Cue Sport Group

Posts Tagged ‘billiards’

Talk about the best pool players in history and the name William Joseph Mosconi best known as Willie Mosconi or “Mr. Pocket Billiards” will always be mentioned. The American cue artist from Philadelphia was among the first to be inducted in the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame. Mosconi popularized pool by setting many records. He won the World Straight Pool Championships for fifteen times. He was also one of the best Trick Shot Performer and holds the world record during a straight pool exhibition for running 526 consecutive balls without a miss and up to this day no one has beaten it.

Mosconi was already straight pool champion at the age of 11 in 1924 and was doing trick shot exhibitions most often. In 1968, Willie Mosconi received the honor as a Hall of Famer in Billiard Congress of America.

The Mosconi Cup that’s being held annually was founded in 1994, a year after his death. This event is in honor of him, it’s the annual competition between American and European Pool players and that has become popular more than ever.

(Photo via billiardsforum.info)

Looking for a world class billiard or pool table that can match your amateur or professional playing skills? Browsing the Internet will certainly give you plethora of results but only a few are known for quality and excellence. Review most of the Classic World Pool Competitions in the past and you’ll notice that there’s a common brand of pool table being used.  May it be a vintage or modern design, Brunswick is reputed by most professional players for quality, accuracy, and unsurpassed playability.

Brunswick is made of quality slate inspected and certified to provide lifetime playability; it has superb performance Nut plate and hardened dome washer compared to other brands. The Super speed cushion rubber is composed of thin layer of cotton canvas for better accuracy in rebounding and consistent accurate nose height for superior banking.

Being the top brand for excellent performance, and most sought for game room furnishings since 1845, Brunswick Competition table is a result of refine engineering for more than 160 years.

(Photo via exoticexcess.com)

Francisco “Django” Bustamante is just one of the favorites among the professional pool players in the world. Known for his strong and powerful cue break and his signature behind-the-back shot, this Asian cue artist has won a number of titles like The German 9 Ball Championship, The Munich Masters and Japan’s 9-Ball Championship. He almost beat Earl Strickland in the 2002 World Pool Championships, if it wasn’t for his series of unlucky scratch that led him to the 2^nd place.

Bustamante, has started playing pool since the age of 10. And his early training and passion for pocket billiards led him to become one of cue sports greatest International stars.

Django holds the record for winning three Camel Pro Billiards titles in one season. His Columbus 10-Ball title also concluded the first ever Camel trifecta, with titles in each of the three games competed on the Camel Pro Billiards Series: 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball. Together with the rest of the best Filipino pool players, Francisco “Django” Bustamante gives honor and glory to their country.

(Photo via insidepoolmag.com)

You may think that hitting a ball with the cue and shooting it in the pocket, is what all it takes to play the game of pool, but there’s a lot to it once you dominate the table. Making that shot in pool is a common urge, and predicting where the cue ball will stop is a challenge, however knowing how to strike the object ball with your cue ball is the secret to winning.

Many amateurs would think that every ball is all set to make the shot as long as its proximity to the pockets is high. Beginners eagerly take the attempt if they immediately see the line of fire to the hole, not knowing the complications it will make. The next thing you’ll know is you’re into a situation when you can’t find a good way to hit the cue ball into the object ball and make that shot even worst.

Professional pool players will find first their correct cue before they make the attempt, they take a few moments walking around the table, checking the cue ball in various angles in relation to object balls to be hit, and this is what they call a preshot routine.

Here are a few reminders that can help amateurs improve their pool playing routine. First, learn to control the cue ball, keep in mind where you want it to stop on the table after your shot, and then look for the aiming point as well as the collision point. Set your hit on how fast you want your cue ball to move then focus before making the strike.

Just think twice before you make the hit and don’t hesitate to make your own playing strategy.

Often we heard from our best professional pool players the name Willie Mosconi, who dominated pool for decades, and publicly on television, and known by many Americans as the greatest, but there was once a mentor and superior of Mosconi that shouldn’t be forgotten.

Known for his alias as “The Aristocrat”, Ralph Greenleaf was widely considered the greatest pool player ever, and handsome to boot. Ralph Greenleaf was pool’s brightest star from the turn of the century through the Depression. Greenleaf and Willie Mosconi stand as the two greatest pool shooters in history. Like Rachmaninoff at the piano, Greenleaf used his massive hands with their long, tapering fingers to perform his calling marvelously.

When Mosconi was a boy, he toured with Greenleaf, who taught him exquisite positioning with the cue ball and built in him the competitive edge to win.

Some old-timers state that Ralph’s frequent bouts with liquor crippled the potential of his brilliant career and have believed to bring this pool giant to an early death in 1950 at the age of 50.

Billiards and Pool are generally grouped as one and referred to as cue sports, although, technically, there are vast differences between the two games.

Cue Players consider “billiards” to be “carom’ games only, it is hitting two balls with one stroke of a pool cue, and three balls are used; white, yellow and red. Both the white and the yellow ball can act as the strikers. Billiards is basically pool without pockets; while on the other hand, Pool is hitting the ball into a pocket. It all depends on what style of the game you would like to play.

Pocket billiards takes on many forms, each differentiated largely by the number and size of balls used in play. Most traditional pool games are “8-ball pool” played with 16 balls: 15 colored and one white “cue ball.” And the “9-ball pool” using 9 colored balls and one white cue ball.

Today, Billiards and Pool can be exchanged and mean the same thing. When people refer to one, it is assumed the other is also being included.

Playing the games of professional pool, snooker and billiards is not for an average joe, it takes talent, skills, knowledge and a good cue stick.

Most pool players believed that if they have the right cue stick, they would shoot better and that gives them an ace up in their sleeve. Every cue artist is in search of a perfect cue and they can tell whether it feels right by weight, balance, leather and shaft characteristics. An experienced billiard player can determine by the stick’s vibration if the stick flexes too much or not. The way the stick feels is important and the sound of the hit is likewise essential. Some players play for keeps that will pay more just to find the cue that feels superior, it’s an investment of high yield for a competition. For them it’s like a wand that gives magic to every game. And if this is the case, Efren “BATA” Reyes one of the world’s best pool players must have found the right wand for it makes him the magician.  But every player should know that it’s always the skill and mastery of the sport that means a lot and the cue stick will be as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Things will heat up in January 30 to February 7 when Germany plays host to the 2010 World Pool Championship. Sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), over 50 nations will vie for the much coveted world title which comes with $400,000 purse money and Harley Davidson Lottery.

More than 250 pool pros considered the best from each nation will converge and compete during the tournament in Hanover. Many have already signified their intention to join and participate and these include Ralf Souquet (GER – World Games winner), Mika Immonen (FIN – World-10-Ball Champion) and the complete winning team of the MOSCONI CUP (USA – Johnny Archer, Shane Van Boening, Corey Deuel, Oscar Dominquez).

Teams of four to six players will compete in 8-Ball, 9-Ball and 10-Ball matches to around 4,000 spectators in Exhibition Hall13 with 32 pool-billiard tables set up for said event. TVN Group will cover and broadcast the championship competition over the radio, television and internet. Simultaneously, the biggest Harley Davidson Oldtimer Collection “Myth Harley Davidson” will have an exhibit of 40 world machines showing latest trends and innovations in the world of pool and billiards, making this 9 day event an affair to remember.