kingwang said:

How do the teams get picked? I'm a fan of Ryan Hsu's game but I feel like it's been forever since I've seen him in international competition. He's one of dozen of elite Taiwanese players, so I wonder how they chose him out of that group.

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AI search suggests it’s WPA rankings, performance in PBS events and perhaps sponsors exemptions. Not sure how much of that is true, because it didn’t lead me to a definitive source.

Looking at the WPA rankings, it seems possible that Hsu was the second highest ranked player when the teams were entered (I don’t know the cut off dates). Little Ko might have been higher but probably elected to play Duya instead. You can look at the WPA website and see the rankings on various dates.

LowRight said:

The camera must be centered above the table? Won't most lights get in the way?

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Traditional pool table lights that are centered over the table (and relatively low) won't work.

Either your own even lighting around the table, or ideally a perimeter light (purchased new or DIY'd) is the best option.

dendweller said:

With golf the studies have shown that the speed of the clue head far out weighed the importance over the weight of the head in hitting the ball farther. I suspect it's the same with a pool cue, that if all other things are equal, stroke, tips placement etc, more speed will get you more draw.
So if you can move a lighter cue faster I have to think there's an element of truth to it.

Edit: I don't mean to insinuate that you can't draw a ball with a 19oz cue, that's silly.

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While I could agree partially with regards to weight having an effect on draw shots with all factors considered, I think we should also think what draw shot you are trying to accomplish. Is it finesse, power, slow, fast, short, long. From my experience, the weight helps on long power draw shots. Anyway, I became much more reliant on draw shots after I transitioned to an 11.8- 12mm tips.

The sets seem to go by fast in 9 ball though, best of 3 in that format can be a bit unforgiving

Fore Rail said:

You don't ever want to be 25-30 yards off the green. You want to be just around the green chipping, not pitching from an awkward distance. That is why the best players in the world lay up to a full club yardage.

Imagine playing pool being on the wrong side of every shot.

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Don't have to imagine!

Damn balls.

sjm said:

Agreed. I also do not favor extended race finals in any tournament. Why must WNT finals be a race to 13? Really long matches can get boring and, as you note, are not the way forward in fan engagement. Two out of three races to five in World 10ball Stage 2 would be more than enough for this fan.

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My own preferences are the opposite of yours here.

The biggest events with the most prize money should have the longest races. World 9b used to be race to 17. Wu and Alex (just to pick two that spring to mind) both would have lost if you’d stopped the match earlier - ignoring whether the opponent might have tightened up earlier. As the players get better and we see more packages, I like giving longer for the players to fade a few ups and downs.

So for me, I like stepping up the races as we get to the last stages of the major events. 9 for preliminary rounds, 10 for knockout rounds, 11 for 1/4 finals, 13 for semis and 15 for finals would be great from my perspective, but I can live with race to 13 for a major final.

I don’t like sets, with a shootout, especially for a world championship. But if you’re going to do them, 2 out of 3 is way too short for a world championship, IMO. 3 out of 5 is long (especially with breaks between each set) but I don’t have a better option if you’re going to do sets. Actually, I guess you could keep it 2 of 3 sets but make each set longer - like going to 6 each set, but I suspect that would be more confusing to spectators than just extending the number of sets.

Pollacks are not that taLL.

skor said:

I don’t bother playing if the conditions are not decent.
Why suffer while doing things that you love?

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Truth.

I always say any pool is better than no pool and I may have to revisit that declaration.

BobbyD963 said:

It took me 45 minutes to polish one of the corners and it looks like trash. Im just sending them to get powder coated.

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One thing to be aware of when powder coating old cast parts: outgassing. There's gas trapped in the casing which gets released through heating it up during the powder coating process. Some of my pieces had to be done multiple times. My coater didn't charge me extra but yours might. Just an FYI.

Tworaildave

He’s listed as a gold member

The camera must be centered above the table? Won't most lights get in the way?

DieselPete said:

First, I think it could really shorten the learning curve for beginners, and help more advanced players to learn better routes (instead of just doing what they are comfortable with...), like learning routes that bring them down the target line, etc.

Second, I would love to see it bridge the gap between a rotation game (the next ball is known and there is less traffic) and 8-ball (so many balls could be the next ball, and there is considerable traffic).

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Also think of absolute beginners… people who have never thought about the concept of positioning the cue ball at all. Never knew anything beyond making balls disappear. This visually shows how to think and can generate interest and brand new players.

trob said:

It will never come back for tv for sure.. I’m talking about amateurs playing it.

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A pro 9 ball player told me when I was learning the game, it was one of the very best ways to get better.
Focus, patterns, cue ball control, pressure, knowing your own make/ position percentages...it has it all.
I think many people just want to play whatever they see the pros on tv playing.

A buddy and I play a modified version which I've dubbed APA-Straight. All normal scoring, and a handicapped race, however full slop and ball in hand for any fouls. This made the game much more friendly for my buddy who is a beginner. You should see the looks we get, 99% of the folks there have no idea what we're doing, and I get to explain it often, which I don't mind. If someone actually shows interest I tell them to go look up John Schmidt. I do play legit straight at home and indeed it's a difficult game, especially with tight pockets. Just doesn't make sense how unforgiving a game can be when you can literally hit any ball on the table, haha.