Hi, I'm
Shmulik Dorinbaum.

Who I Am

I am an amateur pool and snooker player and I have been at this for more than fifteen years. Not a professional, not a cue maker, not a retailer. A player who got obsessive enough about the equipment that the opinions eventually filled a website.

That distinction matters for how you should read this site. I know what fifteen years at the table teaches you about a bridge, a break and a tip, and I will tell you that directly. I do not know what every cue in a roundup feels like in the hand, because nobody does.

Why My Pool Cue Exists

Almost every pool cue article online is one of two things: a retailer's product copy with the adjectives turned up, or an affiliate page assembled by someone who has never chalked a cue. Both are useless if you are standing in a shop trying to work out whether a $200 cue is meaningfully better than a $90 one.

I wanted somewhere I could send a friend and know they would get a straight answer, including the answer that the cheaper one is fine and the difference is smaller than the price gap suggests.

How the Recommendations Work

The technique, rules and maintenance guides come from playing. The buying guides come from research: manufacturer specifications read properly, owner reports gathered at volume with attention to what fails after a season, and comparison against everything else at the same price. My playing experience is what tells me which of those specifications actually matter and which are marketing.

The full method, including what I do not claim, is on the editorial standards page.

No manufacturer pays for anything here. The only money this site earns is Amazon affiliate commission, which means if you click a price link and buy, I earn a small amount and your price is unchanged. It does not affect what gets recommended or in what order.

Get in Touch

Questions about a specific cue, a specification I got wrong, or a rules argument you want settled? Write to editor@mypoolcue.com. I read everything.