US Open 9-Ball, 2023, Atlantic City, Sep 25-30

Watching virtually the World Pool Championship in Kelce, Poland, and then the Spanish Open in Lugo, Spain, I was so excited. The crowd singing and dancing in Spain, and in Poland, seeing the excitement of the youth crowding the tables. As a pool fan, it really kept me wanting more and more each day.

The U.S. Open is in progress, and reading some of the posts on social media has been brutal to some players, almost bullying in nature, and the criticism of Matchroom and the venue site is a bummer for me as an American. I want to enjoy the U.S. Open Pool Championship like I did with the World Pool Championship and the Spanish Open.

I hope when it narrows down to the quarterfinals, the atmosphere will improve. I'm ashamed to read some of the comments I've read, the majority of which were written by Americans.

Pool competitions are an imperfect science. No matter how many rules are in place or how nice the venue is or what equipment is used, it seems like there's always going to be whining, bitching and moaning. Sadly, it seems to be mostly from Americans. Jeez Louise!

I'm hoping for a spicy finals, filled with good play.
 
You ever played Scott before? I played him a few years back, had him down 5-0, 6-0 in the first few games of our One Pocket match at DCC, and he was huffing and puffing like a steam locomotive in my ear, with every decent shot I made. Borrowed my TipPik, and forgot to return it after the match. Not a particularly big surprise to me that 1. Hunter called him on the foul, and 2. That the crowd stood behind Hunter on the called foul. Scott is an incredibly bad loser. You don't necessarily see it on the stream, as he knows the world is watching...

I know Hunter, and zero chance he called a foul that was not in fact, a foul.
Haha key word is "world is watching". By and large, sportspeople are entertainers and by extension most are "actors". Like politicians , they are creatures of duality.
Podcaster named Joey said he would never call that foul like Lombardo even if it was US Open final. Talk is cheap.
I cringe when I hear pro players in commentary box say they will always call foul on themselves. Right, I want to see them do that in hill hill final winner get $100K and loser gets his index finger cut off. 😂

Squid_Game_S2-tp.jpg
 
That DeLuna vs Yapp match is a great example of how not to grow pool. That was an almost 2 and a half hour match. holy crap that was brutal to watch.
 
Watching virtually the World Pool Championship in Kelce, Poland, and then the Spanish Open in Lugo, Spain, I was so excited. The crowd singing and dancing in Spain, and in Poland, seeing the excitement of the youth crowding the tables. As a pool fan, it really kept me wanting more and more each day.

The U.S. Open is in progress, and reading some of the posts on social media has been brutal to some players, almost bullying in nature, and the criticism of Matchroom and the venue site is a bummer for me as an American. I want to enjoy the U.S. Open Pool Championship like I did with the World Pool Championship and the Spanish Open.

I hope when it narrows down to the quarterfinals, the atmosphere will improve. I'm ashamed to read some of the comments I've read, the majority of which were written by Americans.

Pool competitions are an imperfect science. No matter how many rules are in place or how nice the venue is or what equipment is used, it seems like there's always going to be whining, bitching and moaning. Sadly, it seems to be mostly from Americans. Jeez Louise!

I'm hoping for a spicy finals, filled with good play.

the first days with dead money players and no shot clock are many times more boring than the elimination stage, in all these events. hard to get away from that without reducing the field. the events you mention were in the end very enjoyable, i'm sure this will be too

chang vs viktor in the final is my bid
 
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Watching virtually the World Pool Championship in Kelce, Poland, and then the Spanish Open in Lugo, Spain, I was so excited. The crowd singing and dancing in Spain, and in Poland, seeing the excitement of the youth crowding the tables. As a pool fan, it really kept me wanting more and more each day.

The U.S. Open is in progress, and reading some of the posts on social media has been brutal to some players, almost bullying in nature, and the criticism of Matchroom and the venue site is a bummer for me as an American. I want to enjoy the U.S. Open Pool Championship like I did with the World Pool Championship and the Spanish Open.

I hope when it narrows down to the quarterfinals, the atmosphere will improve. I'm ashamed to read some of the comments I've read, the majority of which were written by Americans.

Pool competitions are an imperfect science. No matter how many rules are in place or how nice the venue is or what equipment is used, it seems like there's always going to be whining, bitching and moaning. Sadly, it seems to be mostly from Americans. Jeez Louise!

I'm hoping for a spicy finals, filled with good play.

I'm not on social media but what are people saying? Outside of the Hunter Lombardo/Scott Frost foul, what the hell is anyone saying about other players? I can agree with the table conditions but they are trying to make them standard for these super events.

BTW, those same people probably bitched about the pro pool scene 15 years ago when it was a barren wasteland and it was just Efren and Earl being the only talking points and no money involved.
 
Before everyone loses their minds. Skylar would have missed that 7 ball against Alex on 4.5" pockets....lol

now i think sky will probably win this match but respect to alex, he can still bring it.. he beat filler in the world 9-ball and the world 10-ball
 
now i think sky will probably win this match but respect to alex, he can still bring it.. he beat filler in the world 9-ball and the world 10-ball
The 4 ball miss by Sky in rack 13 is the bigger story about these tables. The side pockets may as well not exist. Anything with a blind angle is low %. Similar to playing on a Valley BB
 
hunter had ample time to call a ref. scott even got up from the shot once before to tuck his shirt in.
Unless that's exactly when the foul occurred. If you watch the video it looks likely that Scott FELT the 6 ball and then made a big show of tucking his shirt.
 
I think many of you are comparing the early rounds of this tourney to later rounds of other ones. I like seeing the players struggle a bit early on, and as the creme rises and the players get into gear, the level of play increases. Rarely do we see poor play as we approach the final rounds.

In my book, that's exactly how a tournament should be set up, especially a MAJOR tournament of this length. If you're seeing great play all around on day 1, then the format/setup is less than ideal.
By your logic; you are saying you don't want to see great play from the amateurs and semi pros, who might I remind you are the BULK of revenue in billiards in general...you want league players to show up, pay up, but not have much chance to do well, as they're used to playing on barboxes or big pocket brunswicks....you want them to get weeded out and see NO upsets, just status quo going forward to the later stages....how boring is that !!! Maybe these 4" pockets are appropriate for 10 ball ...but in my humble, league level, bang ball opinion, 9 ball pool should be... Fast n Loose, more exciting this way.
...And I'd love to see something implemented like this; ...2-game points for a win by combo or carom ....how exciting would that make 9ball....and at the same time bring back the old Hustler style of high risk high reward power shot making.
 
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They have more "league players" lined up to play this tournament than they can handle. Sold out every year super fast.
...and how many of them knew before hand that they'd be having to play on Euro style 4" tight assd pockets??? ....when they're probably assuming that this is at the US Open, the backyard of where 9ball pool originated with bigger pockets and exciting matches, they'd get to play on equipment they're used to.
But NOPE, they get railroaded...
 
Watching Earl on table 2 is so much fun. Mainly because my faher and uncle are watching and it reminds them of old school 9 ball play. The cue ball being spun around is making them giddy. And it's not because it's earl, but because they genuinely love watching this style of play.
 
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