The International 9-Ball Open
- Thread starter oldzilla
- Start date
I only watched the last 2, but they were both great matches!
That was a long finale...if this was the US Open it might have been a record for the longest finals match.
In my mind this was the 2018 US Open...have to be honest. These guys were fighting hard because everyone wants a US Open 9 ball title. International 9 ball is here to stay and I look forward to having a rock solid event like this on the schedule every fall.
Huge congrats to Chang. Huge congrats and thanks to Pat and the AccuStats team for the coverage. I noticed Pat's son has taken a role in producing the event. Good to see.
This was a good way to start a new tradition in pool.
Well done!
Yes, as there's no US Open in 2018, this was the de facto US Open, but Matchroom is about to start something special in Vegas next April at the US Open. As I understand it, the last three days of matches will all be on the stream table. That's going to be fantastic!
... and having both of these events on the American pool calendar is great for pool fans and pool pros.
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I saw way too many geezers sleeping in the background.
People asleep on the front row in the audience probably isn't what you want when you are trying to gain traction with the public for pool being an exciting and great sport. The sleeping people send the exact opposite message, "look how boring this sport is, I can't even stay awake even when I am on the front row only ten feet away!".
I'm expecting big things from Matchroom in Vegas. I've never seen them run a full scale tournament for pool so it will be intriguing to see how they do it. I expect digital scoreboards, players names and photos in lights, all the bells and whistles. If I see one player having to reach up and slide a plastic ball over a string I'll be let down.
Also a table of cash with a big security guard standing next to it would be a plus.
To be honest, I actually would prefer what Mike Siegal proposed. Everyone breaks from the headspot. If you make a ball, you keep shooting regardless of how many balls go over the headstring.
That would ensure that everyone needs to smash the head ball to hope to make something.
Needing 3 balls to pass the headstring to be a compliant break is definitely excessive.
I also don't like watching the cut break at all. Some players can still make the head ball in the side a decent percentage of the time. But watching the cueball go flying around the table to make a good break just looks silly.
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That would ensure that everyone needs to smash the head ball to hope to make something.
Needing 3 balls to pass the headstring to be a compliant break is definitely excessive.
I also don't like watching the cut break at all. Some players can still make the head ball in the side a decent percentage of the time. But watching the cueball go flying around the table to make a good break just looks silly.
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I agree. I think they are going to go big though, and in a recent interview one of their senior people said that they were going to go big. I think we are going to end up pretty impressed and happy.
That said, I wish they would have let Pat keep the US Open name for the event that just ended today since Matchroom wasn't even going to produce a US Open until 2019 which leaves 2018 with no US Open. Meanwhile the event that ended today was the de facto US Open with the same person running it, same location, same type field etc. It should have had the name and I'm not real thrilled that it presumably wasn't allowed by Matchroom (don't have any confirmation of this but can't imagine why Pat wouldn't have used the name otherwise). It wouldn't have hurt a thing.
