Search results

You might get a better response with Fedor. The Ukraine war is still somewhat topical, it has a US connection and it has tidy ‘finish’ to the narrative with a World Championship win under the US banner.

Absolutely. Maybe WPA is drawing the line there because it’s so valuable for MR? But yes I haven’t seen such an enthusiastic crowd aside from the mosconi cup.

My best guess is that point 4 on their list is what they are mainly after with this press release. Application of Permission. If they can at least get the players to apply for permission then the WPA can feel like they have a modicum control or authority over the pro game. It won’t happen...

And this time they’re totally serious!

I’m going to say “no”, but a strong world championship is an important piece of the puzzle. No single event or format will elevate pool even if all the big news outlets have a piece on the increased prize money. if you look at the history of sport, it’s usually the right player or team winning...

Daryl was a full time player up until that win but he was a surprise winner. I dont think you can totally eliminate surprise winners since we see examples of that in every sport. But I do agree that the format should be such that it tends to suss out the best player as much as possible. I...

I agree, I’ve spent a lot of time practicing on 3 7/8” and all of the sudden you will hit balls down the rail which look perfectly struck but then they bobble. If I were tossed on that table for the first time to compete I would have sworn that it was a gaff table. But a well placed camera and...

I’m almost certain this was due to unfamiliarity. Players showed up prepared for 4” pockets and got 3 7/8”. I made a post in AtLarges stat thread that compared the earliest performance on the 4” pocket at the world pool masters a couple years ago compared with the following year and we saw a...

Agree that there is always room to improve. I think MR biggest opportunity at this time is in the overall presentation. I would like to see them take a more of golf approach to the broadcast and switch between 3-4 key matches up until the quarter finals. This would keep things moving and...

I can live with that if I don’t have to watch on matchroom live since I can just put on the replays. But matchroom live doesn’t ever provide those replays.

I’m not sure they are doing any better than pool. Matchroom is releasing reruns of last years world championship and a SVB match posted yesterday has 40k views. And one of the live streams has 460k views. Of that list, I wouldn't underestimate how much novelty can drive initial interest...

Karl posted a picture. It does look like they were less that 4”

I know, but that doesn’t address the performance gap. I was just referring to matchroom and using fair comparables to ensure similar set ups, environments and playing levels. I could have pulled from other events that were closer to 19%. I’ve never seen a 40% BnR stat for a 9 on the spot in...

That’s not entirely accurate and we don’t have many good comparison points. Shortly after 9 on the spot was instituted, there was a switch to 4” pockets for all events. So by the time players are used to the breaking rules they are also on 4” pockets, ans break and runs are low. We can...

On the note about whether some of these low stats are driven by unfamiliarity, I figured I’d look up some comparisons from when they first started with 4” pockets. The earliest MR 4” pocket event I’m aware of is the World Pool Masters in 2021 and it was interesting comparing between 2021 and...

Barry’s main contribution to snooker in the early years was promoting his players. He was a player manager until they started promoting snooker events later. But snooker had exploded when matchroom was essentially just Barry and Steve Davis.

I think the break rules would have much larger impact on the number of safeties played for the top players than the pockets. If they went back to the old break rules, I’m reasonably confident that BnR percentage would shoot up to 30% again. Meanwhile, maybe I just suck at racking but the wing...

Personally, I’d like to see another event or two with the smaller pockets before I make any judgement. The players have likely had their practice tables set up to 4” and have prepped for that. Maybe others stick to 4.25” for practice and adjust downwards. I think we saw a lot of players...

I don’t mean it exactly literally, but just to be illustrative. But the main point is that the stat tells a story since it starts after the first ball is made and previous events were frequently in the 60-65% range. It’s not complicated as much by other compounding factors like players...

I think you see the biggest difference in this stat, The player who made the first ball after the break: - Won the game in that same inning 59% 2023 vs 46% 2024 So collectively, the field wasn't even beating the 9 ball ghost. I’ve always been curious about that stat and I think its been as...