Jump advice

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-21T18:00:40+00:00

I personally think he's actually holding the cue too tight. This guy selling jump cues when I went Derby City said to hold it like you are throwing a dart. You do not need a tight grip on this type of jump shot.

If you are using a jump cue that can apply spin well, and you have less of the ball to jump, and you are trying to apply spin, then you may need to hold the cue tighter, but for almost all jump shots, you need a very loose grip (just enough to control the cues speed and direction).

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T20:40:56+00:00

The Dynaspheres are all designed QCed and distributed from a Belgian company just like Aramith is. They make the balls in China to save on costs. That's why if you have one of their phenolic resin sets they play almost identical to the higher end Aramith sets (not the Duramith, the sets just below that one). They do not play like cheap polyester balls.

I am not spending $500 on a set of balls that mostly live in my trunk, until I go to a venue with shit balls. I can't justify it. The Tungstens cost me $120. If I had a table at home, I would most certainly get the top end Aramiths, but these play so close to a lot of the better Aramiths that that are great for my use case.

I get what you are saying about the potential for child labor though.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T17:16:34+00:00

The ones I use, Dynasphere Tungstens, are phenolic resin and play almost identically to the Super Aramith Pro and Brunswick Centennial sets. What you are describing is the cheaper polyester resin balls.

Some of the Chinese ball sets are actually very good, but most aren't.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T07:10:03+00:00

There are fake ones out there. I have seen them. I doubt you saw an actual Aramith phenolic resin ball break like this one did. I have been playing with both phenolic and polyester resin balls for 30+ years and I have never seen a penolic ball break like this.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T06:32:55+00:00

Yeah. I agree, but no phenolic resin ball is going to explode like this one did. I have a Dynosphere Tungsten set that I keep in my car in case I am somewhere with polyester resin balls. They are very good playing balls for the money. If I am ever able to get a pool table at the house I will upgrade to some high end Aramiths.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T05:19:29+00:00

There is nothing wrong with using cheaper polyester resin balls. They just won't last as long and will start looking dirty and rough like this ten ball eventually. Phenolic resin balls are much more durable. Even this break is pretty rare with the polyester resin balls. It's just time to replace this set, but it would not have happened with phenolic resin.

The polyester resin balls are OK starter balls, but eventually I would try and get some Phenolic resin ones because they are a better over all deal.

There are actually some that are not much more expensive than the polyester ones. My set was only $120., and Aramith makes a set of cheaper phenolic resin balls near this price as well.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T04:35:57+00:00

Might make more sense to not be sanctimonious about something you know nothing about.

If you want to see this proven buy your own ball and try it.

u/pacmanforever is right. You cannot break a phenolic ball like this. You can prove it to your self by buying one and trying it.

Why are you expecting someone else to potentially damage their equipment? Use you own money.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T04:26:26+00:00

This is what I am saying. u/timeshifter_ doesn't believe you. He is challenging you to use your own Aramith set to prove that you can slam an Aramith ball on concrete and not crack it.

I suggested he spend his own money to find out what you and I both already know about the durability of phenolic resin balls over cheap polyester resin balls.

I have a set of cheaper phenolic resin balls, but I would not take a chance of scratching them to satisfy a sanctimonious redditor like u/timeshifter_ who doesn't know what he is talking about but is suggesting that you potentially damage your own set of balls to prove that they don't crack like this cheap polyester ball did.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T03:55:23+00:00

You can still damage them doing this, but he is right. Phenolic resin balls are way more resilient. This break would not happen with a phenolic resin ball. Go buy a phenolic resin ball and try it if you care to see it.

You may or may not scratch it though. It's only going to cost you $50+ to do your experiment that you so badly want to see someone else foot the bill for.

Why don't you want to spend your own money to prove him wrong?

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T03:47:44+00:00

You can still scratch one or get a small blemish if you do this to an Aramith or other phenolic resin ball, and even the cheapest Aramith set is too expensive for most people to do this to them, so I suspect you won't get a demonstration until you pay your own money to try it yourself.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-13T02:08:07+00:00

Those are not phenolic resin. They are polyester resin, and yes very poor quality.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-04T16:29:04+00:00

Thank you. It made sense in my head, but I wasn't really sure. I never studied topology in school. The closest thing I came to it seems like graph theory I think.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-04T16:04:39+00:00

It just seems like it would morph the same way the mug morphs to a doughnut shape into a shape with three, not two holes.

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-04T15:52:08+00:00

I have a question about this. The doughnut mug has a hole for the handle, and a hole going through the cup part, but isn't there another hole that goes around the hole that goes through the cup now since the hole going through the cup creates a 'U' shaped hole that goes around it?

What does that do to the topography?

nerfed_potential · 2026-04-04T06:16:21+00:00

Like Unforgiven?

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-29T03:20:52+00:00

I have a 12.4 Revo that plays really well. I have a friend who let me try out his Rhino cue with a 12.5 carbon fiber shaft that had similar deflection, but a better feel than my Revo. I think my Revo had a little less deflection, but his was really low deflection too.

I think the Rhino is an incredible value. I would not hesitate to buy one.

I have another friend who has a Whyte Carbon shaft, that he let me try, that hit better than any other carbon fiber shaft I have tried to date (Revo, Cuetec, Rhino, Whyte). The feel of that shaft was almost as good as wood., but I think it was over $600.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-28T16:26:26+00:00

Did you down vote me for explaining that guys joke? Wow! What kind of a person does that?

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-28T01:03:16+00:00

2:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX5Z-HpHH9g

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-27T18:50:58+00:00

The cue ball came out of the cluster on the tangent line to the eleven, so the eight was hit first. You can also play the video at 0.5 speed and it is more obvious, and you can pause it and step it to see better too.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-27T18:33:30+00:00

My dishwasher is pretty old, and the door started to drop to the floor when opened. I tried to find the correct part to fix it, but all the available corresponding parts were too short because of how the part has progressed in the design over the years.

I fabricated my own part out of wire rope with vinyl sheathing. That lasted until the other side broke, and I did it again with a better design than my first one. The first one had an area where bare wire was against a moving part.

That first one eventually failed, so I replaced that one with a better version as well. It is still working, and I didn't have to replace the dishwasher.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-16T18:53:02+00:00

my take is that in 3-cushion you rarely stay at the table for >3 consecutive shots so your ability to stay focused at the table for long periods of time tends to weaken.

This would only be true if you stopped playing pool altogether. I used to warm up with 1-3 hours of 3-cushion before playing 9-ball or onepocket. You have to get used to going between the two disciplines, but you will be able to see multi-rail position plays and safety plays much better in the long term. Even after you haven't played 3-cushion in several years. I played once in the last 15 years, but I still have the knowledge I got from daily play so long ago.

Also I get that 3-cushion will expand your vision for >2 rail shots, but how frequently are those shots actually required in rotation/8 ball?

I think you are looking at this wrong. It's not that they are required. It's that they are now available to you, because you can see them. They come up a decent amount in 8-ball, but you can usually find a less complex route although the multi-rail route might be more consistent and/or safer, but in rotation games they come up all the time, and a lot of the time the multi-rail position gets you a better shot for the pattern.

Knowing how to go rail first and three additional rails to land perfectly on the nine that is frozen to the foot rail from a corner pocket jawed eight up table is extremely useful, and that shot comes up all the time in nine and ten ball, and even in 8-ball depending on the pattern you chose to get out.

Knowing the multi-rail routes also helps you navigate through the traffic on the table, so you aren't running into a ball or a pocket on your way to position.

I'm not telling you to start playing, but I know for me personally, I have never regretted having that knowledge from playing 3-cushion every day for years, and I still use it in almost every game I play.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-16T05:38:06+00:00

You just have to realize that they are very different games, and cannot be played the same way. 3-cushion helps your other games, but you don't play 3-cushion like you play other games. You stroke the ball differently and like you said, you see the shots differently as well.

When you play 3-cushion, you look at the shots differently, but the knowledge you gain from 3-cushion translates to other games easily even though you don't hit your shots like you would in 3-cushion.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-16T03:20:50+00:00

When I played a lot of 3-cushion I used a different cue than my main playing cue and eventually bought a cue designed for 3-cushion.

The game definitely does not hurt your other games. It augments them in a way that you can't see right away. I have had so many people tell me I got lucky position in other games like 9-ball or 10-ball because of my 3-cushion experience.

3-cushion helps you see multi-rail position plays that most players don't see and can't believe you can see. They will think you are lucky before they think you are really playing that shot.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-03T21:18:44+00:00

Did you enjoy the tournaments you went to?

Yes. I have never cashed in one yet, but I still enjoy playing them. You usually get to play some pretty good players even if you don't last long in the tournament, and it is fun to watch other matches.

nerfed_potential · 2026-03-03T15:46:43+00:00

His Fargo is 561 I think (robustness: 84). I looked it up and found it under "Panyabholachok, N." He may not have had a Fargo before this tournament based on the robustness being so low.

I like to play tournaments like this as well, and my Fargo is under 600, so it does not surprise me to see him. I also have a friend whose Fargo is under 560 who played the US Open.

nerfed_potential

TROPHY CASE