Predator WPA World 8 Ball Championship 2023 (17-22 Oct 2023), Austria, Winner $75K

so in essence this is a mini major.....dissapointed at lack of players in this one, been a good year for pool viewing before this wpa drama

what brought about their latest stance? some middle eastern cash infusion/funding?

wpa has been a horrific detriment to the pros over the years, such a greedy shady group
 
Winners Round 1
Coming up Next

Table 1 SVB v Chang Yu Lung

Table 2 Filler v Kledio Kaci , younger brother of Eklent
 
Eight ball on a nine-footer is so easy for the pros that it's a joke. Tell the nine/ten ball players that they can shoot the balls in any order they like, finishing with the money ball and see what the runout rate is.

To bring tactical warfare into eight ball, it needs to be played on the seven-footer.

The biggest joke of all, however, is that this tactically empty run-fest offers the biggest first prize of the year.

Happy for the players for this opportunity and wishing them all the best, but not too much entertainment value here.
 
Tactically empty? Any decent player can predict the best runout for most 9 ball racks. At least we get to see the pros make choices in 8 ball. Unlike 9 ball, the rack typically becomes more difficult the closer you get to the money ball. And given that there are few to no safety opportunities, players are hyper aggressive. 9 ball matches are often won or lost based on completely random rolls after kick shots and jumps forced by obvious safeties.

Whatever floats your boat though, if you want to ignore this tournament in favor of yet another 9 ball event then go for it.

8 ball is the most popular game in America and it's great to see the pros play it well.
 
I agree 8b on a 9ft is pretty easy for this level of play. Most 'outs' are just choose the right set and then tap-tap-tap. Not real involving to watch. That being said SVB is getting smoked by Lung.
 
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skip100 said:
Tactically empty? Any decent player can predict the best runout for most 9 ball racks. At least we get to see the pros make choices in 8 ball. Unlike 9 ball, the rack typically becomes more difficult the closer you get to the money ball. And given that there are few to no safety opportunities, players are hyper aggressive. 9 ball matches are often won or lost based on completely random rolls after kick shots and jumps forced by obvious safeties.

Whatever floats your boat though, if you want to ignore this tournament in favor of yet another 9 ball event then go for it.

8 ball is the most popular game in America and it's great to see the pros play it well.
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No doubt, I'll watch the final four. Most racks in eight ball are relatively routine for the pros, with or without clusters. I've attended a World 8-ball Championship and seen this up close. This event will come down to breaking. No matter how well you play, two dry breaks might be enough to cost you the match. And yes, the scarcity of safety play makes this game, at very least, tactically shallow.
 
sjm said:
No doubt, I'll watch the final four. Most racks in eight ball are relatively routine for the pros, with or without clusters. This event will come down to breaking. No matter how well you play, two dry breaks might be enough to cost you the match. And yes, the scarcity of safety play makes this game, at very least, tactically shallow.
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I would have thought so too, but after just watching the matches of Fedor and SVB I will disagree. Not many break and runs happening here.
 
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easy-e said:
I would have thought so too, but after just watching the matches of Fedor and SVB I will disagree. Not many break and runs happening here.
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Thanks for sharing your opinion. I'm not restricting my observations to break and runs. The point is that the a wet break nearly always produces a win and a dry break nearly always produces a loss at the top level of play. Yes, there are exceptions, but that's a reason I'm calling eight ball a run-fest.

I've been to the World 8-ball, all the Make it Happen 8-ball events, and all the World Pool Series 8-ball events, and my observations are based on watching hundreds of pro matches.

In addition, just because I don't enjoy a tactically shallow run-fest doesn't mean others shouldn't. To each his own.
 
IMO you are overrating the appeal and interest of tactics in pro 9 ball. The fact is that most 9-ball safety exchanges are obvious and boring. If you don't have a clean shot you hide behind another ball and make your opponent kick or jump. From there it's partly skill and partly the roll the player gets after making contact. This is all after repeatedly watching the 1 ball go in the side off the break.
 
skip100 said:
IMO you are overrating the appeal and interest of tactics in pro 9 ball. The fact is that most 9-ball safety exchanges are obvious and boring. If you don't have a clean shot you hide behind another ball and make your opponent kick or jump. From there it's partly skill and partly the roll the player gets after making contact. This is all after repeatedly watching the 1 ball go in the side off the break.
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I like both games but as for this event i've been watching both tables for the last cpl. hrs and have seen little to no safety play. Tap-tap-tap outs for the most part. This game is very easy for these guys.
 
skip100 said:
Tactically empty? Any decent player can predict the best runout for most 9 ball racks. At least we get to see the pros make choices in 8 ball. Unlike 9 ball, the rack typically becomes more difficult the closer you get to the money ball. And given that there are few to no safety opportunities, players are hyper aggressive. 9 ball matches are often won or lost based on completely random rolls after kick shots and jumps forced by obvious safeties.

Whatever floats your boat though, if you want to ignore this tournament in favor of yet another 9 ball event then go for it.

8 ball is the most popular game in America and it's great to see the pros play it well.
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I agree it is a very welcome change from nineball and that most casual fans are more familiar with 8 ball by far. T shirts, shifter knobs, tattoos, etc. all feature the 8 ball. Heck nobody ever heard of asking the magic 9 ball to predict the future...:ROFLMAO::ROFLMAO:
 
These few notables face early exit on Day 1 as they play Loser Round 1 next.
SVB
Alcaide
Niels Feijen
Wu Kun Lin
Oliver Szolnoki
Daniel Maciol

Live Stream (Loser Round 1)
Shane Van Boening vs Sina Valizadeh

Francesco Candela vs Mieszko Fortuński
 
sjm said:
Eight ball on a nine-footer is so easy for the pros that it's a joke. Tell the nine/ten ball players that they can shoot the balls in any order they like, finishing with the money ball and see what the runout rate is.

To bring tactical warfare into eight ball, it needs to be played on the seven-footer.

The biggest joke of all, however, is that this tactically empty run-fest offers the biggest first prize of the year.

Happy for the players for this opportunity and wishing them all the best, but not too much entertainment value here.
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The rule set is poor for this tourney. Has to be take what you make AND ball in hand behind the line on a scratch just to start with. I just don't get it with 8 ball. If they are playing on American style tables, the rule set has to be more stringent if they want this to be interesting. I'm not interested. :(
 
yea i like the variance. it's once a year pros get together to play it, not counting the extremely boring european 8-ball championship which literally is a lagging contest. it's true the pros are to good for regular 8-ball on regular tables, darren appleton had it right in his WPS tournament imo, but maybe as we get closer to the end the prize money and the nerves will tighten the tables a little.
 
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