I appreciated your e-mail, and tried to respond, but my response bounced several times. I decided that it would be less rude to post my response here than to seemingly ignore it.

> Dear Mr. Siltz,

Mr. Siltz was my father. I'm just Dave.

> I've just spent an enjoyable, and humbling, half hour perusing
> your pages dedicated to billiards. I've added your site to
> my list of favorite links and look forward to reading the rest
> of them soon.

Well thank you very much for the site feedback.

> We are at opposite ends of the pool spectrum. I'm 52 and just
> starting to play. Oh, I've swung a stick at a ball from time
> to time over the years, but I doubt I've averaged more than an
> hour a week over the last decade, even though I have my own
> table. Recently I've discovered that I derive more satisfaction
> from shooting than I do almost anything else and have decided
> to make a commitment to this noble sport. At least I'd planned
> to until watching some of your shot making. I can't believe
> I'll ever be able to do anything close to what you've
> demonstrated.

Until a couple of years ago I couldn't bank a ball to save my life.
Amazingly, all it took was practice, practice and more practice. I'f
back then I'd seen a movie of somebody banking nine in a row I'd have
bet anything that I'd never be able to do that.

> I've recently read a debate in a billiard forum about which
> is the best chalk. What surprised me was that no one mentioned
> how humidity effects a chalk's performance. Someone finding
> Master's Blue to feel muddy in Florida's humidity might discover
> it's quite dry and, well, chalky in my extremely dry location
> in Southern California's high desert. It seemed to me that much
> of the disagreement might be the result of the chalks being
> effected by environmental conditions. When you have the time,
> I would appreciate hearing your thoughts about this. Is there
> a best chalk for humid conditions? A better one in dry?

When I was in New Orleans I switched to Triangle chalk, reasoning that
the harder chalk would not absorb moisture as readily. I don't know
if it really did any good though it does seem to make sense.

> Thank you for putting together a first rate site. I'll forward
> it to my friends and, with your permission, add a link to it on
> the modest pool page I plan to add to my own site.

Thanks again.