9-Ball vs. 10-Ball from a spectator's point-of-view

gobrian77

gobrian77

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I just watched most of the 10-Ball tourney from Manila, and (like I felt during the previous 10-Ball World Championships) give me 9-Ball on TV any day.:D

The pacing of 10-Ball is too labored to watch, imho (and please institute a shot-clock)- I LIKE the luck factor of 9-Ball as I think it encourages players to take more chances and be more creative with their shots, I LIKE the possibility of a 'golden break', and I LIKE that slop counts (though that may also come from my personal game, where I need my slop;)).

I found watching the 10-Ball tourney a struggle (even the semis and final) and I can watch 9-Ball (especially the WPC if it's ever going to be held again...:sorry:) for hours (even the early rounds played by relative nobodies).
 
I prefer 9 ball also. I just think they should get rid of the slop rule. Professionals should have as little opportunity for luck as possible IMO.
 
10 ball is definitely a superior game to play as well as to watch. They need to enforce the time clock so the game proceeds along at a good pace.
 
real bartram said:
thats why pros should play 10 ball.
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I respect the game of 10-Ball, Chris, and I like to play it, but I'm not willing to spend three hours in a row watching it as it's just not as entertaining as 9-Ball (in my opinion, of course:wink:)- if you want tourneys that offer decent money and bring in sponsorship, you've gotta please the fans.
:)
 
gobrian77 said:
I respect the game of 10-Ball, Chris, and I like to play it, but I'm not willing to spend three hours in a row watching it as it's just not as entertaining as 9-Ball (in my opinion, of course:wink:)- if you want tourneys that offer decent money and bring in sponsorship, you've gotta please the fans.
:)
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ok by me but when i gamble its 10 ball baby.
 
real bartram said:
ok by me but when i gamble its 10 ball baby.
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Cool- that's the "Player's point-of-view"- when I'm sitting around on a Sunday flipping channels, the finals of a major pool tourney should never lose out to the 250cc (minor league) race of the MotoGP as far as my viewing goes (though it did yesterday) as the pacing of the game was too boring.:wink:

When I watch a tourney it's 9-Ball baby.:grin-square:
 
gobrian77 said:
Cool- that's the "Player's point-of-view"- when I'm sitting around on a Sunday flipping channels, the finals of a major pool tourney should never lose out to the 250cc (minor league) race of the MotoGP as far as my viewing goes (though it did yesterday) as the pacing of the game was too boring.:wink:

When I watch a tourney it's 9-Ball baby.:grin-square:
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would 6 ball make you watch even longer?
 
real bartram said:
would 6 ball make you watch even longer?
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I've watched 6-Ball on the rare occasions that it's been broadcast over here- it's not my game and I can't say I watched it for anything other than curiosity- I wouldn't spend any great lengths of time on it. I don't need 3-Ball to keep my interest either.:p

The point I'm making is that the slow, deliberate pace of 10-Ball makes for lousy TV- it's a great (and tough- definitely tougher than 9-Ball) game when you're playing, but it doesn't translate well over the airwaves.

It's not an "attention span" thing (as I've said, I can watch pool all day during the WPC- I record matches featuring my favorite players so I can watch 'em when I get home from work:thumbup:)- I just have found the last two major 10-Ball tourneys (of which I watched major portions) to be kind of numbing and lacking in excitement, and I don't think the game is going to win over too many fans.
 
gobrian77 said:
I've watched 6-Ball on the rare occasions that it's been broadcast over here- it's not my game and I can't say I watched it for anything other than curiosity- I wouldn't spend any great lengths of time on it. I don't need 3-Ball to keep my interest either.:p

The point I'm making is that the slow, deliberate pace of 10-Ball makes for lousy TV- it's a great (and tough- definitely tougher than 9-Ball) game when you're playing, but it doesn't translate well over the airwaves.

It's not an "attention span" thing (as I've said, I can watch pool all day during the WPC- I record matches featuring my favorite players so I can watch 'em when I get home from work:thumbup:)- I just have found the last two major 10-Ball tourneys (of which I watched major portions) to be kind of numbing and lacking in excitement, and I don't think the game is going to win over too many fans.
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you might be right.
 
Not all 10 Ball tournaments prohibit winning on the break. At the recent Predator event in Vegas sinking the 10 Ball on the break was a winner. It only didn't count in the foot corners because it was rack your own.
 
If nine ball is what it takes to make pro pool popular, then threads like this would never happen.


Justin Nuder
 
Fred said:
If nine ball is what it takes to make pro pool popular, then threads like this would never happen.


Justin Nuder
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Pro pool IS popular, at least in Asia where I live.:wink:

Tournaments are broadcast (and rebroadcast) all the time (the WPC gets start-to-finish coverage, and the Guinness 9-Ball Tour is very popular, i.e.- we also get coverage of tourneys like Mohegan Sun and the 8-Ball Championships- there was full coverage of the World 10-Ball Championships as well as last week's tourney), and there's almost always a snooker match on one of the sports channels in the evening.

My point is, as a fan of the game and someone who enjoys watching pool as well as playing it, that 10-Ball is not going to help pool become more popular (and no, I don't know what will- I just know what I like).

If it's 9-Ball vs. 10-Ball on TV, give me 9-Ball every time.
 
The ultimate game to play and watch when played at a good pace is 15 ball rotation. If 10 Ball makes the game more complexed, difficult and interesting, why wouldn't using all the balls make it even better?
 
Danny Kuykendal said:
The ultimate game to play and watch when played at a good pace is 15 ball rotation. If 10 Ball makes the game more complexed, difficult and interesting, why wouldn't using all the balls make it even better?
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Except for a couple of YouTube clips of Efren running racks, I've never watched rotation so I can't comment on it- I would think the difficulty of the game might make it a challenging experience to watch (and it's hard for viewers to keep track of so many balls on TV, especially the stripes, which will be hard to pick up color-wise unless the production quality of the broadcast is very high- this was a problem with the last two 10-Ball tourneys, where even the solids were hard to tell apart- maybe they weren't using the "TV Balls" but this is never a problem during the WPC or Guinness 9-Ball Tours).

Again, I'm not arguing the relative merits of any games- I just think if more people tune in, more tournaments will be shown (and created)- I don't think 10-Ball is going to make that happen.
 
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I can see where you're coming from.

The rules I like is to have slop count, except for the 10.

The reason slop makes sense in these games is it's easy to hook the opponent... you only have to hide them from one ball. So if the opponent makes a nice hit and it happens to go in, he should get rewarded.

I know that at the highest levels they can control the kick and call a pocket, but once you get even a half speed below pro, it's an accomplishment just to hit the correct half of the ball sometimes. If you get something in and it doesn't count, your nice effort just helped the opponent. That can't be right.

But slopping in a 10 to win is obviously no good. Especially if the other balls are off the table.
 
I think 10 ball better satisfies the competitive desires and needs of the professional players. Nine ball becomes too easy for them to run out, especially after making a couple of balls on the break. The public is not as dumb as we assume.
In the end, rotation is the best game. This is why the Philipinos have become such good nine ball and 10 ball players. It's easy for them after all the rotation they've played.

Pool has a special problem in that, unlike other sports there are too many games for the general public to comprehend. 9 ball, 10 ball, 8 ball, 14.1, cut throat, one pocket, and the list goes on. I think we need a unifying game.
 
Danny Kuykendal said:
I think 10 ball better satisfies the competitive desires and needs of the professional players. Nine ball becomes too easy for them to run out, especially after making a couple of balls on the break. The public is not as dumb as we assume.
In the end, rotation is the best game. This is why the Philipinos have become such good nine ball and 10 ball players. It's easy for them after all the rotation they've played.

Pool has a special problem in that, unlike other sports there are too many games for the general public to comprehend. 9 ball, 10 ball, 8 ball, 14.1, cut throat, one pocket, and the list goes on. I think we need a unifying game.
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A major tournament that is broadcast on ESPN (over here in Asia, anyway) needs to have as its primary focus the spectating desires of the fans, who are the ones that purchase the products being advertised and who ultimately pay for the tournaments themselves. Being "dumb" and being bored are two very different things- watching a player take 3 or 4 minutes to make a shot (yeah, it was a tough shot but still...) in the finals doesn't add to my enjoyment as a viewer.

9-Ball is fast, it takes skill but also has a "luck factor", it allows for a player to express his/her personality (unless that player is from Chinese Taipei, where they all seem to have had their personalities surgically removed:wink:), it's a game that many fans are familiar with and have played (and it's easy for newbies to the game to understand)- if there's going to be a "unifying game" (which I don't agree with, by the way, but maybe you're right) it should be 9-Ball.
 
It's funny- it's 11:40am over here in Thailand, and there's an hour of coverage of the Predator 10-Ball on ESPN and three hours of coverage from the Philippine 10-Ball on Star Sports right now (both rebroadcasts, obviously).:wink:
 
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