I'm wrong again, for the first time today.
WORLD POOL (nineball) CHAMPIONSHIP (6-10 April2022), UK, Winner $60K
- Thread starter spartan
- Start date
No one calls him that except the announcer usually just once per match when he is announced. Though, I will add Im pretty sure 'Bata' means Kid which Efren at 60 whatever is still occasionally referred to. I've known a couple of 40 y.o. 'Kids' around my area as well. Hard to lose a NN in pool it seems.
I just watched the match on the replay, I was out picking strawberries today during the final, ha ha ha! Anwyay, it was a great match. Very few errors, just great play by both players. Shane's emotion was a joy to watch. I shed a tear myself. Shane jumped on the international scene at TAR 1, and we've all been watching him and rooting him on since. Its as if we all won the world championship with him.
So in this case I am not only essentially wrong, I'm 100% wrong!
OMG that's two miscues by me today. I'm on two!
How were you able to do that? Can I do that?
It’s funny, I was just thinking back on the TAR days and now he’s here. Billy and Grady (RIP) did the commentary and there was buzz that Corey had the better of it at the time.
Man things have changed a lot since then.
I sent SVB a txt right when he won:
“There was never a doubt since I met you 15 years ago
Congrats”
20 minutes later her replied “thanks man”
I was surprised he responded so fast. I almost didn’t send it as I figured he had a zillion of them. But I wanted to reach out soon as I could after all these years.
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There was never a doubt, I knew the Kid would get a WC, he responded to a comment Karl made, after he beat Shaw he was back at the practice table-Karl noted. SVB says “that’s what I do man, I practice”.
I’ve spotted balls for him many times and seen him practice win or lose. I’ve never seen a player work so hard on his game. I’m sure there are other champions who have or do. SVB is the only one I’ve seen work the hardest.
There was never a doubt
I’m so happy for him, hard work and dedication pays off. This is the one he wanted, I mean REALLY wanted. He will probably play harder now. The rush of winning won’t make him lazy.
What a great day in pool to see a 20 year quest come together and happen. He had a brutal draw, came back from the dead one match. Kids got heart(we already knew that) and he showed it again.
Fatboy<———glad to have been around to watch this happen over the years.
“There was never a doubt since I met you 15 years ago
Congrats”
20 minutes later her replied “thanks man”
I was surprised he responded so fast. I almost didn’t send it as I figured he had a zillion of them. But I wanted to reach out soon as I could after all these years.
————————-
There was never a doubt, I knew the Kid would get a WC, he responded to a comment Karl made, after he beat Shaw he was back at the practice table-Karl noted. SVB says “that’s what I do man, I practice”.
I’ve spotted balls for him many times and seen him practice win or lose. I’ve never seen a player work so hard on his game. I’m sure there are other champions who have or do. SVB is the only one I’ve seen work the hardest.
There was never a doubt
I’m so happy for him, hard work and dedication pays off. This is the one he wanted, I mean REALLY wanted. He will probably play harder now. The rush of winning won’t make him lazy.
What a great day in pool to see a 20 year quest come together and happen. He had a brutal draw, came back from the dead one match. Kids got heart(we already knew that) and he showed it again.
Fatboy<———glad to have been around to watch this happen over the years.
I won $15000 on that match. If I could have flew up from Vegas (my back was too bad to fly) I could have got 15-20k more bet.
That was the easiest action ever.
A couple months in Reno I walked up behind SVB and handed him a good jelly roll. He didn’t know who I was. Was the last Reno tourney in Dec 07. I’ve known him since.
I wish Chad was alive to see this, he would be happy. He told me he knew SVB would win a WC. He knew SVB his whole life or most of it. They went way back.
Great piece of America pool history was written today and it won’t get lost in time like so much of our sport has. That makes me happy too. SVB will be part of the conversation of the best for a 100 years.
I’m just lucky I had a seat to sit and watch it and be a .0005% part of it.
Best
Fatboy
Rip Chad
Woodshaft
Do what works for YOU!
Albin is extremely strong mentally, that's the main strength of his game. But once he's rattled, it's over. Gambling against the top pros requires a ton of PHYSICAL, NATURAL ability. Albin shoots decently (it's a LEARNED skill for him), but he lacks the natural (instinctive) shot-making talent of say a Josh Filler or SVB or Jayson Shaw or Fedor Gorst, to name a few. And, to win big money lonnnngggg sets, you have to have a ton of natural talent and be able to just cruise rack after rack, basically "unconsciously". You have to rely a lot on your natural, non-mental shot. Albin doesn't have this in his arsenal
Rather, he is built for short matches because his mental game holds up his slightly-naturally deficient physical game.
Every player has a different skillset, even if their "fargorates" are similar. Some are thinkers, some are shooters, some are balanced. Albin leans on his mental game more than most 800+ players, and, because of this, his high level of overall play is more easily sustainable in short races (tournaments). He's a sprinter-- unbelievable focus for an hour or two. The big money gamblers are long-distance runners-- they don't need to focus as much, just shoot.
But don't get me wrong, Albin Ouschan is a top 25 player in the world for a reason, it's just a different reason than most top guys.
Hmmm. Have you, or anyone, ever seen or heard of him playing a real long match? I think we would need to test your claim a few times before accepting it.
I highly disagree with your analysis of Albin's game.
Albin's greatest weakness is his mental game, which in his early career was the reason, that many people thought he will never be able to be a full-time professional.
It was a lot of hard work and still costs him a lot of willpower to not fall back into old habits. Every now and then his old habits get the better of him and he starts to show bad body language and throws away matches.
The jump on the 2 Ball in the final game yesterday, was a glimpse on his old "ahhh, just fu** it" attitude.
Albin is a very natural talented player, but not so much in a free flowing, shot making scence, but in the way he has the feeling for position play and most of all in his technique and fundamentals.
This is not a result of endless practice, it has been there from the start.
The difference between a young Albin and the player he is today is his deliberation and strong focus on every shot, as he understood, that he can't pot himself out of every difficult situation on the table.
Woodshaft
Do what works for YOU!
He doesn't play long matches. Get where this is going?
The World Pool Championship may not be 18-hour grinds, but it is a hell of a lot of pool in a short time & Albin has won that back to back. Coming in second in this most recent event in no way diminishes the extremely strong play he's shown the past 6-12 months. I would put him in the top 3 in the world right now, not just top 25.
Woodshaft
Do what works for YOU!
There's probably at least 20 guys on the planet that Albin would have a very hard time beating in a high-stakes gambling match, even playing 9-Ball. Albin's a top 25 guy in overall all-game talent, but he ain't no SVB, Filler, Shaw, Wu, Kaci, Chang, Biado, Orcollo, Raga, etc... Albin's two world champ tournament wins don't intimidate these players lol. These experienced gamblers would rob him in straight up money matches.
Albin's success is in tournaments. I love the guy btw, one of my favorite players, a class act, but he's not a gambler. He's a tournament player.
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