Hello after long- tips on tip please

[Sidd]

Hello everybody,

I hope you are all having a great time playing this lovely game. I had been away for quite some time and had decided not to play again. But well the devil is always there and I had to watch the final of champion of champions and the final of UK for my dear old Ron and that is when I started missing the sound of tip striking the ball and the ball dropping in the pocket and that sound of the pot when the ball clings to the net and drops down I had to play again.

I do not know if I mentioned before but I got my cue lengthened to 60 inches and yes it has added some weight to it but I am trying to get used to it. I started playing again and on the third or fourth day of the come back I scored a 43 I was surprised and then entered in the Islamabad cup and won round one I was beaten up in round two though but well I took it lightly. Not on the day of the defeat yeah but afterwards hahaha...

Now I am playing kind of regularly and hence am back again to my usual self ... guess what.. the GIRP I try to shrug off the thoughts but they keep bloody well creeping up and render me helpless and there I am .. trying to get that perfect grip It ruins my game and I am trying to fight off the thoughts but for a man like me its not easy. Anyway, I need some advice here guys. I played a deep screw shot a few days ago and the ball jumped off the table. The manager came running to the table to check his cloth but luckily the cloth was not damaged. I was ashamed and apologised. They have a new table t my club they call it Shender, I don't know what it is but the local boys love it. Yes its a nice one with real tight pockets and a fast cloth. But I think the cushions have been mended and are used Anyway....

A part of the tip was damaged and some fibre was coming out. I started sanding it and gave it a better shape that took care of the fibre. But after every few shots the fibre was dancing out again and I kept on sanding it for the shape and hey have you any idea what happens when an OCD tries to get that perfect dome I shall tell ya... he eats up the whole meat of the tip in getting his perfect dome So well the tip is now very small to my liking and I have to replace it. I have been playing REAL BAD for the last three days and I think its lack of concentration and the tip also is the culprit.

What type of tip to go for ? Hard, Medium or soft. I have played mostly with hard tips, this one was medium and I kind of liked it. I do not play power shots that much but only when I have to yes in aggression I will attempt a long screw etc ... But when in balls I can be delicate. Yes I use side a lot but not unnecessarily but I do use it when required and also alter the amount of side etc...

Should I go for medium again (I don't want to go for soft) or go for a hard tip. What is the difference and what to go for considering my gameplay ... I play soft screws and sounds quite a lot.

Last but not the least ... what to do with the grip hahahah just kidding

Cheers,
Sidd

[SnookeredYou]

I am glad to here you are back in action and are enjoying this lovely game we call Snooker. I have always loved Kamui tips and they are a bit harder than some tips, so if you go for a soft its more like a medium. I ordered a couple are ADR147 tips but they haven't gotten here yet and will wait to put one on until my Kamui gets worn down. Do you like layered or non layered tips?

[Sidd]

I am glad to here you are back in action and are enjoying this lovely game we call Snooker. I have always loved Kamui tips and they are a bit harder than some tips, so if you go for a soft its more like a medium. I ordered a couple are ADR147 tips but they haven't gotten here yet and will wait to put one on until my Kamui gets worn down. Do you like layered or non layered tips?

I have never used laminated ones .. only pressed ones ! can't be sure about the other ones and was trying to know the difference !

I think I should go with the usual elk masters or blue diamonds so lets see !!!

I was wondering what would be the difference between medium and hard ones in gameplay

[DeanH]

welcome back Sidd
hope that family is well

A tip I was given some years ago about little bits that appear on the tip are best dealt with a piece of cardboard and not sandpaper/file. "cardboard" the chap who told me said the best was the cardboard beer mats but I have found the cardboard from cereal boxes work very well as well The low abrasiveness is enough to remove the tuff without any reshaping/attacking of the good surface, creating even more tuffs
Every since I have a piece of this cardboard in my case.
May work for you, ?

I have always been a pressed tip until I recently got a ADR Soft (black) and I am very impressed.
ADR does Hard, Medium, Soft versions, and in Black and original Tan. There is no difference of performance between the colours (many have said) just aesthetics
Got to say the black does look nice.
I have used the tip now for some months, there has been a small bit of compression on one side, I obviously play with the cue in one position so one place has most impact. I am happy to live with this slight compression for a while yet before I will reshape the whole tip.

all the best

[vmax4steve]

Buy a box of Elmasters Sidd and find the softer ones by pressing your thumbnail into the side of them, if the nail sinks in easily it will be a soft tip that will bed in after a couple of days play, if the nail doesn't sink in nicely it will be a harder tip that won't need bedding in or if the nail sinks in only a little it will be a medium tip that will bed in after a couple of hours play.
You find this with a box of Elkmasters, they are not uniform in character or performance and you have to search out the ones that suit you, but when you find one you won't get a better tip.

Welcome back to the game and the forum mate and forget your grip, just hold the cue loosely and let your arm go from the elbow and your grip will look after itself.

[Terry Davidson]

Sidd:

First of all...welcome back!

The Shender tables are those used in the IBSF World Amateur Championships but I hate to tell you, but they are not considered too tight. I've played on them and they are perhaps slightly tighter than the WPBSA templated tables.

As for tips. I normally prefer Talisman soft which is layered of course. I just tried out a Talisman Medium and took it off after a couple of days because I found it too hard. I then tried out a Kamui Medium which is also layered but I've found that it plays very well with my MW Blackspin cue.

As vmax had recommended, buy a box of Elk Master however I would caution you on using the soft ones where your thumbnail sinks into the tip as most of them are what i call 'spongy' and you end up with a lot of those fine hairs and a lot of re-shaping. I would recommend using the harder ones in the box (usually about 20 out of 50 in the box) but Elks are a lot cheaper than other tips.

You can buy all of these tips from ADR147 or I believe Green Baize also has most of them. I don't know how you would pay for them of course since Paypal can't be used in Pakistan

Now as for the GRIP...just use the upper part of the thumb and forefinger with the thumb pointed straight down but do not apply any 'squeeze' pressure and just let the cue lie there (the forefinger should be curled around the butt and just touching the inside of the thumb, but applying NO pressure at all). If you have to leave the back 3 fingers either just barely touching the butt of the cue or off the butt altogether. The most important consideration is to NOT tighten the grip at all throughout the backswing or delivery until you are well past the strike on the cueball and for a lot of shots you don't have to tighten the grip at all

[sealer]

It starts all over again :-)

[Pedantic Stroke]

I use a Ki-Tech Soft. They're fairly new on the American Pool market. A friend of mine plays mostly American Pool and he had one spare. I needed a tip and I needed it quick so I took it off his hands. It looks just like an Elk when its on the cue, and I think they're made from the same or a very similar kind of leather. They come in one size, 14mm which is huge. Once I had it on I realised how easy and soft it was to trim down. The spin I can generate with this tip is ridiculous. Club table, albeit fairly new decent cloth, red on the baulk line into a corner, white down by the pink, screw down for the black. This shot was always a shot that was out of my grasp to do. Best I could consistently hope for was coming back down for the pink, but usually back for the blue. Now its usually back down for the pink, but if I'm cueing well ill go for the black and I nail it more than I could ever imagined. Its amazing how much difference a tip can make. The soft stun screw type shots to come back a foot need such little effort. It applies top, bottom, left and right spin better than anything I've ever used. Its easy to maintain and fairly cheap (although I'm not 100% sure on the pricing). Its a hard tip, but plays quite soft for a hard tip. The softs apparently are very soft, and the mediums are a soft/medium.

[SnookeredYou]

I use a Ki-Tech Soft. They're fairly new on the American Pool market. A friend of mine plays mostly American Pool and he had one spare. I needed a tip and I needed it quick so I took it off his hands. It looks just like an Elk when its on the cue, and I think they're made from the same or a very similar kind of leather. They come in one size, 14mm which is huge. Once I had it on I realised how easy and soft it was to trim down. The spin I can generate with this tip is ridiculous. Club table, albeit fairly new decent cloth, red on the baulk line into a corner, white down by the pink, screw down for the black. This shot was always a shot that was out of my grasp to do. Best I could consistently hope for was coming back down for the pink, but usually back for the blue. Now its usually back down for the pink, but if I'm cueing well ill go for the black and I nail it more than I could ever imagined. Its amazing how much difference a tip can make. The soft stun screw type shots to come back a foot need such little effort. It applies top, bottom, left and right spin better than anything I've ever used. Its easy to maintain and fairly cheap (although I'm not 100% sure on the pricing). Its a hard tip, but plays quite soft for a hard tip. The softs apparently are very soft, and the mediums are a soft/medium.

The Ki-Tech Tips are sold by a company called Outsville (http://www.outsville.com/) and he has some great stuff on the market. The Ki-Tech tips are a great tip and a lot of people think very highly of them. He also just released his great white chalk that is supposed to be somewhat similar to kamui chalk. He also makes rack templates and what not. I was actually going to ask him if he would make some snooker tips.

[itsnoteasy]

Great to hear from you again Sidd, hope all is well, welcome back on the roundabout

[Ramon]

If u wanna play with Laminated tips : ADR Soft tips !!!!! If u wanna play with press tips : without a doubt , Buffalo Diamond plus !!! There re to many fake of them on eBay Or .... . Contact and buy them of ADR 147 . So u know for sure u get the real stuff !!

[Sidd]

Thank you everyone for the most warm welcome of this winters I feel at home really...

As for the tip, I got a nice elk master for the time being and got it on. It isn't soft and it isn't rock hard. I think its a medium tip. I could not check it with the nails as I bite my nails off all the time (OCD or something) so I checked it with a pencil tip. It plays really well and I am confident that it is really good. There is an authorised master cue dealer in Karachi and he can send me any tip I want. I just got with an elk master for now but he has a good variety of tips.

As for the grip there is nothing that bothers me more and you all know that. But I have been able to challenge my OCD mind and get confidence on it and as Vmax mentioned, I just kept it loose and played natural and well well well guess hat happened I won a session (race to 4) from one of our club's top most player I made a few breaks of 30 odd and played great safety. Then I played a few winner stays on and won 5 frames and stayed on

I am glad I am not a bad player and am happy these days .. the tip is great and has a good feel to it.

Love ya all...

[Sidd]

Sidd:

First of all...welcome back!

The Shender tables are those used in the IBSF World Amateur Championships but I hate to tell you, but they are not considered too tight. I've played on them and they are perhaps slightly tighter than the WPBSA templated tables.

As for tips. I normally prefer Talisman soft which is layered of course. I just tried out a Talisman Medium and took it off after a couple of days because I found it too hard. I then tried out a Kamui Medium which is also layered but I've found that it plays very well with my MW Blackspin cue.

As vmax had recommended, buy a box of Elk Master however I would caution you on using the soft ones where your thumbnail sinks into the tip as most of them are what i call 'spongy' and you end up with a lot of those fine hairs and a lot of re-shaping. I would recommend using the harder ones in the box (usually about 20 out of 50 in the box) but Elks are a lot cheaper than other tips.

You can buy all of these tips from ADR147 or I believe Green Baize also has most of them. I don't know how you would pay for them of course since Paypal can't be used in Pakistan

Now as for the GRIP...just use the upper part of the thumb and forefinger with the thumb pointed straight down but do not apply any 'squeeze' pressure and just let the cue lie there (the forefinger should be curled around the butt and just touching the inside of the thumb, but applying NO pressure at all). If you have to leave the back 3 fingers either just barely touching the butt of the cue or off the butt altogether. The most important consideration is to NOT tighten the grip at all throughout the backswing or delivery until you are well past the strike on the cueball and for a lot of shots you don't have to tighten the grip at all

Thanks Terry.

Yes indeed this is what my grip looks like when I am not thinking about it while at the table. I was not able to understand it before but actually it works like you said once I forget about it while at the table I am trying to beat my OCD mind... and guess what ??? I have finally found my biggest enemy... I thought other things were at fault but everything is ok its just this bit I was not concentrating on .. it is the tightening of the grip ... I kept it loose and balls started going in sweetly I am so happy and thanks to all your guidance.

Just one thing though .. I saw a dell hill vid and he was coaching not to peck and to drive through and for that he recommended that the back of the palm should be touching the butt at address... I just grip my cue while up and intend to touch the back of palm on butt and then go down like that and then forget about it .. I hope the back of palm is touching the butt at address and when cue makes contact with CB at shot it comes back on I also think this is here the timing comes from ... lets see.. shall keep you posted on developments in my game overall.