I always shoot. They're usually ducks anyway. Is there a rule if you miss? In bars you're at your own risk.
PBS Women's 9 Ball World Championship
- Thread starter Lowell
- Start date
Ditto. I rarely, if ever, concede in a real match (league, tournament, etc.), I do have a few buddies I play with once in a while where we'll concede but, that's just bangin' balls around, not competition.
i didn't watch the women's game back then but from what i've seen in old matches, the level of play has skyrocketed. and if these heyball girls like shi tanqi are gonna keep coming over, it's gonna get even tougher.
I did watch the women back then regularly, having attended over 50 WPBA events live, and can verify that you are 100% right.
That's not to suggest that winning titles was easy twenty-five years ago in women's pool. There was a nucleus of about ten great players that was very strong, but then there was a substantial dropoff. Cinderella stories in WPBA play were extremely rare, because winning usually meant topping fields that included Allison Fisher, Karen Corr, Jeanette Lee, Gerda Hofstatter, Loree Jon Jones, Ewa Laurance, and Robin Dodson. The seven future BCA Hall of famers noted seemed to have a monopoly on all the titles. Even future greats like Ga Young Kim and Jasmin Ouschan, who were just getting started then, needed years of experience before they were winning WPBA titles.
To be fair, the quality of play has skyrocketed nearly as much in men's pro pool since twenty five years ago. Players at about 700-speed (based on the eye test as Fargo rate did not yet exist) often had top five finishes and occasionally won at the majors twenty-five years ago in men's pool. Even ten years ago, the standard was much lower than it is today, and Fargo 750 level players sometimes won major championships. Today, Fargo 750 players are pretty much dead money, very rarely even reaching the last sixteen at the majors. The reason is simple. The game went globally viral about ten years ago, and great players are emerging in every corner of the world. Now, the list of 800+ Fargo players includes players from each of Singapore, Albania, Iraq, Vietnam, Lithuania, Bosnia, Hungary, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Serbia, Spain, Poland, Taiwan, Scotland, Greece, Austria, Russia and Estonia. Based on my records, just one sub-800 Fargo player has won a men's major in 2026 and that is Felix Vogel, who prevailed at Predator PBS Austria.
Great post. The level of play today in both men's and women's pool has gone through the roof. Today's players runout more often on 4" pockets than their counterparts of twenty five years ago did on 4 1/2" pockets. It's a whole new ballgame and the fans are the big winners.
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well done chou. impressive.
i figured seoa was favorite going into the final, but it was chou that dominated the match. been a while since she won, 3-4 years? strong break, and a good shooter
i figured seoa was favorite going into the final, but it was chou that dominated the match. been a while since she won, 3-4 years? strong break, and a good shooter
Chou won the WPBA Players Championship in February and the US Open 9ball in April. I'd say the World 9ball title makes her the favorite for player of the year at this point. She'll take over the top spot on the AZB money list among the women once it is updated.
Well played!
Rita is a little under the radar, but now has two World 9ball titles, one World 10ball title and a gold medal at the World Games. Four WPA sanctioned world titles in singles is not to be sniffed at. Rita has also won the US Open 9ball. She might need a third World 9ball to be in the conversation for the BCA Hall of Fame, but she has put together a solid career.
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Yeah, as we saw with the Filler/FSR semi on the men's side, matches that look great on paper don't always deliver. That's why we must savor it when we get two players in top form together at a final, as we did when FSR and Capito hooked up in the US Open 9ball final in August.
Seo Seoa has made excellent progress as a cueist in the last year or so. She'll be back in a major final soon enough.
I was rooting for Seoa and she had been playing phenomenally before that, however Rita Chou played pretty much flawlessly in their last meetup not too long ago so I wasn't surprised by the outcome. These ladies have in the late rounds have been playing great, to the point where it's like the men's game where you're not gonna win if you're breaking poorly.
Robbie Capito had just loss as well, tough outcome for that couple but they've both improved a lot.
Robbie Capito had just loss as well, tough outcome for that couple but they've both improved a lot.
Kind of like Keith in that respect. The most naturally gifted pool player I ever saw. Everybody knew that at his best he was in another world with what he could do, and make it look so easy. Believe me, even the top pros were afraid of a well rested Keith. If they had to play him they only wanted to know if he had been up all night gambling.
Jeanette, Gerda and Vivan probably had something like ten WPBA titles each, as well. Your comment is probably only valid from 2000-2003, when Allison and Karen slammed the door shut on the competition. Those were great years in women's pool.
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Agreed 100%.
Chou is a tough out, one of the most well-rounded players in the women's game, perhaps reminiscent of Rubilen Amit in her prime.
Yeah, she was definitely a step behind of where she was in the later rounds. She missed a few balls but I would say 1/2 of those were pretty tough shots. Just like Chezka against Seoa, I think the break is what got Seoa in this match. They didn't post the final stats but you can see below, in the first 3 sets Seoa only had 1 or 2 successful breaks, and those were only in the second set I believe, which is the set she won.
89 vs 33% break success, no way is anyone winning with that much disparity (at least not at this level)
Yep, and I'm sure it was worse if you add the final set to those stats, Rita got the last set 4-1 also.
Also impressive that Rita had over 90% break success with those handracks.