You might be familiar with Tiger Products, because of their great laminated cue tips like the Sniper and Everest tips.  You may not know that they make pool cues, too and they are VERY popular. The first thing you should know about the Tiger pool cue is the unique shaft design.  They call it the Tiger X-Shaft Ultra. The shaft is a laminated shaft, but different than other laminated shafts on the market. It is called the X-Shaft, because there are 4 quadrants laminated around a center square core.  See picture below... [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="224" caption="Illustration of Tiger X-Shaft Design"][/caption] One of the unique aspects of this design is the orientation of the grain in the 4 quadrants of the radial peices.  The grain is all facing outward in an "X" pattern, hence the name.  This is supposed to be the reason for the consistent play, radially. I would love to hear some opinions from anyone that has used this shaft.  I'm torn between transitioning to this shaft or a Z-shaft from Predator. Here is a short video about the Tiger X-Shaft... I found a short video of the Tiger Products shop.  check it out below... One of the things that I noticed in ...

In this video, Ralf Souquet opens up his cue case and reveals all of his secret pool gadgets and the other necessities of a traveling billiards-superstar. Ralf Souquet (aka "The Kaiser") is a truely legendary player from Germany. He has been playing competitive pool for over 2 decades at a very high level. He has an amazing tournament record including over 250 wins including many European titles and US titles in an array of pool disciplines. He has world championships in 9ball, 8ball and 10ball. He is a US Open 9 Ball Champion and a US Open 14.1 champion. Bottom-line, if there is a big tournament, don't ever count out Ralf, he is a true champion. OK...Let's find out what a world-travelling professional pool-playing superstar keeps in his pool cue bag of tricks... Ralf has been playing with a Joss cue for some time and is working out an endorsement deal with them (at the time of this video). He uses a Predator 314 2nd generation shaft with his cue. His Joss cue is a one-of-a-kind, but here are some other Joss designs... Joss JOS62 Bloodwood, Figured Maple and Holly Diamonds Pool Cue Stick Joss JOS61 Bloodwood, Ebony ...

In this video, future Pro Player, Landon Shuffet, reveals what he keeps in his cue case. Landon Shuffet is an up-and-coming young player.  He has a lot of talent and experience for someone his age.  I think he was 14 at the time of this video.  Listening to him, you might not realize that he is that young.  For his age, he is very knowledgable and tournament tested.  He is one of the future super-stars in the contigency of U.S. players. So let's find out what secret weapons Landon has hidden in that beautiful Jack Justis Case of his.... Landon has a rather odd combination of butts and shafts.  He is playing with a Predator Butt and an OB-2 Shaft. He says that he had played with an OB-1 Cue Shaft for a few years and loved it a lot, but the new OB-2 shaft is even better, definetly an upgrade in his opinion. He plays with a Moori tip (Medium Hardness) . That is the same tip that I have used in the past and liked very much. It is a pigskin tip with 11 layers of lamination. They are very popular tips. His setup is the same for ...

In the video below, professional player and pool playing legend, Johnny Archer, reveals what he keeps inside his pool case. Johnny Archer, aka "The Scorpion", is one of the most successful professional players of the last couple of decades. He is about the same age as me, so I have enjoyed watching him play many matches over the years. He has won just about every major title and has amassed a long list of victories over the last 20+ years of competitive pool. He is a great player and an invaluable asset to the sport of pool IMO, so when he reveals what's in his cue case, I want to sit-up and pay attention. So just what does he carry.... Obviously, Johnny has some Scorpion Cues in his case, after-all, he helped design them.  You should watch the video to get some more insight into Johnny's opinion about these cues. He carries 3 cues in his bag along with several extra shafts. Let's break-down his cue selection. I'll give you some more details about these cues, just in case you are interested in finding one. First is his main playing cue. He is playing with the JA-03 ...

Picking a pool cue can be quite intimidating, because of the vast selection of cues out there.  Ironically, for the average, casual, pool player, finding a good cue might be difficult, depending on where you live.  There is a lot of junk out there at the low end of the market for cues. I know, because I've bought them and learned the hard way.