I don't think slop is much of a factor

I will not play slop. Even 9 ball kind of urks me. All slops will do with a lesser player is keep them on the table a little longer if they make a slop and mess up the arrangnent a lot. My brother once (who was just having fun trying to annoy me) went on a ridiculous 4 slop streak, I mean 3-4 rails glancing off other balls every shot kind of craziness. By the end we were both dying of laughter at how ridiculous what was happening was.

In the end it's not likely going to change the outcome of a race, it's just annoying to play against

Personally, I prefer call-shot games, but when playing slop, I only see people slam into balls as a last resort and it's always lower-skilled players and usually because they don't know what else to do. The rest of the time, they're trying to put a specific ball into a specific pocket.

So, I don't think it's a huge factor at any level, I think it's just one of those things that can be so frustrating when it happens that we make a bigger deal out of it than it really is.

Someone with a lot of time and extensive accu-stats 9-ball collection and sit down and figure out how often slop comes into play at the pro level.

If I feel like it (and think of it) next time I see 9-ball in league, I'll keep track of the slop. How often it happens and how often the offender gets out in the same inning that he slopped a ball.

bdorman said:

Our community tournament usually draws the same 16 players, with equal numbers of good, okay and poor players.

Sometimes we play call pocket and sometimes we don't. But regardless, the results don't change, same people win...same people lose.

One thing I've noticed is that lower-rated players tend to scratch the CB a lot more in non-call shot games. They think they can just play smashball and something will go in...forgetting that "something" can be the CB too. They also break up clusters that their opponent would have to deal with.

I have a strong preference for call shot because I don't like my opponent rearranging the table for no good reason, but I never think that non-call shot gives a lower-rated player an advantage.

I know I'm in the minority on this one, but I'd like to hear your thoughts.

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Not really, luck comes into play more with a good position roll then lucking in a ball.

having played bar rules most of my life its a no brainer that i don't like slop.

it took quite an adjustment for me when i started playing apa. i did not like seeing slop at all.

now it don't bother me to have 3's and below make slop shots on me. 4's i come to expect one once in a while from them.

5's kinda frustrate me with the fact they are as good as me yet resort to slop occasionally.

a particular 6 in my sunday division really pisses me off when i play him. he will break and run 6 balls effortlessly. get hard on his last ball. blast away at it with it going 4 rails then carom off one of my balls into a pocket. he then winds up with the easiest shot on the 8 you ever saw. i tried playing safes when i could but he always managed to hit one of his balls and usually had another shot.

last time i played him he beat me 5 -0 in 6 innings making a total of 6 slop shots at least.

like i said it really pisses me off. so when 9 ball came up later and they threw him i jumped up and said i am playing.

i saftied the shit outa him . got him frustrated and won 15-5.in 9 ball he had to hit the lowest ball and my safes usually worked pretty good. in 8 ball when he usually had more than 1 ball he killed me with his slop. a former team mate of mine did the same thing to him last year in the cities when he played for me and was ahead 50-1 when this guy got pissed off ...threw his cue on the table and said i quit lol.

Efren prefers slop, I'm with him!

I play nothing but call shot games! If i play against someone who for some reason wants to play 9 ball I will only play if we call shots.
Slop is what I try to eliminate as much as I can from pool, I even give my opponent a "I'm sorry" if i happen to get a safe of some sort without intentionally trying to.
My favourite games are 14.1 and 10 ball.

Efren almost lost Mohegan Sun because he forgot to CALL the nine 2x.

He has been playing the game for 50 years without calling it. It is ridiculous to have the rule and its EVEN MORE RIDICULOUS to punish a player who clearly made the ball in the intended pocket!! Especially a REFFED match. Pool is NOT A MEMORY CONTEST!! Matt Braun is so stupid on that-Unreal

In a reffed match like that, in that situation, the ref should make the determination whether he made the ball in the intended pocket. PERIOD! As usual bank, carom, & combos must be called by the player.Straight pool is call pocket but no one calls anything that is obvious and no opponents ***** about it. MY BP is rising here just thinking about the stupidity of it.

Do you know how many time a pro lucks the 9 in the wrong pocket? Id say not one in a 2 hundred-so we need a rule?????? So now imagine how many more times one guy will luck in the 9 than the other guy-It's too stupid to even consider. I dont get it.

In these high buy-in pro only tournaments we've been seeing lately, I think call shot/call safe is the way to go. My reason being is if I'm paying/or being backed $1,000+ to play, the last thing I want to happen is my opponent miss their money ball in the intended pocket and have it go into another pocket. As well as see them just out right dog a ball, and have the CB get hidden behind another ball.

There is just to much at stake (entry fee wise) to allow the chance of such rolls determine the outcome of a match, and the sets aren't long enough to even out the rolls.

Now in open tournaments that have the potential of drawing plenty of amateurs, then I think it should be slop counts.

Better players don't like slop and they don't like short races
The fact is every sport has both ,, I don't hear a football player crying " hey if we got every bounce or break or if we played 10 innings , 6 quarters , 4 periods ,or 70 holes things would be different
Every game has its limit in time and the breaks of the game


1

I like slop, didn't used to, but it helps a ton in decreasing arguments during gambling matches

its also faster and less annoying as a shooter

snooker allows slop and it's not even a topic in that game, technically carom does also

and ya all the top 10 ball guys nowadays are the same as the top 9 ball guys of a few years ago

as long as mini races to 6 are scrapped (10 min), I'm good

macguy said:

Not really, luck comes into play more with a good position roll then lucking in a ball.

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This ^^^, once you reach upper levels of play seldom does a ball get slopped in. It really is a non factor.


Why am I the Colonel? Because I always get the chicken

If you watch a match in apa you'll see why bad players slop balls in. I rarely crap a ball in because I'm hitting everything pocket speed and If I miss it's rarely by. The The 1 though 4's haven't learned this yet. They hit everything hard and miss badly so the ball flys around on a fast table is bound to go somewhere lol

Personally, my favorite way of playing (in 8 ball) is called-pocket. Around here there are a lot of weekly bar tournaments that are "bar rules" in that you have to call when you play off of balls, which is kind of annoying. BCA/WPA called-pocket rules are my favorite because you have to hit your intended pocket, but it doesn't matter how the ball gets there. In APA, I see the reason for the any-pocket rule, because APA caters to weaker players, and that's necessary to encourage large numbers of people to participate.

Slop can be a significant factor in non-call shot games, especially if one of the players is intentionally going for slops. But as someone else said, luck comes more into play with position and unintentional safeties than with pocketing balls.

Does anyone really believe that a player who plays for slop and to luck balls in has a chance against a good player? In real life, good players look for guys like that!

Good players rarely slop a ball the few times they miss. When they miss it's usually by a hair and the ball stays near the pocket. When a banger misses he/she usually hit the rail and the missed shot goes around the table until it finds a pocket or stops. Johnnyt

jay helfert said:

Does anyone really believe that a player who plays for slop and to luck balls in has a chance against a good player? In real life, good players look for guys like that!

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Please read what a guy a few posts above wrote. An APA 6 who goes for slop ONLY when he has no other good shot or easy safe available, and often succeeds. A player who goes for slop all the time is pathetic, but those who use it occasionally and only in certain situation tend to stay on the table longer than they should.

Johnnyt said:

Good players rarely slop a ball the few times they miss. When they miss it's usually by a hair and the ball stays near the pocket. When a banger misses he/she usually hit the rail and the missed shot goes around the table until it finds a pocket or stops. Johnnyt

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That's exactly why slop makes a difference. When it's good player vs banger, it's usually auto win for the good player in call-shot games, but when you use slop rules anything can happen. I've been playing by slop rules my whole life, so I've seen and experienced it many times. The games can develop in tremendously different paths depending on whether you play by call-shot rules or not.

jay helfert said:

Does anyone really believe that a player who plays for slop and to luck balls in has a chance against a good player? In real life, good players look for guys like that!

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YUP! that and the lesser players like the sound of "lucking in " balls is ok....it gets them to pony up the entry fee, so you know what....IMO smash away and luck em in all you want....as a better player it is my job to overcome that with a few tight safeties!

G.