The sad state of winner break, big table pool.

[Colonel]

Loose pockets and break from the kitchen make alternate break absolutely necessary, but when will pro pool realize that such conditions do not befit the best players in the world? Tighten the pockets and mandate the use of the break box and winner's break is fine, whether it is nine ball or ten ball.

^^^^ This, savvy take on this Stu.

 

[JCIN]

No one is watching anyway. The pro's are funding their own events now through high entry fees or gambling matches. They should play however they like. Make the pockets 3.5" with call safe rules or whatever the players think will give them the edge. Not like it could get any worse.

Big open events should keep what little dead money there is happy with normal pockets and alternate break.

 

[Cardigan Kid]

No one is watching anyway. The pro's are funding their own events now through high entry fees or gambling matches. They should play however they like. Make the pockets 3.5" with call safe rules or whatever the players think will give them the edge. Not like it could get any worse.

Big open events should keep what little dead money there is happy with normal pockets and alternate break.

You have the inside scoop on a lot of this.
Can you say there is generally more excitement/enthusiasm on the pro level for a bar box event over a standard nine foot table event?

I always wondered if there was a player association, what would be the players take on standards (table/pocket sizes).Like when the NBA commissioner decided to go with a completely new basketball a few years back, the players union complained with voices from all the superstars and got the balls switched back.

If pool pros had one majority voice, what would they prefer?

 

[StraightPoolIU]

Pro pool just doesn't get it. The standard of play has never been higher, and yet pool has not come to the realization that the conditions must be toughened give the current crop of pros a sufficiently rigid test of their skills.

Contrastingly, pro golf gets it. When the level of play rose in golf, the courses got longer. The pros used to play on 6800 yard courses, today 7,200 yards is more typical. The putting greens have more undulations than the greens of yesteryear, too.

Breaking from anywhere in the kitchen, long ago deemed too easy for top pros when playing nine ball, was shockingly used in both the 2014 Mosconi and also at the just-completed China Open. At each event, the pockets were loose, too. Dry breaks were few.

Loose pockets and break from the kitchen make alternate break absolutely necessary, but when will pro pool realize that such conditions do not befit the best players in the world? Tighten the pockets and mandate the use of the break box and winner's break is fine, whether it is nine ball or ten ball.

This is an excellent post. I think sometimes we can get too easily hung up on what the players want (ultra tight pockets, restrictive break rules, extremely long races, call shot/call safe) vs what promoters want for open events to keep the dead money happy (larger pockets, bar box tables, break from anywhere, shorter races.

I think my preference would be somewhere in the middle. In fact maybe my favorite pool event all year does fall into the middle, The Bigfoot 10 Ball. We have a 10 ft table with challenging (but not overly restrictive) pockets, 10 ball is a harder to execute breakshot than 9 ball so really not special rules required, winner break allows for packages if someone is playing exceptional, no call shot requirement which I think increases spectator excitement, and a race of adequate length but not so long that it's hard to hold interest. Those are the best conditions for pro pool in my opinion. It just stinks we only get to see it once a year.