TheThaiger
Banned
Lol. And something about variance, per chance?
Garreth Potts
- Thread starter Mole Eye
- Start date
Lol. And something about variance, per chance?
TheThaiger
Banned
Nothing about mick hill? Man, he must be feeling a little sore at reading this...
Just to point out where I'm coming from, your two paragraphs I've quoted are exactly my point. Getting comfortable shooting down the rail at any pace is something that he (they) would have to get used to. This would be included in power shots. If you never/rarely shoot them, and it comes up once or twice a set, then isn't that the advantage/disadvantage I've highlighted? Isn't that enough to offset a world class professional from another?
And I'm absolutely talking about 8-ball. Look at Darren. Great E8ball player. World Champion. World's best at one point. How has he done in American 8-ball? It's not automatic. And Darren's power game has changed immensely over the years. And his stance has changed. And Allison's stance has changed....
I think of course Gareth can play world class American 8-ball, but it's not going to be automatic. The break is huge. The power shots are subtly huge. That was the case when the Euros started playing pool before, and it's the case today. There's already proof in that (early World Team Billiards).
What American 8 Ball are you talking about?
I know there's the occasional tournament here and there and it's usually just a B&R fest. 8-Ball played by pros on American style pool tables is a joke. It's too easy for them. It's basically all the same shots that you see on the Chinese tables except into much easier pockets, even if they are tightened up a tad.
I guess I just don't pay attention to 8 Ball played on American tables.
P.S. And I don't believe Darren ever won the E8Ball World Title.
They have 8-ball professional tournaments in American 8-ball all over the world sanctioned by the WPA. Entire pro Euro tours happens all year long in American 8-ball.
And you're, right, Darren has never won the WEBF 8-ball championship, but he is a World CHampion and he was formerly the World #1 English 8-ball ranked player.
The 'break and run' fest happens at the highest level. For Gareth Potts to make an immediate impact, you'd have to say he could play Niels, Ralph, Ko, Orcullo, in American 8-ball. Immediately. Now.
I'm saying "not a chance."
Can he? Of course... but it would take a whole philosophy shift on his end. It's not happening overnight.
What's he upto now? Has he spread his wings and moved to playing something other than E8B? I've been out of the pool loop too long...
Take a look at the second post in this thread: http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?t=386746
Does that affect your thinking at all?
Does anyone have any of the IPT data? I know there were a few E8B guys (and some snooker guys) that came to play in it including Darren. Just thinking about it makes me think about what a shame it was that the IPT failed. A real tour with 8 ball as the game attracting the all of the biggest names in cue sports. That would have been something.
Not really. Let's consider the other way around. If (by inference on your question and the stats) that Chinese 8-ball and American 8-ball are statistically the same difficulty... then why were Dennis this year and Shane last year non-players in Chinese 8-ball? Your answer will be the same answer as mine (except I'm saying it about Gareth and American 8-ball).
Surely, your (or anyone's answer) isn't going to be the Dennis isn't one of the top 8-ball players that's ever played the game.
The simple answer is that the game style and the philosophy of shooting on the tables are different. Any professional at a specific style of game is going to tailor their style of play to the game their playing. It doesn't happen overnight.
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Freddie -- I think it might be easy for the top C8B players to play American 8-ball even though the American 8-Ball players have some difficulty going the other way.
The C8B table is tougher because of the pocket size and rounded pocket jaws. Yet I just watched some of the top guys on those tables do just as well breaking and just as well running out as the top players do on the A8B tables. Why would the C8B players do any worse on an easier table? They might produce ever better stats than they do on the C8B tables. I don't think it would take much time at all for the C8B players to learn to benefit from easier down-the-rail shots on an A8B table. And anyone who thinks that top C8B players can't hit shots forcefully when they need to didn't watch the same games I did this week.
The A8B players, on the other hand, face tougher/different conditions than they are used to when they go to the C8B table, and have not coped so well.
But maybe the stats I gathered this week on C8B are an aberration. This is the first time I have watched C8B. Unfortunately, doesn't the big C8B event coming up in a couple weeks conflict with the DCC? We need more data (and possibly some different data?).
Edit -- Also, I certainly acknowledge that the small C8B sample size I posted may be a bit biased by the extraordinary performance of Yang Fan (and probably an unusually good match by Melling)..
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yeah. my mistake you are right :embarrassed2:
I agree with just about everything you said in this post.
Have to correct you there. The only 8ball tournament in American 8-ball for Europe is the annual European Championship. Thats it. In that tournament each country have two or three slots.
Mick Hill was out of the game for a while but he won a £1,000 entry per man event at the end of last year.
In what E8B?
E8B yes...
The lad really needs to spread his wings. He's wasted in E8B.
Why? That is his game.
By the same argument, you could argue all AP players are wasted not playing C8B or snooker.
You could further argue that all cue sport enthusiasts are wasting their time with cue sports and should convert to golf.
What about Olympic swimmers? What a waste of time spending hours a day swimming up and down for no reward.
What you plays is what you plays...
He also owns and operates an E8B pool hall, which is no doublt his primary income and probably far greater than that possible from limping over the pond for scraps
Mick's a legend in 8-ball and would turn a lot of heads in the US if he put time into that game.. though he had a little try on the IPT as I recall.
Also, I haven't seen 2 other English 8 ball players who have gone on to win US Pool World Champs in the last decade... Daryl Peach and Karl Boyes. And has Melling been mentioned.... and Selby would kick serious butt in the US if he would take the pay cut.
The fundamentals of UK and nowadays Chinese players are superior. God knows what these new Chinese players, who are getting hold of Potts now, would do to US pool if there were money to win there.
Yeah, a few skills to adapt to, but these top Chinese 8 ball players are 2 balls ahead of Appleton as pot & positional players, and he's as good as the US game has seen in years, with SVB a little behind... note, they both have been way off competitive in the Chinese 8 ball tournies. Earl got smashed like he wasn't there.