Shane's Not The King Of The 10-Ball (Tourney) Hill Anymore?

JarnoV

JarnoV

JarnoV
Silver Member
Now, let me start with a disclaimer: I have nothing against Shane Van Boening and in fact I'm a huge fan of his game and his character. I wish he makes far into tournaments and often bet on him.

But.

It's been bugging me a bit that most commentators seem to still think Shane is the best (or at least among the couple of very best) 10-ball player out there. Yet it seems that he hasn't been able to reach finals of major 10-ball tournaments in recent years. Shane does finish pretty high most of the time, but he's not a consistent winner like Mika, Lee Van, Dennis Orcollo or Darren. Shane's a top ten player for sure, but it seems like his form is not good enough to win major tournaments.

I don't know if it's just few unlucky breaks here and there or not finding the peak performance at the right moments, but the fact remains that he hasn't been the best 10-ball player in tournaments. I think that he's still perhaps the best 10-ball breaker, but it feels like there's something else missing. And as other players are catching up with the break, he will have all the more tougher time. It was pretty much Shane's break that secured the TAR win over Mika. (That's not to say he couldn't have won if their breaks were equal, but I think it's fair to say that it was the biggest deciding factor.)

Shane certainly isn't anywhere near unbeatable when it comes to 10-ball and tournaments.

(Obviously Shane's still the man when it comes to long gambling matches, though he's known to have lost to some Pinoys.)

Thoughts, agreements, disagreements?
 
There's a lot more parity on the men's circuit. I think that the new star on the horizon is Mike Dechaine.
 
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I think Shanes last 10ball win was at the SBE last year. But on your topic I had this conversation the other day with a friend of mine. It seems to me like Shanes 10ball game has been slipping a little bit as of late. He did place well at the Derby though. Shane has always been my favorite player. But as of right now i think Mika is the best player in the world.
 
Mika is the best tourney player and even when SVB was on fire Mika was never far behind. It's a marathon, look at the last 5 years!
 
Shane is one of my favorite players to watch in any rotation game or 8-ball on a big or small table. About a year ago I said that there were players catching up to his 10-ball break. The players the OP mentioned and a few others have caught up to him now. At the top level all they need is to make one ball and have a shot on the 1-ball or the lowest ball on the table and they are out most of the time. They don't need to make 2 or 3 on the break to get out.

I was watching the two women from Cihna being trained at Star Billiard Center in Manila, in breaking 10-ball and kicking/safety play and they were making 1 ball and having a shot at the 1-ball a very good percentage of the time at the end of a month of training. Johnnyt

PS: If I was younger and wanted to reach as far to the top as my ability would carry me I'd go to Star Billiards Center to be trained if they would have me.
 
JarnoV said:
Now, let me start with a disclaimer: I have nothing against Shane Van Boening and in fact I'm a huge fan of his game and his character. I wish he makes far into tournaments and often bet on him.

But.

It's been bugging me a bit that most commentators seem to still think Shane is the best (or at least among the couple of very best) 10-ball player out there. Yet it seems that he hasn't been able to reach finals of major 10-ball tournaments in recent years. Shane does finish pretty high most of the time, but he's not a consistent winner like Mika, Lee Van, Dennis Orcollo or Darren. Shane's a top ten player for sure, but it seems like his form is not good enough to win major tournaments.

I don't know if it's just few unlucky breaks here and there or not finding the peak performance at the right moments, but the fact remains that he hasn't been the best 10-ball player in tournaments. I think that he's still perhaps the best 10-ball breaker, but it feels like there's something else missing. And as other players are catching up with the break, he will have all the more tougher time. It was pretty much Shane's break that secured the TAR win over Mika. (That's not to say he couldn't have won if their breaks were equal, but I think it's fair to say that it was the biggest deciding factor.)

Shane certainly isn't anywhere near unbeatable when it comes to 10-ball and tournaments.

(Obviously Shane's still the man when it comes to long gambling matches, though he's known to have lost to some Pinoys.)

Thoughts, agreements, disagreements?
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The reason Shane beat Mika is not just the break, he out shot him, play much better safeties, and kicked a hell of alot better.
Mika showed how weak he is mentally in a long race when things don't go his way.
Tournaments are short races, at that level you can go years and not win a tournament. In a race to 7, 9 or even 11 anyone can win at that level.
Shane is definitely the best american 10 ball player and there a a couple pinoy's in his class , but again any of those few guys could either lose to or beat Shane on any given day.
 
Long race or tournament?

Mika's tournament game this past week is hard to beat no matter who would have been there. I can't say how things would go in a race to 100 with Shane again. Different mind set and mental endurance.:)
 
In the end, for what are you remembered more? Head-to-head long races? Or tournament victories? I think this is a very interesting question
 
mnShooter said:
It's that Cuetec cue that's ruining his game. He needs to throw that thing in the fire.:D
Click to expand...

Probably alot of truth in that. At the level Shane plays at very small differences can determine a win or a loss. Shane with a Cuetech vs someone like Wu, Lee Van, Mika, shooting with a Southwest or some other high end cue that clearly shoots better then a Cuetech makes a difference. Shane can fade that difference some of the time but he would win more if he had the cue he feels most comfortable with instead of the cue people pay him the most money to play with.
 
Celtic said:
Probably alot of truth in that. At the level Shane plays at very small differences can determine a win or a loss. Shane with a Cuetech vs someone like Wu, Lee Van, Mika, shooting with a Southwest or some other high end cue that clearly shoots better then a Cuetech makes a difference. Shane can fade that difference some of the time but he would win more if he had the cue he feels most comfortable with instead of the cue people pay him the most money to play with.
Click to expand...

Shane got to where he is today with that Cuetec...so give Cuetec a little bit of credit for his successes. If nothing else, Cuetec probably provides Shane with a nice chunk of endorsement income that most other players would love to have. :cool:

Shane can dominate the sport for a little while but given the top-notch competition it's just a matter of time before other players like Mika take the spotlight ... until someone else becomes king of the hill. That's the law of the jungle.
 
lukemindish said:
I think Shanes last 10ball win was at the SBE last year. But on your topic I had this conversation the other day with a friend of mine. It seems to me like Shanes 10ball game has been slipping a little bit as of late. He did place well at the Derby though. Shane has always been my favorite player. But as of right now i think Mika is the best player in the world.
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in tourneys you might be right.
but for money there are over 10 players that would
beat mika .
thats just in 10 ball.
 
spanky79 said:
The reason Shane beat Mika is not just the break, he out shot him, play much better safeties, and kicked a hell of alot better.
Mika showed how weak he is mentally in a long race when things don't go his way.
Tournaments are short races, at that level you can go years and not win a tournament. In a race to 7, 9 or even 11 anyone can win at that level.
Shane is definitely the best american 10 ball player and there a a couple pinoy's in his class , but again any of those few guys could either lose to or beat Shane on any given day.
Click to expand...

your right
svb and archer best american 10 ball players.
but there are 6 to 10 pinoys who play better
than them both.
 
Celtic said:
Probably alot of truth in that. At the level Shane plays at very small differences can determine a win or a loss. Shane with a Cuetech vs someone like Wu, Lee Van, Mika, shooting with a Southwest or some other high end cue that clearly shoots better then a Cuetech makes a difference. Shane can fade that difference some of the time but he would win more if he had the cue he feels most comfortable with instead of the cue people pay him the most money to play with.
Click to expand...

Have you tried the new Cuetec's with the R-360 shaft? They hit and play great. Johnnyt
 
spanky79 said:
Tournaments are short races, at that level you can go years and not win a tournament. In a race to 7, 9 or even 11 anyone can win at that level.
Click to expand...

I agree they are short races, but yet there are players who have been extremely consistent in their tournament performance for longer periods. Anyone can win at that level, but you just don't see that happening. Sure, there are more than a handful of players who are capable of winning anyone, but their chances of winning top 5 player are typically more like 10-20%. Which in turn means that their chances of winning a major tournament are pretty much non-existent.

All in all, I do agree that no one player is guaranteed to win a tournament with races to say 9, but the greatest players should nevertheless be winning tournaments in consistent basis. Like several players have been doing.
 
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