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American 14.1.................
- Thread starter garczar
- Start date
The answer to your question? I came up with this years ago.
Pool....
''Is too difficult for the AVERAGE mind''
Plus, when it's played perfectly on tv, it's boring to those hammerheads.
It was off numerous times, including the marking of fouls. Its nice for a free stream, but needs work.
Scoring errors have not been infrequent in pro 14.1 events in the past. That's still true. Sometimes the errors are innocuous, sometimes they can affect (or potentially affect) the outcome of the match.
Karma.....:smile:
Not the fully story. Albin let Ruslan to the table with a fairly open pack at 0-0. Then Ruslan ran 141. Missed a not so difficult back cut on the 8 ball. Albin ran out the rack, then screwed up. Ruslan then finished up.
I would agree with the first guy- that is a BBQ! BTW- where is "Mr. 600" in all of this? Seems like he put so much time in his pool life into promoting himself through practice play- as "Mr. 400" Mr. 14.1" Now "Mr. 600" that he feels the pressure to live up to the legendary status of his own making. Schmidt does not do well in top flight 14.1 COMPETITION - he fell apart here again this week.
I am NOT knocking his ability or his practice accomplishment - but I am saying that he has gone way out to achieve and promote his "practice play" accomplishments - that I think he has difficulty in top flight 14.1 competitive events because he himself created certain expectations that he has trouble handling those expectation when it comes to actual competition. Many of the other top 14.1 guys there this week are showing us the REAL difference between competitive play and practice play- it has NEVER been more obvious than this week !
Knockers gotta knock. Tough field bro. Make a TINY mistake and you're in your chair a WHILE. You think he's not an elite 14.1'r???
If Ruslan would have forced Albin to sell out, I would say bbq’d for sure. But Albin lit himself on fire and gave Ruslan a free lunch. Then coupled with the fact Albin had a serious chance to run the set back....Albin folded hard.
Anyone that thinks John Schmidt isn't among the elite 14.1 players today is delusional.
At their levels it only takes one mistake to lose a match, especially a really short match. Think of 9 ball races to 5, very similar in comparison.
If these matches was to ~1000, well, IMHO, "some" of the players would fall by the waist side.
Even in the midst of the elite, the ability to run 600+ balls is a rarity on "any" table and under "any" condition.
Jeff
At their levels it only takes one mistake to lose a match, especially a really short match. Think of 9 ball races to 5, very similar in comparison.
If these matches was to ~1000, well, IMHO, "some" of the players would fall by the waist side.
Even in the midst of the elite, the ability to run 600+ balls is a rarity on "any" table and under "any" condition.
Jeff
"Missed a not so difficult back cut on the 8 ball." :rotflmao1:
Yep. Well said. Agree 100%.
Schmidt fully acknowledges that he runs balls more easily outside of tournament competition. But he is a 14.1 tournament champion (2012 World event) and has other high finishes. This week he went 5-1 in the round robin stage, won his first single-elimination match, and narrowly lost his second match to a guy who is now waiting for the finals. Have you noticed that only one of the other top 14.1 champions (at least in US events) made it farther in this event than Schmidt -- that was Hohmann, who is also out now.
I wish you would just quit looking for opportunities to criticize Schmidt.
I guarantee that guy can't run 20 balls but he's an expert knocker. Got him on lifetime ignore.
Yes, Schmidt was on a long run and hit a great break shot and got a tough roll. He hung a ball deep in the hole on a back cut (if it had dropped he would have won) and his opponent ran out from there.
What happened with Alex’s run? I saw him get out of that tough rack after Marco missed his break shot but I had to go pick up some breakfast
I am not saying that Schmidt is not a great 14.1 player or that he is not among the elite. My point today, and I still think well taken, is that in fact his OVERALL success at 14.1 in top competition is LESS what I expect , given that he can run so many balls. But I think that because he went to such lengths to run so many in practice- and THAT was promoted; he created a persona that is very difficult to maintain in top competition. So far, and this is another example this week, to me, he has NOT risen up to those expectations that he created, and frankly, I once did buy into those expectations; but now his winning a major 14.1 might surprise me. Yes, he won a world title once, how many has he entered, among other top competitions in 14.1- and how many has he won. it would be great if we could all see him run 100s all the way through some top tournaments and win them-- to me, I think a lot of his not winning these tournaments results from the pressure his practice persona created for him. That's all- you can agree with that or not- or maybe think my point may have some validity.
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Among the elite of this generation, yes. He is not, however, to be counted among the all-time greats by anyone who is not delusional.
In competition, many of John's contemporaries have greatly outshined him, the most obvious being Hohmann, Feijen, Appleton, Ortmann, Engert, and Souquet, all of whom have many straight pool titles and have often prevailed against super-elite straight pool fields. John's name belongs in the next few straight poolers of this generation, perhaps along with an Immonen.
John's run of 626 was a truly amazing and historic achievement. I'm happy for John for his accomplishment and hope he makes a whole lot of money as he markets and sells the video. He deserves it.
Contrary to your suggestion, though, the delusional are those who feel that one historic run erases a very mediocre track record in straight pool competition over many years.
No need to make excuses for those, like John, who so rarely prevail in the biggest spots. Greatness in straight pool is measured in straight pool titles. Always has been, always will be.
