World Pool Masters (22-25 May2021) Winner $25K

[spartan]

they have posted the order of play. Starts Saturday at 12:30 eastern. They even held SVB's first match to the second session Sunday (bumping Filler's match up early) rather than having him finish off with the rest of the "preliminary" matches.

The schedule is in a state of flux
Now strangely it has Filler and SVB matches clashing with Filler at 630pm and SVB at 7pm

 

[spartan]

Bookmakers have 4 joint top favorites Filler, SVB, Shaw, Albin. Am surprised Albin is joint favorite when he is in tough bottom half with Filler, SVB, Gorst

 

[AtLarge]

More changes to the schedule. The first sessions on Mon. and Tues. now start at 12:00 instead of 13:00 local time. So Sun., Mon., and Tues. now all start at 6 am EDT (3 am PDT).

 

[Joe_Jaguar]

The schedule is in a state of flux
Now strangely it has Filler and SVB matches clashing with Filler at 630pm and SVB at 7pm

View attachment 595973

They've update that back to how it was yesterday as far as I'm seeing in the PC's browser.

 

[pool players stats]

 

[sjm]

tight enough. if tighter than the WCoP table i think it favors shaw more than filler, gorst, shane. we'll see.

Perhaps you're right, but I don't think Shaw shoots as straight as Gorst, whom I believe to be the straightest shooter in the world.

It's also worth noting that SVB used to play all his TAR matches on ridiculously tight equipment and it didn't hold him back much in his ball pocketing Super tight equipment also favors really good defensive players, and that might make someone like Alex Kazakis a good dark horse pick here, even though he doesn't seem to be one of the ten best in this field on paper.

This is all pretty shocking, as I've never seen a Matchroom event played on equipment this tight. It makes the results far more difficult to predict. Kudos to Matchroom for evolving with the times. These are the elite, and they SHOULD be playing on equipment that befits their remarkable skills..

 

[pool players stats]

Perhaps you're right, but I don't think Shaw shoots as straight as Gorst, whom I believe to be the straightest shooter in the world.

It's also worth noting that SVB used to play all his TAR matches on ridiculously tight equipment and it didn't hold him back much in his ball pocketing Super tight equipment also favors really good defensive players, and that might make someone like Alex Kazakis a good dark horse pick here, even though he doesn't seem to be one of the ten best in this field on paper.

This is all pretty shocking, as I've never seen a Matchroom event played on equipment this tight. It makes the results far more difficult to predict. Kudos to Matchroom for evolving with the times. These are the elite, and they SHOULD be playing on equipment that befits their remarkable skills..

I agree tight pockets favor better defender because there will be less break and runs
That favors Filler even more, besides he's a great shooter, his defensive game is great too, I give him an edge on that over Shaw and Gorst, even Shane

Besides Kazakis, Kaci and Albin are really good defensive players

 

[skogstokig]

Perhaps you're right, but I don't think Shaw shoots as straight as Gorst, whom I believe to be the straightest shooter in the world.

It's also worth noting that SVB used to play all his TAR matches on ridiculously tight equipment and it didn't hold him back much in his ball pocketing Super tight equipment also favors really good defensive players, and that might make someone like Alex Kazakis a good dark horse pick here, even though he doesn't seem to be one of the ten best in this field on paper.

This is all pretty shocking, as I've never seen a Matchroom event played on equipment this tight. It makes the results far more difficult to predict. Kudos to Matchroom for evolving with the times. These are the elite, and they SHOULD be playing on equipment that befits their remarkable skills..

well, gorst can shoot as straight as shaw, but needs his time to do it, just like kaci does. with a shot clock i think shaw is a slight favorite. albin, niels will be in trouble with these pockets.

 

[mikepage]

Bookmakers have 4 joint top favorites Filler, SVB, Shaw, Albin. Am surprised Albin is joint favorite when he is in tough bottom half with Filler, SVB, Gorst

View attachment 595974

well, gorst can shoot as straight as shaw, but needs his time to do it, just like kaci does. with a shot clock i think shaw is a slight favorite. albin, niels will be in trouble with these pockets.

I think there is a larger effect of tighter pockets than any shifting toward shotmakers. But it's a more subtle. Economist Danny Kahneman's new book that came out this month is called "Noise: A flaw in human judgment," and I predict he's going to have as tough a time conveying these ideas as FargoRate has ;-)

Essentially, though, a race to 7 on easier equipment acts statistically more like playing a shorter race does. We all know a race to 3 has a tougher time revealing who is the better player than does a longer race because the unwanted variability gets in the way. And anytime we play races to 7 on equipment where both players are running 2-packs, we are getting fewer information-containing changes in control.

Though they are still short races, these matches will do a little better job revealing who is actually playing better than would a same length match on easier equipment. So in this sense, it gives a slight nod to higher-rated players.

 

[mikepage]

Bookmakers have 4 joint top favorites Filler, SVB, Shaw, Albin. Am surprised Albin is joint favorite when he is in tough bottom half with Filler, SVB, Gorst

I just did a quick calculation ignoring the draw. I'd put Sanjin at about 25 to 1. They seem perhaps less aware of him than they could be.

 

[spartan]

Ok Battle of Sexes- Kelly Fisher v Justin Sajich
Both have about same Fargorate with Kelly slight favorite

I just did a quick calculation ignoring the draw. I'd put Sanjin at about 25 to 1. They seem perhaps less aware of him than they could be.

Yes, that kid Sanjin is underrated.

 

[Bob Jewett]

... And anytime we play races to 7 on equipment where both players are running 2-packs, we are getting fewer information-containing changes in control.
...

I think the extreme example of frequent "change of control" is in pro tennis. Every five seconds, top players have to do something no normal person could do and most amateur players would struggle with. The result is many "comparisons per hour" of the two players in matches that go on for a couple of hours. At nine ball, there are perhaps two or three challenging shots in the average rack for the pro players. An example of infrequent challenges or changes of control is straight pool where for good players there is maybe one challenge per rack.

I think the huge number of challenging shots in a pro tennis match is why a few players dominate. They only need to be slightly quicker and stronger to be sure of winning the match.

 

[CaleAYS]

I agree tight pockets favor better defender because there will be less break and runs
That favors Filler even more, besides he's a great shooter, his defensive game is great too, I give him an edge on that over Shaw and Gorst, even Shane

Besides Kazakis, Kaci and Albin are really good defensive players

Interesting. I don’t think you will find very many people that would say Filler has a better defensive/tactical game than SVB.
As good as Filler is I think it’s a slight weakness in his game and he can improve in that department. Which is a scary thought if he does.

 

[AtLarge]

The pocket mouths have been "officially" reported on the stream to be 4" for the corners and 5" for the sides.

 

[skogstokig]

The pocket mouths have been "officially" reported on the stream to be 4" for the corners and 5" for the sides.

sure plays tight. seen a few rattle that would've gone in other years. but still great play, kaci didn't miss much in his match.

 

[Scrunge19]

It’s an all mullet affair in the final match of the day. Sky, Billy, and the ref are all sporting them.

 

[Cameron Smith]

sure plays tight. seen a few rattle that would've gone in other years. but still great play, kaci didn't miss much in his match.

I noticed a few of Billy’s misses would have gone on any other table and not even looked like he hit it roughly.

 

[sjm]

Interesting. I don’t think you will find very many people that would say Filler has a better defensive/tactical game than SVB.
As good as Filler is I think it’s a slight weakness in his game and he can improve in that department. Which is a scary thought if he does.

Filler is way above SVB defensively, mostly in defensive conceptualization. They are about even in defensive execution. More accurately, Filler is way, way above SVB defensively. Anyone who really understands the subtleties of defense (including shot design, downside management, and the nuances in object ball placement) will understand why. I consider Filler one of the best six or seven defensive players in the game. Shane may not even be top twenty five in that department. I'd reckon that fifteen of the top twenty defensive players in the world are Filipino. The best is Alex Pagulayan --- I can't even figure out if he's Filipino!

I recall when Filler played JL Chang in the action room at Derby City in 2019. Every rack that came down to tactics, Filler had the edge, and it helped him a lot in winning the match.

His extraordinary finesse skills show up in his straight pool game (where he ran 285 at the 2019 DCC) and in his one pocket game, too.

I don't ever recall a player for whom so many refused to give credit for his incredible all-around skills. I really don't get it.

 

[evergruven]

I think the huge number of challenging shots in a pro tennis match is why a few players dominate. They only need to be slightly quicker and stronger to be sure of winning the match.

as a tennis fan, I'm intrigued by this.
I think the top tennis players are often more gifted, especially in terms of hand skills, and movement/feel overall. especially in a reactive sport, timing is crucial.
even more, the best players (likely in pool, etc., too) decide well when it counts most. in pool and tennis, just a shot or two can decide a match. off-court, too-

regarding WPM, I just watched a highlights package, and it was interesting to see so many shots missed, apparently inspired by decreased pocket size.

 

[Scrunge19]

I think the huge number of challenging shots in a pro tennis match is why a few players dominate. They only need to be slightly quicker and stronger to be sure of winning the match.

The top tennis players, aka the big 3 of Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, have dominated so long due to their immense mental strength more so than any physical advantage. They've shown time after time that they can win even without having their best game because of their mental strength. The next gen have all of the physical tools to win majors, they just haven't shown the mental strength to break through the current generation of players.