The Players Exotic Series puts figured hardwoods and hand-applied graphics on an otherwise standard two-piece playing cue. Across the line, forearms and butt sleeves come in cocobolo, walnut, purple heart, birdseye maple and zebrawood, finished with a wood-to-wood or stainless steel joint depending on the model and either a leather, Irish linen, leatherette or bare wrapless handle. We carry two of these cues: a zebrawood sneaky pete with a wrapless handle, and a black cue with silver graphic accents under a leatherette wrap. Both ship with a 13mm hard rock maple shaft and a 5/16x18 joint pin.
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The Players Exotic Series is a line of two-piece pool cues built around real figured hardwoods rather than painted-on or printed graphics. The line's own product descriptions call out cocobolo, walnut, purple heart, American birdseye maple and straight-grain maple as the woods used across the collection, worked into forearms, butt sleeves and points so the natural grain does the decorating instead of an overlay. Current published listings for the line show fourteen models in production, split between thirteen two-piece play cues and one dedicated jump cue, which makes it one of the larger design families inside the wider Players cue catalog. Wrap treatment varies model to model: five of the fourteen ship wrapless, three carry an Irish linen wrap, five use a leather wrap and one uses a leatherette wrap, and the joint pin is 5/16x18 on all but one Turbo Loc model in the range. We stock two of these cues, and they happen to sit at opposite ends of that wrap spread: a wrapless zebrawood sneaky pete and a leatherette-wrapped cue finished in mystic black with silver graphics. The Exotic Series is its own distinct design family within Players' catalog, sold alongside the brand's separately named Classic, Graphic, Artistic and HXT low-deflection lines, so a Players cue with exotic wood is not automatically part of this series unless it is listed under the Exotic name.
The rest of the Exotic Series shows the range this line covers even though we do not stock every model. One version pairs antique maple with cocobolo and bocote graphics under a lizard-embossed leather wrap, another uses black and bocote recon graphics on a solid black linen wrap, and a third sets a zebrawood forearm and butt against plain silver rings under an Irish linen wrap. A couple of the midnight black models trade the exotic wood for imitation ivory or mother-of-pearl inlay work instead, so "exotic" in the line's name refers as much to the graphic treatment as to the timber itself. Our two cues sit toward the plainer, less expensive end of that spread, which keeps them closer to a house-cue price while still using the line's four-prong construction and hand-applied graphics.
Our zebrawood sneaky pete uses a richly figured zebrawood body that ends in four-prong splice points into a natural birdseye maple forearm, joined wood to wood with a matching wood-to-wood butt cap, so there is no metal ring interrupting the grain. A splice like this is a traditional cue-making joint where four pointed sections of one wood are cut and glued into a matching four-pointed recess in the other, which is both a structural joint and a decorative one since the points show as thin triangles running up the forearm. Our black cue takes the opposite approach: a mystic black forearm and butt sleeve dressed with silver and imitation bone graphics, finished with a white implex joint collar and a black implex butt cap for contrast against the dark body. Both designs are built on the same North American hard rock maple body that the wider Players catalog uses, which is the wood species named across the entire Exotic line and not just our two cues.
The zebrawood sneaky pete is wrapless, meaning the bare maple handle is shaped and finished for grip rather than covered, a treatment players who like the feel of wood directly under the back hand tend to prefer, and one that also makes the cue read as an ordinary house cue at a glance. Our black cue instead carries a leatherette wrap, a leather-look material wrapped and stitched around the handle section for a firmer, more textured grip than bare wood. Elsewhere in the Exotic line, Players also builds the same body style with genuine leather and Irish linen wraps, so wrap choice is one of the clearest ways this line differentiates one model from the next, more than wood species or joint hardware.
Both of our cues use a 5/16x18 joint pin and a 13mm North American hard rock maple shaft, the same shaft size and species used across most of the Players catalog rather than a dedicated low-deflection build. Product listings for the black cue name a French Le Pro leather tip on a pro taper shaft, the same tip and taper combination used on other cues in the Exotic Series, a pressed leather tip that is common on production cues in this price range because it holds a consistent shape with less maintenance than a layered tip. Neither of our two cues uses the stainless steel joint that appears on a handful of other Exotic Series models; both are wood to wood, which tends to give a slightly softer, more traditional hit than a metal joint collar does. If any of these terms, splice, ferrule, taper or joint pin, are new to you, our cue glossary covers them in plain language.
Players Zebrawood Sneaky Pete Wrapless Cue (SKU E-5100) pairs a zebrawood body with a birdseye maple forearm and a wood-to-wood joint and butt cap, with no wrap on the handle. It runs about $200 and is in stock as of this writing. The sneaky pete shape and plain wood finish make it read as an ordinary house cue at a glance, which is part of the appeal for players who would rather not advertise that they are playing with a two-piece cue in a casual game.
Players Black & Ivory Cue with Leatherette Wrap (SKU E2305) is finished in mystic black with silver and imitation bone graphic accents, a white implex joint collar, a black implex butt cap and a leatherette wrap on the handle. It lists for about $220 and is currently in stock. Where the zebrawood cue leans plain and understated, this one is built to stand out on the rack while still carrying the same 13mm shaft and 5/16x18 joint as the rest of the line.
Both cues we carry from this line use a 5/16x18 joint pin and a 13.00mm shaft in Players' classic wood construction, meaning the shaft is solid North American hard rock maple rather than carbon fiber or a low-deflection build. That pairing is one of the most common joint and shaft combinations in pool, so aftermarket 5/16x18 shafts and joint protectors sized for a 13mm tip will generally fit either cue if you ever want to swap a component. Browse our full 13.00mm shaft size and 5/16x18 joint type listings, or every classic wood shaft we carry, if you are shopping for a spare or a replacement. Our complete shaft selection covers other joint and diameter combinations if your cue does not match this spec. A 5/16x18 pin is also the same size used on most break and jump cues, so either of these Exotic Series cues can share a spare shaft or a practice shaft with a break cue built to the same spec if you already own one.
A sneaky pete, for anyone new to the term, is a two-piece cue built and finished to look like a plain one-piece house cue, usually with little or no wrap and a plain wood forearm, so it does not draw attention to itself on a public table. The wrapless zebrawood sneaky pete suits a player who wants a cue that looks unremarkable but still hits like a real two-piece, the classic use case for a sneaky pete in a public pool room or a casual money game. The leatherette black cue suits someone who wants more visual presence on the rack without stepping up to a custom-built price. Players on the AZBilliards forums describe the brand's production sneaky pete cues as solid value once a preferred tip and ferrule are fitted, with more than one player reporting an inexpensive Players sneaky pete holding up for years of regular play after a simple tip swap. The same forum threads single out Players' low-deflection HXT shafts for extra praise, but that is a different Players sub-line from the Exotic Series cues we stock here, so it is not a fair comparison for these two models specifically.
Both cues we carry list a lifetime guarantee against warpage, a warranty that AZBilliards forum members also mention when discussing Players cues in general, alongside comments that the brand's overall fit and finish has improved over the years. Like most production cues in this price range, these are built overseas rather than by a single American shop, a point pool players on those forums raise often when comparing Players against other production brands that come out of the same factories. Weigh that against the price: at about $200 to $220, these cues cost a fraction of a handmade custom cue while still carrying a warranty against the most common defect in an inexpensive cue, a warped shaft or forearm.
If neither of these two fits what you are after, the rest of our Players cues range covers other finishes and price points, and our full pool cue selection spans every brand and price range we carry.
The E-5100 uses a zebrawood body with a natural birdseye maple forearm, joined wood to wood, with no separate wrap on the handle.
It depends on the model. Our zebrawood cue is wrapless, our black cue has a leatherette wrap, and other models in the line use leather or Irish linen instead.
Both cues we carry use a 5/16x18 joint pin, one of the most common sizes in pool, paired with a 13.00mm hard rock maple shaft.
Yes. Both cues carry a lifetime guarantee against warpage, the standard warranty Players applies across its production cue lines.
Both models ship with a 13.00mm North American hard rock maple shaft rather than a carbon fiber or low-deflection shaft.
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