10 best players in the world

[sjm]

Some people's impression of the "shootout" match approach was solidified based on an earlier inferior incarnation of the approach, when a shootout occurred simply when players split the first two races to 4. That's too many shootouts.

Now you need to split two races to 4 AND get to hill-hill on the third one. That's like two runners leaning for the tape after a long run and you can't quite tell who is ahead. Importantly the shootout is conditioned on two competitors leaning into the tape.

At this point it is a feature, not a bug, to have the match decision based on something that is in both players control from there. There is a true back and forth--no luck of who came up dry or made a ball and got hooked or had a cueball kicked in or had an open table on a single game.

The best-of-3 races to four match is as discriminatory as between a straight race to 8 and 9, but closer to 9.

Yes, I was in the camp that complained about the format once used in the Predator US Pro Billiard Series, which had far too many shootots. What we saw in 2023 was a bit ridiculous. In contrast, the format used in the World Predator Pro Billiard Series, that requires that the deciding set reach double hill for a shootout to occur, has made the shootouts few and far between.

 

[sjm]

One side pocket shot got a long stare from Fedor.

I was there at the Las Vegas Open. The tables played very tough.

 

[sjm]

Just a curiosity. In most sports, after a big win you see the winner bring his kids onto the course/field during celebrations. I can't remember ever seeing that in pool.

Yup, other than Jayson Shaw and Jeanette Lee (and, needless to say, Ernesto Dominguez), few pro pool players I have ever seen brought their kids to events in which they competed.

 

[fjk]

This is a subtlety. But the FargoRate approach doesn't require or assume that a late-stage high-pressure match is somehow the same as an early-stage match in a lower-profile tournament.

Rather it assumes that averaged over your high-pressure matches, your opponents were also playing in high-pressure matches and impacted similarly.

A particularly player could be unusually affected by or unusually unaffected by that pressure, and we wouldn't capture that in any meaningful way.

Mike, FargoRate, by now, has a wealth of interesting data that would be a blast to really dig into. You might want to consider expanding into that realm.