China Open

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I take exception to the "money-hungry" part. These guys wouldn't be in pool if that was a primary trait. 98% of them are paupers and even if they become #1, they will still make less than 1/10th the bucks the top 20 guys at every decent Wall St firm make.

There are only 4 guys on the money list who make more than the average salaried slob in the USA and if you consider expenses there is probably only one-barely. I'm not here to shout this is so unfair etc-just to point out that most pros are hoping to just eek out a living doing something they love and being money hungry plays no part. Once they are in the pro game, they are desperate for money is perhaps a fair statement.

It’s possible to be both money-hungry and money-stupid.
 
Pockets too huge, many roll-offs and weird inconsistent reactions off the rails to my eye. Plus they just looked like they are poorly made and not real solid. I suppose they could be solid and just look flimsy.

Didn't they change ball sets 2x during a match-meaning they tried 3 different ball sets during one match? That may or may not have been a misguided effort to correct abnormalities of the table but in ANY EVENT, it indicates that having top-shelf equipment was not a priority at the tournament start.

Here is a video of the final match (joined in progress):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI681wG5jAk

The table doesn't look flimsy to me. Hard to tell without bumping it. The brand is Xing Pai which I've never heard of before.

They seem to be using Cyclop "Hyperion" balls but it says "Hyper" on the banner. They are distinguished by octagonal "rings" around the numbers. Perhaps their manufacturing issues continue.

As for Shaw's complaints, should a player keep his mouth shut if he feels that things aren't being done properly? If there are gaps in the rack, it makes a huge difference at nine ball. I thought everyone knew that by now. He's playing for real money -- the difference between $40,000 and $20,000. If he sees gaps that hurt his chances is he supposed to just suck it up and hit the balls a little harder? The real problem is that they're playing nine ball. (Where's Paul S. when you need him?;))
 
Here is a video of the final match (joined in progress):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI681wG5jAk

As for Shaw's complaints, should a player keep his mouth shut if he feels that things aren't being done properly? If there are gaps in the rack, it makes a huge difference at nine ball. I thought everyone knew that by now. He's playing for real money -- the difference between $40,000 and $20,000. If he sees gaps that hurt his chances is he supposed to just suck it up and hit the balls a little harder? The real problem is that they're playing nine ball. (Where's Paul S. when you need him?;))

If i somehow gave you the impression that I thought Shaw was wrong, that certainly wasn't my intention. I was trying to get the point across that the promoters did not make having top equipment a priority imo. "Looking flimsy" is indeed subjective. During the Miami Vice years i left a Neiman Marcus store because "Everything looks so chintzy!" (They had all these thin wrinkly pants and sports jackets). I never went back either though 3/4 of a mile from my house.
 
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On my Firefox or safari

Canucks ain’t gettin’ no respect these days

Well, that was very rude....I finally found a site to ask who won the ladies’ side...
...they said “FU.”..."...:eek:
 
If i somehow gave you the impression that I thought Shaw was wrong, that certainly wasn't my intention. ...
No, I was responding to several other comments above.

I see no likely implementation of a solution to the racking problem although maybe a couple of solutions are available.

In the meantime, I think anyone who says that a player has no right to complain about a particular rack needs to see the rack before they comment.

As for changing the balls out....

In the 1976 World Championship (14.1) in Asbury Park, NJ, they were using a new style of ball (made by Hyatt, prior to Aramith dominance) with Roman numerals IIRC. It turned out that the 3s, 5s and 7s often had bulging eyes (where the number is) and the diameter through the eyes was out of spec (more than 2.255 inches). Fortunately there were lots of spare sets and someone there had thought to bring a ball gauge and full sets for the four tournament tables were assembled prior to the start of the tournament. Football-shaped balls tend to roll in circles.

Maybe the balls were changed out in the China Open because there was a known problem.
 
... Out-of-round?? Skidding is one thing but lopsided? That's a new one. ...
It is not new. If you're ever going to be at tournament I'm going to, remind me to bring my very remarkable Cyclop 3 ball. There was a video of a player lagging (Hohmann?) a diamond from side rail. He scratched. It was not the table's fault.
 
Just curious here. I watched some qualifying and about 4-5 tournament matches. What did you see that gave the impression that these tables were so bad? Not trying to start a flame-out but i didn't see any glaring table problems. A lot of events are played on STAR's and generally are well liked.

You call them STARS which you have heard of and, Bob calls them XING PAI Brand he has never heard of. Are we all taking about the same table ?
 
I did not get a chance to watch any of the matches . Can any one tell me who besides Shaw complained about the racking....or the tables if any ?
 
I did not get a chance to watch any of the matches . Can any one tell me who besides Shaw complained about the racking....or the tables if any ?

Warren Kiamco for one but at that time they were racking their own. The ref got involved. If they reracked for Jason, there was a problem. They were not going to go through gyrations without cause for some crazy Scott.
 
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I did not get a chance to watch any of the matches . Can any one tell me who besides Shaw complained about the racking....or the tables if any ?

Ko asked for a re-rack in the finals once that I recall. Shaw asked for a re-rack 7,241 times, so it wasn’t really close.
 
You call them STARS which you have heard of and, Bob calls them XING PAI Brand he has never heard of. Are we all taking about the same table ?

Xing Pai (星牌) literally means Star(s) brand, but I think there's more than one Star brand of billiard tables out there
 
Xing Pai (星牌) literally means Star(s) brand, but I think there's more than one Star brand of billiard tables out there
Thanks for the translation. I was going by a label I saw on the table in the game Oi ran out to win a match in the early rounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLKzymHfw8Q

It looks like the labelling is different from the other end, and the score graphic seems to covers most of the foot skirt.
 
A Xing Pai brand pool table was also used in the 2018 World Cup of Pool played in May in Shanghai.
 
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