Predator brings back World 8 Ball Championship (14-20 Nov2022)
- Thread starter spartan
- Start date
c8b badly needs a shot clock. looks like torture being there playing against a slow player.
i think however that this predator 8-ball might be too easy for the top players, as 8-ball usually is. appleton's event got it kind of right with rules like reverse break box, take what you make, and no jump shots if you play out of position, but it was still plenty easy for the likes of lee van, ruslan and kaci.
C8B does have a shot clock. It's just not usually displayed on screen (but you can hear the beeps from the ref starting and stopping their stopwatch to track it) and the 45-second length is a bit generous. The more unique thing is the match time limit. Matches are race to X, but with an overall time limit. If neither player has won X racks in the time limit, whoever is ahead at the time wins the match. If it's tied at the time, a shootout occurs. For championship finals, the matches are usually race to 13 with a 2-hour time limit, though earlier rounds and lesser tournaments will run matches with shorter races and time limits.
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Ch8b is too much of specialty game like 1pocket. If you don't play it all the time you have no chance against the top Asian players who play it exclusively. I'v tried on multiple occasions to watch it and i find it quite boring to watch. I seriously doubt it ever becomes big in the US or Europe.
basically, yes. i gave it a chance and watched a bunch of matches some years ago. one takeaway was that the best players like chu bingjie and yang fan are magnificent cueists.
Mostly correct, but not really true in the last couple of rounds. Steinway Billiards in Queens, NY, is where most of Darren's 8-ball events were played. The stream table in that room was super-tight and put even the best cueists to the test in the "take what you make" format. I went to just about all of those events, and rest assured that even the elite had to work hard for their break and run racks on the stream table.
Those events made for some great viewing.
WPA now confused
Now their calendar show 2 Predator events (World 8 Ball and Puerto Rico) in same slot 14-20 Nov. https://wpapool.com/calendar/
English 8Ball World Championship (the IPA version) was last month
Had shock when I saw prizemoney was really cheap only GBP13000 (about USD17000) for World Champion. Total prizemoney only around $40K
EPBF Eurotour also really cheap. Winners cheque of Eurotour ranking event less than $10K usually around $5K. And these events attract most of top European players. Those suits at IPA, EPBF are really stingy
WPA/Matchroom/CSI Predator events pay much more in comparison. A major event (such as World Championship, US Open) usually pays at least $30K for winner. Ranking event (i.e. medium size event like CSI Predator Wisconsin 10 Ball ) around $15-$20K
Now their calendar show 2 Predator events (World 8 Ball and Puerto Rico) in same slot 14-20 Nov. https://wpapool.com/calendar/
English 8Ball World Championship (the IPA version) was last month
Had shock when I saw prizemoney was really cheap only GBP13000 (about USD17000) for World Champion. Total prizemoney only around $40K
EPBF Eurotour also really cheap. Winners cheque of Eurotour ranking event less than $10K usually around $5K. And these events attract most of top European players. Those suits at IPA, EPBF are really stingy
WPA/Matchroom/CSI Predator events pay much more in comparison. A major event (such as World Championship, US Open) usually pays at least $30K for winner. Ranking event (i.e. medium size event like CSI Predator Wisconsin 10 Ball ) around $15-$20K
GolfProPoolAmateur
Member
Curious how some of you think about this, but: Do you think having multiple disciplines/games hurts pool’s commercial viability? Strictly talking about marketability at the elite level.
Personally, I think it all helps, especially with many now owning home tables and living the covid mindset. I wonder what the increase in play is now. When the Color of money came out, interest went from 20 to 30 million and the industry was in good times. Wonder if that number came back, might of rooms are sure full.
From a marketing standpoint I think it introduces some challenges. Having dual tours basically means that it hampers each other’s ability to grow in so far as they either need to work around each other or compete directly with one another. For example, Matchroom would not be able to introduce a tour with weekly tour stops without walking over other initiatives or organizations on a regular basis.
I think it also creates a challenging narrative for matchroom specifically because they are a 9 ball only organisation. Some players will be called champions and world champions off hand in disciplines their audience will have no knowledge of. It seems like a small thing, but I think a key component of professional sports is creating a consistent story.
I don’t think these are insurmountable challenges by any stretch. But I do think snooker has an advantage in so far as they don’t need to compete with other organizations for players and promoting, and the only tournaments that matter in snooker are those promoted by the WST. They are also entirely in control of the image and narrative of snooker. In pool, no one has that type of control.
Prize money in English pool will go up with the WEPF (the "other", not "Blackball" version of English Pool) apparently moving to a decent ruleset in its version of the World Championship and striking a deal with Ultimate Pool. Ultimate Pool now has enough TV exposure in the UK that its regular tournaments are now paying enough (not much but enough) prize money to make it worthwhile playing the events. Chris Melling is currently the number 1 ranked player (although he now looks likely to commit to Matchroom events), Gareth Potts has chosen it over American pool in the absence of Covid affected Chinese pool (this is a shame in my opinion - he is an incredible cuesmith who could bring so much to the game if he could shift his mindset from deadly accuracy first to a combination of that and making the cue ball dance - I think he respects the game and the players but has a similar attitude to some small town English pool players who think American pool's pockets are "buckets"), and Karl Boyes even played in a tournament recently. There is enough money in the game and the sponsorship and side money that comes along with it for the top players to do well enough without having to travel half way across the world every few weeks.Had shock when I saw prizemoney was really cheap only GBP13000 (about USD17000) for World Champion. Total prizemoney only around $40K
EPBF Eurotour also really cheap. Winners cheque of Eurotour ranking event less than $10K usually around $5K. And these events attract most of top European players. Those suits at IPA, EPBF are really stingy
It's still not great. The World Championship paid the winner USD 100k in 2007 (about 135k in today's money), and it will take a few years for Matchroom to get back to that kind of level of payout for the majors but hopefully it will get there. Even in a "minor" sport such as pool events like this and the US Open should really be paying the winner a couple of hundred grand at least.
There are certainly positives about having different games with different but similar skillsets - but it's a real challenge to promote the game properly. I'm sure there are many reasons why Matchroom is 9 Ball only but one is that in territories such as the UK, "American" 8 Ball is seen as not being "proper" 8 Ball and 9 Ball is the only game that can be promoted as real pool. I actually disagree with this and think that Matchroom could promote an 8 Ball World Championship with good prize money because all of the 8 Ball players from all 3 disciplines (and more than 3 rulesets) would be lining up to take part and the word would spread (when the hometown pro takes an event seriously everyone else will slowly but surely follow suit and be prepared to be laughed at by those who cling on to the small town mindset).
Agreed that this version can be quite penal under certain circumstances but take what you make was the only way the game was played for decades.
Yes, same with English pool - my guess is the change to open table in both versions was made because it is fairer. Maybe a compromise in tournament play would be a certain number of push outs depending on race length - that way you would have to pick your spot depending on the severity of the layout, a bit like taking your extension or saving it for later.
Raph Cleary
Active member
Does anyone know who's playing in the event? Is Orcollo able to play in the event?
Watched some of that video. Anyone know the pockets sizes and ball sizes? The side pockets look to have a wide mouth and very shallow shelf.WPA now confused
Now their calendar show 2 Predator events (World 8 Ball and Puerto Rico) in same slot 14-20 Nov. https://wpapool.com/calendar/
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English 8Ball World Championship (the IPA version) was last month
Had shock when I saw prizemoney was really cheap only GBP13000 (about USD17000) for World Champion. Total prizemoney only around $40K
EPBF Eurotour also really cheap. Winners cheque of Eurotour ranking event less than $10K usually around $5K. And these events attract most of top European players. Those suits at IPA, EPBF are really stingy
WPA/Matchroom/CSI Predator events pay much more in comparison. A major event (such as World Championship, US Open) usually pays at least $30K for winner. Ranking event (i.e. medium size event like CSI Predator Wisconsin 10 Ball ) around $15-$20K
No need to bash my neighboring island because of your friend's experience! I, for one, have never had anything but the best experiences playing pool in Puerto Rico, whether gambling or playing in tournaments. It has its problems, to be sure, but it is a great, great place with wonderful people!
And those of you in the metropole really have absolutely no right to talk about conditions in the colonies you created! I'll stop now before my ire leads me to make some more NPR-like comments!
Venceremos!