I wouldn't. I'd shake their hand and say well done, well played, etc. And I'd have a beer with them afterwards. Whether or not they would do the same if the shoe were on the other foot would be their choice.
WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIP (6-10 June2021) Champion $50K
- Thread starter spartan
- Start date
I watched some of it on youtube. My impression is the ability to kick safe is becoming a lost art as players rely heavily on the jump cue. Twice in Van Boening's final match he passed on a one rail kick to jump and left Szolnoki with a shot.
First time I'd seen Omar play and he is better than I realized but in the finals he fouled on an attempted kick down 10-9.
Most importantly the rest of the world got to see what a mullet looks like.
First time I'd seen Omar play and he is better than I realized but in the finals he fouled on an attempted kick down 10-9.
Most importantly the rest of the world got to see what a mullet looks like.
Except that Albin did need that second bullet after losing to Gomez in his second match.
I agree with CaleAYS that something just doesn't feel right when the winner of the event lost earlier in the tournament while many others got eliminated in the later rounds after only one loss. The argument that losing in those initial rounds is okay because they are considered "qualifying" rounds isn't a strong one for me. Seems a bit arbitrary where the "qualifying" border ends.
I'd rather have the entire tournament be single elimination from the start, do a complete random draw for the first round, and have all rounds be at minimum a race to 13 (with the semi-finals to 15 and the finals to 17). At least in a complete single elimination format the "forget about that second bullet" would truly mean something all the time.
I've seen tournaments where it's double elimination until the final 16, at which point it goes single elimination. So why not end the DE rounds until you are down to 32, or 8, or 4?
Irrelevant question. I don't give a crap about what other sport has what. The topic is pool.
Ok, you don't bother about other sports like tennis for example...what about other billiard disciplines? Don't know about carom much but when it comes to world championships in snooker or piramid ... it is SE and players don't seem to complain about that. Ok piramid is so so example ... but snooker is a better one...if Matchroom succeeds in growing the sport and the prize fund like in snooker I guess the players and the audience will appreciate that ... so do I.
I can only think of Pro Volleyball as another sport that has DE all the way to the end. All other major individual sports (golf, tennis, bolwing) are SE all the way. It works for them because players win more prize money in every round they progress. Even first round losers are guaranteed money. When we have that kind of finanacial structure in pro pool then no one can complain about playing SE. For decades we've played our tournaments in the DE format, and for good reason. It extended the time that players needed to stay on site and improved the room bookings for the host hotel. No one got knocked out the first day, and usually not until day three.
I think DE is a good thing, and something that pool does well. It has its place. However, yes for televised pro tournaments there is no need for it as long as everyone gets paid (after all, it's a full on "professional" tournament) - and hopefully that's what Matchroom is heading towards. A group stage is good though - it gives the players time to warm up in what has to be a fairly short race for TV. DE works well for this.
I’d say the format was fine. Nobody broke and ran 11-0 through every match. Nobody had 100% potting success with 0 fouls and 0 safety errors through every match. That tells me that plenty of pool was played. It is clear to me a world champion was crowned based on the merits of his performance and the little bit of luck involved in all tournament runs. In 2022 the field will be stronger but this event was more than adequate on every front for the circumstances. Whether it was the best it could possibly have been is just too subjective.
group stage can lead to unsportsmanlike "agreements" among other things. DE until to the last 64/32 followed by longer races is fine by me.
In the SE stage of the tournament, every player was guaranteed money and each win was worth progressively more. And that's the way it should be.
Yes, it's great. It's a big start.
And, round robin group stages with preset SE bracket positions can lead to teams dumping to avoid some opponents. like in World Cup football/soccer.