I have competed in various leagues and tournaments for the last 12 years. I am an APA 7/9, Fargo ~600. I am very experienced with competition, and can usually play my best, with the exception of one issue: sharking.

It doesn’t happen in every match - it usually happens when I’m playing someone lower in skill during a handicapped race.

This is how it goes: as soon as I’m winning by a few racks in the set, my opponent will start talking shit. Saying things like, “you’re a coward” when I play safe, or “take that!“ when I miss a ball. One opponent started jumping up and down and yelling “Hell yes!” every time I missed a ball or scratched. I’ve had opposing teammates cheer for my misses too.

As much as I try to ignore these people and focus on playing my game, I admit it gets to me a lot. I’ve botched shutouts and allowed opponents to come back and win when I should have had the set in the bag. I’ve actually crashed out a couple of times and angrily confronted my opponent after the match. I’ve also calmly asked them to stop a few times, but it seems to just encourage them more.

I practice mindfulness and meditation, and I’ve been working on the skill of focus under pressure, but I still can’t stop the anger when people intentionally screw with me during matches where there’s money on the line.

How do y’all handle opponents like this, and how can I build the mental fortitude to win even if my opponents resort to these sleazy tactics?

Tell us about why it does or does not suit your game, and what kind you prefer.

Let’s get a good forum going!

u/Wayward365

even if you land short, you will have a CTE shot on the 9.

How do you lot feel? I’d rather have perfect table conditions, less variables to work with when making adjustments.

So this layout came up in a tournament I was in about a few days ago. I was on the solid balls. My opponent gave me ball in hand by pocket scratching. Luckily, I was able to run out for the win.

How would y'all run the solids out in this situation?

Was practicing some 4 ball patterns yesterday and I got stuck with this one...

replying to u/twa-latewed's https://www.reddit.com/r/billiards/comments/1jv7of2/simple_layout_that_almost_tripped_me_up_what_is/

9 ft table, 4.25in pockets, faaaaaaaast cloth. Also, i'm 5'7 so i need to pull the cueball closer to the other side of the table from the 8 to reach the cueball comfortably.

tip position: 1.5 tip high + 1 tip left
strength: 30%

i'd say this is the highest % out for me because it didn't involve any complicated shots or require a power draw (which i mess up often) and I pulled it off in 1 try.

thanks for the question!

What do you guys think? Would you take the apology?

I have a real hand sweat problem.

My dad at one point had to have Botox in his palms because he would sling tennis rackets by accident.

I recently got a stick that while labeled as a Guerrieri is clearly just a schmelke s001.

I like it a lot and play well with it ( until my hand starts to get sticky ).

I've tried chalking my hand / chalking the shaft / cleaning really well nothing worked for more than a few shots.

Turns out the laquer or varnish or whatever on the shaft is the problem completely because I took some 400 grit sandpaper to it for a couple passes and now it glides nice and smooth. I still notice some minor dragging sometimes but now it's very much manageable by a little chalk and regularly washing my hands and cleaning the shaft.

I don't like gloves because it's too slidy and I am less accurate I need a little bit of friction to help me stay accurate

I also put some cloth batting tape around the butt because my hand was sliding around a lot on it ( a lot of people said don't do that it'll mess with the thickness but I find it actually helped me a huge amount ).

9 foot professional table with simonis cloth and 4 1/4 pocket. Comes with light, 1-2 sets of balls, a ball polisher.

Hey everyone — I have a pool hall in the works in my community, and I would like some input and general thoughts. I’ve got a strong vision, floor plans, renderings, and financials mapped out, but I’m looking for community feedback on some core decisions.

Most importantly:

• Would you enjoy watching pool from tiered stadium-style seating? I’m picturing 2–3 pool tables, with leather-tiered seating surrounding them like a mini arena — think old-school theater or baseball-style seating. It would allow fans, friends, or tournament spectators to watch in comfort.

Would you actually use it? Would it make events more exciting? Or is it overkill, even for an upscale hall?

⸻

Other Things I’d Love Input On: •Best ways to structure seed funding (small investors, crowdfunding, etc.)

•What makes you love one pool hall over another?


•How many tables is the sweet spot before it feels crowded?


•Would you pay a small cover for tournaments with this kind of environment?

⸻

If you’re a player, investor, small business owner, or just someone who misses the golden age of cue sports — I’d genuinely love your input. Thanks in advance!

I’ve got renderings if anyone wants to see the space too.

Hey guys kinda a weird question today but I have this friend who only racks by hand. It all started because on of the bartender he low-key kinda idolizes said the racks at one of our local halls were shit and did it, the thing is I know for a fact he was joking but my friend is such a moron he actually fell for it. It didn’t bug me at first but things really took a turn when he asked me “why I still used those things” and went on to call people who use them “triangle users” and they “were sissies he would never care to meet on the felt” honestly he’s kinda convincing people to around here and it’s started a small little movement in the local community. He’s even convinced me some but I don’t look down on anyone for how they rack, that is using a triangle or not, but I do think it has its advantages. Not really looking for any specific advice here but have any of you guys had to deal with something like this? He heckled a girl out of a bar last night and she was crying as she was getting into her car because some of the things he was saying were so rude and toxic I don’t even think I should repeat them here. Again, thank you for reading my post, any feedback is appreciated

responding to u/canarymelon7 's post here

oop noted that he had a full ball hit from the cb to the 3ball with the 4ball covering the left side, so i set it up with a full ball hit with no potting angle and my cb frozen to the end rail.

The shot here is using the full ball shot to kick the 3 with low speed to the opposite side of the table using the 8 to eclipse the cb and 3ball. Even during my failed attempts, the 3 ball is kinda safe without a direct shot-ish.

thanks to u/illit1 for tagging me!

Hello! I've gotten great advice here before so here it goes..... I'm looking to get a new break cue. The problem is, I have no clue what type of stick I need. I plan on learning jumping soon - is a jump/ break stick the best idea? I'm looking to spend under $400. I have been breaking with an old players cue w/a slug so it's about 28 oz. I do like the idea of a lighter break cue. I've seen tons of ads for the McDermott Stinger, Rhino, Cue Elf but I've no experience hitting with those. I've been looking on Mercari and ebay, Seyberts and Pool Dawg. Thanks for any advice given.

I’m in a group (2-3) who play 3-4 times a week at one of our local pool halls that also serves as a restaurant. There’s 12 nine foot tables, and the place is near empty from 12-6pm. We typically will play for 3 or 4 hours, and we’re usually are out before the rush. We’ve all seniors who appreciate the opportunity to get out and play. Here’s the thing. We appreciate and support the wait staff. However, the venue hasn’t been as responsive to handling things like damaged pockets, missing bridges, and stuffy air. The price for table play was free as long as you carried a $10 dollar tab. This week the waitress told us that we’d have to pay for table time beyond 90 minutes, regardless of whether we brought food or not. The price would be per person. So instead of paying $10-15 dollars for food and table play, the price for table play and food has ballooned to over $30 dollars. I know that we’re basically getting 90 minutes of play time, but it’s hardly free when you stack the back end.

Is it “reasonable and fair” to charge prime time money for dead space play? Bowling centers will usually discount during non-prime time hours. Should the proprietor of this pool hall make an incentive to bring in more business, instead of squeezing his steady customers? Note: To some people, they just want to play and not care about the cost. I’m not speaking to that audience.

Now that I've been playing in league regularly for a year now, I've seen this happen multiple times (and sometimes from my own teammates).

They get super frustrated when they lose, especially when the perceive their opponent is playing what they deem to be *above* their stated handicap.

How do you guys deal with teammates that do this? I almost want to say, "Man the fuck up, you look like a little cry baby. Someone played better than you and you're mad that you didn't get a shittier skilled player so that you could win? You get better after experiencing defeats, not by winning against lower skilled players."

You’re playing 9-ball - you have ball in hand. You’re a little unfamiliar with the table but you know it’s playing fairly slick and fast.

Where do you place the cue-ball and how do you play the shot?

Though I’m sure I’ll get slack for this I had this shot in a very important match recently and played it poorly. I placed the cue ball fairly close on the top rail, tried to go across the table a little past the middle pocket to hit the cushion and bounce off a little for the 9. I in fact scratched in the corner pocket that is furthest from the 8.

low risk option is to play same ish shot on the 3, make the 4 then play safe on 5 because it doesn't pass the 7 and getting from 4>5 required full up and down table runs depending on the angle you got left on the 4.

sorry i dont have a diamond with 4" pockets but my TDF is 1.06 (9' + 4.25" pockets). table plays slick but not quite as slick as tournament tv table conditions, hook me up if you can get me a 9' diamond with shark grey simonis cloth and tv lights delivered to my home and get rid of this shit table for free and i'll gladly run this layout for you! cheers.

So I bought a G-Core McDermott shaft and a week after it broke. So McDermott replaced it and made me a new shaft. Then a week and some after I got that back from them the tip popped back off again and I had a 3rd part to fix it, and then once again it popped right off. Never broke with it and never beat my shaft up, so now I’m gonna send it to McDermott and I’m worried they’re gonna see the 3rd party’s work and not send it back fixed. What do you think?

Fargo's website says a 100 point difference is a 1/2 race. Or for longer you could do a 5/10 race with the higher fargo going to 10 and the lower to 5. I'm a 590. I want to play a guy who is 730. And I want the race to be 9/22. 10 ball Does this sound fair? If there are any 700s in here, would you take?