jbart65 said:

Nathan Childress of the US (Fargo 744) even got a bye

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kingwang said:

One thing I've noticed about mainland Chinese players, both pros and amateurs, is that some of them shoot bizarrely hard and fast. Shooting hard makes sense because of how the Chinese tables work, but I can't figure out for the life of me why they're playing at such a fast tempo and how they're making it work on 3.5" pockets.

Here's an example of two players playing Golden Nine like they're imitating Tony Drago about to miss his flight: Login to view embedded media
Some highlights

• 13:15 - great example of what I'm talking about. It's a routine shot but it's still the 9 ball and missable and Meng shoots it like it's a hanger
• 23:45 - Tong with a tough runout, averaging about 10 seconds per shot. The entire rack would have been that fast if he didn't need to grab an extension
• 32:05 - Another tough runout with a tricky shot on the 3 and it's still < 10s per shot
• 36:51 - It's a close match and both players attempt insanely steep cuts on the 9 ball without taking any time to evaluate. No checking of angles or anything, just YOLO
• 40:22 - WTF was this sequence? Neither player takes their time and Tong takes the lead by absolutely smoking in a tough 9 ball with zero pre-strokes or any semblance of a pre-shot routine

Now, to be fair, these guys (especially Tong Lu) are extreme examples, but they're pretty good representations of what I'm talking about.

Compare this to Joshua Filler, who we consider a fast shooter, shooting a very routine 9 ball (43:55 if the link doesn't work).

For a more direct comparison, here's what some non-Chinese players look like when playing the exact same game

• Ko Pin Yi - Skip to 2:27:56 and 4:06:40 to see him shooting some routine 9 balls. Same KPY we always see - takes his time, checks his angles, not slow but not fast
• Pagulayan shooting a routine 9 ball - Skip to 1:19:32 if the link doesn't work
• Wu Jiaqing (moved to China as an adult, so I'm counting him here) shooting a routine 9 ball - Skip to 1:45:15 if the link doesn't work. Normal pre-shot routine: chalks, checks the angle, squares up, shoots

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JAM said:

I have not subscribed to WNTtv.com this month due to a heavy work schedule. Would somebody know who is subscribed and watching who the commentators are for this event in Sarajevo? TIA

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DeeDeeCues said:

Nobody is suggesting not learning. It is interesting to know, but it is intrusive to the game to allow a person to slow down the game for something that isn't obvious to a person watching.

We all know that there are players who deliberately slow games, this is another tool in their arsenal that they will use to delay, distract, and disrupt. At the very least, the power to use the technology cannot be controlled by the players without some checks and balances.

If a player chooses to go to replay, there should be a penalty if they are wrong, either loss of timeout or a ball in hand for their opponent. If there aren't consequences there will be people who abuse it.

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