Here are some break statistics from the 2014 WPA World 9-Ball Championship played this week in Doha, Qatar, with free live streaming by Kozoom.
The conditions for this event included: Wiraka 9-foot tables, Simonis 860 electric blue cloth, Magic Rack, Super Aramith Pro TV balls with the measles cue ball, alternate breaks, referee racks with the 2-ball in back, break from anywhere behind the line, jump cues allowed, WPA rules (all slop counts) with the exception that it is an illegal break unless at least 3 balls are pocketed or pass the head string. Apparently no shot clock was used, despite earlier indications that it would be.
The 15 matches (255 games tracked) that I watched were as follows. [Note that this includes all 6 matches that S. Van Boening played.]
Overall results -- The breaker made at least one ball (and did not break illegally or foul) 89% of the time (226 of 255), won 61% of the games (155 of 255), and broke and ran 35% of the games (89 of 255).
Here's a more detailed breakdown of the 255 games.
Break-and-run games: With alternating breaks, B&R "packages" of the normal type are not possible. But we can still look at the breaks of a given player and see how many he ran on his own successive breaks, and we can call these "alternate-break packages." The 89 break-and-run games (35% of all the games) consisted of 4 alternate-break 3-packs, 8 alternate-break 2-packs, and 61 singles.
9-balls on the break: The 89 break-and-run games included just two 9-balls on the break (0.8% of the 255 breaks). With the Magic Rack, the 9-ball tends to remain close to its original position.
Observation: The effects of using the Magic Rack are quite striking. On all 16 scratches on the break, at least one object ball was pocketed. So, in total, the breaker failed to make a ball on the break in only 6 of the 255 breaks (2.4%), an enormous difference from when the Magic Rack is not used. The high stay-at-table percentage after the break means many more opportunities to run out, so the B&R percentage is also high.
The conditions for this event included: Wiraka 9-foot tables, Simonis 860 electric blue cloth, Magic Rack, Super Aramith Pro TV balls with the measles cue ball, alternate breaks, referee racks with the 2-ball in back, break from anywhere behind the line, jump cues allowed, WPA rules (all slop counts) with the exception that it is an illegal break unless at least 3 balls are pocketed or pass the head string. Apparently no shot clock was used, despite earlier indications that it would be.
The 15 matches (255 games tracked) that I watched were as follows. [Note that this includes all 6 matches that S. Van Boening played.]
Sat., June 21
S. Van Boening def. M. S. Ali 9-4
Mon., June 23
S. Van Boening d. D. Corrieri 9-5
D. Orcollo d. K. P. Chung 9-6
D. Appleton d. L. C. Chieh 9-8
Tues, June 24
R. S. Woo d. H. Lombardo 9-7
K. Boyes d. E. Reyes 9-8
L. C. Chieh d. C. Deuel 9-7
Wed., June 25
J. Y. Hwa d. J. Shaw 11-9
S. Van Boening d. J. L. Chang 11-9
A. Ouschan d. O. Ortmann 11-5
Thurs., June 26
S. Van Boening d. J. H. Dang 11-4
S. Van Boening d. K. Tohru 11-5
Y. L. Chang d. S. Van Boening 11-8
Fri., June 27
N. Feijen d. E. Haya 11-7
N. Feijen d. A. Ouschan 13-10 (Finals)
Overall results -- The breaker made at least one ball (and did not break illegally or foul) 89% of the time (226 of 255), won 61% of the games (155 of 255), and broke and ran 35% of the games (89 of 255).
Here's a more detailed breakdown of the 255 games.
Breaker broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul:
Breaker won the game: 149 (58% of the 255 games)
Breaker lost the game: 77 (30%)
Breaker made at least one ball and did not foul, but broke illegally:
Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)
Breaker lost the game: 5 (2%)
Breaker fouled on the break:
Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)
Breaker lost the game: 14 (5%)
Breaker broke dry (without fouling):
Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)
Breaker lost the game: 4 (2%)
Therefore, whereas the breaker won 61% (155) of all 255 games,
He won 66% (149 of 226) of the games in which he broke legally, made at least one ball on the break, and did not foul.
He won 29% (2 of 7) of the games in which he made at least one ball and did not foul, but broke illegally.
He won 13% (2 of 16) of the games in which he fouled on the break.
He won 33% (2 of 6) of the games in which he broke dry but did not foul.
He won 21% (6 of 29) of the games in which he either broke illegally, fouled on the break, or broke dry without fouling.
Break-and-run games: With alternating breaks, B&R "packages" of the normal type are not possible. But we can still look at the breaks of a given player and see how many he ran on his own successive breaks, and we can call these "alternate-break packages." The 89 break-and-run games (35% of all the games) consisted of 4 alternate-break 3-packs, 8 alternate-break 2-packs, and 61 singles.
9-balls on the break: The 89 break-and-run games included just two 9-balls on the break (0.8% of the 255 breaks). With the Magic Rack, the 9-ball tends to remain close to its original position.
Observation: The effects of using the Magic Rack are quite striking. On all 16 scratches on the break, at least one object ball was pocketed. So, in total, the breaker failed to make a ball on the break in only 6 of the 255 breaks (2.4%), an enormous difference from when the Magic Rack is not used. The high stay-at-table percentage after the break means many more opportunities to run out, so the B&R percentage is also high.
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