Yea I used to play a lot untill the local scrapped the marathon deal, used to be able to get a table from 12-7 for something silly like £7, so me and a couple of mates used to go down, i spent about £40 on a cue and that treated me well, the main thing you need to do is get a nice shape on the tip for cue ball control, stopped going when they stopped the marathon deal which was a shame, by the end of it we were all fairly competent player though. I never felt like a £40 cue limited me, only my own ability, went down the local pool / snooker store and just tryed out loads of cues, at the end of the day its a bit of wood you hit balls with, so if your happy with the length, weight, flex then its the perfect cue for you no matter how much you spend. Used to play American pool with it as well (becuase you could transfer tables as much as you wanted during the session for free so we used to do it when we needed a break from the serious shit) and the cue never split or struggled with the bigger balls either, so i don't think you need to go and spend a tonne on a cue to get something that you like.