straight_shooter526

I'm thinking about getting back into riding in the next year or so, money permitting, and I'd like to get something with a little more speed. My main question is this: How much of a factor is the rider's weight on the acceleration of any particular motorcycle? Is the rider's weight more of a factor in a lighter bike and less important with larger bikes? When they list statistics for a particular motorcycle, is there a standard weight rider that they use? If so, what would that be? I'm a bigger guy, about 230-240 pounds. How would performance be affected vs. a 150 pound rider assuming all other factors were the equal?

In the next few days I might end up buying a 42 inch LED tv. The primary purpose of the tv will to be used as a tv for watching blu-rays, streaming netflix, etc. What I wanted to know if anybody has any experience with using a tv like this one as a monitor for their PC. I'm not a gamer and I don't generally do a lot of typing, more just for general web browsing, streaming videos, etc. I imagine I would have to get a wireless keyboard/mouse if I plan to keep the tv in the entertainment center. Any thoughts on this would be helpful. Pros and cons, things to watch out for, etc.

Which if any would you consider to be performance enhancing drug(s) for the game of pool and why? Which weaknesses would be counteracted and/or which strengths would be enhanced?

The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) will be updating the world-standardized rules this year. What rules would you like to see changed, if any? Be specific, would these be general rules or rules for a specific game?

Just something that I've noticed and I'm curious if you've noticed this as well. At the amateur level, I see the dart method of jumping balls used much more frequently than at the pro level. I almost never see the pros use the dart method. I'm sure it happens. I've watched many, many matches online and on TV and it seems they nearly always use the elevated standard stroke method for jumping. Has anyone else noticed this? Is there some advantage to one method or the other? Personally, I like both. It all depends on the distance from the cue ball and the interfering ball(s).

This may sound silly, but is there any advantage whatsoever in using the diamond-shaped rack for 9-ball as opposed to the standard triangle rack? I've wondered this for years. What is the point of a separate rack just for 9-ball? If anything it just makes it more difficult to tighten up the balls and increases the risk of nudging the rack loose when removing it. I will say this, the diamond-shaped rack when turned on an angle makes a perfect rack for 7-ball. Other than this, I can see no function for it. Thoughts?

In my local 8-ball league, I am allowed to use an aftermarket racking device as long as my opponents agree to it and they are allowed to use it if they wish to. I am referring to devices such as the Delta 13 rack and the "Magic Rack", etc. In my league, we play on Valley bar boxes with the plastic racks. Do you think that an aftermarket rack would be a significant improvement for bar box 8-ball? Also, how would you feel if your opponent brought one of these to league night? Would you agree to them using it? If you let them use it, would you want to use it or would you stick to the plastic rack? Does anyone have any first hand experience on either side of this situation?

I'm looking for some examples of professional matches where one player is way, way behind the other and miraculously overcomes a huge deficit and manages to win. I'm talking like someone being down 10-2 in a race to 11 and managing to win, or a straight pool match to 200 points with a guy down 195 to -2 or something. If by any chance you have a Youtube link to any of these matches, feel free to provide it.

Forgive me if I've asked this before. We all know the requirements for a legal 8-ball rack under world-standardized (WPA, BCA, ACS, etc.) rules. 8 ball goes in the center and the back two corners must have one stripe and one solid. All other balls at random. My question is this. Have you ever tried putting all of the stripes on one side and all of the solids on the other? I have tried this a little bit lately and I've found that it has slightly increased my chances of having a runable rack, particularly on a bar table. Now, stripes and solids still end up on both sides of the table but it seems that when I rack this way, the balls that would block my routes to the pockets tend to be of the same suit, therefore they're not actually blockers. I would say racking this way has increased my break and run percentage by about 5-10%. Again, this is just someting I've briefly experimented with on one Valley bar table. I start playing in a rack-your-own league in a couple of weeks and I wondering how this would go over. It's perfectly legal, I just wonder if any of you had tried this and what results if any you have noticed.

I work in healthcare and I see this very often and only with women. If I ask them to make a fist, they curl their four fingers over their thumb, as oppossed to the standard fist which would have the thumb on the outside, covering the first 1 or 2 fingers. If someone were to actually punch something with the thumb on the inside, they would be lucky not to break their thumb. I realize that women are probably less likely to punch things in general, but seriously what if they were punching dough or something? It just seems so unnatural.

In your opinion how would the pool players of today fare playing 14.1 continuous (straight pool) against the players from the 30's-50's and vice-versa. Just for an example, Let's say we took someone from today like Thorsten Hohmann and sent them back in time to when Willie Mosconi was in his prime. Thorsten has to play with the equipment available at the time, so no Predator shafts, jump/break cues, Simonis 860 cloth, etc. Let's give Thorsten 6 months to get used to whatever cue he choses, like a Herman Rambow or whatever and to practice on the old cloth. On the flip side, lets take Willie Mosconi in his prime and transport him to the latest World Straight Pool Championship in New Jersey. We'll give Willie 6 months to try out the new shafts, jump cues, fast cloth, etc. to see if he likes any of it. How would Thorsten fare back in Willie's time and how would Willie fare today? Feel free to substitue any other straight pool players if you feel they are better representatives of straight pool for their respective eras. I chose straight pool because the power break doesn't come into play. It's pretty obvious the players of today would destroy the older players in 9-ball.

I'm a little torn. I've been playing with my regular old shaft on my playing cue and my game continues to improve year after year. One side of me says, "if it isn't broke, don't fix it". The other side says, "don't be so quick to dismiss new technology which could help my game, even if just a little bit". This brings me to the question of low-deflection shafts. As I've gotten better over the years, I've become more accustomed to adjusting my aim to compensate for squirt when using sidespin. Would a low-deflection shaft mess me up? I know there have been a million threads like this on the forums, but opinions can change over time. Any pros and cons on this topic would be appreciated.

I play 8-ball using world-standardized rules. Hence, there is no specific requirement for which ball is be placed at the head of the rack. It does not have to be the 1 ball as in IPT rules or any rotation games (9-ball, 10-ball, etc.). Which ball do you prefer to put up front? Does it depend on the color of the cloth? I know some people like to put the 6 ball up front on green cloth and the 2 ball up front on blue cloth. Do you prefer putting a stripe or a solid up front? Some people like to put the 13 ball up front for the superstitious opponents. What is your logic for selecting the head ball or do you feel that it doesn't matter at all?

This question isn't really a yes or no question. I wanted to know if you had similar experiences in your dealings with high level players. I don't mean Johnny Archer or Efren Reyes, but a top amateur, somebody like a state or regional champion. Lately I've been looking for a mentor. I've been asking around and I've met and seen a lot of very good players, but nobody really seems all that interested or enthusiastic about sharing their time or their knowledge with lesser players. A lot of the time, they have this sort of contempt for 8-ball bar box players, which is what I compete in most often. I like big tables too and I'm trying to get better at straight pool. What is your experience in this area and what advice would you give to someone in my situation who is looking for a mentor? I'm not looking for pool lessons. I regularly work with two BCA master instructors and I'm a BCA instructor myself, so I know where to go for questions about the stroke, etc. I'm thinking more of somebody whose brain I can pick about shot selection, strategy, competition, and even some mechanical things. I've been having trouble finding somebody that I can really have that chemistry with, that "taking me under his wing" kind of dynamic. I know it sounds like I'm asking a lot of somebody, and I'm sure I'll find that if I keep my eyes open. I just wanted to know if there was ever somebody like this in your life, who showed you a lot of things about pool and was somebody that you also looked up to like a friend.

How often do you think that pro players who are sponsored by a certain cue company actually would choose that particular cue as their first choice or anywhere near their first choice. For example, do you believe that Mika Immonen would choose a Mezz cue over something else, or would Thorsten Hohmann choose a Lucasi Hybrid over something else,. etc? In a nutshell, do you think the majority of pro players feel just lucky enough to have sponsorship at all and will play with whatever cue company's cue that is paying his/her entry fee?

I think it would be simpler to change the name of the "snooker and pool" category to "billiards". The term billiards refers to all cue sports, from carom games, to snooker, to pool, etc. I know a lot of people only like to use the term to refer to carom games, but it really is a catchall term. Would you be in support of a name change?

I have a black and white cue case. I'm pretty sure it's leather but it could be vinyl, I got it more because I like the look and feel of it. Anyway, I have a bunch of autographs on the white parts of the case made by a black sharpie. I still use the case all of the time and I don't plan on putting it in storage. Is there anything I can do to preserve and protect the signatures? Any chemicals or treatments you would recommend, etc?

I've never thought I would have much use for one, but I am considering getting a break cue one of these days. I'm looking for opinions based on personal experience. Do they help with accuracy, cue ball control, power, etc? Is there a noticeable improvement beyond using a regular cue? Please site specific models if possible, phenolic vs. leather tips, etc.

In your opinion, who plays faster? Does anybody know of a link to a video clip of them playing each other? Just curious.

Who do you think plays faster? Does anyone know a link to a video clip of a match that they might have played each other? Just curious.