posted
I had my $1400 pool cue stolen from me tonight, at my local bar where I run pool tournaments every Sunday night. I have fun, and there have never been any problem there before this.....
But what a problem it turns out to be.
The only good thing about it is that my friends who own the bar had just installed a camera system two days prior, and we caught the whole thing clear as day on DVR. One of the guys I know there knew who the thieves were as well, so they are going to be in more than a bit of trouble....it is a felony due to the cost of the cue...once they are brought in tomorrow. The police officer even talked to them on the phone, and they admitted to taking it more than once.
If I could have gotten it back tonight, in good shape, I would have let it drop, probably..at least officially. Now that a report has been filed though I am going to nail them to the cross if I can. I don't care that it could ruin their future careers, or send one of them away for a while (he has a prior record), at this point I want to shaft them as hard as I can.
I am NOT a tough guy, not even close, but I am one of the worst enemies a person can make. It takes a lot of piss me off o this point, but once I am there I tend to never let it go. I know where their girlfriends work, and told the police...I know where they work, and the police know that as well. No matter where they go, either the police will find them, or I will.
I don't own a gun, and I turned down a state police job, both for the same reason....I don't trust myself enough to carry a weapon. I know this is only a pool cue, but to me it is a lot more. I doubt I will even feel completely comfortable again at Players, even though some of my best friends own the place. I can't take my cue there again even if I get it back.....it just would aggravate me, and I would always be wondering if it was safe.
They didn't just steal my cue, they stole my peace of mind.
All I can say is that they have no idea how lucky they are tonight....and I hope they never have reason to realize it. I still half wish I could take care of this MY way, but at the same time I am worried about what I would do to them if I stopped at their work/home/parents house.
Now I can't even sleep, I am still that pissed off.
posted
Kwea, let us know if/when you get your cue back. I know you like it and it means a lot to you. About your peace of mind, well... there isn't a place you can stash the cue safely while you are there?
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Good luck, Kwea. It is sad that this had to happen to you, I know you enjoy your pool nights and it's a shame they won't really feel the same now. Perhaps aftersome time your peace of mind will return to you. In the meantime, I fully support your decision to prosecute them to the fullest extent. Make the law work for you.
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Eduardo, I could stash it in the office, when it is open, but every time I need to run to th bathroom now I will feel unsafe leaving it anywhere.
Part of the problem is I need that cue to continue to play and win. I can win without it, but every time I play without it I remember why I no longer have it and I get all pissed off again, which throws my game off.
I was winning last night before all of this happened, but I ended up splitting wiht my firend who was in second because I couldn't concentrate.
That cost me another $40.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
That really stinks. Don't you have a friend you cant trust with it when you go to the bathroom?
Posts: 1785 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Yeah, it's in golf you may sometimes want to slice the ball, not pool....
Although I can think of a few OTHER things to do with a katana that would be very satisfying at this point......
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Slicing just makes them look all raggedy. Whatcha wanna do is iron the golfballs to smooth those dimples out.
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Couldn't you have them keep it behind the bar when you go to the bathroom? If you're going on a regular basis (to Players, not the bathroom, although that would be good for your health), you should be on friendly terms with the bartenders pretty soon.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
I'm happy they were caught! Wow, $1400 for a cue? I would never have guessed.
It stinks that happened, but I'm glad your bar took action. I live in a pretty rough neighborhood and if I go out drinking, I only go to places where I trust the staff (sometimes, that means I'll go some days and not others). I assume you probably had no reason to even worry.
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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My first reaction to this was shock and disgust, but then I realized that I've considered paying that much for a banjo or a guitar, so I shouldn't be throwing stones.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
Can we talk about the cue some more? What is different? I assume weight and balance are perfect, but I've seen that one $100 que. Must have some gold or other things too. Might even have a built in cell phone and calculates the correct angles for you!
Posts: 2845 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I'm interested too. I know you play pool a lot and are apparently rather good at it, but what makes a cue worth that much money? I don't really play much pool, so obviously I am missing something.
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Notice the amount he's talking about as being involved. He only needs to win $40 thirty five times and he's made back the cost of the cue; this doesn't even begin to take into account any additional pleasure he might feel from playing with a nice cue.
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From what I understand, he has to lose every once in a while or the other players won't bother coming back.
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No, it doesn't . If he's won $40 thirty five times he has won back the cost of the cue; if he's lost some in that same time frame he also has some losses to make up with further wins.
So long as he plays fairly regularly and commonly wins or has more fun playing than he loses in money, the cue is almost certainly a good investment. I predict he has played many hundreds of times with it.
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posted
Which still doesn't answer the question of what it is about the cue that makes it worth so much.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I think pool cues are easier to steal than pool tables. I've never actually tried, so I could be wrong.
Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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quote:I think pool cues are easier to steal than pool tables. I've never actually tried, so I could be wrong.
Greater risks, greater rewards.
(and this is why if I were a criminal, I'd totally end up in the Dumb Criminals column of the Reader).
Posts: 484 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:No, it doesn't [Smile] . If he's won $40 thirty five times he has won back the cost of the cue; if he's lost some in that same time frame he also has some losses to make up with further wins.
Now you're being silly and hyperliteral. If he wins 35 times and loses 50 times, in no practical sense could it be said that he's earned back the price of the cue.
Posts: 16551 | Registered: Feb 2003
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posted
So long as he had more fun than the amount he lost in those fifty times, in exactly a very practical sense could he have earned back the price of the cue.
Economics isn't all about money.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
The little I know about Kwea, he seems to be very good playing pool, and wins some money almost every time he plays.
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Kristen, the theieves DIDN'T know what they had. I heard them on the phone when the police officer told them they had committed a felony, and mentioned the value of the cue, and they almost crapped their pants.
Jay, great thread to link to, I would probably never had thought of that. Two things though....first, auctions usually bring in LESS than list price on high end cues, so most of those are under priced compared to retail, if you can believe it.
Second, the $1500 cue you linked to is still a production cue....pre-made, with no custom work at all. The retail price for it is $2500....and my cue is better than that one is.....it is a one of a kind.
Schon makes very possibly the BEST production cue in the world these days (although that is a whole other can of worms), but they all hit the same.
It depends, really. A lot of commercial cues are very good, and I played with one or another brand for years and did fine. I saved up for a long time for this cues, though, although not in a way most of you would recognize....I sold 3 other cues to raise the money. I had either won or bought those cues over time, and they all hit good....but the cue I bought with the money I raised by selling those other cues is the best cue I have ever held, let alone owned.
I usually just play in tournaments because I dislike hustles. They are fundamentally dishonest, and I always felt a little dirty trying to do it...which made me a bad hustler, but a good person. I really NEVER got into trying to hustle, although I always liked beating other people who thought they were hustling me:D. I would play fairly well most of the night, but still talk to my friends and joke around....and since the other players didn't know me well they would usually think they had a good idea of how well I could play overall.
They were usually wrong. I wasn't throwing any games, but there is a BIG difference between playing a truely competitve level and messing around in a bar or pool hall wiht your friends.
Playing really, really well takes a LOT of concentration and effort, but when you are in the zone it doesn't LOOK like you are expending any effort at all. I liked hanging out with my friends and drinking and dancing too much to ignore all of that just to play pool at my best level.....but at the end of the night, the fabled "double or nothing" line would always come out when they "hustlers" would try to make their move on me. Usually they would have "lost" a bit of money to me trying to lull me into thinking either a) they sucked or b) I was great.
I would do one of two thing. I would either say " Oh, look at the time, I have to go dance with (insert name here)" and walk away with whatever they had "given" me, or I would decide it was worth the effort to play full steam, and I would whip them hard. I almost always had told them I couldn't play all night so they couldn't force me to stay, and I always insisted on cash as we went...I NEVER play for credit, not even for a double or nothing.
Out of the two options my favorite was the first....if they really WERE trying to hustle me it drove them NUTS! :
I once won about $1600 in one day. I won two tournaments, and played pool from about 8 am to about 2 am the following day.
Well, first of all I can (and do) play with almost anything. I have a cue that is only worth about $60, and it hits fine. I still have another cue worth about $160 that is one of the best hitting cues I have hit with.
But my cue was beautiful.....and made of the best possible materials. It had ebony inlays, 8 points worth, hand carved by a master cue named named Dave Tice, from Washington State. It had silver/nickel inlay/rings around the joint to provide a wonderful hit and great durability. The shaft was made of Canadian hard rock maple, and tapered to my own specifications...and it was about 1 1/3 inches longer than most cues, but the balance was the same because of the design and taper. I am only about 5'6", so I could reach more shots without straining with this cue than I can make with any other cue I have ever used.
It has Coco Bola wood, Birdseye maple and ebony in the butt cap, with beautiful finish work all over the cue.
It also had a lifetime warranty, including materials.
Let me put it this way.....
If you gave me Tiger Woods golf clubs, I probably would NOT become a great golfer because if it. I am not a horrible golfer, but not a good one at all....so most of what Tiger can do with the ball on a golf course would be impossible for me regardless of what type of clubs I used. Tiger (or any other golfer, really ) could use 3 clubs from the Salvation Army store and still whip me easily.
But if you took Tiger's clubs away from him one day before the Masters, he probably wouldn't even make the cut. Hell, he would probably withdraw, as he would be wasting his time.
I am no Tiger Woods, not even at pool, but the principle is the same.
I play at a fairly high level, or at least I use to a few years ago. I can (and have) use a wooden broom handle and beaten people for money....but if you let me have my cue I can control what happens to a much greater degree.
Since losing even 3% of my shot making ability can effectively remove me from any chance of competing at my old level, losing this cue is a devastating loss. I can't sell any more cues, I don't have enough residual value in my collection to make even a dent in the cost of replacing it. Even if I do replace it, it won't hit exactly the same, which means I have to relearn ALL my shots with it in order to even consider competing at a regional/national amateur level again.
I love tournaments because there is no hustle. You know what you are risking up front (entry fee), and everyone wants to win for the most part so you always get their best game right up front. I cultivated an image of someone who doesn't mind playing for a beer or a buck or two, but who didn't like to gamble a lot of money regardless of the possible gain, so most of the really good 'hustlers" left me alone. When I would encounter one of them in my side of a tournament they knew letting me beat them had no payoff, not even after the tournament in the "green room", so they would try to beat me right away.
I always did well, and within 6 months I had won more than enough to cover the cost of the cue, even if I had payed straight up for it. Enough in PROFITS, too, including the entry fee where I won nothing.
If I get a monetary award for this, and I will eventually, I will spend it on a new Tice cue without thinking twice about it, providing I don't need the money for something urgent. The problem is that I can't afford to go and buy one in the mean time, so I am humped. If this goes to court (and it will) it could take a year or more before I see the money to replace it.
With my cue, on a regulation 9 foot table, I could place a ball on the rail most of the way down the table, then a half sized sheet of writing paper anywhere on the table. I could shoot, make the ball.....
and make the cue ball finish up on that paper.
I could place a dime on the table and shoot most shots and have the cue ball either stop touching it or have it run right over it (if I hit it a bit too hard ).
Draw, follow, 1 rail... or 4....I could usually have the cue ball on that paper somehow once it stopped moving.
I could draw the ball, with the object ball a full 8/12 feet away down the table, all the way back and make it hit the tip of my cue, which I had not moved from my follow through stroke. There was little to no deflection at all.
I could take the same shot but more my cue and the cue ball would draw a full table back, hit the rail and go to the other opposing rail, then hit off THAT rail and go between 1/4 to 1/2 a table back up again.
2 and 1/2 table lengths of draw, with some contol.
I could do a legal jump shot wth it and clear 2-3 complete balls while still keeping the cue on the table after impact with the object ball.
I could do a legal jumps shot over a complete ball, and draw the cue ball back 1/2 a table length.
Consistantly.
Keep in mind that I no longer play 5 days a week, so how much of this I can still do is a mystery even to me.
I ran 126 balls in two turns at the table (69 then 57) in straight pool, and I once played another 6 in the APA league (years ago when I was still a 6....7 is the highest, and that was my most recent handicap) and he never shot, other than the inital break.
He broke, then I ran out...and broke and ran the next 4 games in a row, finishing the match without letting him shoot again.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Yes, it's true. Kwea does play very well and his cue was very beautiful. It hit very well and he could do a lot more with that cue than he could with the other good cues that he has. (Although my cue is far prettier...it is blue after all! ) Kwea says "typical woman...it's all about the color" , however I have seen him play with other cues as well and he has always played better with the one that was stolen. He's also won a heck of a lot more tournaments and money over all with it, that's for sure. I was very upset by what happened since he didn't come to bed last night. He slept on the couch because he was so upset by it and he didn't want to disturb me. I have learned just how stupid these "criminals" are.... if they could post here I think it would read something like this "colur me blonde and paint me stupid s-t-o-o-p-i-d!" One even went so far as to confess to the police officer over the phone...then threaten his job by saying that his uncle was in the FBI and he would have the guy's job. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but when you have been caught stealing on video...and confessed to a cop... then you threaten that same officer.... you really and truly are a brilliant idiot! This is why Jay Leno reads headlines about stupid criminals! Some people are so dumb it makes them hard to laugh at! It doesn't stop us from laughing - it just makes it harder. Hopefully this will be resolved quickly, especially since Kwea says he pities them because they have now really screwed up their own lives... a felony being so much different than petty theft....although he says that that would not stop him from breaking their legs with a baseball bat. ( Personally I think he is still very upset by this and can only verbally assault them - for which I am grateful, but I am pretty ticked at them myself and had a nice Louisville slugger in my hands just a few hours ago. I only wish I had some watermelons or something to take out my anger and frustration on. I think it would be good therapy for Kwea and I.)
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posted
Anything so valuable should certainly have a serial number or some means of identification permanently etched into it.
Posts: 91 | Registered: Feb 2006
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quote:Originally posted by Kwea: If I get a monetary award for this, and I will eventually, I will spend it on a new Tice cue without thinking twice about it, providing I don't need the money for something urgent. The problem is that I can't afford to go and buy one in the mean time, so I am humped. If this goes to court (and it will) it could take a year or more before I see the money to replace it.
Gotta love American Justice, huh?
I'm not an American, and I don't play one on tv...
I don't understand how this works. I thought that the cops kept the cue for evidence until trial was over or a plea bargain was arranged, and then you got it back. But that isn't what I'm seeing you describe. Do the cops then keep your pool cue for forever in case of appeals? Do you ever get it back? And what is this reward money you speak of? Or did you mean compensation money?
It sucks that this happened.
Posts: 8355 | Registered: Apr 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Carrie: (Note to self: If I ever encounter Kwea, do not play pool.)
Now, see, this has made me want to have Kwea teach me to play. I've played a few times, found it enormously fun, and sucked at it pretty badly. I see that as an advantage, though--I would have very few things to unlearn. Call it none.
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) Kwea says "typical woman...it's all about the color" ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
, however I have seen him play with other cues as well and he has always played better with the one that was stolen. He's also won a heck of a lot more tournaments and money over all with it, that's for sure.![[Hail]](graemlins/hail.gif)
you really and truly are a brilliant idiot! ![[Wall Bash]](graemlins/wallbash.gif)
This is why Jay Leno reads headlines about stupid criminals! Some people are so dumb it makes them hard to laugh at! ![[ROFL]](graemlins/rofl.gif)
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( Personally I think he is still very upset by this and can only verbally assault them - for which I am grateful, but I am pretty ticked at them myself and had a nice Louisville slugger in my hands just a few hours ago. I only wish I had some watermelons or something to take out my anger and frustration on. I think it would be good therapy for Kwea and I.)
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