9-ball became very boring about 10 years ago. That's when every semi-pro in every small town across the world started putting up 6-packs. Don't forget that most places still don't have pro-cut Diamond tables.
It dawned on me at a Florida Pro Tour event. I was watching and I had never before been bored of watching pro level play. I was fanatical about pool and for me to get bored was significant. But then I got bored. I almost fell asleep watching a match between Charlie Williams and someone else I can't remember. But it was a runout fest. Too many routine runs. Shortly after began some of the nonsense with racking. The Sardo, the slow break, the break box been around for a long long time, and it too was making a comeback in some tourney's. There was the racking the 9ball on the foot spot period. In Europe they were requiring that the 2 ball not be placed in the same position. Must be in different position each rack. There's those 2-3 balls must cross the head string anti-soft break rules. As time went on during this period, all sorts of players began making the wing ball all the time or breaking to predictable patterns.
All of that is silly. 9-ball became completely and totally break focused. All about racking, fixed vs. random ball position etcetera. The break has always been the most important shot in 9-ball. Key word - SHOT. In the last decade, the break became the entire game.
Just look at all the B players drooling over the magic rack and other contraptions. B players become A players minus the advanced kicking game due to easy breaking.
Anyway, at that Florida Tour stop, I made a comment in a discussion with other spectators, with a few of the players there too. I said that no-slop 10-ball is a logical solution. 10-ball was on no one's mind and some never even heard of it. The conversation had been about alternate breaking vs. winner breaks and there was whining because good players were losing to weaker semi-pros who where breaking well. That's why I commented on 10-ball.
I was basically called an idiot, while others rolled eyes or scoffed. I figured, no win on the break, call the shots. That idea came from Buddy Hall, except he proposed that for 9-ball. Call shot, no win on the break 9-ball would have helped a lot. Only difference is, the 9-ball racking/break issues would still be there. I had heard of 10-ball and figured that a rotation game with 1 more ball on the table equates to a lot more congestion, putting an end to the ridiculously boring stringing of racks by nearly everyone - adds some more complex safety play and strategy for cluster breaking and working through the rack. That's what the proponents of 10-ball were thinking at the time. Diamond Pro Cut tables are much more prevalent in tournaments than they were 10 years ago.
Well, those people who thought I was an idiot are now playing 10-ball on their tour.
I think the move to 10-ball is a good one. Smaller pockets & 10-ball makes it more challenging. It's not much of a test of skill when many hardly-known players are going even up with champions because of the easy 9-ball break.
When the IPT came out, I was hopeful and excited. Because 8-ball is a game the masses can relate to. That and it's far more complex than 9-ball. It leads to more interesting situations. There's more moves in the game and it allows for more creativity. It's not as one-dimensional in that there's more than one solution to a problem in many cases.
I thought, finally - something that will break this boring 9-ball death grip over the pool world. Unfortunately, big time 8-ball went down with the IPT.
Do I consider 10-ball the ultimate test of skill? No. 14.1 is. One-pocket is a bit of a specialty game. 8-ball is well, 8-ball. There's no patience in our short-attention-span society for 14.1 anymore. There's a reason it was gone in the 1980's. That means one-pocket is out too. 8-ball went down with the IPT. That leaves rotation games. Of which, there's 9-ball that needs replacing, 10-ball which is a good candidate, and Rotation, which is too much of a leap and too different to be accepted world wide.
I think many can agree 10-ball is not the ultimate test of skill. It's just the best test of skill that is also acceptable as a modern tournament game.
The only question is, will 10-ball survive the test of time? Souquet is right, the level has gone way up. For 10-ball to have a run of 30 years like 9-ball has, it shouldn't be so easy as to be conquered quickly and made boring by the pros. It all rests on how much the extra ball ties up and slows down the game, and most of all, how well the rack holds up to breaking strategy. I'm sure we'll see some innovations in breaking 10-ball. But no matter what, there won't be that dreaded wing ball that C players can make regularly.
One last thing about 10-ball. They have been standardizing the rules, but still being relatively new as a major game it is still open to adjustments in case it turns out to be 9-ball with one extra ball. Whereas, in 9-ball, Texas Express pretty much became written in stone and it was blasphemy to deviate from that.
. Other than that....straight pool rules!!!
