US Open 9-Ball, 2023, Atlantic City, Sep 25-30

[flyvirginiaguy]

I watched Vidas and Dan Louie do this in WA state 15 years ago, and neither is really top tier any more. They literally got the exact same layout more or less, the entire set. I myself ran a 5 pack on Joey Gray at Derby the year Morra won the Banks. Tight pockets means players can't get away with soft breaking, a d hard breaks result in more random layouts.

So, you (you, as in the pool world) is using tight pockets as the solution in trying to do away with soft breaking? Why not just do away with soft breaking? 3 balls behind the line is not the answer either. Everyone has hit slugs, as hard as possible and occassionally not got 3 behind the line. No wonder pool has gone no where in 40 years. lol

The regular pro cut pocket Brunswick gold crown Efren and Earl played on has 5.9 million views (just on one youtube channel). They did not need tight pockets, it was never boring to watch rack after rack, and was quite different layouts every time. What got them that many views? Was it the pockets, equipment, what they wore, hitting the balls soft or hard? No, it was exciting pool, and seeing personality with the play.

 

[skogstokig]

the old rivals ralf and earl played better than most youngsters has been playing. went to the double hill before ralf ran out on earls dry break. classy ending too

 

[skip100]

Pocket Size per Emily Frazer

4" Corner Pockets
4.5" Side Pockets

If she wants to run a snooker tour she should stick to that.

 

[ShortBusRuss]

So, you (you, as in the pool world) is using tight pockets as the solution in trying to do away with soft breaking? Why not just do away with soft breaking? 3 balls behind the line is not the answer either. Everyone has hit slugs, as hard as possible and occassionally not got 3 behind the line. No wonder pool has gone no where in 40 years. lol

The regular pro cut pocket Brunswick gold crown Efren and Earl played on has 5.9 million views (just on one youtube channel). They did not need tight pockets, it was never boring to watch rack after rack, and was quite different layouts every time. What got them that many views? Was it the pockets, equipment, what they wore, hitting the balls soft or hard? No, it was exciting pool, and seeing personality with the play.

Pool going nowhere (in America) in recent decades has absolutely nothing to with pocket size, speed of cloth, personalities. It has to do with lack of young people taking up the game, so all the fans AND participants tend to be older. Our best player currently is 40+, and balding (sorry, Shane..) All competitive sports/games need young people to take up the game as fans wanna watch young talent, and these games "compete" against each other for young talent. It has always been that way, and always will be, in every sport/-game. In America, young folks with that kind of hand--eye coordination and muscle memory are taking up professional video gaming, as it can be played and practiced at home without the cost of a $4,000+ table, and the house big enough to practice in.

Add to that, the business and legal environment makes it extremely hard to run a profitable pool hall without alcohol, and if alcohol is served in an establishment, odds are minors either can't come in, or require guardian presence on premises. So the pool playing population in America is aging more and more every year.

You can't present ideas on "fixing" pool, unless you actually know what the problems with it are.

 

[iusedtoberich]

I notice DAZN has chess coverage going on. I don't recall that from when I had a membership last year, before cancelling it. I tuned in a few minutes. It's not quite for me. However, I wonder how their viewership is. One could argue chess is way more boring than pool to watch.

 

[Mole Eye]

4 inch pockets, in my opinion, might be the final nail in the coffin for American players being able to compete with the rest of the world. While Asia and European nations have youth programs and training at a young age, American players have pool rooms or home tables. Pool rooms have enough trouble staying afloat without making the game difficult for people just getting started. American players, with a few exceptions, are not relevant now. It’s only going to get worse with developments like this. I’m sure Asian and European nations are happy with 4 inch pockets, but American players certainly shouldn’t be. That’s my opinion, we welcome your views

 

[jasonlaus]

Does anyone know how this last storm impacted the Atlantic City area?
I haven't read through these threads if it's been posted earlier, but it looks like lots of flooding.

That place could use a good douche

 

[Positively Ralf]

I'm assuming that Chris Alexander, who is playing Chris Melling on table 2, is primarily an English 8 ball player because he didn't seem to understand some of the 9 ball rules such as push outs.

 

[The_JV]

Some are stuck in the past. Nothing we can do about that. Professional pool has matured beyond what was common in NA 20-30yrs ago.

I dont know if 4" pockets will be the norm, but its what the elite should be playing with. As a newbie to the USopen. I'm not upset by the difficulty of the tables. In fact it's what I would hope the best are measured against.

Still many brk'n'runs going on here at the USopen. Just not many had by the deadmoney players, that will for the most part, be gone after today.

The elite still make it look easy.

I expect Gorst in the final.

 

[ShortBusRuss]

4 inch pockets, in my opinion, might be the final nail in the coffin for American players being able to compete with the rest of the world. While Asia and European nations have youth programs and training at a young age, American players have pool rooms or home tables. Pool rooms have enough trouble staying afloat without making the game difficult for people just getting started. American players, with a few exceptions, are not relevant now. It’s only going to get worse with developments like this. I’m sure Asian and European nations are happy with 4 inch pockets, but American players certainly shouldn’t be. That’s my opinion, we welcome your views

Please see my post just a few above yours that clearly states why pocket sizes have **** all to do with the state of American pool. It doesn't matter what the pocket sizes are. For the most part, most American youth don't have access to ANY pool tables, for the reasons I stated.

Lotta people declaring American pool to be failing for "x" reasons, don't have any real clue as to true reasons.

 

[skip100]

The athletic wear these overweight, dumpy guys are either forced to wear or decide to wear (not sure which would be worse?) is embarrasing.

If you have man boobs, don't wear clothes that accentuate them.

 

[kling&allen]

I notice DAZN has chess coverage going on. I don't recall that from when I had a membership last year, before cancelling it. I tuned in a few minutes. It's not quite for me. However, I wonder how their viewership is. One could argue chess is way more boring than pool to watch.

Chess on YouTube and Twitch is incredibly popular with its own crop of pros and influencers with decent audiences.

American chess has lots of young players (chess isn’t blocked on school computers and kids don’t get in trouble for playing it on their phones), which drives everything else as someone noted above.

 

[kling&allen]

Please see my post just a few above yours that clearly states why pocket sizes have **** all to do with the state of American pool. It doesn't matter what the pocket sizes are. For the most part, most American youth don't have access to ANY pool tables, for the reasons I stated.

Lotta people declaring American pool to be failing for "x" reasons, don't have any real clue as to true reasons.

Thinking of the chess post I made, kids don’t have to go to a dumpy bar to play chess. If they did, none would play.

 

[The_JV]

The athletic wear these overweight, dumpy guys are either forced to wear or decide to wear (not sure which would be worse?) is embarrasing.

If you have man boobs, don't wear clothes that accentuate them.

"OnBoard" is the apparel vendor onsite.

Jerseys are a little busy for my liking but I bought one anyway. Along with some sweat shirts. Interestingly..., the sizing for these items is all over the place. Some items are "UK". Others "NA". One shirt I'm a XL, another all the way down to a M.

Jerseys are the responsibility of the player to provide, so you can blame them for fit'n'finish...lol

 

[jokrswylde]

4 inch pockets, in my opinion, might be the final nail in the coffin for American players being able to compete with the rest of the world. While Asia and European nations have youth programs and training at a young age, American players have pool rooms or home tables. Pool rooms have enough trouble staying afloat without making the game difficult for people just getting started. American players, with a few exceptions, are not relevant now. It’s only going to get worse with developments like this. I’m sure Asian and European nations are happy with 4 inch pockets, but American players certainly shouldn’t be. That’s my opinion, we welcome your views

I was thinking the same thing...tighter pockets certainly favor the fundamentally superior And straighter shooting Europeans. I wonder if casual or new American fans will tune in if there are no competitive Americans? Sure us die-hards will cheer on a Ko brother or a Polish player with no vowels in his last name, but the stereotypical league player, that shoots with a glove, a $700 dollar cue, and a JB case, likely has a "Merica T shirt stashed somewhere. My bet is that fan will tune out if there are no Americans able to compete in 5- 10 years or whenever SVB hangs it up

 

[iusedtoberich]

An on-site tailor might make some dough. I used to tailor most of my clothes and bought a sewing machine to do it. Put the sewing machine next to the cue lathe in the booths. Ha ha.

 

[Bob Jewett]

I tried on my Mac computer.

I assume you are trying with DAZN. There may be apps that get around whatever DAZN is doing to prevent image/video copies. Until we find one, I guess you have to put your phone on a tripod and take a picture of your screen.

 

[slugrack]

The athletic wear these overweight, dumpy guys are either forced to wear or decide to wear (not sure which would be worse?) is embarrasing.

If you have man boobs, don't wear clothes that accentuate them.

All ball fouls...

 

[Island Drive]

As long as the shooter can pocket a ball down the rail, come 5 rails around for shape 4'' works....BUT if this pocket size/facing set up does not allow that, the equipment then changes the game then it's wrong.

On a comparative point of view, the PGA won't allow mfg to develop drivers that can hit 500 yards.

 

[flyvirginiaguy]

Check out Corey’s matches on you tube

Do you mean for his break? Or the rack after rack after rack thing?

Pool going nowhere (in America) in recent decades has absolutely nothing to with pocket size, speed of cloth, personalities. It has to do with lack of young people taking up the game, so all the fans AND participants tend to be older. Our best player currently is 40+, and balding (sorry, Shane..) All competitive sports/games need young people to take up the game as fans wanna watch young talent, and these games "compete" against each other for young talent. It has always been that way, and always will be, in every sport/-game. In America, young folks with that kind of hand--eye coordination and muscle memory are taking up professional video gaming, as it can be played and practiced at home without the cost of a $4,000+ table, and the house big enough to practice in.

Add to that, the business and legal environment makes it extremely hard to run a profitable pool hall without alcohol, and if alcohol is served in an establishment, odds are minors either can't come in, or require guardian presence on premises. So the pool playing population in America is aging more and more every year.

You can't present ideas on "fixing" pool, unless you actually know what the problems with it are.

That is being a bit out of touch with todays youth. For instance, my son and his friends could have 10 pool halls nearby and would not give them the time of day. Heck, I have a brand new Diamond downstairs and he could care less if it was even there. Online pool, maybe.

But, pool used to be the most played game in the U.S., with Pool halls everywhere. It had little to no effect on professional pool back then. Professional pool and normal people playing games of pool are quite distant and unrelated. The past proves that without doubt. We were speaking of professional pool, viewership, and in return, better sponsers outside of pool. Those things would naturally bring the younger talent you speak of. But, viewership is not going to come when it is boring to watch and I have had enough people over when watching it to know they all think it is quite boring to watch. But, throw a rant of Earl's on and things change...

Personality has a lot to do with it. So, I certainly disagree with you on that fact. Anyone who has watched pool in Earl's prime would tell you that. Crowds around Earl (and those others with personality) while everyone else played in the dark. I remember Darren Appleton saying something along the same lines. People want to see the players personalities.

They don't want to see robots, all dressed the same, playing safeties due to their tight pockets.

But, today's pool can enjoy it's 2000-3000 or whatever pool loving viewers on PPV. Makes no difference to me of course.