The Reyes Cup

This was another great event by Matchroom, and fantastic to see Reyes getting a cup named after him. But one thing that I will never understand is the camerawork during these major tournaments. Someone tell the directors that extreme closeups of the cueball before it's about to be hit are not useful. In the case game of the Yapp v FSR match, the crucial shot of the match was this extreme back cut on the 3 ball:

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Instead of showing this shot with the full table view, the camera cuts to this closeup:

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A small nitpick with an otherwise great event, but I can't stand how common this sort of camerawork has become in pool.
Director/producer in the truck that know little about pool. It happens all the time. Years ago SkySports hired me to sit in the truch behind the producer/director to "explain" things to them.
 
There was also a moment where, when faced with a tough kick shot, David Alcaide looked up at Efren and jokingly offered him his cue:


Likely a callback to this famous moment:


Sadly, the cameraman/producer/editor never cut to Efren's reaction.
And Efren made it with ease, backpack and all. He never fails to amaze us.
 
Yeah, not that much, but random rolls can make the rest of the difference, along with no Filler.

The final game score was 76-58 which is an entirely reasonable result after 134 games between equal players just by chance. That much margin or more is statistically expected about 16% of the time.
My guess was Filler would have been good for +2.5 points for Europe at the most. Who ever replaced him was worth +1. So the net loss of no Filler would have been -1.5 points.

Ofc this is strictly a guess, I don’t look at the details after the even to see how those numbers actually shook out. But in a team format one player isn’t going to win an event that was this lopsided.

Having said that, by looking at the rankings beforehand Europe seemed the favorite.

I’d discount home court a bit because they were in Hanoi the past 10-12 days as well, so not much jet lag. Also when you travel often jet lag isn’t as big of a factor. This past year I’ve flown 175,000 miles and I’m immune to jet lag at this point. I’d imagine it’s the same for most people.

Always like to hear your thoughts Bob, your experience and knowledge are as good as anyone.

Best
Eric 😃😃
 
Surely there were better choices for Europe than Krause at 786.
Jay that kid has a chance. He looked a bit green in Hanoi and the little I saw him this week. But with a bit of experience, he has a chance. Maybe they put him there with that in mind, playing the long game cultivating talent.

Hope you are good, when I get to LA I’ll find you. It’s been a hectic year

Best
Fatboy👍🤩💪😃
 
Jay that kid has a chance. He looked a bit green in Hanoi and the little I saw him this week. But with a bit of experience, he has a chance. Maybe they put him there with that in mind, playing the long game cultivating talent.

Hope you are good, when I get to LA I’ll find you. It’s been a hectic year

Best
Fatboy👍🤩💪😃

he qualified on points. meaning he (and kaci) were not picked
 
adopting the rules from snooker
your points are how much money
you’ve made lately

so if you won or placed high in
a recent tournament
then you move up in the ranking
 
Surely there were better choices for Europe than Krause at 786.
I'm totally fine with Krause, whom I believe to be just 22 years old. I think he's destined to become a top thirty player in the world one day and might figure prominently in top level play for years to come. As the European Open champion, a Matchroom major, he certainly earned his spot.

At the Matchroom majors so far this year, these were the medalists:

UK Open
gold to Capito, silver to Fortunski, bronze to Labutis and Makkonen

European Open
gold to Krause, silver to Chua, bronze to SVB and Woodward

World 9-ball
gold to Gorst, silver to Kaci, bronze to Chua and Szewczyk

US Open 9-ball
Gold to Gorst, silver to SVB, bronze to Filler and Feijen

Hanoi Open
Gold to Chua, silver to Ko Pin Yi, bronze to Roda and Biado

... so before we knock the inclusion of Krause, let's remember that, on Team Europe, only he and Kaci have played on the final day of a Matchroom major in 2024.
 
I'd like to applaud Matchroom for the conception of this event. It's interesting to compare it to the inception of the Mosconi, which came in 1994, just a year after the death of Willie Mosconi and was Barry Hearn's tribute to an all-time great. Fast forward thirty years to 2024 and Emily Frazer has outdone her boss by staging the Reyes Cup while the greatest that ever played the game is still alive. Bravo!

The Asian pool fans are, quite simply, the best in our sport and they deserve to have this event on home soil. Well played, Team Asia.
 
It was good for the event that Asia won and won handily.

Not convinced Europe tried their very hardest, but it gives them a bit of a kicking before the Mosconi

Whilst the crowd was good, surely they can give a heap of free tickets away to the local kids and their families to attend and have a good time. Give them some free food etc and have the placed absolutely chockers
 
Some stats on the Reyes Cup are now available in these threads:

 
... Whilst the crowd was good, surely they can give a heap of free tickets away to the local kids and their families to attend and have a good time. Give them some free food etc and have the placed absolutely chockers
I think those tickets might have been distributed through local pool rooms, so you get more serious fans. But, yeah. I think there were about 800 actually seated on the final day. There were essential no spectators in the large side sections that I saw. This is still much better than the first Mosconi Cup that was in the US.
 
When Team Europe grew into a force to be reckoned with and beat Team USA several years in a row, aside from their strength and skills, I attributed their wins to a strong team spirit and unity. Team USA lost that along the way, though today I do see a better team unity in Team USA than previous years.

That said, I have not seen the team unity with Team Europe this week. Maybe it is because of the back-to-back events, with the Reyes Cup starting a couple days after the Hanoi Open. But seeing the players sitting on the bench, some of them look like this is a big joke, and others have a deer-in-headlights look. It's as if Team Europe is on vacation and not devoting their energies to the win as they had when Coach Johan Ruijsink was in charge. Team Asia has knitted together a strong team, ready to take on the world, and they have.

I'm sorry that this event has been so one-sided. I wish Team Europe took it more seriously, but it looks like they're just enjoying a paid vacation in Philippines. Just my opinion, of course.
There wasn't much "team unity" between Team Asia either. You just need to look at their seating arrangements and chats during the team matches. Having said that, the way "team" is done is different in Asia than it is in the "West". Asians don't "play their hearts out" in the same way Europe has and the USA occasionally has in recent Mosconi Cups. They just play and are stronger as a group already without the need to constantly tell everyone they are a team.

Asia played better and won, and Yapp and Duong stepped up (partly because their team mates believed in them from the start without any need for a show of "team unity").

Also, the event wasn't one-sided. The score was 11-6. Asia cleaned up on day 2. Other than than it was close and Europe actually won day 4.
 
Ya think? Gorst, Filler, and Ouschan have combined for five golds and two silvers at the World 9-ball since 2014. Team Europe at the Reyes Cup has combined for one gold and one silver at the World 9-ball in the same period. Who would be dumb enough to measure the state of European pool by the performance of a team that doesn't have any of Gorst, Filler or Ouschan?
I don’t know who would do that, sjm, but obviously I am not doing it here. I am a huge fan of both Ouschans. I mentioned in another post, Albin has made some of the most incredible shots I’ve ever seen.

Perhaps politics will intervene, but Ouschan would be my pick for the final MosconI wild card.
 
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