The Ultimate Guide to Buying The Best Pool Cue Stick
🎱 Talking to pool pro’s, I wrote the best tips for buying the best pool cues the smart way so you can choose your professional pool cue.
Many times we hear from some friends who enter for the first time to the billiard tables say, how do I play pool and sure you always help him to solve all his doubts, today I am going to solve some of yours.
In America when we tell friends, let’s play pool we mean 8-ball.
It is a game that consists of 16 billiard balls.
🎱 Talking to pool pro’s, I wrote the best tips for buying the best pool cues the smart way so you can choose your professional pool cue.
In a billiard game or tournament, you must decide who will make the break, in many places they call it playing the break.
You place two balls (your opponent’s #1 and yours #4) on the break line and at the same time you shoot the ball that hits the rail and when it returns the one that is closest to the other parallel rail is the one that starts the game (you won the break).
When you win the first game, it is your opponent’s turn to break, that is, the serve is alternated, if you are in a billiard tournament, otherwise, you can define how you want to do it.
You must start by building the rack or the triangle with the balls, you must place it in the middle point between the second diamond.
Many players get confused about the order of the billiard balls, don’t worry, in the image below you will find out to avoid confusion.
You must alternate between striped or solid, the 8-ball in the middle and a little trick. If you hit between the 1-ball and the 14-ball in this case, it is not important that you put the numbers the same as in the picture, only that you know how to place them.
The cue ball must be behind the shooting or serving line, in the middle or in a corner.
The trick is to hit between the 1 and 14 so that when the cue ball hits the rail it will hit the triangle of balls again and hopefully this set of caroms will pocket the 8-ball.
If you pocket the 8-ball on the break you are an instant winner, even if you have pocketed others, but make sure the cue ball doesn’t jump off the table or go into the hole, otherwise you lose.
First you must know the names of all the elements of the billiard table, know the terminology:
Some time ago, billiard balls were made of ivory, but nowadays they are manufactured with phenol resins due to their advantages over natural ones:
The billiards cue or cue stick, more specifically pool cue or just cue.
In other modalities there are 3-cushion cues, carom cues, snooker cues.
A long time ago around the sixteenth century until the beginning of the nineteenth century, the pool cue was called pool stick.
It is our tool with which we drive the cue ball or mingo to pocket object balls or make caroms depending on the type of game we are practicing.
Billiard and snooker cues average between 57 to 59 inches or 140 to 150 cm in length and are of three main types.
Two-piece pool cues are usually made of hard maple of Canadian origin, with a 0.75 to 1 inch fiberglass or phenolic resin ferrule about 19 to 25 mm long and steel binding collars and pins.
In recent years cue manufacturers are increasingly using modern materials such as fiberglass, carbon fiber, aluminum, etc. For shafts and butts.
A trend also developed towards experimentation with rubber, foam and other soft wrappings.
The tip: it is the part that makes direct contact with the balls and one of the most important. The bushings wear out over time, so they must be changed from time to time.
The ferrule: it is the white part under the tip that serves as a support.
The shaft: is where we hold the cue, the important thing is that there are some that are resistant and do not get dirty easily.
The butt: it is the part where we make the grip and below it are the designs of our cue.
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Manufacturers also offer a variety of special cues tailored to specific shots.
Some break cues are two-piece cues so that the player can convert this cue into a jump cue if he/she prefers by removing the back part.
These cues are generally known as “jump-break or break-jump”.
The massé cue is short and heavy, with a wider tip to help make massive shots.
Artistic billiard practitioners sometimes have twenty or more cues, each specifically tailored to a particular trick.
Other specialty cues have multiple sections, between which weights can be added.
Another specialization is the end extension, which can be slipped or screwed onto the normal end, to lengthen the cue and reduce dependence on the mechanical bridge.
A high quality two-piece cue with an almost invisible joint with a wooden joint, which makes it look like a cheap one-piece cue, is called a “sneaky pete”.
This type of cue can be used by a scammer to temporarily fool unsuspecting players into thinking he or she is a novice.
It has several names, they are known as violin, rest, moose head, or mechanical bridge, is an element of metal, wood or plastic, embedded in the tip of the cue. It is perfect for shots where the cue ball is too far away to hit.
Using it is better than stretching out on the table and missing the shot.
For many players it is difficult to use it correctly, here is a list of the steps:
To ensure that your cue does not suffer damage during the years it will be with you, follow these recommendations:
This serves both to set your pool cue straight and to remove dents.
Billiards used to be played on tables made of different materials such as marble, iron, but nowadays wooden and slate tables are used.
Slate is a solid rock made of many minerals, including quartz, clay and mica with a fine grain.
Slate is ideal for billiard tables because it naturally splits into wide, flat pieces and can be easily ground and polished into a perfectly flat surface.
Although heavier and more expensive than wood, slate ensures that the playing surface remains smooth and level.
Wood, as well as tabletops made of synthetic materials, can easily warp.
Because it is so durable and known to last, many manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty on a slate pool table.
Slate is available in areas all over the world, however Brazil, China, India and Italy have become known as the leading exporters of slate.
In particular, slate from the Liguarian region of Italy is traditionally considered the highest quality material for use on billiard tables, and is usually marked ‘OIS’, which stands for Original Italian Slate.
Italian slate is usually softer and therefore easier to work with.
Although much harder, Brazilian slate is also gaining favor, as it is more durable, will withstand years of heavy use, and is virtually impossible to bend or break.
In addition, due to its mineral composition, it has an extremely flat surface. With proper maintenance, a pool table with an Italian or Brazilian slate playing surface can last for generations.
The billiard table is composed of rails, cushions, a playing surface and pockets.
The rails can be inlaid with diamonds that are 1/4 in width and 1/8 in length. The diamonds are used to better measure shots with risers.
The slate is the flat part of the playing surface, upholstered with a cloth, usually green.
Famous brand name cloths are Simonis or Championship.
In the 14th century, the precursor of billiards was played on grass.
Due to inclement weather it was decided to introduce it to the castles and raise it on a table covered with a cloth whose green color was chosen to emulate the grass, for the happiness of the courtiers.
Also because it is the color that represents the lodges and the most powerful royal families in the world.
Most cloths are made from wool and a percentage of polyester or nylon.
The way the cloth is woven, the quality of the wool and the manufacturing process determine how good or bad the cloth will be.
That is, whether it will be more or less heavy and that will make the balls roll fast or slow.
Depending on how they handle the material, there are two types of cloths:
Woolen Cloth are thicker, heavier and slower, usually found on coin-operated or recreational pool tables.
Worsted Wool are thinner, faster and more expensive, they are used on competition tables.
The interlacing or braiding of the weave is perfect so that in the long run it does not create knots that alter the direction of the billiard balls.
The normal and general size for most tables is 8 feet.
The pockets have their own order and numbers according to the image.
This is for when you are playing 8-ball or 10-ball and you must choose where your object ball is going to land and you must mention in which pocket it should go.
For example, if you want to pocket the 7 ball in the right hand corner pocket you must say, 7 ball in pocket #3.
If you don’t “call” where the 7-ball is going to land it will be considered a foul and it will be your opponent’s turn.
It also happens that if you call in another pocket, for example, 5 ball in pocket #2 and it falls into pocket #1, it is a foul and it is your opponent’s turn.
This type of rule is excellent for those players who always play with luck, potra or with churros, if they don’t “sing” the ball in the right place it will be a foul and it will be your turn to shoot.
Here you will be able to develop as a great pool player no matter your level.
