A question about the 1976 World Straight Pool Championship.

[Bob Jewett]

wasn't this also the case for the world snooker? 2 or 3 players, race to infinity

Not infinity, but sometimes the championships were pretty long. For a while, they were race to 73, or "best of 145" as the players would say it. I think of a modern snooker frame as roughly twice as long as a rack of nine ball, so it would be like a race to 150 or more. The snooker players didn't play as well back then -- very few centuries, if any -- so it may have been more like a race to 300 at nine ball. There's a match you can get your teeth into.

 

[Rubik's Cube]

My favourite tale along those lines was the world record English Billiards break, in an age when cradle cannons were still permitted.

The break took about a week, during which time the champion’s opponent was required to turn up every morning in his best tuxedo, cue in hand, only to sit in a chair all day.

 

[skogstokig]

Not infinity, but sometimes the championships were pretty long. For a while, they were race to 73, or "best of 145" as the players would say it. I think of a modern snooker frame as roughly twice as long as a rack of nine ball, so it would be like a race to 150 or more. The snooker players didn't play as well back then -- very few centuries, if any -- so it may have been more like a race to 300 at nine ball. There's a match you can get your teeth into.

goddamn. i imagine the spectators were very close family.

My favourite tale along those lines was the world record English Billiards break, in an age when cradle cannons were still permitted.

The break took about a week, during which time the champion’s opponent was required to turn up every morning in his best tuxedo, cue in hand, only to sit in a chair all day.

all carom games with nursing and short distance points are incredibly boring to me. english billiards, straight rail, one cushion, imagine those championships, race to a gazillion points. i would concede after an hour.

 

[Bob Jewett]

My favourite tale along those lines was the world record English Billiards break, in an age when cradle cannons were still permitted.

The break took about a week, during which time the champion’s opponent was required to turn up every morning in his best tuxedo, cue in hand, only to sit in a chair all day.

The player doing most of the shooting was Tom Reece. The match was staged to be played over five weeks to 500,000 points. The goal was to set a record. Tom made something over 249,552 shots in a row for 499,135 points,

Sadly, the record was not recognized by the authorities. I've heard two reasons: the press and public were not present during the entire match -- not hard to believe -- and/or the referee could not certify the score.

Reece was never World Champion. Here's his Wikipedia page:

Tom Reece - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bob Jewett]

... all carom games with nursing and short distance points are incredibly boring to me. english billiards, straight rail, one cushion, imagine those championships, race to a gazillion points. i would concede after an hour.

The "small" games are a lot more interesting if you play them sometimes yourself. English Billiards often has spells during a game when the balls get loose for a while, and even "top of the table" play can be interesting for how different players solve the problems differently, but mostly I agree.