Usually I go to AZ Billiards and immediately hit the "forum" and come on here, but for some reason today I decided to take a look at the AZ home page just to see if there was anything new to report. I happened to notice a promo for an old match from the 2016 U.S. Bar Table Championships between Skyler Woodward and Justin Bergman. Why not take a look?
My first surprise was hearing a familiar voice announcing the match. I forgot that was the year I worked with Bobby Leblanc doing commentary. Anyway, I never watched this match after it was first played and thought it would be interesting to check it out. I was also curious as to what Bobby and I had to say.
What struck me right away was the thought processes both these guys went through when deciding which group of balls to take. They were looking for the run-out and how they could accomplish that on their first turn. P.S. There weren't many second turns in this match! I know that people deride bar table pool as being a kids game and far too easy for top players. I would have to disagree with that assessment, especially when it comes to Eight Ball. In almost all the games the balls were congested and some were tied up. It took some excellent position play and cue ball control to run most of these racks. Both players were also forced to make changes in their strategy mid rack when things didn't go exactly as planned.
What I saw in this match was good decision making and equally good shot making. There were no easy racks, both players having to do some maneuvering to run the balls, often in tight quarters. Watching two top players play this seemingly "easy" game was very enjoyable. I won't tell you who won, but the winner had to play good throughout the match. There was no let up by either player.
As for the commentary - bleh! :thumbup:
My first surprise was hearing a familiar voice announcing the match. I forgot that was the year I worked with Bobby Leblanc doing commentary. Anyway, I never watched this match after it was first played and thought it would be interesting to check it out. I was also curious as to what Bobby and I had to say.
What struck me right away was the thought processes both these guys went through when deciding which group of balls to take. They were looking for the run-out and how they could accomplish that on their first turn. P.S. There weren't many second turns in this match! I know that people deride bar table pool as being a kids game and far too easy for top players. I would have to disagree with that assessment, especially when it comes to Eight Ball. In almost all the games the balls were congested and some were tied up. It took some excellent position play and cue ball control to run most of these racks. Both players were also forced to make changes in their strategy mid rack when things didn't go exactly as planned.
What I saw in this match was good decision making and equally good shot making. There were no easy racks, both players having to do some maneuvering to run the balls, often in tight quarters. Watching two top players play this seemingly "easy" game was very enjoyable. I won't tell you who won, but the winner had to play good throughout the match. There was no let up by either player.
As for the commentary - bleh! :thumbup:
