PBS Women's 9 Ball World Championship
- Thread starter Lowell
- Start date
At rotation pool, Savannah's weakness is in the skills needed to beat opponents to the shot. Once she adds those skills, she'll be a top 25 player in the world for certain.
Actually, the position play is much simpler in 8ball than in 9ball or 10ball, and even second-rate pattern players still have a pretty high runout rate.
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Agreed. There is noticeable progress.
Looks like Seoa ate her Wheaties this morning.
I wasn't expecting Chezka to give up though, that seems very unlike her.
Let's face it, with apologies to Ga Young Kim, Allison Fisher, Siming Chen and Han Yu, Chezka is the most natural and gifted runner of the table in the history of women's pool. Like prime Darren Appleton or Jayson Shaw and current AJ Manas, her pattern recognition seems instantaneous and her ball pocketing is very dependable.
That said, I think it's her carefree ways that explain why she doesn't win more often, for if she was as elite a decision maker as she is an executor of shots, she'd be almost unbeatable, and if she can get as efficient in the moves game as she is when she runs the table, she'll go up a whole level. As an example, in her World 9ball quarterfinal against Seo Seoa, she whiffed on a kick she should never miss at 3-2 behind in set 2, ending her chance in that set and digging a hole from which she would never emerge. To be fair, Seo dominated this match from start to finish, winning three sets to zero and capturing twelve of the seventeen racks played. Yes, Seo is having a fine year, already with a win at Predator PBS Austria to go with a win in mixed doubles with Wiktor Zielinski at Predator PBS St Louis.
Chezka may operate efficiently on something close to automatic pilot on offense, but that same auto-pilot game is not succeeding in the moves game and it is giving her opponents a few extra chances, sometimes costing her a match. In my opinion, she is less engaged than she needs to be when fighting for control of the table.
I'm a Chezka Centeno fan, but I saw her play at 18 years old and am irked by the fact that her tactical skills have barely developed in the nine years since. Yes, she's a legendary talent and a great player, but she suddenly faces the prospect of not winning a title at either 9ball or 10ball in 2026. In my opinion, the best runner of the table in rotation pool in the history of the women's game should win more often. Lest we forget, prime Allison Fisher, 1996-2005, won nearly half of the majors in which she competed. Chezka has the raw skills to do the same. Perhaps one day she will.
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So true, Jay. On the forum, we've often noted that the sponsorships already secured will allow Savannah to fade all the travel and participation costs that come with trying to become one of the very best.
By playing in virtually every major worldwide, Savannah is building her competitive pedigree before our very eyes. To her credit, we can no longer call her inexperienced in competition. Once her skill set is complete and her knowledge grows, she might just find her way to being a Fargo 750+.
It should be fun to watch. Wishing her well.
sounds like seoa put the ice on chezka pretty well?
could be a slow semi. both of these girls are very charming but weiwei plays real slow. i expect chou to win the other.
could be a slow semi. both of these girls are very charming but weiwei plays real slow. i expect chou to win the other.
Centeno is almost impossible to dislike. She is calm and polite, never shows anyone up and just plays here game. But I too am irked by her casualness and failure to become better at defense.
She has all the skills to put the ball where she wants when playing defensively, but she fails to do so time and again.
Seo was great today - she must be getting breaking lessons from Capito. She might have beaten Chezka today if Centeno was at her finest. Alas, she was at her worst.
Centeno has zero charisma, but she is the most mesmerizing player in pool, men or women. It's a shame she hasn't mastered the whole game.
Seoa played very well but Chezka basically gave up in the last couple racks. I was really not expecting Seoa to win 3-0 even though I was rooting for her, that should be a confidence booster.
I also expect Chou to win. If Seo makes it to the final, that would be another tester as Chou has been shooting very well and recently had a pretty dominant match against Seoa. But that was a shorter race and the rolls were going Rita's way.
Agreed.
Disagree. Her defensive shot selection is far from elite and it often costs her. She is not careful enough with the object ball in her shot design when playing defense, unlike countrywoman Rubilen Amit, whose defensive IQ is much higher. Still, I agree that even when she makes decent choices defensively, Chezka often fails to execute and that, in my opinion, is because she is not fully invested when engaged in the tactical portion of the game.
Centeno, because of her mind-blowing talent, will always fascinate us, but some of her choices and shots will always frustrate us.
Maybe I confuse myself, sjm, but I am pretty sure this is what I meant.
Centeno has all the "skills" and intelligence necessary, imo, to do the things she fails to do, as you described.
For whatever reason, she choses not to, or choses not to work on these glaring areas of weakness. Her mental game is quite deficient.
Even when she playe defense, she is more sloppy with speed and ball placement than she is when playing offense.
Centeno has to be smart enough to recognize this. I have to believe Amit has told her as much
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I wouldn't necessarily say she is more sloppy with speed and ball placement on defense than on offense. I just think those traits matter less on offense. If she gets out of line a bit on offense, she is talented enough to still drill the shot. If she rolls an extra few inches on defense, then there is no hook and at this level that is often fatal.
I think the general frustrations with Chezka's game in this thread overlook that it might be that the only reason she can be so carefree and effortless on offense is because she isn't as deliberate and calculating, which is generally what is needed for defense. Like that saying, "think long, think wrong," any gains she might have on the tactical side might also detract from her fluid and refined offense, by causing her to overthink and get out of her rhythm.
"any gains she might have on the tactical side might also detract from her fluid and refined offense, by causing her to overthink and get out of her rhythm."
I don't really buy that. Filler is a great example. He generally plays what can look like fast and loose, but spends an extra 5-10 seconds on shots when they deserve the attention.
I don't really buy that. Filler is a great example. He generally plays what can look like fast and loose, but spends an extra 5-10 seconds on shots when they deserve the attention.
I agree, but I wonder if there's some sort "not respecting your opponent" element there.
Last time she beat Seoa 3-0 playing her game, this time the opposite outcome happened.
I agree with your point but Filler is literally the best player in the world and he doesn't shoot as quickly as Centeno even though he plays with a nice tempo.
Chezka reminds me of a young Ronnie O’Sullivan in snooker. Massively talented, played very fast, made everything. And lost whenever he didn’t have his A game. Poor safety and bad mental game.
His father hooked him up with a former champion Ray Reardon who was renowned for his safety and strategy. It changed his game and Ronnie became the best to ever do it.
Here is an interview from Ronnie about that.
He’s said in other interviews that he used to think about safety as boring, but Ray showed him it was a game itself - how to get the best safety.
Living in the country with the best safety players in the world, I’m sure she could find someone to coach her up, but I have to assume she just doesn’t want to.
i don't think chezka will ever have a complete game. these commentators mark white and tim le reuter will have the same complains in 5 years. but chezka will have a couple more world championship trophies. jmho.