I'm torn. I think the flip side of this has been some of the big rallies from behind we've seen that were attributable, at least in part, to an error being made and control of the table swinging to the player that's behind. Albin almost upset Gomez with a big comeback, but lost after missing a very makeable 6 when the score was 7-8 Gomez, with Albin at the table. Granted, that match did not feature top flight pool from either player (and Albin is way too young to being going nuclear so soon lol), but control of the table translated to racks won for both players and Gomez easily could have lost that match as much as he won it. Jasmin, for her part, won her second match of the day with a comeback, IIRC.
I do agree with you that the steamroll, lopsided matches just aren't fun to watch anymore. I also don't like seeing the shutouts where one player had control of the table the entire time due to the advantage of the break, and the other player just jumped and kicked all match. For that reason, I liked the ultra tough equipment that translated into contested matches.
I guess I'm in the minority here, but I kind of the like the break rule where ref's have discretion over abusing the soft break. It sort of makes sense to me that after how many years of fussing over it, that template racks solve the "unequal/inconsistent rack problem" and that we've accepted that the corner ball is going to go in when playing 9 ball if the rack is tight/on a template. All that's left is to make sure the players don't get too cute with the break. I'm not sure there's a perfect answer to those three problems. I had both sessions on today, and in nearly every match I watched, there was a mid-set momentum swing and a chance for the other player to capitalized. Some players did just that.
I think the matches have become contested in a different way. With the tough equipment, no run out is guaranteed, and both players usually got an offensive turn at the table due to the equipment. With the easier equipment and the referee having ultimate control over how hard you break, control of the table becomes paramount, and because of the break rule, not everyone got an automatic shot after the break, and there was an initial battle over who got the first offensive shot.
I prefer the Predator LCP equipment, to be honest. But I still feel like there's a good deal of uncertainty in each of these matches and that I'm glued to the matches in a different way.
That being said, and perhaps it's the new cloth, there's been some eye popping sloppy hits that went in. The Albin-Gomez match was full of them. Gomez shot a 4/9 combo that I swear was about a half diamond off, and not all that slow, that managed to drop. Maybe as the days advance those won't go anymore.
Sanjin Pehlivanovic
