Tobermory said:

Before you sell Justin Bergman short because of his being absent from the tournament scene, you might want to give a very brief moment’s attention to the Wikipedia entry on Joe Balsis.

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Yeah, Joe was a friend of mine. He is considered among the best junior players of all time (a junior in what I believe was the late 1930s). Irving Crane mentioned him to me, too, as having been a junior that many felt was the next American great.

Joe, however, chose not to go pro and went into the family business, which was the meat business (hence, the nickname "Meatman"). He didn't go pro until the early 1960s and fulfilled the expectations of yesteryear, winning enough major titles to gain BCA Hall of Fame induction.

I can't think of any other player that took more than twenty years off from competition and had a successful return. Joe was an original.

I wouldn't know. Put the 5 elswhere/do something different with the cue ball/shoot the 4 from center table so you can land on the 6 and shoot the 5 in the side.

Before you sell Justin Bergman short because of his being absent from the tournament scene, you might want to give a very brief moment’s attention to the Wikipedia entry on Joe Balsis.

the reason i personally think he was outmoved was Murphy played a ton of quasi two way shots and never let Zhao in amoungst the reds, and of course his unique break off shot that was putting zhao at a serious disadvantage at the start of several frames

CanadianGuy said:

yes Selby is a grinder and tactician one of the best but he was off this year, Murphy and Higgins are equally as good with the tactics and are laser focused, especially Murphy...

hopefully Wu does not fall to their traps the way Zhaou did just now to Murphy because Zhaou really did just get schooled and it was dissapointing not seeing him at is best

I recall well John Higgins out crafting younger hotshots Trump and Selby in previous finals via master class tactics

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zhao was outgunned, not outmoved, in that match.. zhao missed quite a lot and obviously felt the pressure, but murphy also played at his very best (100% long pot in the last session). i think in any other tourney zhao wins that match 7 out of 10 times

wu yize is very impressive in maintaining his attacking style. allen can bog down players but yize is insane with those long shots, very difficult to defend against