My thoughts on TAR20, day 1

[cleary]

I don't think many people actually thought the score would be 35-24 Earl at the end of day 1. Earl fans were hoping he would have the lead, but Earl may be the only person on earth who thought the score would be like this.

A few things are the reason for the score.

The break:
Earl's break on this table is fantastic. Maybe 90%, he has made a ball and had a simple shot on the 1 ball. A nice spread and if the table wasn't the size of a soccer field, he would be out 100% of the time.

Shane's break is horrible. Thats right, I said it! Its horrible! Possibly the added distance/speed is throwing it way off. He just cannot make a ball on the break. He's been there all week, I would have thought he had his break down... but I'm scared if he hasn't found it yet, he just wont find it.


Trying to do too much
Seems both players are too aggressive. Shane more than Earl actually. Going for runouts that are normally no problem. But any shots where the object ball travels near the rail... just a tough shot on this table. I think both players need to lay up more on those tough shots.

Safety game
Both players have been kicking great. You could watch this match and learn a lot about how to kick safe.

Shane's safes have been ok, but not as locked up as they need to be. Earl has LOCKED shane up. Earl is playing very good defense. Rarely ends in ball in hand for either player, but a good safe has been the difference in a lot of racks.

Earl
Earl being Earl is getting to EVERYONE. Even Earl. Earl picky about shane touching the balls after the rack, checking if hes over the line... etc. Its starting to get to Shane. At first, it was funny to Shane, towards the end of the night, Shane looked like he wanted to run away.

Day two... I look to see more safety play on the 7, 8, 9, 10balls from Shane. I hope to see Shane's break come into form. Would rather see a close game than a blow out, no matter who wins.

 

[KMRUNOUT]

Cleary,

Nice observations. I agree completely. It is interesting that in the youtube interview with Earl, he said his safes and kicking were better, even though Shane shoots straighter.

I must add another item to your list:

Shooting Straight: I think Earl has been pocketing balls more cleanly than Shane overall. I think Shane missed far more balls than Earl. I always thought Earl was one of the best ball pocketers ever. Even in TCOM, while Efren got the balls in the hole, Earls went in cleaner. He justs is SOOOO damn accurate. I think this is also accounting for some of the difference in the score.

Can't wait for tonight!!

KMRUNOUT

 

["CaliRed".]

I don't think many people actually thought the score would be 35-24 Earl at the end of day 1. Earl fans were hoping he would have the lead, but Earl may be the only person on earth who thought the score would be like this.

Speaking of Earl thinking he was going to be up... For some reason I never came away with that impression from watching his pre-match interviews. He kept saying how straight Shane shot and didn't seem all that confident on him winning. Maybe all the betting line talk made him have some second thoughts.

I'm not saying Earl didn't think he could win, just that in the interviews I came away with the impression he wasn't convinced himself, of it.

Although after the first night of play, he should be definitely convinced of it. He played great and Shane didn't, so he is probably thinking this 10 ft table has really hurt Shane's game. With Earl being comfortable on the 10 ft and Shane seeming a bit out of place on it, Earl has to believe he can win.

Although it does seem the unknown factor, is Earl himself, for obvious reasons. I think Day 2, is going to be a determining factor on how this match is going to end up. Either Shane is going to figure some stuff out play a lot better or differently and make it close again, or Shane is going to have the same problems and Earl is going to play great again and Day 3 would just be hanging on to the lead.

Shaping up to be a very interesting matchup.

 

[Ky Boy]

It is obvious to everyone SVB's break is not working on this table; but it is also obvious, as you stated that Earl is bothering everyone. I can't help but think that is the difference in this game. Shane became more rattled as the night went on....

Earl's ranting combined with his level of play is hard to fade.....



Gary

 

[cleary]

It is obvious to everyone SVB's break is not working on this table; but it is also obvious, as you stated that Earl is bothering everyone. I can't help but think that is the difference in this game. Shane became more rattled as the night went on....

Earl's ranting combined with his level of play is hard to fade.....



Gary

I think the break is the biggest factor. Earl's works like a charm and Shane's is broken. All the crazy in the world cannot beat shane when that break is working.

 

[lorider]

I don't think many people actually thought the score would be 35-24 Earl at the end of day 1. Earl fans were hoping he would have the lead, but Earl may be the only person on earth who thought the score would be like this.

A few things are the reason for the score.

The break:
Earl's break on this table is fantastic. Maybe 90%, he has made a ball and had a simple shot on the 1 ball. A nice spread and if the table wasn't the size of a soccer field, he would be out 100% of the time.

Shane's break is horrible. Thats right, I said it! Its horrible! Possibly the added distance/speed is throwing it way off. He just cannot make a ball on the break. He's been there all week, I would have thought he had his break down... but I'm scared if he hasn't found it yet, he just wont find it.


Trying to do too much
Seems both players are too aggressive. Shane more than Earl actually. Going for runouts that are normally no problem. But any shots where the object ball travels near the rail... just a tough shot on this table. I think both players need to lay up more on those tough shots.

Safety game
Both players have been kicking great. You could watch this match and learn a lot about how to kick safe.

Shane's safes have been ok, but not as locked up as they need to be. Earl has LOCKED shane up. Earl is playing very good defense. Rarely ends in ball in hand for either player, but a good safe has been the difference in a lot of racks.

Earl
Earl being Earl is getting to EVERYONE. Even Earl. Earl picky about shane touching the balls after the rack, checking if hes over the line... etc. Its starting to get to Shane. At first, it was funny to Shane, towards the end of the night, Shane looked like he wanted to run away.

Day two... I look to see more safety play on the 7, 8, 9, 10balls from Shane. I hope to see Shane's break come into form. Would rather see a close game than a blow out, no matter who wins.

glad to see an informative an unbiased thread started about how these 2 fantastic players are matched up after the 1st day. hope you will post the results over the next 2 days also. your post helps all of us that cant watch due to conflicting work schedules know whats going on.

learned more in your 1 post about how they are playing than in all the other threads on here put together about this match.

props to you for a very informative post

 

[Celtic]

Trying to do too much
Seems both players are too aggressive. Shane more than Earl actually. Going for runouts that are normally no problem. But any shots where the object ball travels near the rail... just a tough shot on this table. I think both players need to lay up more on those tough shots.

Actually once Earl got comfortable and stopped beaking off and simply played pool (the last 15 games or so) he was taking on tough shots, but he was not missing many of them. SVB is not trying to make tougher shots then Earl, he is simply not making the shots that Earl is making. Alot of the shots that SVB missed are not really hard shots, yeah on this table they are alot harder, but it is pretty tough not to play a straight in 6 ball with stop shot shape on the 7. If SVB starts playing safe on that shot he is doomed because Earl is potting that ball and getting out almost every time.

SVB might have been rattled and that might be causing him to miss some shots but Earl was making a slew of great shots and tough pots and SVB cannot really go into safety mode against that type of offense or he will get drilled. Earl was not missing kicks, he was hitting every single kick shot he went for and SVB was not winning that aspect of the game either.

SVB has to play better, that is about the only thing he has. The problem is if he starts playing better and starts winning Earl will start flaking out again because Earl's mental issues hit him square in the face when he is losing and everyone in range gets nailed as well. What SVB really needs to do is start winning, and then use Earl's own negative emotion against him. Realize that if Earl is flaking out and starts yelling then you are actually doing things right, you are winning and if you keep playing great Earl will basically hand you the match on a silver platter. SVB needs to not back off on the play when Earl starts to lose it, he needs to ramp up at that point. That is in effect what Efren did to Earl, he used Earl's negative energy and played Earl deeper and deeper into a pit of despair. SVB needs to take a lesson from Efren and when Earl starts whining and flaking out THAT is when you turn it up a notch and run a 5-pack, game over.

Earl flaking out will shark Earl or it will shark Shane, it is up to SVB to pick which person gets burned on that. People were giving 3-1 odds that the person who gets owned by that negative energy was Earl, atm it is instead Shane.

 

[SeanChamp]

It is obvious to everyone SVB's break is not working on this table; but it is also obvious, as you stated that Earl is bothering everyone. I can't help but think that is the difference in this game. Shane became more rattled as the night went on....

Earl's ranting combined with his level of play is hard to fade.....

But was Shane becoming more and more rattled because of Earl or the fact that he just continued to play poorly (by his standards, I'm sure) the entire night?

I think much more weight was placed on Shane by himself not Earl.