Pool table and cue maintenance.

[vim]

The old Shakespears is where I cut my teeth, and took lessons from T. Ross...that place moved and went to shit from everything I've heard.

I've had this table initially bought and installed, and moved and or re-clothed by three different folks now, and the fucker has NEVER been as level as it should be. I want a level damn table, not one where soft shots roll off, or when Fodors tells me no one uses Simonis cloth anymore, and bullshits me into a different and lower quality cloth.....while charging me $800 to replace it...and have it not be level too.

Ah. Sounds like you've had some real champs there.

Cloth. "no one uses Simonis"? Ummm, sure. If you want high-speed play, asymmetrical up/down table play, whatever, it's your table and you cover the thing with what you like -- home advantage.

Leveling. There's no excuse except laziness if the installer left you with an uneven playing surface. I'm gonna guess you have a 3-piece slate table. You could do this yourself if you really took your time, but it's effort: You need a good long level, and you have 3 pieces of slate sitting on a frame, shims you can add around in various places, screws to tighten down the slate pieces that change the alignments (back to square one!), leg levelers, and then the seam sealing with plaster/beeswax. I think it's worth having a mechanic do it for you. You mentioned Tom Ross, so maybe getting a mechanic reference from http://tomrosspool.com/ makes sense.

I cut my teeth in this game back in N.J, from an age when I was only allowed to watch. Never visited the Shakespeare in Denver, but knew about it. I'm sad when an old place closes. I used to work in a place with rows of 9-foot Brunswicks and 10-foot snooker and 3-rail tables. Over time, the clientele became younger, and, well, ultimately, the main room was shrunk to make space for the video-game area that always had more people in it.

[OtterbatHellcat]

Ah. Sounds like you've had some real champs there.

Cloth. "no one uses Simonis"? Ummm, sure. If you want high-speed play, asymmetrical up/down table play, whatever, it's your table and you cover the thing with what you like -- home advantage.

Leveling. There's no excuse except laziness if the installer left you with an uneven playing surface. I'm gonna guess you have a 3-piece slate table. You could do this yourself if you really took your time, but it's effort: You need a good long level, and you have 3 pieces of slate sitting on a frame, shims you can add around in various places, screws to tighten down the slate pieces that change the alignments (back to square one!), leg levelers, and then the seam sealing with plaster/beeswax. I think it's worth having a mechanic do it for you. You mentioned Tom Ross, so maybe getting a mechanic reference from http://tomrosspool.com/ makes sense.

I cut my teeth in this game back in N.J, from an age when I was only allowed to watch. Never visited the Shakespeare in Denver, but knew about it. I'm sad when an old place closes. I used to work in a place with rows of 9-foot Brunswicks and 10-foot snooker and 3-rail tables. Over time, the clientele became younger, and, well, ultimately, the main room was shrunk to make space for the video-game area that always had more people in it.

Everything at Shakespears was Simonis, as were all the higher end places that held tournaments and stuff that made it on TV. So in that sense there's no home advantage state of mind, just practicing on even ground. When I was first introduced to that fast cloth, I was dumbfounded and butt hurt until I figured it out.

Yes, three piece 9 ft., .....AMC starter kit table, but it's real functional for the $2500 tag. I'm not about to attempt to level and seal my slate properly, I even bought a starrett level several years back trying to get stuff right to no avail.

All of the Brunswick tables at Spears (at least 30) were 9 ft. They had 3 or 4 10 ft. snooker tables (man that's a bitch) and a few true billiards tables. The place was awesome, the regulars in leagues were superb players, and I was AA threshold down there until I put the cue down for a guitar and music theory instead. Did APA and bar boxes for a while, but hated it.