Azbilliards

The item is the corner rail cap (I guess I could get the center pieces done as well) on a certain model of pool table. Here is a forum posting about it (this is not my posting):
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/i-need-your-help.156201/
This seems to be Unobtainium, with only a very cheapy plastic replacement available.
I guess there are 2 ways I could go about this:
[1] hire a professional to recast them (or 3-D print them)
[2] get the equipment to make it myself - I presume that I could get someone to scan the item to get the shape data needed to make a cast (or the negative of a cast?)
I presume that the upfront cost for [1] would be extraordinary, but for [2], I would be doing the labor for free, and have the equipment to do other casting things and doing some black oxide finishing, etc. Obviously at the very least, I would need some kind of super-hot oven (I don't want to be doing anything that involves pouring molten metal) that would work by me putting bronze chips (?) in a cast, then putting the cast into the oven, and then letting it cool sufficiently before I take it out. I don't even know if this is possible.
So I would like any advice here.

Have had a pool table for several years now, and, one of the issues that I've had is that the pockets on my table seem to consistently and frequently chip pool balls. The pockets are leather, and, I can't find any indication of exposed staples for the cloth, or exposed nail heads on pocket facings, etc.
Started off with a set of Aramith Super Pros, and, these honestly held up pretty terribly. Purchased from Amazon, from what I can tell, these were genuine.
Recently got tired of playing with a battered set, so, purchased the Dynasphere Bronze set. Before using for the first time, I put adhesive felt furniture pads in all of the pockets, in any spot that I thought could possibly damage a ball. Played 5 games or so, and, a few balls already have indentations in them.
What I've come to determine is, I believe that the balls are being damaged from the actual slate edge of the pocket. I've now cut ~2" felt strips and lined this edge in all of of my pockets, then tested all pockets by using a break cue and hitting a cheap set of polyester balls into each pocket, and this seems to be the culprit.
So, my question is, why did I have this issue, and is it common? Was this a bad table/felt install, in that, perhaps the slate edge should have extra cloth or other padding? I can't seem to find much around this from searching here, AZBilliards, etc -- the only thing that I've found to this end is this YT video https://youtu.be/7OHW7f9v9cM .
Images are here https://imgur.com/a/sa0BLch .
Edit: was able to capture this happening. It is the leather corners of the pocket. This is the only culprit that I've found. Video https://imgur.com/a/5DVHfSa .

A lot has been said about 'milk duds' on billiards and azbilliards.
After looking through that I got into pressing (14mm) Elk Masters and I think I've found something good:
2g Casein powder
10g Water
I soak mine for 24 hours. They swell from an original height of 6mm to about 9mm. I put them in a metal and nylon collar before pressing for 48 hours. It makes it easier to press to a consistent thickness. The collar also keeps the tip from squeezing outward in the press. This results in a pressed tip that is 6mm tall with sides at 3.5mm. I've made two like this and I think it's about where I want it. Medium hit, shapes and takes chalk well, doesn't mushroom.
Just like I do with a regular Elk Master, I wipe a thin coat of super glue on the wall of the mounted tip and knock it down with 600/1000 grit.
I will soak about 3 tips in the 2g Casein/10g water mix.
Anyone else pressing EMs right now?
What (if anything) do you soak the tips in?
What thickness do you prefer to press to?

Tried to make an account on forums.azbilliards.com, verified my email more than a week ago and this message is still present at the top of the page:
"Your account is currently awaiting approval by an administrator. You will receive an email when a decision has been taken."
Any advice on how to deal with this from an AZ Billiards forum member? Is it standard procedure to have your account nerfed for weeks before being approved? I can't comment, post, or DM until my account is approved.
** Update *\* It looks like a similar thread pops up every couple of years. Full disclosure, many people here and in the actual forum have mentioned it can take between a few weeks to a few years to get approved to post. It's been two weeks and I haven't been approved. The options for speeding up verification are:

1. Using the Contact Us feature at the bottom of the forum page
2. Emailing [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) directly
3. Tagging / reaching out to Mike (u/azhousepro) who owns AZ Billiards

It would be good for something like this list to be included in the billiards wiki, since the AZ Billiards Forums have over 40k registered members and this same question pops up on Reddit occasionally.
** Update 2*\*
Finally got approved, took about a month. Got a response from using the Contact Us button at the bottom of the main forum page about once a week. That seems to be the best way to do it, just wait it out and good luck.
​

Hello guys I have 2 predator 314/2 shafts and both ferrules are cracked. On forums like azbilliards, I’ve read that once the ferrule is changed,shaft’s technology is gone and it starts to play like a regular maple shaft. Is that correct? Has anybody ever heard or experienced something like that?

Story time~

You know how facebook reminds you about some old thing you posted? I'd made a long post about a disastrous match in 2016, and I thought it'd be fun to revisit, for those who missed it.
At the tail end of 2015, Ko Pin Yi was killing it. Earlier that year he won the World 10b, and in late fall he won the World 9b, plus the WCOP (partnered with Chang Yu-Lung). He was climbing the Fargo rankings, probably around #5 (he's currently #10). So in January 2016, he agrees to play a money match with Dennis Orcollo, which is billed as a $20,000 match.
By now, we know the drill: the number advertised isn't the actual bet, it's the amount 'in the middle'. I never liked that, it's misleading - if I bet 10k, I win or lose 10k. You can argue that the instant I agree to the bet, I've locked up $10,000 of my money, and I get it back (plus extra) if I win. But players/backers cancel money matches all the time, and that "locked up" money goes right back in their wallets. Actually it never left. Back in 2016, I (and some others) thought it was a 20k bet. But that isn't the problem.
The players, backers, and venue arrange a typical format - race to 100, spread out over 3 days, PPV livestream for $25. So far so good.
The day of the match, Ko's backer doesn't have the money, maybe doesn't even show up. He leaves Ko stuck at the venue, dick in hand, committed to a three-day-long set, with no money to bet. People who bought the live stream are unaware, they're expecting a great match with a 5-figure bet adding pressure. The streamers and remaining backer don't want to refund the live stream money, so they convince the players to go through with it anyway, for less money. Something like $5,000... not each, in the middle. Dennis' backer, John French puts up only $1000, the owner of the venue another $1000, and Dennis puts up $500 of his own, so there's his $2,500 "entry fee". Ko rounded up 2500 from some group (not sure of details). BTW, credit to ceezaleez for the info.
The smaller bet doesn't mean they didn't play hard, but the issue is: Nobody informs the viewers. They let everyone think it's a "$20,000" money match.
This matters. People side bet on these matches. I think Justin C., the man behind The Action Report, explained it best in this post. These PPV matches need to disclose stuff like this. They can't afford to deceive and piss off their core audience, because pool doesn't have a lot of hardcore fans willing to pay just to watch it. And those people will still tune in, even for a lower bet, for world-class players. As one guy put it - "I'd watch if they were playing for dinner."
Day 2 of the match: John French is jabbering away in the commentary booth, making the pay-per-view experience kinda shittier than it needs to be, because he's heavily invested in one side, openly rooting for Dennis, talking about how great he is. French doesn't discuss the gameplay, he doesn't seem to know much about it. I don't know if he even plays. He enjoys bragging about what an action junkie he is, how his players always step up, says he's side betting a few hundred on random racks, yadda yadda. The whole time, he never mentions that the bet has changed, and neither do 4 other people who pop into the booth. A lot of people HATED hearing this guy talk. You can watch the match on youtube, and judge for yourself. A lot of mute buttons got clicked.
Day 3: rumors are flying that the match is actually just for $2,500 a man. It's not nothing, but at the time these guys were making about $100,000 a year. There were plenty of opportunities to mention the changed bet, but nobody does. A few hours before the end of the match, French excitedly announces that he's adding another player to his stable. Rumors fly that the other player, is the guy who is currently losing this match. Later, we find out he meant someone else. But then we find out that he's ALSO planning on backing the guy who's losing the current match... for an upcoming event.
This causes instant and lingering suspicion. Obviously, a backer can't have both sides of a money match. So French writes a wall of text about it on AZB. If you're dying to read it properly, here's a formatted link. The tl;dr is: French says he was approached by the Ko Brothers over a month before the match, but decided not to back them because he 'thought they were kidding'. Then they approach him again, mid-match, which seems weird. You're in a money match and losing, but it's close, and instead of focusing on the set... you grab your brother an interpreter, and decide to hash out a deal with the guy who's backing your opponent? That can't wait until after the set?
People are now suspicious about French, they don't want to side bet on any matches he's involved in. Or even get the PPV. The official announcement that he's backing the Ko brothers appears just one day after the match with Dennis. There's also rumors french got about 80% of the pay per view money, even though he misled viewers and was annoying them with his antics in the booth. Prior to the match, people were saying he's a standup guy. But now, not so much.

The drama escalates

OK, the Ko match wasn't really what it was hyped up to be. Is someone gonna step up to play the world #1, Shane Van Boening? If anyone's wondering, a 19-year old monster from Germany is still 2 years from winning his first major, and Fedor is barely on the radar, so SVB is the man to beat.
French announces he's putting up backing for a $50,000 money match between SVB and Dennis Orcollo. The PPV is announced, we get the usual poster (naturally, it shows double the actual bet).
A week before it's set to happen, the match is abruptly cancelled.
We get some rumors, and then the full story the next day. You can see my post on it, or this much more thorough AZ post by the Sword brothers, who are respected backers in the pool world. Better yet, hear it from Dennis himself. If you want some more ABR for your listening pleasure, there's other episodes discussing/featuring Mr. French.
The tl;dr: Not only did French deceive the viewers about the money in the middle, he let Dennis play the whole set under the false impression he was shooting for $50,000. Dennis didn't know it was reduced to $2,500. And French didn't give Dennis a dime of that. He handed him $750 from the stream money. This obviously pissed off Dennis. When he gets back to Illinois, he decides to ditch French and head to St. Louis, where he meets Roberto Gomez and Justin Bergman. He stays with them.
When DCC rolls around, he gets a free hotel room as a perk for winning the all-around the year before. At this point, the match with SVB is still on, and he thinks the money has been posted already so he can't really back out, even though his backer pulled this shit. French tried to book too, but they're sold out, so he just tells Dennis (paraphrasing) 'hey, I'm staying with you'. Dennis says (paraphrasing) 'no fucking thanks'. To avoid conflict (and French), Dennis just gives him the room and stays with Justin, Roberto, and Sky. And this is when the subject of Dennis' contract with JF comes up.
Contract?
Yes. French had a written contract to back a pool player. Backing players may not even be entirely legal in some states, depending on various conditions. But anyway, the Swords had a look at the contract, and it was absolute horseshit. Verbally, French told Dennis he wanted to make a DVD with him, and the contract would give Dennis half of the DVD profits. In writing, Dennis was agreeing to something very different. Bear in mind, Dennis dropped out of school at age 9 in the Phillippines. He spoke decent English in 2015. But he didn't read it well. He was agreeing to give French 50% of "any and all compensation received as a professional pool and billiards player, including but not limited to, salary, endorsements, winnings, calcuttas, compensation, video royalties, and any other royalties." FOR TEN YEARS.
Ridiculously, on the same day that the Swords posted the inside scoop, French posted a scan of the actual contract. Being utterly tonedeaf, JF tried to portray Dennis as the bad guy. "This is the deal with Dennis. He did not honor this contract so how do I trust was I suppose to trust him in Beloit if he didn't follow through at DCC. Would you put money up behind someone knowing you will never see a dime."
When he realized public opinion was against him, and his contract was probably unenforceable, he removed the scan from his post. So my quote above is from the Swords, who saw the physical document.
Dennis was even more pissed at French, but he was ready to fill his obligation to play SVB, believing the money was posted.

It gets worse

Not only was the money not posted, there apparently never was any money.
In fact, rewinding a bit... Dennis never really wanted serious backing from this guy. French was chasing after him from the start. Dennis was willing to let him back him in some mini events and small-stakes matches, but for for the major events, Dennis had a Filipino backer who he'd worked with for years. Dennis would never do anything to wreck their arrangement. When French started loudly announcing he was Dennis' backer, it really pissed Dennis off.
In fact 2, electric boogaloo: The DVD thing wasn't a misunderstanding or language issue. According to Jay Helfer, it was deliberate. As Dennis was being picked up from the airport, he was told the DVD producer needed a signed agreement, and French happened to have "the producer's" contract on-hand, and pestered Dennis into signing even though he didn't understand it. French also lied about the little backing he did provide Dennis. He claimed he gave him $6500 for exenses, it was more like $1300. He claimed to have fronted Dennis 10k for the upcoming match, he didn't. He actually begged Dennis to get him some Tiger cues (Dennis was sponsored by them) and Dennis, having a few to spare, gave him a couple (valued at $5,000 wholesale, I guess the plan was to flip them). But JF, not satisfied, asked Dennis to get his next sponsor paycheck in cues instead of cash. Dennis did this as a favor to French, willing to give him a cue or two, though French kept pushing for all of them (Dennis got 8 in total). John DID back dennis in some cash games, but they were pretty lousy games... tough enough that Dennis lost more than he won. So Dennis felt some obligation to him (even though backers know they're taking a risk) and ended up giving French 5% of his winnings from DCC. Which worked out to $700.
So what about this "$10,000"? At this point I should say: I'm a little unclear on the timing and who knew what. But from the sound of it, SVB was planning on playing for a $10,000 appearance fee (which he received much earlier), plus $5000 later from the gate fees. Dennis was told he could get the same deal, and negotiated 40% of the stream in addition. Dennis never got the 10k. He never got the money from the cues either.
In fact 3, tokyo drift: Justin Bergman chimed in about French: "Everything John French said was a lie [...] I can tell everyone 1000% John French is trying to take advantage of Dennis. He bought me in a calcutta once and told me he was going to give me half and ended up giving around 1-2 percent. He is a liar and greedy backer. He also owes a good friend of mine $13,000 and stiffed him [so he] gave him a Schon cue worth $1,500 and thinks they are even because Frenchy told him it's worth $13,000. [...] That is the John French I know."
So anyway - Dennis vs. SVB. Before the match, Dennis was told by JF that there was no $50,000 bet between the backers. At least not on French's side. SVB's backer was probably ready to post. So if they played, it sounds like the payout would be the same win or lose, which obviously changes how people perceive the match, and maybe changes how the participants play. Shane saw that there were a lot of comments from Facebook questioning whether this match was legitimate. He asked about it, and found out that the JF's money hadn't been posted yet. He also found out that payments for the PPV of this upcoming match, were going straight to French. SVB decided to call it off. He didn't need to wreck his reputation by getting involved in something people thought was a scam. And Dennis felt the same way, and was glad to be rid of French.
This meant after wasting many hours practicing his break, and travelling... and after a lot of people booked plane tickets and hotel rooms, and after the room owner set everything up... everything was cancelled.
The only upside to all of this is that it became clear these guys were still willing to play each other a long race for a bag of money, as long as everything was on the square. And they eventually did play some long races to 100+.
I don't think French is heard from much these days.

I just don’t get it when you have a moderator spewing hate.

I requested access to the forums a couple of weeks ago, confirmed my email, and still waiting for an admin to approve my account. Is AZbilliards still active? Thanks!

I created an azbilliards account weeks ago to participate in the forums, but my account has yet to be approved by a moderator. I've used the Contact Us form a couple times and get no response. What else can I do?

small chance I'm wrong but the website has delisted all buy-able items and Mike Howerton of AZB said he'd have more info soon.
https://forums.azbilliards.com/threads/ob-cues-shut-down.549375/

We're so bad at nicknames.
SVB still gets called south dakota kid but he's about 40 and looks it. AZbilliards has Skyler as "Sky". Billy Thorpe... to be honest I like Thorpedo but only because it's so dumb it's genius.
Jayson Shaw had an unoriginal but reasonable nickname, "Eagle Eye", but I keep seeing stuff like "Mr. 503/714". Surely we can do better than "Mr + [High Run]". That's just ripping off Mr. 400, which was a catchy nickname because he ran such a round number. Saying Mister 714 feels like calling the rapper 52 cent.
I saw "Fire Dragon" for Chang recently. I'm betting an American came up with that. Calling an Asian guy ____ Dragon is like naming your restaurant Hunan Garden.
Earl the Pearl... it rhymes but does Earl make you think of pearls? Of wealth and elegance? Are pearls scary or dominant? Some of the older nicknames are ok. Black Widow and Scorpion at least sound deadly.
But look at Pinoy nicknames:
The Black Tiger. The Giant Killer.
Robocop - it's perfect when you see Dennis' demeanor at the table. "The Lion", for Alex, is a much more sensible rhyme than The Pearl is for Earl. Django, so odd but I guess he looks like Franco Nero? Or some other actor from those movies. It's memorable anyway.
BAD KOI. Doesn't he look like a naughty koi you don't want your daughter to fall in love with?
How metal is The Slayer? They didn't sit there thinking... "hrm, what rhymes with corteza... cabeza? That works. Yeah, he'll be Lee Van 'the cabeza' Corteza." no, they said "what sounds badass? How about SLAYER."
Jerico "The Blacksmith" Banares. Jeffrey "The Bull" De Luna. Roberto "Superman" Gomez. Warren "Warren Kiamco" Kiamco. These are all suitably manly and scary nicknames. No concern about rhymes.
Why are our nicknames so lame?

Whether big or small, just anything fun? Either your own or something you witnessed?
I remember back in 2014, I went to the Super Billiards Expo. I was just hanging out in one of the practice rooms watching a kid who was maybe 15 or so gambling this mean looking fellow. The kid was talking all sorts of shit with his high pitch voice and lisp lol. The guy was getting annoyed (but wasn't tilted) and tried to tell the kid that he should really stop. I think he said "I'm fine with it, but someone else may do something harmful. Kid just kept up until Mika walked into the room. He dropped the shit talking act and started fanboying over Mika lol. Mika didn't see anyone to play in there, turned around and walked out, and the kid just started the shit talking again. He won the set for maybe $50 or so? Can't remember but it was a small set. The other guy just packed up his stuff and left.
Found out later the kid is someone named Thomas Rice out of NYC. He was the youngest player to ever win a predator pro tour tournament. Despite the rightfully juvenile smack talk, the kid's skill was insane. It's like he couldn't miss.
Walking around the expo more, it was crazy the amount of kids that were trying to gamble with adults and pros haha. Seems like they're all children of pool room owners, and all used predator shafts.

Some backstory: Jayson Shaw made a world-record 14.1 high run, in an event run by Bobby Chamberlain, a pro player who loves straight pool. The high run was judged to be 714 balls. After the run, Bobby reviewed the video, and submitted it to the BCA for verification.
The BCA noticed that on the 45th shot, Shaw's cue shaft nudged a ball he was bridging over. Video: https://imgur.com/a/ZoplAQg In tournament straight pool, this is a foul. So the BCA ruled that only balls after the 45th could be counted. This worked out to a run of 669, which is still a world record.
Shaw, in an interview, said there are 'zero rules' for 14.1 exhibitions, implying his record should stand at 714.
My first though on hearing this is... you gotta either laugh or cry for Bobby C. because he made a ton of merchandise relating to this run, and they all have an (arguably) invalid number on them - Custom printed DVD's, a USB drive, a special case for the drive, jerseys, a certificate of authenticity, signed cue balls... they all have '714' on them. He even proclaimed Shaw "Mr. 714".
Further, Bobby can't argue that the 714 is the "real" run, despite the BCA's claim, because he made very strong statements in the past about counting fouls in 14.1 exhibition runs. When John Schmidt ran a new personal best of 434, Bobby posted this on AZbilliards:
"Here is the facts. Check out the shot at 21:28 https://youtu.be/lf9hRHdA0A8 . The 7 ball moves when he places his bridge hand down on the table. All straight pool events are all ball fouls and always have been with NO exception so high runs are the same rule. I kind of know this from 30+ years of playing straight pool and playing in the World Championships quite a few times.
So to be clear to everyone John made 434 balls in a row but he DID NOT run 434 balls in a row. His run 100% stopped when he fouled the 7 ball. That's the rule and that's the outcome. His run started again with the next break ball in the next rack. So his run is -122 for a total of 312 for his run NOT 434. If John disputes this or if John claims that his 434 is legitimate than he is clearly cheating."
So under Bobby's stricter rules, the run shouldn't even be 669, because the rest of Shaw's 4th rack should be invalidated. It should be 657. All of this directly contradicts what Shaw claims in the interview.
While digging through that old AZ thread, I see several posts that aged well. Or not so well.
https://i.imgur.com/jSbjA5O.png - Alstl was right, but it was the guy below him who put up the money. Even though that guy sounds like he doesn't respect the idea of setting up a table and trying for weeks to break the record.
https://i.imgur.com/I5wejdm.png - Easy-E's post reminds us that it was hardly worth arguing until someone broke Mosconi's record. And now that day is here.
Oh yeah, here's the poll. How do you think this should be handled?
https://strawpoll.com/polls/xVg7dOazQZr

I haven't seen the full video yet, as I just realized it was happening and I've come in about an hour late. But I guess at some point during the certification process, the BCA found issues with the run. In addition to this, Bobby said they also took issue with when the balls were being cleaned. As a result, the ball count was lowered to 669. Jayson still holds the record, just not as 714. I guess Jasyon has said it's cool, because he'll come back and beat it anyway.
An article was shared by the crew from Cue It Up, and an article from AZBilliards was shared, which states the following:

On January 18, 2022 Jayson Shaw after 5 days and 122 attempts in which Shaw produced high runs of 380, 397, 407 and 714 set the new 14.1 exhibition straight pool high run record.
Shaw’s record-breaking run, recorded on video, lasted 2 hours and 39 minutes. After review of the unedited video by a BCA committee of 5 people it was noted that on the 45th ball, Jayson Shaw inadvertently touched an object ball.
After another BCA rules and regulations committee meeting, it was determined in order to maintain the integrity of this and future high-run attempts that the World-Standardized Rules for tournaments of all ball fouls should and would be noted. As such, the Billiard Congress of America has certified and is proud to acknowledge Jayson Shaw’s 669 run as the new 14.1 exhibition record.

I ended up having to do an at home re-tipping of my cue the other day. The Morri tip I had installed (which was my first attempt at a tip replacement) was working fine but unfortunately while I was trying to cut the excess off to get flush with the ferule I accidentally gouged a layer on my first or 2nd cut, which unfortunately made it hard to get the tip to shape properly and I got tired of trying, and ended up at the gouged layer which really messed with it's accuracy and play.
So I decided to put on my spare Kamui medium tip - I attempted to record my efforts to maybe put on youtube. But when I got to the point of cutting away the excess tip with my box cutter blade I considered using my 20.00 dollar HyperTough rotary tool with a sanding disk, but decided to give the blade a go first - that got old fast so I decided to try the rotary tool. I kept the speed at like a 3 and was super careful but it made pretty quick work of getting the tip down flush with the ferule - it did take 2 sanding disks, but I was using the ones that came with the kit and they were pretty flimsy. I didn't use the tool to actually shape the tip.
So I saw one post on AZbilliards that someone uses a cordless dremel to do tip replacements at a pool hall but they didn't go into a lot of detail so I figured I'd ask here if anyone else uses or has used a rotary tool when then replace tips and if there are any pointers or certain shaped bits that are good to use for cue-tip stuff such as cutting away excess , getting the tip mostly shaped down, etc.
Thanks for reading!

I ended up having to do an at home re-tipping of my cue yesterday. The Morri tip I had installed (which was my first attempt at a tip replacement) was working fine but unfortunately while I was trying to cut the excess off to get flush with the ferule I accidentally gouged a layer on my first or 2nd cut, which unfortunately made it hard to get the tip to shape properly and I got tired of trying, and ended up at the gouged layer which really messed with it's accuracy and play.
So I decided to put on my spare Kamui medium tip - I attempted to record my efforts to maybe put on youtube. But when I got to the point of cutting away the excess tip with my box cutter blade I considered using my 20.00 dollar HyperTough rotary tool with a sanding disk, but decided to give the blade a go first - that got old fast so I decided to try the rotary tool. I kept the speed at like a 3 and was super careful but it made pretty quick work of getting the tip down flush with the ferule - it did take 2 sanding disks, but I was using the ones that came with the kit and they were pretty flimsy. I didn't use the tool to actually shape the tip.
So I saw one post on AZbilliards that someone uses a cordless dremel to do tip replacements at a pool hall but they didn't go into a lot of detail so I figured I'd ask here if anyone else uses or has used a rotary tool when then replace tips and if there are any pointers or certain shaped bits that are good to use for cue-tip stuff such as cutting away excess , getting the tip mostly shaped down, etc.
Thanks for reading!

Livestream has restarted here:
https://www.facebook.com/UpStateAL/videos/459299419202249
--- ORIGINAL POST ---
If anyone is interested in watching it live, it's being livestreamed on Facebook here:
https://www.facebook.com/UpStateAL/videos/914415952609816
All information (Brackets, Live scores, etc...) can be found here:
https://www.azbilliards.com/turning-stone-classic-xxxiv-live-scores/?fbclid=IwAR1ziUZZhPBG23LB8Fak-AWAHXZEYD2AoShJraR9AVJt4QozrlSQrik_Zos

So ive seen no information or reviews except one post on azbilliards. Does anyone own the new Predator aspire series? It has a mini radial do you think this would make the normal radial joint worse and come loose like the uniloc quick release joint? I am interested in this cue but there is no information out there.

I noticed that recent Omega Billiards streams had some nice stats, not just the fargo ratings and odds, or the TPA, but stuff like runouts, longest win streak, balls on the break, etc.
The stat screen is a great idea for these long races. I think it really adds something. In the past, the only stats you'd see were from one dude on AZbilliards, who would post some after the match concluded.
Anyway, I checked out the website for the guys who keep these stats (www.digitalpool.com) and there's some great info there, most of which has a graph that makes it easier to spot the areas where a player's performance really stands out. After checking out the site, I found a contact link and sent in a few comments. I was pleasantly surprised that they responded right away and actually listen to feedback.
For example, I suggested that instead of showing misses as a percentage of both players' total (i.e. "Shane had 42% of the misses and Sky had 58%") ... they should show misses as a percentage of attempts (Shane missed 2.5% of the shots he tried to make, Sky missed 4%).
Within hours of that email, the change appeared on the livestream I was watching, which was a pleasant surprise. When I've sent constructive feedback to, say, streaming companies... the response is never "good idea" or "hmm, maybe we'll try that next time" it's more like... "nobody else has a problem with how we do it".
It's not just stats... they track tournaments and show payouts, schedule, full bracket, fargo ratings, movement up or down the ranks, the exact win/loss breakdown for every set, everyone's win rate, and more.
Anyway, the page is worth checking out. They've covered a lot of the recent big money matches, going back to June (SVB vs. Orcollo). Here's stats from Shane vs. Chang Jung-Lin: https://digitalpool.com/matches/shane-van-boening-vs-chang-jung-lin/stats
Some interesting bits:
• 5 lead changes. Close match most of the way.
• Chang had a 13-2 win streak pretty early, SVB hit him with 18-4 a bit later. Then Chang fights back with a streak of 8 wins, then almost right away, ten in a row. Shane respods with 11 in a row. On the day it was originally slated to wrap up, Chang was well ahead, but around 4 AM Shane catches his famous gear (they show exact times for each win) and outscores Chang 11-3 to tie it up before they negotiate a 4th day.
• The final day, hopefully not a spoiler by now, was brutal for Chang. Shane got a lead and never let go of it. Near the end, he had a few streaks and outscored Chang 27-10.
• Out of 1,244 shot attempts, Shane only missed 29 balls. Some of these were probably jumps and 2-ways. That's about 2.3%. Chang missed about 3.6% of his shots.
To give you an idea of sick this is... waaaaay back in the day, a small company called Accu-stats used to put out a newsletter tracking similar stats for major pool tournaments in the 80's. They eventually evolved to filming the tournaments and selling VHS, then DVD's, then internet streams. Now they also put on some great events. Anyway, they tracked the miss percentage for the 20 best players, over the course of several tournaments (including the US Open). Most of these players had over 1000 shots recorded. The absolute best of them, Mike Sigel, missed 4.6% of his shots. Earl Strickland's miss rate was 7.2%. He entered 9 events and cashed in every one of them, pocketing 3000+ balls in the process.
• For most of the match, Shane lagged way behind in balls on the break. Never thought I'd see SVB get outbroke. Chang only had FIVE dry breaks to SVB's 18. We don't know how many break attempts he had, but it's safe to say he was way over 90%.
• Their break and run rates are nearly identical.