Nick8400 said:

I don’t know which one is more difficult. But I know I like to gamble at both. Who is ready?!

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Bring your clubs and come on down to Florida!

deep said:

Si Jiahui has a decent record at the Crucible.

I'll try and get some photos from around the city, the Crucible is is literally 5 minutes from where I live.

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i think he's still scarred though. fun player otherwise

sjm said:

As we have ample evidence that the training of referees is inferior on the subject of close hits, we can safely say that many a serious player has far more insight into a subject like this than most referees. While it is not true of most calls that must be made, a serious player likely has far more experience to draw upon in judging situations like this than all but a few referees.

I might go a s low as Fargo 550 here, but I agree with your point in principle that a capable, very experienced player is, on average, more likely to get this call right. In general, a referee will do a much better job on most other types of calls as they are trained to place themselves in the right position to make a call, but the "close hit" scenario is more about knowledge than positioning.

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I think a ref's knowledge of, understanding of, and experience with applying the rules is much more important than playing ability. I have seen many examples of world-class players being clueless about certain basic rules (like how to judge double hits and split-hit fouls). Lots of examples can be found here, where the players are sometimes choosing shots that any knowledgeable and experienced referee would know are going to be obvious fouls:

Here's one notable recent example:

There was a short clip on it in the Super billiards expo post I think, or maybe I saw it somewhere else. Some reviewer was going around and stopped at the Jacoby booth to look at his award winning cue then asked about the new shaft. Brandon took him over to a table and let him shoot some balls with it. He shot about 20 shots and I don't remember him missing. Brandon also showed where the difference was by flexing the shaft sideways back and forth. It seemed to bend fairly easily in the middle. So it looks as though they designed it to flex away from the ball more easily when using english. At least I think I saw it that way.
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There were plenty of century breaks in the qualifiers and it'll be interesting to see if that level of play continues. I'd like to see Antoni,Stan and Liam go some rounds.

Sheldon said:

Bertrand Russell: “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts.”

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Alexander Hamilton offered that "the masses are asses."

BasementDweller said:

Is it possible for a player who is under say -- FR 600 -- to be a good referee? Yes, it's possible. Is it likely? No. Thoroughly experiencing the ball interactions for years gives you a baseline understanding, which you can then use to map all the fine details on to.

Do tourney directors have these types of skilled players/referees to draw upon? Nope.

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Great point.

As we have ample evidence that the training of referees is inferior on the subject of close hits, we can safely say that many a serious player has far more insight into a subject like this than most referees. While it is not true of most calls that must be made, a serious player likely has far more experience to draw upon in judging situations like this than all but a few referees.

I might go a s low as Fargo 550 here, but I agree with your point in principle that a capable, very experienced player is, on average, more likely to get this call right. In general, a referee will do a much better job on most other types of calls as they are trained to place themselves in the right position to make a call, but the "close hit" scenario is more about knowledge than positioning.

Let's add that having been a snooker referee does not prepare one to make this kind of call, which very rarely arises in snooker. Many referees that came from the world of snooker are very capable as pool referees, but they need training on the subject of pertinence to this thread.

Bamacues said:

I do not see how the shot could have been totally replicated... getting the balls back in the exact spot, the exact English/stroke, the exact power behind the stroke.

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Did you see the first part of my video, where I showed how I ensured the ball layout was as close as possible, and did you see how well the recreated shot matched Yapp's in every way (ball directions and travel distances)?

Bamacues said:

This looks (to me) like one of those football "on the field" calls, where it was just too close to call.

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I think if you (or anybody else who doubts the shot was a foul) were to watch and listen to my entire video, I am confident your opinion would change.

Is it possible for a player who is under say -- FR 600 -- to be a good referee? Yes, it's possible. Is it likely? No. Thoroughly experiencing the ball interactions for years gives you a baseline understanding, which you can then use to map all the fine details on to.

Do tourney directors have these types of skilled players/referees to draw upon? Nope.

The red/black