Your topic thread title makes it sound like there was a physical robbery.

I was at the local hall yesterday in Atlanta for the daily special, practicing by myself. My neighbor at the next table asks if I want to play 8 ball. I say I don't like 8 ball, but I'll play 9 ball. He can play a little, I'm guessing 425 fargorate speed. He ends up winning the first game because I missed the 9. He says something like: "How does that work? I made the 9 but you made most of the balls. In APA that I play in, you would have won the game on points". I chuckled and said "The APA does everything backwards. You won that game, period."

KingSamurai said:

I have been playing in some tournaments where I run into players who refuse to lag the ball to determine whose break. On short races on a template rack, the break is a big advantage and I prefer to lag. It generally is the lower skilled players who insist on flipping and I been having a couple people throw a fit lately. I always thought that the default was lagging if there was a disagreement. I guess I was curious on what opinions are out there regarding this.

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What is worse is when they wait till after you hit your shot by a few seconds and then hit theirs.

Jaden said:

What have they ever been up to other than collecting fees and further degrading professional pool with their decisions?

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What decisions have they made that have affected professional pool? As far as I'm aware, their business models are for amateur players/events and sponsor some pros to go and do trick shot shows and exhibitions. Did I miss something?

iusedtoberich said:

Not to look a gift horse in the mouth, but these "what's in the case" series, usually have poor camerawork. And I mean going back 15-20 years when Inside Pool was doing them, and everyone in between. They seem to focus on the player talking, and ignore the cues. The camera should go back and forth, or have two cameras, one on the cues, one on the player, and edit later.

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Definitely would rather look at the cues than the testicle shaped fanny pack!

800 point match over even 2 days can be a lot of pool if it stays reasonably close. This may be a mental stamina match as much as a 14.1 skill and knowledge match.

skor said:

I don’t think that at amateur levels, it makes any difference who breaks first.

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On a 7’ table it matters a great deal just as much as pocket size does.

Bob Jewett said:

The requirement of the opening break, if you're not going to make a ball, is to make two object balls touch cushions and also have the cue ball touch a cushion after the object ball contact. The opening break against Efren left him no shot, just as hoped.

If you are going to play a ball out of the full rack, you have to call it. Very few players do that in tournaments. Usually it's a way to say to your opponent, "You can't play a lick, so I'm just going to break them open."

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And, at the skill level of those guys, a too-hard break might easily be last shot you got! Of course, if you think you’re good at calling a ball out of a full rack, and not at prolonged safety contests, you might gamble that your opponent never gets to leave his chair!