why don't they use racking templates? Seems like most players are having trouble making balls on the break- is that what they want? It would also save time as it takes the refs quite a while to rack the balls

garczar said:

another answer in search of a question. NO way this gadget would ever accurately keep track of time. a ref with a stopwatch is ideal.

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It is a home/club setting novelty, and doesn't solve the problem of moving object balls while the cue ball has come to rest first. You might lose a few seconds in that case.

However it may be more accurate at keeping track of time since the shot trigger is consistent and fast (tenth's of seconds), no human error.

Also, thanks for being so negative all of the time. I am sure none of us have had enough of it.

I didn’t see Bergman in his prime as sjm did, but I have watched almost every match he has played at the PLP and the St Louis events.

His tactics, strategy and safety play are very high level. He’s made some incredible shots, too. His only major shortcoming is with the short stick.

I am not sure if he’s struggled with tight pockets as much as sjm suggests. For long stretches he pockets balls with no problem. His cueball placement at times is unusually precise.

Yet Bergman has definitely been inconsistent. Out of the blue, he will miss some easily makeable shots. In many of those instances, though, the misses were bad enough that tight pockets weren’t the main issue in my view.

My suspicion is, the misses and lack of consistency stem mostly from not being a regular on tours that use tables with tighter pockets. You have to play on these tables a lot, under real world pressure, to truly become acclimated.

Can he get to that point? Oh, I think he can, but it won’t happen overnight. The best players on the tour have been playing under these conditions for years.

Still, what I saw at the PLP was very impressive.

Bergman started slow, losing four of his first five games.

Then he won four of five, losing only to Chris Melling, 5-4, in a match he should have won if not for one of those consistency errors. At that point he was in 7th place among the 16 invitees.

After that, Bergman did falter, losing the last five of six. All he had to do is win one more rack and he would have gotten through to Round Two.

Still, very impressive given his total absence from high-level play since the start of the WNT/ PBS (Predator Billiard Series) era in 2021.

My hope is the PLP and St. Louis have whetted Bergman’s appetite to compete more. Both orgs have lots of events in the US now.

There’s the rub. Bergman has hardly traveled outside the U.S. to play, period. He’s never played in a WPC or any major event outside the continental U.S, from what I could find.

Even if Bergman played more in the U.S., he probably would never rank higher than 25-50 globally under the most optimal conditions.

He is fun to watch, though, especially given the paucity of high-level American players.