Believe what you want about break cues, but Mike clocked my break several times with my old break cue and when he clocked it again with the IceBreaker, it consistently increased by at least one mile per hour. I’ve never been a huge fan of break/jump cues because they either broke well or jumped well, but rarely did both well.

What I love the most about my IceBreaker:

1. It breaks AND jumps well.
2. It’s a four piece cue. It’s a break cue, a jump cue, and a long range jump cue, all-in-one. Is there another cue like it on the market? I have no idea. That’s why I was asking.
3. I love the balance of the cue. It’s available from 18 to 20 ounces, but most of the weight is in the butt so that it can be removed to for jumping performance. It makes sense to me. The farther back you can grip, the bigger the stroke and more acceleration through the cue ball.
4. I like the special IceBreaker phenolic/leather tip. I was very nervous about it at first as I’ve always broken with a hard leather tip. I feared I might break a window or lose some control with the phenolic. Jokingly, Mike said, “It’s only phenolic if you miscue,” since the phenolic is on the outside and the leather is in the middle. Amazingly, the special technology has just enough oomph to somehow allow me to get more speed without losing the control or accuracy. I love it!
5. I can’t believe no one has thought to add a fourth piece to a jump/break before. Well, no one that I’ve heard of. It’s brilliant! It jumps long AND short jumps easily. I love the two length jump cues because it’s gets over the ball effortlessly but the weight is not so extremely light that you can’t control your aim.


The new IceBreaker is stained

They have since made some aesthetic improvements from the one I own. Instead of the blue paint, they are stained blue. I still think I should have a red one.

Oscar's IceBreaker with the Tiger Stack Wrap

Oscar had a Tiger stack leather wrap added to the bottom two sections for extra grip. It looks beautiful! Ask him if you can see it the next time you bump into him.

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I guess I was just a little alarmed when I noticed my “L” has beginning to catch up with my “P” for the first time this year and I really feel it’s been a long time since I’ve won or even played in the finals of a big, serious tournament. Perhaps I’ve just been competing in tournaments with much tougher competition (which is true). Perhaps I’ve made so many mechanical evolutions recently that I have still yet to completely adapt to any one of them. Perhaps I’ve been spreading myself too thin between competing, teaching, writing, working, traveling, etc…

Whatever the case may be, I can’t take it anymore!!!

What a streaky weekend. I went from playing near flawlessly in my first match, to making all kinds of dumb mistakes and bad decisions to lose my second match, back to playing two strong back-to-back matches, and then another dumb match again to get knocked out.

This Midwest 9-Ball Tour is probably the only bar table tournament (outside of Vegas Nationals) that I would consider traveling to these days. Even though they’re played on Valleys, they at least use red circle cue balls and keep their billiard balls clean.

The stops at Shooters include a one-pocket event that begins on Thursday and they bring in bleachers for all the spectators.

My only complaint (outside of my poor pool playing): THE SMOKING….

I’m okay. I’m giving myself a break since I only planned to attend the tournament with a week’s notice and prior to the one bar table 9-ball tournament three days before leaving town, I hadn’t hit a ball on a bar table in months. Not to mention, all the personal b.s. in my head. If I wanted to find an excuse, I don’t have to look too far.

It was what it was, an impulsive trip with friends where there happened to be a pool tournament.

I watched some wicked pool, and it was nice to see old friends and pick up some new ones. The sweetest couple Toni and Nate bought me for $50 in the Calcutta and sweated all of my matches. I told them before the tournament that I would do my best and they said, “That’s all we can ask for.” How nice.

Next stop: US Open in five days.

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Next, I’d like to thank everyone that’s been following the progress with my new shaft from Day 1. It wasn’t pure torture, but it definitely hasn’t been the easiest journey and I truly appreciate all the support I’ve received.

This adventure began on December 2 with what I thought was an open mind. I realized half way into it I was fighting the change and naturally, the resistance hindered my progress. It wasn’t until I truly embraced the change and accepted the outcomes did I finally allow myself to freely succeed or fail with the new shaft.

Here is my final professional summary on the Predator Z2 Shaft:

( + )

( – )

With less effort, I’m able to get much more action on the cue ball. Since the taper/tip is more narrow, I don’t need to aim as close to the edge of the cue ball when needed, to avoid miscues (even though I haven’t completely grasped this concept yet). I used to think that I knew my shaft so well and was able to compensate accordingly when using inside english. However, honestly, this was true if the object ball was near a rail or pocket, but when it was in the middle of the table, sometimes it was a crap shoot. I can usually nail these shots with my Predator shaft. It still amazes me how far I can draw the cue ball with very little energy exerted. On the same token, I can stroke just about any shot so much more accurately and with much less effort. More accuracy on jacked up shots. Bottom Line: Better Results with Less Effort

I’m getting much more action than I’m used to with the cue ball so my speed control had to be relearned. I’m still aiming too close to the edge of whitey and miscuing when I need spin. Waiting for my blanks to be done to go with my new CB cue so I’m not mis-matched anymore. I wish the Z2 shafts weren’t tapered like they are with that little ferrule, but I guess that’s what makes them work. I wish over-the-counter Predator shafts didn’t come with that giant, obnoxious, big, black, distracting logo at the joint. I’m so glad the blanks don’t have that. Still reminding myself to not compensate my aim for deflection. Still miscuing more than I did with my other shaft, but it’s because I’m trying to use it the same way as my other shaft.

So, overall, I guess it wasn’t quite as dreadful as I thought it would be. In fact, I guess you could now add me to the list of Predator shaft users. Yeah. Yeah. I’m on the predator bandwagon. Having the option, which I do, between my Z2 shaft and my original shaft, I choose the Z2. Though I still have more to learn about the shaft itself and how certain shots react with it, I’m now looking forward to it.

I FINALLY feel like I’m able to just focus on my training now. No more new stance or new shaft or new stroke. Things will evolve over time, but I’m ready to kick off 2008! 0-8 is great!

First Hunter stop of the year: Fast Eddie’s in Austin, TX on February 16-17

I’ll also be in Florida for the Regional Tour Championships. Top 6 players from each regional tour are qualified and I barely made the cut.

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Good, Bad & Ugly

The GOOD (Tuesday)
Last Tuesday night, my friend “Gray” met me at Table Steaks for a practice session. This session started of a little rocky. We played two sets of Equal Offense and I only barely scored a 34 in the second set, both having a few goose eggs. We won’t dwell on that.

But then, we decided to play some 10 Ball sets. I lost the first set 7-5 and won the next two 7-3, 7-3. I really started to get in stroke and almost even made a little break through with my stroke. I just kept reminding myself to stay smooth and loose. I could really see/feel a huge difference when I would execute a shot without a loose grip/stroke.

After we were done, I stayed a played a couple songs on Guitar Hero. Yeah!

The BAD (Wednesday)
The next night was the weekly 10 Ball tournament at Table Steaks South. Before leaving the house, I joked with Mike about my usual third place finish. I felt pretty geared up when I arrived because I’d just had a great 10 ball session the night before and I felt really confident about how I was hitting the ball.

In fact, Danny Medina and Melvin Sharp “The Black Rattlesnake” made an appearance on this night. While I was warming up, Danny even stopped me to ask my name, then said he’d been hearing about me and that he liked the way I hit the ball. Really? Well, quite honestly, I wasn’t hitting the ball that great during warm-up and unfortunately, it would only get worse throughout the evening.

South can be a great or not-so-great place to play depending on whether or not you can handle it. The tournament is played in the pit, set much lower than the seating. The railbirds sit all around you and can watch, analyze, and commentate each and every move you make. When you’re on, it’s a beautiful, exhilarating feeling! When you’re not, it only gets worse…

It was the strangest thing. I didn’t even feel like I was me. I felt like I had no control over what was happening. I lost my first match when I hung a 10 ball at hill-hill. The cue ball was in the jaws and I had a goofy bridge. No excuse, the 10 was only a few diamonds away and it was nearly hanging in the pocket. I felt like I was drugged or something. Later, my friend Monte told me I seemed really preoccupied. Interesting… What could it have been?

Melvin just put me out of my misery in the next round, 4-1. He played relentlessly and afterwards reminded me that I had beaten him the last two times we played and that he was due. Fair enough. Back to the work for me.

The Plain Ol’ UGLY (Thursday)
On Thursday night, I was subbing for the make-up round for this team. The make-up rounds don’t start until league is over, usually after 9pm, so I was able to play in the 9 Ball tournament at the Cue Club.

Looking forward to just getting the bad taste out of my mouth from the night before, I couldn’t wait. Oddly, I still didn’t feel right warming up. Then, first rounds were called and I drew a friend of Laura and Melissa‘s called Ramona (I’ve since learned it was Ramona Biddle). I figured it was one of their WPBA friends, but I didn’t care. I was looking forward to seeing how my skills matched up again a new WPBA peer.

I started off the first rack pretty strong after she missed a safety on the 2 ball. I still didn’t feel great, but was just working really hard for every single shot. It was so strange. I didn’t feel nervous at all. In fact, you know how you can usually tell when you’re about to miss a shot? We’re not lined up right or we’re distracted and we shoot it anyway? Well, I didn’t feel any of those things. It was so frustrating. I was ahead 3-1 and ended up losing 5-3. I easily could’ve won 5-1 but, again, just couldn’t get it together. By then, she was all warmed up and started playing great. Bad combination for me.

Next, I ran over and played out my 5 bar table 8 ball games very quickly, had two table runs, and only missed two shots. I ran back over and played my friend Caela. Still not feeling back up to par, I really had to bare down. I’ve always looked up to Caela and I usually tend to let that get to me. As not-myself as I was feeling/playing, a few lucky rolls and some just-make-the-ball-ness helped me pull through.

Unfortunately in my next match, I played, quite possibly, the worst pool I’ve played in a very long time. It was so sad and embarrassing. I lost 5-1 to a player I should’ve beaten 5-0. I had a chance in every single game. Though he could pocket balls quite well, he was not a runout player because he had no cue ball control. I did everything I could to lose that match and I did. I missed a 7 ball, an 8 ball, and a 9 ball, all which easily should’ve been made. Frustrating, I know.

It really sucked because, though I’m not thinking about this at the time (or maybe I am, I don’t know), I hadn’t played in that tournament with many of those great players in so long. That’s the toughest competition in town and when I used to play amongst them regularly, I couldn’t run more than three balls on a big table and I definitely would dog the 9 ball out of nerves. Well, I don’t do that stuff anymore, well at least I’m not supposed to. But I did it all on Thursday night.

Oh well. I’m not worried I’ll fix it.

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I didn’t score too hot, but I feel I’ve been hitting the ball pretty well since I’ve been back. We also worked on some positional exercises and ran some scotch straight pool together. That was fun.

Last night, I couldn’t wait to play some more Equal Offense. Bob said I could only allow myself one or two attempts per session and just accept the score that I got until the next time.

I’m sad to report that I only scored a 45 and a 27. The second round’s breaks were horrible. Clusters everywhere. There is so much more to this game than just making the shot. Obviously, that’s very important, but in the first round, with all the balls spread wide open, there should be absolutely no excuse not to complete the rack! I shot a 13, 4, 7, 12, and 9 and every run was ended with a missed shot; not because it was a difficult one, but mainly because I lost focus. GGGGGRRRR!!! Can’t wait to take my next whack at it.

Next, I worked on the L Drill for a little bit before tackling Fast Mikie‘s Sorto String:

Run all 9 balls, in sequence,
into the corner pocket directly (no banks).
The cue ball must hit
the bottom cushion on every shot,
and can not hit any other cushion or any other ball
than the lowest numbered ball.

This drill has single-handedly taught me more about the abilities of my new predator shaft than any other drill I’ve worked on. The opening shots require some low inside which I struggled with, with my other shaft. I could shoot it, but it was just not as easy.

It’s funny though, Day 21 is right around the corner. Shouldn’t I have “developed a habit” by now? Isn’t that what “they” say??? Shouldn’t I have trained myself to aim properly with my new shaft by now? It still blows me away that after all this time, my brain will still revert back to how I used to aim for this shot, and some others, with my old shaft. I kept under cutting the ball.

Next, I worked on a 10 Ball One Pocket exercise that my coach showed me. I don’t even play one pocket, but this is a fun one!

With ball-in-hand, gently break the rack to pocket the end ball. Ideally, draw the cue ball back so you have a shot to run all the balls into the same pocket. Just like One Pocket, banks and kicks are allowed in this exercise.

So there you have it. At this current moment, these are my new favorite things to practice.

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