confirm this bullish estimate if anyone cares to investigate further.

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Great photos PM, especially the 1st one!

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You see how the Hustler scene has been recreated just excellent