r/billiards • • 15h ago

9-Ball Some shots from the Philippines Open today (10/23)

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45 Upvotes

r/billiards • • 22h ago

Questions hello to everyone, today (oct 23 philippine time) is the fourth day of the philippine open but the photos are the third day. i want to preserve their signatures but i dont want to get but the people who saw my signed ball recommend top coat and clear coat. which is the best for this because to it ma

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41 Upvotes

r/billiards • • 13h ago

Shitpost I don't know if this is an old guy thing, but every old guy on league night who takes a piss walks out of the bathroom without washing their hands.

32 Upvotes

I see it literally every single league night, sometimes multiple times a night, absolutely nobody washes their hands. And its always an old guy. I get frustrated seeing it but would never call someone out for doing it. Its the worst when I see a guy doing it from the opposing team that we are playing that night.


r/billiards • • 10h ago

Drills Jumping practice with one of the world’s best.

31 Upvotes

My coach is considered one of the best jumpers in the world by many in the pro circuit. Decided to start working on it.

https://youtube.com/@avgpoolplayer?si=0B_XJz_ZtTZw-A6m


r/billiards • • 13h ago

Tournament [PH OPEN 2026 SPOILERS] The Filipino pool community has made a statement Spoiler

29 Upvotes

With SVB being taken down by Baseth Mocaibat 10-9, the PH Open has a guaranteed Filipino win, with almost every international favorite being taken down by a local that isn't known on the world stage.

The Philippines deserves its title as the pool capital of the world, and this tournament is an unofficial official confirmation of it.


r/billiards • • 12h ago

Questions Anywhere to listen to good hustler stories?

11 Upvotes

Im fascinated with the pool hustler culture and would love to hear some old hustlers openly talk about their stories. I've listened to Jeremy Jones on Rogan and listen to CJ Wiley a lot on yt. Any other recommendations on podcasts or interviews?


r/billiards • • 4h ago

9-Ball WNT 2026 Philippines Open. All Filipino Semis. Who you got?

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7 Upvotes
  1. Chua

  2. Baseth

  3. Bernie

  4. Raga


r/billiards • • 26m ago

8-Ball LeaguePool website just posted an article about sandbagging and it's a riot.

• Upvotes

r/billiards • • 3h ago

9-Ball Philippines Open

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4 Upvotes

I couldn’t have asked for a better semi finals and finals
All Filipino showdown . Rightfully so tho since it’s the Philippines Open !! I’m rooting for Bernie to win it all but I have a feeling Johann is on a mission


r/billiards • • 3h ago

Article Pool Engine / Shot Suggestion Algorithm

5 Upvotes

Hi all,

First time posting here but I've been playing pool for a couple years now. I have a background in competitive chess where engines are one of the modern tools players use to improve. Naturally, I wondered if something like this existed for pool players and if it would even be helpful. This type of idea has long been theorized: https://drdavepoolinfo.com/physics_articles/Greenspan_IEEE_08_article.pdf

As a fun project to develop my ML skills, I decided to test it out and see if I could get anything working. Below you will find a demo of the project on some situations I found in top professional games.

In this position from the 2026 Las Vegas Open, Shane is shooting the 3 for position on the 4. Try to take a second to see what you might like to do, I'll reveal both the engine suggestion and what Shane played.

The engine works by building an "analysis board" so-to-say which is a digital recreation of the position. It takes in a screenshot and determines the table size, finds the walls, ball positions and numberings. It uses already existing pooltool physics engines to calculate ball paths and goes through a heuristic that accounts for human variance in aim, shot power, and spin effect (all of which can be adjusted to change whether the engine is suggesting a shot for a beginner or for a pro player). It also uses Dr Dave's effective pocket sizes. The engine balances between pot percentage (how likely is it to make the ball it is shooting as well as the next 2 balls after that) and safety play (if playing safe is able to generate a higher score). It then displays a heatmap of where the cue ball is likely to end up.

This is the engine result for Shane's position against Filler:

and finally, this is what Van Boening played:

https://reddit.com/link/1xdt9so/video/wu7cmyvcvaxh1/player

While the engine wanted to move the 7 out of the way for shape on the 4, Shane moved the 4 out of the way. He was probably thinking that he would have best chances if he hit either of them.

The next example is from Darren Appleton's video about common positional play mistakes.

After the break, you have shape on the 1 and have to decide the best way to get shape on the 2.

He talks about straight draw, punch draw, power draw, punch all being the wrong shot because they don't come onto the line.

This is what the engine suggests:

and this is Darren's solution:

https://reddit.com/link/1xdt9so/video/eeaxsluwvaxh1/player

I have only tested it on a few positions so far but it seems to be consistent with professional level play and it was nice to pause videos, put it into the engine, and watch a suggested move actually be played by the pros.

There are many paths for improvement and I'm open to collaboration. I also implemented a feature that takes Dr. Dave's table difficulty factor and allows users to either upload a photo (less accurate) or measurements to generate their score. Another cool feature shows the position zones for where you can end up to be "good" on the next ball.

One of my ideas was that analysis boards with engines could be used to assist live commentators when discussing possible decisions that a player might make, similar to how live commentary works in chess. It's always more illuminating to the audience when instead of just drawing arrows they can move around the position and show an engine evaluation, maybe something for pool could be useful?

Please feel free to post photos of positions / links to videos with timestamps if there are any positions that you would like to see the engine analysis for! Thanks for those who read the whole post!


r/billiards • • 15h ago

Questions Fargo Lookup

4 Upvotes

Anyone know what's going on with the Fargo website? Looks like they removed the option to lookup Fargo ratings. The fair match section of the website and app is gone entirely.


r/billiards • • 16h ago

Questions Would you change anything about the design of your custom cue?

2 Upvotes

For anyone who’s had a cue made with a design they picked, are you still happy with it, or would you do something different now?

Colors, inlays, artwork anything you loved at first but got tired of, or a small detail you ended up liking more than expected? Would you go simpler or more elaborate next time?


r/billiards • • 10h ago

Cue Identification joint size

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2 Upvotes

does anyone knows what joint size is this?


r/billiards • • 10h ago

Cue Identification Help required to identify cue

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1 Upvotes

r/billiards • • 8m ago

9-Ball Dương Quốc Hoàng at the Peri Arena in Da Nang taking on Jayson Shaw

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• Upvotes

r/billiards • • 10h ago

Questions Setting up pool table after second move

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1 Upvotes

Hello, I just purchased my first house and that means I am getting my pool table out of storage! It is a Brunswick 3 piece slate table. The image shows the leg being screwed in to the pool table frame.

The first time the table was assembled it screwed in at the lower hole and then I believe when it was set up the second time the threaded insert was added. The problem is that on 3/4 legs the threaded insert is loose in the wood and cannot be tightened down all the way. My question is can I just reinsert a 5/8 screw into the original hole with a washer or do I need to drill the hole out to reinsert a threaded insert for a bolt? I have a dog who I am sure will want to be sleeping under the table and I terrified of it spontaneously collapsing and killing him. Please let me know your thoughts!


r/billiards • • 1h ago

8-Ball Can people help me out with some maintaining tips for my new pool table

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• Upvotes

So I got a 6x3 pool table and have installed it in my garage.

My garage gets fairly cold and humid, so im curious what steps can I take to prolong the life of the table and keep it playing well?

Ive found the cloth responsiveness okay in this conditions, but the cushions are brutal, they really kill the pace. The break is also hard, my break on profesionaly grade tables is fairly good but im really struggling to get good movement on the balls.

As a secondary thing, does anyone have tips on how to get a good break on a very slow table?


r/billiards • • 12h ago

Questions Beginner tips

0 Upvotes

how do i shoot with spin? when i shoot with spin i just miscue, i chalked and everything and still a miscue, how do i shoot with spin and how to i hit the cue ball properly when doing shots with spins?


r/billiards • • 7h ago

9-Ball We should have a tournament based on the brands.

0 Upvotes

We have the reyes cup and masconi cup, which are both based on the countries of the participants. I think it would be pretty cool to see like a Predator vs Cuetec competition.


r/billiards • • 2h ago

Shitpost Billy Thorpe's hair?

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0 Upvotes

Watching the Philippines Open and something about Billy Thorpe's hair doesn't look natural.

What is up? Is it a wig? Hairpiece?


r/billiards • • 17h ago

Questions Needed a bit more spinach!

0 Upvotes

Guys I’ve got a new term for putting spin on the ball- spinach! That one needed a bit more spinach!

Who’s with me?


r/billiards • • 1h ago

Pool Stories Ok since they deleted the post..

• Upvotes

My opinion is Non Filos ddnt take the Philippine Open seriously and gave it to them. I say this cos i dont think SVB is even playing top form like in US Open. All semis are Filos, half of em unknown.