So why is 9 ball the pro game of choice? What happened to 8 ball?
Thanks
Thanks
Why is 9 ball so popular?
- Thread starter jaime_lion
- Start date
A very legitimate question. The IPT Tour, the short lived but high paying tour in 2006, tried 8-ball, and I, for one, agreed with their choice. That tour proved financially unsustainable, but not because it chose 8-ball.
Nine ball is fast and loose and it's a game that most amateurs know and play, but eight ball is the game known by all the amateurs and all the bar table players, so it's following is bigger.
About 40 years ago, nine ball replaced straight pool because straight pool became too slow, and also had the disadvantage of being a call shot game, which turns off many a fan including this one. In the old straight pool events, the player announced the intended shot, the referee repeated it, and not everybody heard the announcement. This process virtually ensured slow play.
Another issue is that some feel that 8-ball isn't a sufficient test for the world's most elite players. I, personally, disagree.
Perhaps we should be playing eight ball in the pro events. Eight ball is MORE popular and MORE recognizable than nine ball to most players.
Nine ball is fast and loose and it's a game that most amateurs know and play, but eight ball is the game known by all the amateurs and all the bar table players, so it's following is bigger.
About 40 years ago, nine ball replaced straight pool because straight pool became too slow, and also had the disadvantage of being a call shot game, which turns off many a fan including this one. In the old straight pool events, the player announced the intended shot, the referee repeated it, and not everybody heard the announcement. This process virtually ensured slow play.
Another issue is that some feel that 8-ball isn't a sufficient test for the world's most elite players. I, personally, disagree.
Perhaps we should be playing eight ball in the pro events. Eight ball is MORE popular and MORE recognizable than nine ball to most players.
Do you click on YouTube videos just to down vote them?
Because you don't play it?
Haha good one
I think most pros dislike eight ball because it has more luck elements even though it is a call pocket. It has luck involved even more than 9ball.
8 ball gives more chance to the lower skilled player, if I’m put a gun on my head and told to play Shane so that I can beat him and I know for fact that he’s better than me by miles and asked to pick a game, I’ll pick 8ball race to 2 or 3 ( the shorter the race the easier to beat a guy that’s better than me ).
Why would I pick 8ball? Cause it’s a game of layouts, the luckier I get by the layouts I get versus the layouts Shane’s might get, this might give me huge chance of beating him, maybe the layout is horrible so I miss because I’m a weak player, Shane’s gets in and cleans the table a little bit, try’s to open clusters here and there but then because it’s a tough layout he misses in the end after alrdy clearing half of the table, now I get in the table with 90% easier layout that the game started and even easier layout than any other game and I take that game, while Shane is 10 times better than me but in 8ball I get a chance to beat him.
Here I gave you example why pros hate 8ball, cause this happens a lot, they lose to weaker players way too many times playing 8ball, that’s why not much tournaments do 8ball.
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8 ball gives more chance to the lower skilled player, if I’m put a gun on my head and told to play Shane so that I can beat him and I know for fact that he’s better than me by miles and asked to pick a game, I’ll pick 8ball race to 2 or 3 ( the shorter the race the easier to beat a guy that’s better than me ).
Why would I pick 8ball? Cause it’s a game of layouts, the luckier I get by the layouts I get versus the layouts Shane’s might get, this might give me huge chance of beating him, maybe the layout is horrible so I miss because I’m a weak player, Shane’s gets in and cleans the table a little bit, try’s to open clusters here and there but then because it’s a tough layout he misses in the end after alrdy clearing half of the table, now I get in the table with 90% easier layout that the game started and even easier layout than any other game and I take that game, while Shane is 10 times better than me but in 8ball I get a chance to beat him.
Here I gave you example why pros hate 8ball, cause this happens a lot, they lose to weaker players way too many times playing 8ball, that’s why not much tournaments do 8ball.
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It is fun to watch pros negotiate tough 8 ball runouts, but I prefer to watch 8 ball on a bar table for the pros- at least they have to go for breakouts and deal with more traffic.
I think 10 ball is the best spectator game in terms of watching pros- less breaking shenanigans and less luck due to call shot
I think 10 ball is the best spectator game in terms of watching pros- less breaking shenanigans and less luck due to call shot
Don't forget to tip your waitress.
You ask that as if "airline food" were still a thing.
On my recent perusal of the TSA List of Forbidden Items I noticed that you are permitted to bring solid food in your carry-on. Fixing a sandwich at home before the flight sure beats paying $11 for stale bread and wilted lettuce at the sandwich shop at the airport. Yogurt of course is forbidden unless it is less than 3 ounces as it might be liquified C4. I was also surprised to see
![CropperCapture[599].png](https://forums.azbilliards.com/data/attachments/409/409464-7be08f55caaabc02fab9550070a2cf28.jpg "CropperCapture[599].png")
which is great now that airlines aren't giving you anything to eat with a fork anyway.
I hate plastic forks. At work the cafeteria gave us plastic forks because they couldn't keep metal forks in stock or didn't want to wash them. I bought a thousand metal forks and donated them. Six years later they seem to have lost all of them. Forks are cheap by the thousand.:thumbup:
As for the OP, it's a phase that will pass.
Nine ball is a fast game, bar owners love it because your feed their profits. Pumping money into bar boxes.
Besides the chic that has evolved, I think 9 ball simply stated that if you can count, we can gamble. And so it began.
eight ball
Well, nine ball was OK but my game was eight ball. The reason was I could control the pace and stall much more easily when I needed to. I hooked myself a lot more often than opponents hooked me, then shook a stick angrily or yelled!:thumbup:
Hu
Well, nine ball was OK but my game was eight ball. The reason was I could control the pace and stall much more easily when I needed to. I hooked myself a lot more often than opponents hooked me, then shook a stick angrily or yelled!:thumbup:
Hu
I actually completely disagree with this. For the few months I made my living playing pool I always felt that a lower level player had literally no chance to beat me in 8 ball, too easy to control the game. Especially on a 9 foot table. Bar box 8 ball tightens things a bit just because of size and the increased precision needed for position but 8 in any order order is almost always easier than 9 in order.
If you were going to play Shane in race to three and did it 100 times, you would win more in 9 ball than in 8 ball in my view.