Sky confirmed for Team USA Mosconi Cup

[Oze147]

The "longer race" argument has been brought up many times and I can`t really tell if it is true. Some say yes, some say no and both sides have valid points.

But what I defenetly can say through watching the top European players is, that they all are very good when it comes to starting into a match, or at least they all try to overpower their opponent as quickly as possible.

I was watching Nils, Kaci and Filler at the last Eurotour in Klagenfurt and what amazed me was how they can switch into full power mode from one second to another. And I have seen Albin, Ralf, Mario or David Alcaide do the same.
They come to the table, play their practice rack like they don`t really care, switch off their ipod, handshake and baaaam- match mode activated.

Naturally it is very hard to keep this deep focus and perfect execution up for a long time and even the top pros have ups and downs throughout a match.
But what I noticed was that the best of the best can play around 7 to 10 racks in this trance like autopilot mode.
That is not enough for a race to 11, like at the International Open, but is perfect for a race to 5 at the MC.
Start fast and power through- the "secret" recipe for winning the MC.

 

[jasonlaus]

Here’s my thought process about the Mosconi Cup. It’s obvious more about show than proving who the best team or players are. That’s good for the general public and draws in fans even non pool players IMO.

Secondly, I feel we have the best three players in real heads up play meaning longer races and multiple races. IMO Shane can mow down the whole team in headsup play, playing longer sets. I feel the other two Americans that can also mow down their whole team in headsup play aren’t even part of the selection process. Justin Bergman I feel can also beat the entire European team in long set multiple set heads up play. Some are gonna disagree but I also feel Mike Dechaine can beat the entire team in long sets as well.

Lastly, the rest of our team Sky I feel is better than many of Europe’s players and could beat the majority of the team in longer sets. The rest of the players under consideration I feel is an underdog in any format to team Europe or team “3/4 of the world” as they should be called.

Of course my opinion(been around high level pool 30 plus yrs) doesn’t matter and doesn’t mean much in this showman format. I still think two players left off our team are better than team Europe in longer sets, again doesn’t matter in this format.

Just one players opinion which means nothing.

I wish we could make this a reality. I'll take Europe.
Jason

 

[Poolplaya9]

Here’s my thought process about the Mosconi Cup. It’s obvious more about show than proving who the best team or players are. That’s good for the general public and draws in fans even non pool players IMO.

Secondly, I feel we have the best three players in real heads up play meaning longer races and multiple races. IMO Shane can mow down the whole team in headsup play, playing longer sets. I feel the other two Americans that can also mow down their whole team in headsup play aren’t even part of the selection process. Justin Bergman I feel can also beat the entire European team in long set multiple set heads up play. Some are gonna disagree but I also feel Mike Dechaine can beat the entire team in long sets as well.

Lastly, the rest of our team Sky I feel is better than many of Europe’s players and could beat the majority of the team in longer sets. The rest of the players under consideration I feel is an underdog in any format to team Europe or team “3/4 of the world” as they should be called.

Of course my opinion(been around high level pool 30 plus yrs) doesn’t matter and doesn’t mean much in this showman format. I still think two players left off our team are better than team Europe in longer sets, again doesn’t matter in this format.

Just one players opinion which means nothing.

If talking about matches of reasonable length where only pool skills enter into the equation, with rare exception the player favored in a long match is also favored in a short match. The better player is favored in one game, or a race to 3, race to 5, race to 9, or race to 21. Now a longer match can do a better job of making sure the better player wins if you aren't going to play many matches, but many shorter matches does the same thing (and does it better), but the better player is always favored regardless of length until you get into stamina issues.

 

[jay helfert]

What nobody seems to understand is that the short races actually favors Team USA! You heard me right! In this case the underdog has a much better chance in a very short race than a longer one. And Team USA are definitely the underdogs again this year.

If Johann (with Jeremy's help) can somehow get the Team USA players to believe in themselves, then they actually have a chance to make this thing competitive. All that griping about short races and what-ifs about long money matches serves no other purpose than to distract them from the task at hand.

We have the horses. Shane and Skyler showed that last week (and so did Justin whether or not he's ultimately on the team). I for one would like to see this be a close match this year just for the sake of the continuation of the series.

 

[terryhanna]

THORPE FOR USA:

Billy Thorpe is the latest player confirmed for partypoker Mosconi Cup Team USA!

Billy made his Mosconi debut last year and joins Shane VanBoening and Sky Woodward on the team with two more players still to be announced

 

[marek]

What nobody seems to understand is that the short races actually favors Team USA! You heard me right! In this case the underdog has a much better chance in a very short race than a longer one. And Team USA are definitely the underdogs again this year.

If Johann (with Jeremy's help) can somehow get the Team USA players to believe in themselves, then they actually have a chance to make this thing competitive. All that griping about short races and what-ifs about long money matches serves no other purpose than to distract them from the task at hand.

We have the horses. Shane and Skyler showed that last week (and so did Justin whether or not he's ultimately on the team). I for one would like to see this be a close match this year just for the sake of the continuation of the series.

Whoa! A voice of reason!!! You got a death wish or something Jay??!!

 

[ChrisinNC]

Appears they are releasing the announcement of one US Mosconi Cup player per day this week, like there are millions of us in eager anticipation of whose going to be on the team. Gives us all a few days to speculate on here who the remaining 2 players will be, and then after tomorrow's announcement, who the final player will be.

My picks - Oscar Dominguez and Corey Deuel. Still in the hunt - Tyler Styler, and Shane McMinn. Longshot but would love to see it - Josh Roberts. Then that last player picked could very well be one I haven't even mentioned here.

Oscar has been matching up and playing more big $$ pressure matches than any other American player. Corey Deuel provides the veteran leadership and we know he can play well and handle the pressure.

 

[vjmehra]

Appears they are releasing the announcement of one US Mosconi Cup player per day this week, like there are millions of us in eager anticipation of whose going to be on the team. Gives us all a few days to speculate on here who the remaining 2 players will be, and then after tomorrow's announcement, who the final player will be.

My picks - Oscar Dominguez and Corey Deuel. Still in the hunt - Tyler Styler, and Shane McMinn. Longshot but would love to see it - Josh Roberts. Then that last player picked could very well be one I haven't even mentioned here.

Oscar has been matching up and playing more big $$ pressure matches than any other American player. Corey Deuel provides the veteran leadership and we know he can play well and handle the pressure.

I thought Corey didn't make the preliminary cut?

 

[terryhanna]

I thought Corey didn't make the preliminary cut?

Dennis Hatch dropped out and Corey replaced him in final cut hopefuls

 

[vjmehra]

Dennis Hatch dropped out and Corey replaced him in final cut hopefuls

Ah cool, he deserves another shot at it, good to hear.

 

[skogstokig]

not too fond of billy, but sky and shane are top drawer

 

[Zphix]

I would love to see Iceberg added to the team but i HIGHLY doubt there is any way in HELL Matchroom would admit they made a mistake in the selection process and put Justin on the Team lol

Can anyone elaborate on this?

 

[sjm]

What nobody seems to understand is that the short races actually favors Team USA! You heard me right! In this case the underdog has a much better chance in a very short race than a longer one. And Team USA are definitely the underdogs again this year.

If Johann (with Jeremy's help) can somehow get the Team USA players to believe in themselves, then they actually have a chance to make this thing competitive. All that griping about short races and what-ifs about long money matches serves no other purpose than to distract them from the task at hand.

We have the horses. Shane and Skyler showed that last week (and so did Justin whether or not he's ultimately on the team). I for one would like to see this be a close match this year just for the sake of the continuation of the series.

Absolutely! We'd have a much better chance if the races were even shorter.

Year after year after year after year, Team USA is exposed for being a team that a) breaks about as well as Europe, b) doesn't pocket as well as Europe, c) doesn't play the patterns as well as Europe, d) doesn't kick or jump as well as Europe, e) doesn't play the safeties as well as Europe, f) makes poorer decisions than team Europe, and g) is mentally weaker than Europe.

Why on earth would we want long races? It would be disastrous. Short races improve our chances. Unfortunately for us, the Mosconi is not a short competition, but a very long one, and the better team is nearly always going to be the team that wins the required 55 racks (11 matches and it takes five racks to win a match) first. Europe has won the last eight races to 55 in a row.

The only solution is to show up with the stronger team, which Team USA hasn't done for years.

I believe that those who advance the statistically irreverent argument that Team USA loses because the format doesn't suit them are among the greatest threats to rectifying this situation. The gap is large, and we need to own it if we are going to be committed enough to do anything about it. That said, though, I suspect that at least Johan understands just how wide the gap is, and with Jeremy Jones' assistance, can help us narrow it.

 

[jasonlaus]

Can anyone elaborate on this?

There is a selection process and that involves attending certain events. Justin knew this and decided he either couldnt or wouldnt participate in the required events. End of story, there is no conspiracy to keep him out or to keep the US losing.
Team Euro has their own selection process.

Currently we have a 13 ranked Fargo player on the team and still have a 16th, 26th and a 51st ranked player in the running. So, yeah, I can see where it would look like somebody isn't too smart in this process.

The top 5 Fargo rated players are

Shane
Dechaine
Bergman
Sky
Corey

This is a team you'd be hard pressed to make an argument about...other than poor past performances.
But I'd feel a lot better about this team than any other.
Jason

At one point a 79th ranked player also.

 

[AtLarge]

... Europe has won the last eight races to 55 in a row. ...

The Mosconi Cup matches have not always been races to 5. It looks to me like this is the history:

1994-1997 -- 2 out of 3 races to 3, but must win by 2 with hill/hill at 4-4
1998 -- races to 7
1999-2005 -- races to 5
2006 -- some races to 5, some to 6, some to 7
2007-2014 -- alternating between races to 6 when in the USA (odd years) and races to 5 when in Europe (even years), except for 2010, when some races were to 6 and some to 5.
2015-2017 -- races to 5

So they have used 6 different formats in the 24 years.

 

[jay helfert]

Absolutely! We'd have a much better chance if the races were even shorter.

Year after year after year after year, Team USA is exposed for being a team that a) breaks about as well as Europe, b) doesn't pocket as well as Europe, c) doesn't play the patterns as well as Europe, d) doesn't kick or jump as well as Europe, e) doesn't play the safeties as well as Europe, f) makes poorer decisions than team Europe, and g) is mentally weaker than Europe.

Why on earth would we want long races? It would be disastrous. Short races improve our chances. Unfortunately for us, the Mosconi is not a short competition, but a very long one, and the better team is nearly always going to be the team that wins the required 55 racks (11 matches and it takes five racks to win a match) first. Europe has won the last eight races to 55 in a row.

The only solution is to show up with the stronger team, which Team USA hasn't done for years.

I believe that those who advance the statistically irreverent argument that Team USA loses because the format doesn't suit them are among the greatest threats to rectifying this situation. The gap is large, and we need to own it if we are going to be committed enough to do anything about it. That said, though, I suspect that at least Johan understands just how wide the gap is, and with Jeremy Jones' assistance, can help us narrow it.

Be careful Stu. People will be saying you are Pro Europe!

 

[sjm]

Be careful Stu. People will be saying you are Pro Europe!

LOL.

I want shorter races! That means I'm pro Team USA.

 

[ShortBusRuss]

The facts of this matter were that Justin declined to be in the Mosconi Cup squad earlier in the year when players were being invited by Mr Ruijsink. It was entirely his decision and no one else's. I'm not sure how he fits into the team now with the players who have spent a considerable amount of time and effort preparing as a team for this?

CORRECTION: He declined to take the financial hit of travelling to multiple training sessions and a Eurotour event that paid next to nothing to pass up on money-making opportunities at tournaments in the U.S..

Perhaps if Matchroom thought this out a little more they could have arranged the training sessions without financially impacting the players who cannot afford it. Or at least given yourself an out to be able to pick whomever, without drawing hard lines in the sand that you can't back down from. Matchroom already got a little egg on it's face by having to reverse the decision on SVB. Matchroom painted itself into this corner.

 

[sjm]

The Mosconi Cup matches have not always been races to 5. It looks to me like this is the history:

1994-1997 -- 2 out of 3 races to 3, but must win by 2 with hill/hill at 4-4
1998 -- races to 7
1999-2005 -- races to 5
2006 -- some races to 5, some to 6, some to 7
2007-2014 -- alternating between races to 6 when in the USA (odd years) and races to 5 when in Europe (even years), except for 2010, when some races were to 6 and some to 5.
2015-2017 -- races to 5

So they have used 6 different formats in the 24 years.

The first few of these are trivial, as they pertain to the years in which Europe wasn't playing much nine ball yet. That said, though, if we ever have an edge on paper as great as the ones enjoyed by the Team USA's of those years, we should welcome longer races.

... but the current eight year losing streak has always been either races to 5 or 6, and more than half of them to five.

 

[ChrisinNC]

not too fond of billy, but sky and shane are top drawer

Any mention as to the 5 players that will represent the European Mosconi Cup team? I think I've heard Kaci, He, Feijen, Ouschan, and either Shaw or Melling?