I know what you mean bro....

Manchester has a very close chinese community and there is a chinese snooker league in Manchester....

RICO does frequent this club and have got to know some of the chinese snooker players there hence me not being able to disclose the make of cue and if i am a member of the league....

I am sure some of the bros on the chinese league do browse the 141 forum but i know for definate that there are two senior bros in Manchster....

Can one of the mods please RA this thread to 30 on the basis that only senior bros are chatting about snooker on this thread...

I nearly broke the fifty break marker with my hand crafted cue.....

I had just done a thirty five break and screwed back on a long quarter red into the top right hand pocket to leave me nicely just above the black....

The black was another quarter ball and i stunned the white ball and bounced the white of two cushions to leave me a just on the right of the red...

The red was a three quarter ball shot and i applied top left on the white so that i could get position on the black.....( Well anywhere near the black would be fine..) I knew that the black would take me over the fifty break....

Like a "FUCKING DICKHEAD"...RICO fluffs the shot.... The red went nowhere near the pocket...

I should of got up and chalked my cue before taking the shot.... To this day i am still kicking myself....

I have noticed thou that there is one shot which is quite difficult to judge.....

Place the white on the yellow spot and then try to pot the blue from the spot.....

It isn't quite a quarter ball and it isn't a half ball...It is something like inbetween....

Any suggestions on how to approach this kind of shot...

The club pro talks a lot of sense.

The most important things regardless of the cue are the stance and delivery of the cue.

Get these right and you ar halfway there.

The bridge needs to be short enough to keep control but long enough for smooth cueing.

The next factor is eliminating movement on your shot. The only movement should be the cue arm below the shoulder even below the elbow. And stay down on your shot after playing it to stop yourself jerking and pulling the shot. Good practices will help.

Re the difficult shots be they half ball, quarter ball or finer the easiest way I've found is to come around behind the object ball and sight it into the centre of the pocket you want to pot it in. Looking along that line look for the middle of the ball furthest away from the pocket, nearest you.  That point in the middle of the object ball is where you need to contact the white in order to pot it more often than not.

Then other factors come in to it ie amount of side used, nap of the table etc but as a guide it works.

Then get down, aim for that spot, stay down when hitiing it and pot the damn ball

Thanks for the tip bro....

When i used that thirty pound Ronnie O'Sullivan cue i was able to whack near enough every ball...( Boy did it sound good when it hit the back of the pocket..)

But since changing to my new handcrafted cue....I can't seem to do any power shots....

My handcrafted cue has a 10mm tip whilst my Ronnie one has a 11mm tip.....

Should i hold the cue further up the butt to minimumize the movement of my cue action hence not being able to strike the ball as hard.....

If you want more power or action on your shots you should concentrate on the follow through.

Don't jab at the ball but play right through it.

You should always hold the cue towards the base of the butt giving yourself plenty of room to swing your arm.

The difference between 11mm and 10mm is slight but the smaller you go the less power you need to get similar amounts of spin imho.