Here are some aggregate stats from Matchroom's Premier League Pool 9-Ball event played March 6-13 at Morningside Arena in Leicester, England. Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz won the event, defeating Jayson Shaw in the final match.
This was an invitational, 16-player, 8-day event. All 16 players were picked by Matchroom as wild cards. In the first 5 days, each player played each of the other players once -- a 16-player round robin of 24 matches per day (120 total). The 6 players with the worst records were then eliminated, and the remaining 10 players played another round robin during Days 6 and 7 (45 matches). The 4 players with the worst records after Day 7 were eliminated, and the remaining 6 players played another round robin on Day 8 (15 matches). The 4 players with the best records at the end of the third robin robin then played single-elimination (2 semifinal matches and a final match) to determine the event's winner. The players' records were cumulative through the 3 round-robin stages rather than starting over for each stage. All of the matches in the round-robin stages were races to 5; the semifinal and final matches were races to 7.
Two tables were used for the event, and both were being streamed free on YouTube. The main commentators were Michael McMullan, Karl Boyes, Alex Lely, and Jeremy Jones; several of the players also commentated on one or more matches. The referees were Marcel Eckardt, Desislava Bozhilova, and one whose name I did not hear.
The 6 players who qualified for Day 8 with the best records through the 16- and 10-player round-robin stages (Days 1-7) are shown here in their final order of finish in the event.
Conditions -- the conditions for this event included the following:
The matches each day were played in two sessions, a day session (generally starting at 11:00 am in London) and an evening session (generally starting at 5:30 pm). These stats are from the 17 matches (27% of the event's total of 63 matches played after Stage 1) that I watched, which were all of the evening-session matches being streamed from Table 1 on Days 6, 7, and 8 (Stages 2, 3, and Playoffs). These 17 matches totaled 133 games. All 10 players in the event after the 1st stage appeared in the matches I tracked, ranging from 1 appearance (Wu, Pagulayan, and Woodward) to 7 appearances (Sanchez-Ruiz and Shaw).
These 17 matches are listed here in the order in which they were played.
Saturday, March 11 (Day 6 of the event)
Sunday, March 12 (Day 7)
Monday, March 13 (Day 8)
Successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Breaker won game:
Break-and-run games -- on all breaks:
Break-and-run games -- on successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
One-inning games (B&Rs plus non-breaker runouts on first visit to table)
■ Match lengths:
■ Distribution of match scores for races to 5:
■ Games with one or more safeties (est.):
This was an invitational, 16-player, 8-day event. All 16 players were picked by Matchroom as wild cards. In the first 5 days, each player played each of the other players once -- a 16-player round robin of 24 matches per day (120 total). The 6 players with the worst records were then eliminated, and the remaining 10 players played another round robin during Days 6 and 7 (45 matches). The 4 players with the worst records after Day 7 were eliminated, and the remaining 6 players played another round robin on Day 8 (15 matches). The 4 players with the best records at the end of the third robin robin then played single-elimination (2 semifinal matches and a final match) to determine the event's winner. The players' records were cumulative through the 3 round-robin stages rather than starting over for each stage. All of the matches in the round-robin stages were races to 5; the semifinal and final matches were races to 7.
Two tables were used for the event, and both were being streamed free on YouTube. The main commentators were Michael McMullan, Karl Boyes, Alex Lely, and Jeremy Jones; several of the players also commentated on one or more matches. The referees were Marcel Eckardt, Desislava Bozhilova, and one whose name I did not hear.
The 6 players who qualified for Day 8 with the best records through the 16- and 10-player round-robin stages (Days 1-7) are shown here in their final order of finish in the event.
1. ($20,000) -- Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
2. ($12,500) -- Jayson Shaw
3. ($8,000) -- Sanjin Pehlivanovic
4. ($8,000) -- Naoyuki Oi
5. ($7,000) -- Alex Pagulayan
6. ($6,250) -- Konrad Juszczyszyn
Conditions -- the conditions for this event included the following:
- Diamond 9-foot table with 4¼" corner pockets;
- Simonis 860 shark gray cloth;
- Aramith Tournament Black balls with a black-spots cue ball;
- referee racks using a racking template with the 9-ball on the foot spot (2-ball not necessarily in back location);
- alternate breaks from behind the head string in a box approximately 8" to each side of the long string;
- no illegal-break rule;
- 30-sec. shot clock (60 sec. after the break), with one 30-sec. extension per player per game;
- foul on all balls;
- jump cues allowed;
- lag for the break in each match; and
- all slop counts.
The matches each day were played in two sessions, a day session (generally starting at 11:00 am in London) and an evening session (generally starting at 5:30 pm). These stats are from the 17 matches (27% of the event's total of 63 matches played after Stage 1) that I watched, which were all of the evening-session matches being streamed from Table 1 on Days 6, 7, and 8 (Stages 2, 3, and Playoffs). These 17 matches totaled 133 games. All 10 players in the event after the 1st stage appeared in the matches I tracked, ranging from 1 appearance (Wu, Pagulayan, and Woodward) to 7 appearances (Sanchez-Ruiz and Shaw).
These 17 matches are listed here in the order in which they were played.
Saturday, March 11 (Day 6 of the event)
1. Jayson Shaw defeated Shane Van Boening 5-2
2. Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz d. Van Boening 5-2
3. Sanchez-Ruiz d. Wu Kun Lin 5-3
4. Shaw d. Naoyuki Oi 5-3
5. Sanjin Pehlivanovic d. Shaw 5-4
6. Van Boening d. Alex Pagulayan 5-0
Sunday, March 12 (Day 7)
7. Oi d. Pehlivanovic 5-0
8. Sanchez-Ruiz d. Pehlivanovic 5-3
9. Sanchez-Ruiz d. Shaw 5-3
10. Konrad Juszczyszyn d. Skyler Woodward 5-3
11. Albin Ouschan d. Juszczyszyn 5-2
12. Sanchez-Ruiz d. Ouschan 5-4
Monday, March 13 (Day 8)
13. Shaw d. Pehlivanovic 5-1
14. Oi d. Shaw 5-3
15. Juszczyszyn d. Oi 5-4
16. Sanchez-Ruiz d. Oi 7-3
17. Sanchez Ruiz d. Shaw 7-4
Successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Day 6 -- 82% (36 of 44)
Day 7 -- 89% (40 of 45)
Day 8 -- 77% (34 of 44)
Total -- 83% (110 of 133)
Breaker won game:
Day 6 -- 50% (22 of 44)
Day 7 -- 73% (33 of 45)
Day 8 -- 59% (26 of 44)
Total -- 61% (81 of 133)
Break-and-run games -- on all breaks:
Day 6 -- 39% (17 of 44)
Day 7 -- 44% (20 of 45)
Day 8 -- 39% (17 of 44)
Total -- 41% (54 of 133)
Break-and-run games -- on successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Day 6 -- 47% (17 of 36)
Day 7 -- 50% (20 of 40)
Day 8 -- 50% (17 of 34)
Total -- 49% (54 of 110)
One-inning games (B&Rs plus non-breaker runouts on first visit to table)
Day 6 -- 66% (29 of 44)
Day 7 -- 60% (27 of 45)
Day 8 -- 73% (32 of 44)
Total -- 66% (88 of 133)
■ Match lengths:
[Note: lengths include timeouts and commercial breaks of about 1½ min. after every 3rd game.]
- Longest race to 5 in total length (49 min.) -- Sanchez-Ruiz d. Pehlivanovic 5-3
- Highest in average minutes per game (6.2 min.) -- Sanchez-Ruiz d. Pehlivanovic 5-3
- Shortest in total length (21 min.) -- Van Boening d. Pagulayan 5-0
- Lowest in average minutes per game (3.5 min.) -- Juszczyszyn d. Oi 5-4
- Average match length for 15 races to 5 -- 33 min.
- Average minutes per game (all 17 matches) -- 4.5 min.
■ Distribution of match scores for races to 5:
5-4 -- 3 times
5-3 -- 6
5-2 -- 3
5-1 -- 1
5-0 -- 2
Total -- 15
Average match score -- 5 - 2.5
■ Games with one or more safeties (est.):
26% of all games
44% of games that were not B&R games
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