9-Ball vs. 10-Ball Breaking Formats
- By MattPoland
- Main Forum
- 28 Replies
I think the points I disagree on are…Both 9-ball and 10-ball ARE broken games--simply because game result is so HIGHLY dependent on the break.
14.1 continuous does not have this problem
1-ball does not have this problem
3-ball does not have this problem
8-ball does not have this problem
Snooker does not have this problem
and certainly
no Billiards game has this problem
8-ball is absolutely broken for elite players because having that many options after the break is just too easy for 800+ players. Ultimate Pool and World Championships demonstrates that where matches are pretty much decided by wet/dry break ratios.
9-ball with WNT rules doesn’t have this problem. There’s skill to make the 1-ball in the side. And. Depending on the random 2-ball position in the rack there might be some scenarios that are predictable but not all of them are. The proof is that we see a respectable amount of pushouts, safeties, jumps, kicks, and safeties after the break. And that means matches are decided by the total package of skills for the players plus whatever luck shows up. But break skills so far is more of a marginal advantage than an exploited easy-win situation like we’ve seen in all the prior incarnations of 9-ball in years past.