Template Rack 9-Ball too easy for pros...

Quiet now, you aren't allowed to mention 15 ball rotation around here. LOL, I agree though, 9 ball is boring at the pro level. The Predator series last week is a great contrast to the Matchroom event this week. Really get to compare the viewing enjoyment back to back. I have to say it's been hard to get into the 9 ball matches so far. They just aren't as enjoyable as what I watched for the last two weeks. I like watching the pros work harder, and 10 ball makes them work more than 9 ball.
I still think 15 ball rotation is the game for pros. We would get to see a wider range of their skills more often.
Agreed. I brought this up a few years ago but was mostly ignored here.

 
9-ball is indeed nonsense for the pros at this point in pool history. Here's what I'd like to see for pro rotation pool tournaments:

1) Call-shot 10-ball.
2) 10 on the break spots, but early 10-ball combos are winners.
3) 10-foot table.
4) 4-1/4" corner pockets with commensurate side-pocket size.
5) No jump cues, but jumping with "full" cue is allowed.
6) Winner breaks the next game from the cueball position after legally pocketing the 10-ball, iff it is in the kitchen. If it isn't, opponent breaks with BIH in the kitchen. If a player wins on the 3-foul rule, they break from the kitchen with BIH.

The last rule prevents players from grooving their break with BIH because they have to break from where the cue ball stopped in the kitchen after their winning 10-ball shot.
 
Watching Matchroom PLP today.
The breaks these guys get with template rack turn the games into child's play.
Too easy and frankly, boring.
9-ball-- even with a triangle rack-- in this day and age is too easy for pros imo.
What do you guys think?

Watching Matchroom PLP today.
The breaks these guys get with template rack turn the games into child's play.
Too easy and frankly, boring.
9-ball-- even with a triangle rack-- in this day and age is too easy for pros imo.
What do you guys think?
Well it might be boring for you, but you aint doing the work. 9 Ball with the template might be easier, but those players are still facing the same competition and the same pressure and stress while you get to sit and watch them. Its entertainment for you, but its work for them and none of them want to grind every time they go to work.

Yes 9 ball with the template is easier but for the little Money they make and the grind that it is to even finish in the very little Money, they need an easy rack every now and then.
 
Let us see Fedor and company take on Snooker Golf.
Snooker Golf Minigolf in Blankenberge Belgium 110117 low-res (6).jpg
 
Quiet now, you aren't allowed to mention 15 ball rotation around here. LOL, I agree though, 9 ball is boring at the pro level. The Predator series last week is a great contrast to the Matchroom event this week. Really get to compare the viewing enjoyment back to back. I have to say it's been hard to get into the 9 ball matches so far. They just aren't as enjoyable as what I watched for the last two weeks. I like watching the pros work harder, and 10 ball makes them work more than 9 ball.
I still think 15 ball rotation is the game for pros. We would get to see a wider range of their skills more often.

I'm halfway surprised that there aren't at least some random 15 ball rotation matches with all the content coming out these days. I don't think a lot of players would be willing to stake themselves though in a game they've never played vs. an opponent they have no data on. It would take 3rd party money to get it started.

I also want to see literal bar box 8-ball. Lets see SVB vs. Gorst on the following equipment:

1) 7' Valley Bar Box
2) Championship cloth, must be at least 4 years old and have >3 beer stains.
3) Cheap balls that have not been cleaned in a few years (in game rule: it's not allowed to clean the cue ball at all during the match)
4) Plastic triangle rack that is taped together in at least 1 spot
5) 2 dead rails, and 1 loose rail
6) American bar rules, where only the referee knows them, and there's is no discussion before the game as to what that actually means.
 
I'm halfway surprised that there aren't at least some random 15 ball rotation matches with all the content coming out these days. I don't think a lot of players would be willing to stake themselves though in a game they've never played vs. an opponent they have no data on. It would take 3rd party money to get it started.

I also want to see literal bar box 8-ball. Lets see SVB vs. Gorst on the following equipment:

1) 7' Valley Bar Box
2) Championship cloth, must be at least 4 years old and have >3 beer stains.
3) Cheap balls that have not been cleaned in a few years (in game rule: it's not allowed to clean the cue ball at all during the match)
4) Plastic triangle rack that is taped together in at least 1 spot
5) 2 dead rails, and 1 loose rail
6) American bar rules, where only the referee knows them, and there's is no discussion before the game as to what that actually means.
That is a stream I would pay for.
 
Since the switch to nine on the spot and break form the box, B&R percentages are down in Matchroom nine ball events, but I agree with the spirit of the initial post. What I have never understood is why any match having a referee requires a template. That said, the template, to me, is absolutely necessary in rack-your-own events because the rack mechanics are still everywhere.

As others have noted, and we saw this at Derby City, nine ball and ten ball are far better games without the jump cue, but jump cues are big business and that's why they'll never go away.
 
agreed with removal of templates, see the recent world 10 ball tourney as an example

I think things overall are fine, great actually.

dream list rules for me would be as follows;

10' tables
small pockets
call shot / call safety
 
Let's have some spectator fun lol! Start the break with a regular cue ball then switch it with a trick cue ball and watch it wobble and turn on it's own. It would be funny trying to make a ball and get position lol
 
... What I have never understood is why any match having a referee requires a template. ...
At a recent Matchroom event when a triangle was in use, they had to tap the table to keep the nine from running towards the pocket. Tapping the table is effectively the same as using a template. It makes the balls lean against each other. (I think it was a match with Jayson Shaw at the UK Open, but I could be wrong.)
 
At a recent Matchroom event when a triangle was in use, they had to tap the table to keep the nine from running towards the pocket. Tapping the table is effectively the same as using a template. It makes the balls lean against each other. (I think it was a match with Jayson Shaw at the UK Open, but I could be wrong.)
Thanks for the input, Bob. If a table needs to be "trained" in this way, I agree that it is the same as using a template.
 
I think someone should at least try "first shot after the break must be a push-out". It makes all the racking stuff irrelevant. And both players get to play in every game. And it leads to at least one difficult position/situation in each game.
It has been tried by Pat Fleming, who called it "The Accu-stats game show" which was run out of Sandcastle Billiards in New Jersey. There was even a side tournament played this way at Derby City one year (approx. 2014) with a field of 16 players and every match was a race to one. This format didn't really catch on.
 
Let's have some spectator fun lol! Start the break with a regular cue ball then switch it with a trick cue ball and watch it wobble and turn on it's own. It would be funny trying to make a ball and get position lol

Other (not so serious) ideas:

Use a desginated breaker for both players (a local APA-2 that wins a raffle draw).
Place the 1-ball in a random position on the rack (other than the center). If the one ball is in the back the breaker just has to kick into it.
Using a break box of "more than 1 diamond off any rail", the opposing player (not breaking) places the cue ball for the player breaking.
 
Other (not so serious) ideas:

Use a desginated breaker for both players (a local APA-2 that wins a raffle draw).
Place the 1-ball in a random position on the rack (other than the center). If the one ball is in the back the breaker just has to kick into it.
Using a break box of "more than 1 diamond off any rail", the opposing player (not breaking) places the cue ball for the player breaking.
Break from the head spot.
 
I'm halfway surprised that there aren't at least some random 15 ball rotation matches with all the content coming out these days. I don't think a lot of players would be willing to stake themselves though in a game they've never played vs. an opponent they have no data on. It would take 3rd party money to get it started.

I also want to see literal bar box 8-ball. Lets see SVB vs. Gorst on the following equipment:

1) 7' Valley Bar Box
2) Championship cloth, must be at least 4 years old and have >3 beer stains.
3) Cheap balls that have not been cleaned in a few years (in game rule: it's not allowed to clean the cue ball at all during the match)
4) Plastic triangle rack that is taped together in at least 1 spot
5) 2 dead rails, and 1 loose rail
6) American bar rules, where only the referee knows them, and there's is no discussion before the game as to what that actually means.
Now that I would definitely watch lol
 
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