★Sandcastle - $20,000 One-Pocket Challenge★

ChicagoRJ said:
Actually, his stroke was not bad at all. What were you watching? I thought he would still have that "chicken wing" , but that was gone. I was hoping it would still be there cause I bet on Lou...... but he plays decent.. no doubt about that... but not Lou's speed.
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His stroke was and is despicable...what were you watching?!?
 
It's not so much John's stroke that's bad as it is his form. He'd make a lot more shots if he would just stay down and stop jumping up.
 
ChicagoRJ said:
Actually, his stroke was not bad at all. What were you watching? I thought he would still have that "chicken wing" , but that was gone. I was hoping it would still be there cause I bet on Lou...... but he plays decent.. no doubt about that... but not Lou's speed.
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His stroke wasn't bad???

His stroke goes every which way but straight.

Lou's game isn't above criticism either.

I think they both play below the speed they implied here on AZ. I do realize they were playing under a lot of heat but I imagine they were both settled in after a while. It was interesting to watch. I'll say that much.
 
I think it had more to do with John trying to overpower easy shots, splashing the rack every chance he had, and over thinking how to out think Lou. IMO, they both understand the game, but neither of them execute like I expected. Should have played some 10ball.
 
dom_poppa said:
Like I said, what do they normally play? I know they are not 1 pocket players from watching this.

I am rated an APA 9, which I don't really know what that means but since most people play APA, I thought I bring it up. I never played in APA but was given a rating by the director just in case I wanted to join. So I don't know if that is good compared to other 9's. Perhaps, APA 9's are garbage, I don't know.
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Im a 9 and I play like garbage...
 
Any difficult/higher powered shot by John ended with him flailing his arms, specifically on banks. The beginning of his form/stance seem fine...its the finish that is bad. Keep in mind though its a pressure match on the table being streamed so I am not sure if that is affecting it at all or if his stroke is always like that.
 
Spimp13 said:
Any difficult/higher powered shot by John ended with him flailing his arms, specifically on banks. The beginning of his form/stance seem fine...its the finish that is bad.
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Yeah, I'd agree with that. The ball is usually long gone before he attempts vertical flight. That ball ain't moving once you've struck it, no matter how hard you will it.
 
I think if most of the people who are criticizing on this thread were playing for 10k and it was being streamed for all to watch would have some break downs in mechanics and do some stupid crap under pressure lol
 
Spimp13 said:
Any difficult/higher powered shot by John ended with him flailing his arms, specifically on banks. The beginning of his form/stance seem fine...its the finish that is bad. Keep in mind though its a pressure match on the table being streamed so I am not sure if that is affecting it at all or if his stroke is always like that.
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Exactly.. I watched on the last game cause I was at league last night. Thus, I'm speaking only of his back and forth stroke... not him jumping up, not his using body English, not him sometimes poking at the ball, etc.etc...

Compared to his chicken wing style I saw on utube, this was a vast improvement...
 
trob said:
I think if most of the people who are criticizing on this thread were playing for 10k and it was being streamed for all to watch would have some break downs in mechanics and do some stupid crap under pressure lol
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I covered that in my last post and totally agree. Mechanics can start to fail for the average player the more pressure builds up. It's easy to criticize from behind the computer when I am sure I would have some flaws...maybe not the flailing arms flaw, but I am sure something wouldn't be right compared to how I normally shoot.
 
BasementDweller said:
His stroke wasn't bad???

His stroke goes every which way but straight.

Lou's game isn't above criticism either.

I think they both play below the speed they implied here on AZ. I do realize they were playing under a lot of heat but I imagine they were both settled in after a while. It was interesting to watch. I'll say that much.
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From someone who doesn't watch any one pocket, it seems difficult to get a grasp on how good they actually play, purely because they're not running balls all the time.

Based on what I saw, Lou would absolutely rape Barton at 9 ball.
 
Spimp13 said:
I covered that in my last post and totally agree. Mechanics can start to fail for the average player the more pressure builds up. It's easy to criticize from behind the computer when I am sure I would have some flaws...maybe not the flailing arms flaw, but I am sure something wouldn't be right compared to how I normally shoot.
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My biggest issue in big tournaments is my stroke becomes mechanical. I've got 100 different things to work on position and mechanics that have made me better but damn if I know what to do to stop that from happening lol I feel for them.
 
DAVE_M said:
I think it had more to do with John trying to overpower easy shots, splashing the rack every chance he had, and over thinking how to out think Lou. IMO, they both understand the game, but neither of them execute like I expected. Should have played some 10ball.
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I agree. Putting the questionable fundamentals aside -- on both sides, Lou's and John's -- John's mistakes were obviously overpowering shots (probably trying to do too many things at once), instead of knuckling-down and making sure he pockets the ball. Obviously, I'm not a mind reader, but just going by what I see on the stream, he may've placed far too much reliance on his aiming system, and less so on his fundamentals. He did make some really great shots (mainly banks), and I found myself muttering "nice one" / tapping my workstation table with my hand when he did so. But more often, I found myself muttering, "John! Why did you hit that so hard?!? All you had to do was float the ball to your hole, and you had the so-and-so ball right there to continue your run / leave Lou bad." John wants to "thump" or thwack the pockets, when that's not called for in one pocket.

Lou made several bad shot choices, where it was obvious he wasn't 100% sure of what the cue ball was going to do / go, missing, and leaving John a fairly easy shot at his hole. Many times, when Lou was lining-up a shot, I'd find myself saying, "Lou, you *do* realize that after contact, the cue ball is going to collide with and knock so-and-so ball over to John's side of the table, right?" And upon missing, it did exactly that, leaving John open.

Irrespective of all this, these guys ARE playing for $10,000 -- which I'm not, I'm just a spectator -- so my opinion is just armchair quarterbacking. I *do* know what it's like to have to play with a lot of pressure (e.g. when sick, or in front of a lot of people / camera), though, and that kind of pressure has a way of short-circuiting your gameplay decisions as well as your attention to details. So I'll definitely give them a lot of slack when it comes to what you see on the stream.

-Sean <-- looking forward to Day 2, and hope it will go hill-hill
 
I'm surprised but glad John kept it interesting.
I was thinking whitewash after the first two games. Was shocked when I tuned in later to see it
sorta-kinda close. At least humanly possible.

The steering is brutal to behold.
 
Just took a peek at onepocket.org, didn't seem to have as much commentary as I expected.

And no SJD....interesting
 
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