2019 WPA World 9 Ball - Qatar

G

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Island Drive said:
I figured out years ago HOW to beat these kind of players at their own game. We have a term the ''ice man'' it depicts the character of this play type. If you ever get in a match with someone who does this, Especially if you trust them, do this.

Walk away from the table, turn your back on them and talk to others. It works, Did it once, and my opponent went to the TD to ''complain'', and his exact words ''he doesn't have to watch you shoot your shots''. FF twenty years later it came up again in an event in Denver, it worked.

These players ''FEED" off your anguish and uncomfortableness when you are constantly getting a dose of...''UP/DOWN/WALK AROUND''. Try it, you'll like it.
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I was just makin' light of his bad pun Casper v. Gorst. I do like that tip tho for dealing with "those" players.
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Singling out WPA here is not fair, although WPA is deserving of some of the blame. The truth is that slow play is being tolerated all across our sport, in international, national, regional, and independent events, sanctioned and unsanctioned.

We're used to glacially slow play in one pocket and straight pool matches take longer and longer than they used to, but nine ball is threatening to become nearly as slow as these other disciplines.

Nine ball hasn't changed much in the last twenty five years, so why does this generation of players need so much more time to preside over their decisions at nine ball than the last generation? Are today's players just dumber than those of twenty five year ago? Personally, I don't think so. They're only playing at snail's pace because those who oversee our sport are tolerating it.

At every level of pool, we need to stop being so tolerant of slow play. It's making the game less watchable, and thereby, less marketable.

PS I'll single out the Joss Tour and Matchroom Sports as the only pool organizations I know of that manage to consistently adhere to posted match schedules. Both make sure that their events keep moving along swiftly, understanding that it serves the interests of both players and spectators.
 
G

garczar

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sjm said:
Singling out WPA here is not fair, although WPA is deserving of some of the blame. The truth is that slow play is being tolerated all across our sport, in international, national, regional, and independent events, sanctioned and unsanctioned.

We're used to glacially slow play in one pocket and straight pool matches take longer and longer than they used to, but nine ball is threatening to become nearly as slow as these other disciplines.

Nine ball hasn't changed much in the last twenty five years, so why does this generation of players need so much more time to preside over their decisions at nine ball than the last generation? Are today's players just dumber than those of twenty five year ago? Personally, I don't think so. They're only playing at snail's pace because those who oversee our sport are tolerating it.

At every level of pool, we need to stop being so tolerant of slow play. It's making the game less watchable, and thereby, less marketable.

PS I'll single out the Joss Tour and Matchroom Sports as the only pool organizations I know of that manage to consistently adhere to posted match schedules. Both make sure that their events keep moving along swiftly, understanding that it serves the interests of both players and spectators.
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Totally disagree on the WPA issue. This thread is about the World 9ball, a WPA sanctioned event. If not them who else??? QBSF??? Yea, i guess they're on the hook too. EVERY year the WPA gets complaints about slow play at this event and so far NOTHING has been done about it. I really put little to ZERO stock in any sanctioning body but if the WPA is going to tout this event they need to speed it up.
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Serious effort here by Taiwan, with two semifinalists in JL Chang and Ko Ping Chung and three of the last eight (Ko Pin Yi finished tied for fifth).

The 22 year old Casper Matikainen's effort, including a win over two world 9-ball champions (Filler, Ouschan) and a double hill loos to JL Chang, is one to remember and one must suspect he's going to be a force in pool.

After some early upsets and surprises, order seems to have been restored to this event. Certainly, the four semifinalists are all players we'd have reckoned were good enough to win the title. I think all four of them have a very realistic chance to snap off the event. For each, it would be their first World 9-ball title.

Wishing the last four good luck. Tuesday's play should be very hotly contested.
 
sgonzalez34

sgonzalez34

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
asbani said:
Pool needs a shot-clock, on every tournament, this is friggin boring to watch them take so long, I'm sorry, even though I love pool I still feel its bad for viewing pleasure to have long matches like this, now think about a person who doesn't play pool.

Think about it from his perspective.
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Agree! It is difficult to watch even for someone that loves to watch pool and likes the mental/strategic perspective. It’s out of control.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
S

S.Vaskovskyi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I've just seen Tyler Styer's post on FB with explanation of why he does not participate this year WC in Qatar and I've found out that this year the women have higher prize money at WC in China. It's 44k 1st place for women vs 30k for men and in addition the entry fee for men is higher.
I guess at the women WC they have a shot'clock.
It's amazingly smart organized event!:grin:
Well I guess men's pool is doing so good the game just doesn't need all that stupid unnecessary details when it comes to organization and promotion the sport!:eek:
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
garczar said:
Totally disagree on the WPA issue. This thread is about the World 9ball, a WPA sanctioned event. If not them who else??? QBSF??? Yea, i guess they're on the hook too. EVERY year the WPA gets complaints about slow play at this event and so far NOTHING has been done about it. I really put little to ZERO stock in any sanctioning body but if the WPA is going to tout this event they need to speed it up.
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I agree with this. WPA must set the example for others to follow, and they have failed badly in this regard. Excellent post.
 
N

nine_ball6970

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
sjm said:
Singling out WPA here is not fair, although WPA is deserving of some of the blame. The truth is that slow play is being tolerated all across our sport, in international, national, regional, and independent events, sanctioned and unsanctioned.

We're used to glacially slow play in one pocket and straight pool matches take longer and longer than they used to, but nine ball is threatening to become nearly as slow as these other disciplines.

Nine ball hasn't changed much in the last twenty five years, so why does this generation of players need so much more time to preside over their decisions at nine ball than the last generation? Are today's players just dumber than those of twenty five year ago? Personally, I don't think so. They're only playing at snail's pace because those who oversee our sport are tolerating it.

At every level of pool, we need to stop being so tolerant of slow play. It's making the game less watchable, and thereby, less marketable.

PS I'll single out the Joss Tour and Matchroom Sports as the only pool organizations I know of that manage to consistently adhere to posted match schedules. Both make sure that their events keep moving along swiftly, understanding that it serves the interests of both players and spectators.
Click to expand...

Players seem to be more precise in execution now than they were 25 years ago. Most of them now walk around the table to view next shot to ensure they don't get out of line and make unforced errors. They also do this with safeties and kicks. It seems the caliber of play has gotten better overall and one or two unforced errors is the difference in lots of matches.

The game has changed. Not many checked racks 25 years ago either. They just broke the balls and played 9 ball. Today you are at a disadvantage if you don't make sure all the balls or frozen. A bad break could lead to losing more than a couple in a row.

I watched the long Ko match yesterday. They kept putting each other in really awkward positions continuously. The fact that it was a dogfight all the way added to them taking extra time. I thought it was interesting to see what shot they actually decided on but I know most viewers just thought it was long and drawn out.
 
S

S.Vaskovskyi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
PoolBum said:
A Chang vs. Little Ko final would be epic.
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What would be epic if Fedor Gorst wins the title. It would be second time the deserving player not picked by Marcus Chamat for MC comes to WC to grab the title. Does Marcus know something about how to motivate these young talents in Europe?:grin:
But that little Ko is dangerous...Might be a great battle but with this format as for the break (1-ball on the spot) no shot'clock even a match with great players battling could appear a boring one(.
 
sjm

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
nine_ball6970 said:
Players seem to be more precise in execution now than they were 25 years ago. Most of them now walk around the table to view next shot to ensure they don't get out of line and make unforced errors. They also do this with safeties and kicks. It seems the caliber of play has gotten better overall and one or two unforced errors is the difference in lots of matches.

The game has changed. Not many checked racks 25 years ago either. They just broke the balls and played 9 ball. Today you are at a disadvantage if you don't make sure all the balls or frozen. A bad break could lead to losing more than a couple in a row.

I watched the long Ko match yesterday. They kept putting each other in really awkward positions continuously. The fact that it was a dogfight all the way added to them taking extra time. I thought it was interesting to see what shot they actually decided on but I know most viewers just thought it was long and drawn out.
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No doubt, more time is being spent on the few complex positions that arise , but it's a far bigger problem that huge amounts of time are being spent on obvious positions. Looking at the same angle five times in an issueless rack is commonplace today and it wasn't back in the day. Attributing slow play to the evolution of the game is inappropriate. The play was very nearly as thoughtful twenty five years ago, but players got on with it rather than laboring forever over simple positions.
 
spartan

spartan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Semifinals & Final (17 Dec)

Semifinals kick off about 13 hrs from now (11am local time 3am Eastern)
If Gorst wins this championship, he will be 2nd youngest ever to win this , younger than Filler last year.
If Liu wins, he will be oldest since Bustamante almost a decade ago.
On paper, the final favorites are Chang and Ko which will be a repeat of International Open last year that Chang won.
All 4 are Fargo 800s and deserving semifinalists.


Live Streams
Semifinals (Race to 11)
(11am local time 3am Eastern)
Ko Ping Chung v Fedor Gorst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKvfp7QaA4s&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=24&t=0s
(11am local time 3am Eastern)
Chang Jung Lin v Liu Haitao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1QA9LPB2y8&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=25&t=0s

FINAL (Race to 13)
(3pm local time 7am Eastern)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isbnen5PiuU&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=26&t=0s

(Event Youtube Channel for all videos and live streams https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH )
:D
 
N

nine_ball6970

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
spartan said:
Semifinals kick off about 13 hrs from now (11am local time 3am Eastern)
If Gorst wins this championship, he will be 2nd youngest ever to win this , younger than Filler last year.
If Liu wins, he will be oldest since Bustamante almost a decade ago.
On paper, the final favorites are Chang and Ko which will be a repeat of International Open last year that Chang won.
All 4 are Fargo 800s and deserving semifinalists.


Live Streams
Semifinals (Race to 11)
(11am local time 3am Eastern)
Ko Ping Chung v Fedor Gorst
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKvfp7QaA4s&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=24&t=0s
(11am local time 3am Eastern)
Chang Jung Lin v Liu Haitao
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1QA9LPB2y8&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=25&t=0s

FINAL (Race to 13)
(3pm local time 7am Eastern)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isbnen5PiuU&list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH&index=26&t=0s

(Event Youtube Channel for all videos and live streams https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQ5FS50ETk-2nsAe3HkvHvA2X-H28fggH )
:D
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I am rooting for Liu Haitao. I really enjoy watching him play.
 
T

Taxi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
S.Vaskovskyi said:
When it comes to the WC 9-ball I'm sure it would be a much better and so different event just with single change - the shot'clock rule. It would benefit in so many ways especially for the sport and with that amount of pressure added with a shot'clock we could see much different results at the end (imho).
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I've only watched a few of the matches and didn't find them to run all that slowly, but I'm always in favor of a shot clock in any event. That's one of the reasons the Mosconi Cup is so enjoyable to watch.

But even more than a shot clock between shots, I'd love to just have a rack template and a 60 second time limit between racks. What really steams me is to see tournaments that for whatever misplaced nostalgic reasons still use wooden racks and allow endless racking and re-racking. To me that's infinitely more annoying than slow playing in general. Just rack the balls and break them.
 
S

S.Vaskovskyi

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Taxi said:
I've only watched a few of the matches and didn't find them to run all that slowly, but I'm always in favor of a shot clock in any event. That's one of the reasons the Mosconi Cup is so enjoyable to watch.

But even more than a shot clock between shots, I'd love to just have a rack template and a 60 second time limit between racks. What really steams me is to see tournaments that for whatever misplaced nostalgic reasons still use wooden racks and allow endless racking and re-racking. To me that's infinitely more annoying than slow playing in general. Just rack the balls and break them.
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I've watched just a few matches too and not from the very start. It seemed to me that match Filler vs Matikainen from 4:3 took much less time than watching little Ko vs Szolnoki from 7:9. First of all shot'clock rule would put all the players under much more similar conditions when it comes to a certain rhythm of playing no matter of the circumstances plus as I said it would add a needed amount of pressure and excitement= beneficial for all involved in the game, the players and the audience. The bad news the organizers don't seem to bother much about both(.
It would be such a long discussion what could be made much better when it comes to organization so I better don't start it.
We are just lucky to have those users who are really concerned and curious about how it is going on and helping to find and get the news and interesting information about the event.
 
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A

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Taxi said:
... But even more than a shot clock between shots, I'd love to just have a rack template and a 60 second time limit between racks. What really steams me is to see tournaments that for whatever misplaced nostalgic reasons still use wooden racks and allow endless racking and re-racking. To me that's infinitely more annoying than slow playing in general. Just rack the balls and break them.
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Yes, and in this event they are using racking templates and still allowing the players to inspect and demand re-racking.
 
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