Learn smashing pool from Richard, big and built and who broke men and cues to pieces.
Richard was a bear of a young man who frequented a favorite pool haunt of mine. Resembling a sumo wrestler but with muscles where the fat would reside, and wielding an explosive temper to match his fierce physique, Richard struck fear into the hearts of lesser mortals.
Oh, Richard handled his occasional bad roll in stride like every other player, but following a game where this volcano of a man judged his play as particularly poor, wise men headed for the hills above the lava flow.
Richard hated losing at pool. One ploy following (or if you were extra unfortunate, during) one of his rare bad games was when he would lift the table into the air with his bare hands, sliding the balls off the felt without using a cue. "NOW they're ALL going in the pockets!" he would bellow. This Herculean feat required Richard to lift one side and not just a corner of the table, allowing the balls to fit neatly inside two or more pockets. Understand that the slate alone on a quality nine-foot table weighs one net ton.
Once, I chanced to be playing with Richard when he discovered his longtime girlfriend had ended their relationship with a "Dear John" note. Surprising to me, there were no ejected curses, nothing outwardly indicating Richard's frustration.
Seated next to the table, without a word, with a snap across his massive right thigh, Richard tried to break his cue butt into two sections. The cue splintered slightly. Regarding his stick silently for a few moments, as though it had failed him with its hardiness, Richard brought the wood down again with violence, blasting through the thick wood with his leg, before tossing the pieces aside disgustedly.
I've slightly bent cue shafts and even seen them broken after 200 violent break shots or other prolonged abuse, but a "butt break" in two tries boggles my mind. To this day I wonder, "How could Richard smash the cue over his thigh again after his first try?" On my first "attempt" I would have gone down howling in pain, my thigh blackened, my femur crushed.
Room owners facing the Richards of the world who play "smashing pool", consider bolting your tables to the floor and providing cues made from steel to your patrons!
