14.1... Why is it not so popular?

[TheWizard]

I know more ways to gamble at straight pool than I do at 9 ball.

You could play for a dollar a ball.

You could play $200 a game, $100 goes back to the guy with the highest run.

You could spot your opponent 50 balls.

Also, you can't rely on luck like you can in other games.

Thr problem is that it takes work to learn the game of straight pool. Plain and simple. Some players aren't willing to put in the time. I'm glad I did.

I agree with that wholeheartedly, simply because I have always found 9ball to be a kinda lazy and lucky man's game, where players don't want to put the effort in to have to win a game/match and so they choose to play the shorter games to save them the extra work, which as a pool player looking to get better, this attitude is only a hinderance to a player's progress.

Personally I prefer Straight Pool to any other cuesport, especially 8ball and 9ball, purely because 9ball has too big a luck fator involved and 8ball is pretty much anyone's game, whereas Straight Pool, you need to learn to fine tune and build upon your abilities as a player, in order to become more successful, but to me, the hard work is much better because once you can run 100 balls and be able to become consistent with this, then you really have achieved something and will certainly be a much better and solid all round player, rather than being restricted to being able to play only one discipline.

Willie (A proud Straight Pool player)

 

[metallicane]

I know more ways to gamble at straight pool than I do at 9 ball.

You could play for a dollar a ball.

You could play $200 a game, $100 goes back to the guy with the highest run.

You could spot your opponent 50 balls.

Also, you can't rely on luck like you can in other games.

Thr problem is that it takes work to learn the game of straight pool. Plain and simple. Some players aren't willing to put in the time. I'm glad I did.

No one in the Phillipines plays straight pool because they would rather bet on invidual games of 9ball. Maybe they think betting $1 per ball takes too much time. I don't know. I love staight pool, but the best players don't play because of the gambling aspect. The side action does not like betting straight pool so the players don't play it.

 

[smashmouth]

not only is it akin to watching paint dry, more importantly, it is almost impossible for the tv viewer to discern the angles and difficulty of shots

for tv, 9 ball, banks and one pocket are easily watchable

8 ball not so much

straights, forget about it

 

[hobokenapa]

I know I keep harping on this subject but I really think people are more fascinated with statistics than they are with actual game-play and unfortunately, very few statistics are offered in any pool game, including straight pool.

I mean, could you imagine all the statistics that could be compiled if baseball staticians got a hold of straight pool? Here's just a few that come to mind:

In my straight pool League www.hobokenstraightpool.com, I keep all the stats on-line and people always email me with new stat ideas. I actually had to take one statistic off as it calculated precisely what handicap a player was shooting that season based on every ball made/conceded and I got complaints that handicaps were too low/too high when players looked at that stat of everyone else in the League! (in the end, I agreed to make this column on the stats page visible again at the end of the season). People seem to love the site largely because it has stats.

I agree with Jude on this one. Bring stats to the masses, and they'll love it.

 

[Blackjack]

not only is it akin to watching paint dry, more importantly, it is almost impossible for the tv viewer to discern the angles and difficulty of shots

for tv, 9 ball, banks and one pocket are easily watchable

8 ball not so much

straights, forget about it

In reality, that's not the case. I challenge anybody to show me that 9 ball has done ANYTHING to increase the popularity of pool - especially on TV.

The Color of Money was 21 years ago. It was filmed 22 years ago. Other than the initial spurt it gave the industry, how are the players better off because of it, and how has it increased TV ratings? The truth is that it hasn't.

Tournament pool will never sell to the TV viewers. This is where The Action Report and the IPT have the right idea with one one match-ups. That can split it up in divisions for each discipline and crown champions in 9 ball, 14.1, 8 ball, banks, and 1 hole. It is the natural progression of the sport to have matches decided this way, sort of like prizefighting on a pool table.

Myself, I like my chances in the 9 ball or straight pool divisions against anybody, and I mean that. I am sure that many others that have "all around" playing ability will feel the same way. That's not being cocky, that's just because you learn things when you play games such as one pocket, banks, and 14.1 that you won't learn by just playing 9 ball exclusively.

The all around players will always have more resources in their bag of tricks than the 9 ballers - period - regardless of where they are from, even the Philippines. The 9 ballers operate in a completely different world than the straight pool players. In a long race, I give the edge to a player such as Danny Harriman, Mike Sigel, Shannon Daulton, or John Schmidt because of their demonstrated all around ability. They are masters of all disciplines, which makes them triple tough to beat at all games.

Efren is the perfect example of a player that is well versed in many different cue games such as 9 ball, 8 ball, 14.1, one pocket, and carom.

The 9 ballers can hone their trade while they are young, but as time goes by and their skills fade (and that happens to everybody) they will have to rely on knowledge that is obtained in other disciplines. If that knowledge is not there, I hope they like sitting and watching, cause they're in for a long life in the electric chair.

 

[Scottster]

Boring to watch? I'll tell you what is boring. A powderpuff break, with a wing ball going in the pocket 85-90% of the time and the one ball in the side 40-50% of the time on brand new equipment with pockets big enough to fit 2 billiards balls on the pockets. Dont get me wrong, I like to play 9-ball/10-ball, that is what I grew up playing, and still enjoy playing but to watch it.. well for me, referring to ESPN's product, I am asleep in about 15 minutes. To watch 9-ball on TV, intellectual stimulation is lacking. The patterns are laid out and the viewer doesnt have much to figure out. Whereas in straight pool the patterns are infinate, and trying to figure out how the player is going to execute the the pattern takes some thought.

In straight pool, believe it or not, is alot easier to handicap for close matches than any 8 or 9 ball league, and the matches are alot more competitive, pressure packed and very hard to sandbag (if the league operator is on top of things).

PoolHallJunkie is correct the average quality of play is higher over there for 2 reasons.

The main reason is they play on 4 1/2 x 9' tables. The second, they play 14.1 regularly.

In 10-15 years, the Mosconi cup is gonna be totally dominated by the Euriopeans. Why? Because of the top 2 reasons, and American pool's popular trend is bar table 9-ball. Do I lack patriotism? NO, it's just the facts.

The only thing that could save the above from happening is a successfull pro tour, that uses 9 ft equipment in the U.S.

To me, Bowling is boring but the general public watches it more than Billiards. Perhaps I should have stuck with it, at 12 years old I carried a 230+ average, but like I said it was boring to me and lacked a challenge for me. I think bowling continues to have a following because the viewer can rate themselves to the bowlers they see on TV, whereas in pool there is no way for a viewer "rate themselves" against what they see on TV referring to what Jude said with lack of stats.

Straight pool is the ultimate measure of ones skill. If more players became exposed to straight pool, gave it a valiant effort, come to a realization of their handicap/skill level then saw top level players play the same game on TV the general public would realize how good top pool players really are, and eliminate the stereotype of "Any drunk in a bar can run out in 9-ball, what's so special about these 2 on TV?"

 

[Gerry]

In reality, that's not the case. I challenge anybody to show me that 9 ball has done ANYTHING to increase the popularity of pool - especially on TV.

The Color of Money was 21 years ago. It was filmed 22 years ago. Other than the initial spurt it gave the industry, how are the players better off because of it, and how has it increased TV ratings? The truth is that it hasn't.

Tournament pool will never sell to the TV viewers. This is where The Action Report and the IPT have the right idea with one one match-ups. That can split it up in divisions for each discipline and crown champions in 9 ball, 14.1, 8 ball, banks, and 1 hole. It is the natural progression of the sport to have matches decided this way, sort of like prizefighting on a pool table.

Myself, I like my chances in the 9 ball or straight pool divisions against anybody, and I mean that. I am sure that many others that have "all around" playing ability will feel the same way. That's not being cocky, that's just because you learn things when you play games such as one pocket, banks, and 14.1 that you won't learn by just playing 9 ball exclusively.

The all around players will always have more resources in their bag of tricks than the 9 ballers - period - regardless of where they are from, even the Philippines. The 9 ballers operate in a completely different world than the straight pool players. In a long race, I give the edge to a player such as Danny Harriman, Mike Sigel, Shannon Daulton, or John Schmidt because of their demonstrated all around ability. They are masters of all disciplines, which makes them triple tough to beat at all games.

Efren is the perfect example of a player that is well versed in many different cue games such as 9 ball, 8 ball, 14.1, one pocket, and carom.

The 9 ballers can hone their trade while they are young, but as time goes by and their skills fade (and that happens to everybody) they will have to rely on knowledge that is obtained in other disciples. If that knowledge is not there, I hope they like sitting and watching, cause they're in for a long life in the electric chair.

SUPER POST!....we all should read it a few times. I was dragged kicking and screaming from the world of 9ball into 14.1. I now see why my mentor did it, but at the time I was winning tourneys.....then go try to run 30 and couldn't do it all day!!!

After while you get use to jumping up after getting hit with a 100 ball run and your arm is ice and you get the job done.

Now, 15 years later I can play strong 14.1.....I ran in the 50's today....I'm learning 1pocket, and holding my own with the strong players in my area. My newest fad is Rotation. Thats what I practice when I can.

Gerry

 

[sjm]

I love straight pool more than any other game, and agree that it develops skills that translate well to other games and make one a well-rounded player, but I think the poster who called the game "uneventful" hit the nail on the head.

I have personally attended 11 world straight pool championships and 2 US Open straight pool championship events, and I can relate that there is far less clapping in a straight pool event than in a nine ball event, for a few reasons: 1) So many of the shots are very simple, 2) Good shot identification sometimes requires superior knowledge. Fans don't applaud when a pro bumps into the three ball to get it off the rail or when a pro runs into the twelve ball to create a key ball, though either migt constitute a magnificent shot, 3) Only very knowledgeable players will recognize a pattern well played. From the vantage point of a less accomplished player or viewer, the game is, indeed, uneventful, and I think it costs straight pool some popularity. Those of us with scholarship on the subject of straight pool don't find the game uneventful, but it's easy to see why most people do.

I would add that slow play is continuing to kill straight pool. The pace of play at the World 14.1 Championships this year was alarmingly slow, and if this is the example the top players set, is it any wonder that so many amateurs play at snail's pace? Played at snail's pace, straight pool is not even fun, and slow play threatens to take this wonderful game completely off the pool map.

 

[av84fun]

Too slow?

lol

Watch this match from 1993 (The Miz VS Oliver Ortmann) that dmgwalsh posted in the straight pool forum - the game is anything but slow - it is exciting - and it is VERY entertaining.

Ortmann Vs Mizerak

The game is also the best foundation to have for your complete game.

It is the game's best teacher.

Many people think that its easy, because they have never played the game before. It is the most frustrating, yet useful tool used to build your game. The past few months, (other than full rack banks) it's basically all I have been playing.

"Slow" is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not sure whether a 125 straight pool match would take any longer than, say, a race to 11 in 9 ball. But in 9, in a race to 13, each rack = 1/13th of the total score for each player whereas each ball pockected is only 1/125th of the total score...so it just SEEMS longer.

We live in a short attention span world. In the old days, there might have been 4 or 4 "cuts" in a 30 second tv commercial. Now there are a dozen or more.

But the poster who said that the mass audience got bored watching all those short little shots in 14.1 has it right. There is only a TINY number of people in the civilized world who have any idea how hard it is to select the correct route, play precise shape and read clusters well enought to be a champion 14.1 player.

Even the seemingly faster paced game of 9 Ball cannot achieve anything but small viewership in the U.S. and as the other poster pointed out, pool mathes never got a huge audience even in its prime...mostly because its prime preceded the proliferation of tv to the masses.

The fact is that the infamous Mosconi/Fats challenge match in 1978 was the highest rated pool tv program of all time and that was at a point when both those players were WAY past their primes.

So people didn't tune in to see championship pool played...they tuned in to see a GRUDGE match and the THEATER that promosed. Roone Arlidge said it all when he was asked why Wide World of Sports was the KING of sports programming when he said..."Show business."

It seems to me that those two words are entirely lost on the pool tournament world with such anti-theater factors such as soft breaking from tapped racks...winner breaks that can leave a world champion in his seat for nearly the entire "match"...banning of jump cues...and "shushing" of the audience cheers even between shots.

Those and other such things seem designed to make tv pool tournaments extinct.

Regards,
Jim

 

[av84fun]

Gerry..."After while you get use to jumping up after getting hit with a 100 ball run and your arm is ice and you get the job done."
Right...and that was/is another "flaw" from a mass audience appeal point of view ans was one of the "poison pills" in the game from the outset.

100 ball runs...and 125-150 and out runs was not and is not a "match" but rather an exhibition. Don't get me wrong...exhibitions are cool for what they are...but they do not include the DRAMA of punch and counter-punch...offense vs. defense...all the things that make exciting sports exciting.

Regards,
Jim

 

[Thecoats]

I struggle to watch 14.1 because you rarely see the back and forth defensive battles that you see in one pocket. I think one pocket is the most exciting pool game to watch on video. I have about four Accu-stats straight pool videos and I rarely make it past the first shooter's initial inning before I fall asleep. However, I can watch all of a one pocket match before old man sleep takes over me.

I agree that it is probably a great game and really helps your other games but to sit and watch one person run 100 while their opponent does not get to the table is no where near as exciting as watching Corey and Shane's race to 100 in 10-ball in my opinion.

-don

 

[3andstop]

Chess is to checkers what straight pool is to 9 ball.

Both enjoyable games, but one is no match for the other with regards to the depth of play that is available by the relative playing surfaces for each game.

In 9 ball, you have to decide which english to apply, period. The game tells you what you are to do beyond that.

IMO unfortunately and perhaps even unknowingly to the young players they choose to think less and shoot hard and fast. That's just what 9 ball offers.

The almost infinite choices of shots at times that straight pool offers, and the decisions you need to make, are what gets you through racks. All those choices, and decisions that develop patterns can be overwhelming.

That can be frustrating, and the easy solution, rather than study this abstract puzzle, is to give up on it for a more paint by number game like 9 ball.

I've enjoyed straight pool for many years. The only other pool game I enjoy as much or even more, both for watching and playing is One Pocket.

It has been argued the game is slow. I don't see any point rushing something I enjoy.

Depth of play, that's what makes the games of straight pool and One Pocket so interesting. The younger generation wants easy, fast and clear cut. Perhaps the element of luck is another plus that lends itself nicely to making excuses for not doing well in a game like 9 ball.

 

[jhendri2]

Straight pool is by far my favorite game to play and watch. There's not the tremondous shots made as in 1hole or 9, but watching the masters string a century or more always amazes me. I don't think it's popoular because you can't play it on a bar table and people get fewer games when paying table time.

Jim

 

[poolmouse]

The game is too slow.

The game isn't slow. Certain players are slow.

When I match up in straight pool, it's usually against someone who's relatively fast (like me). A game to 150 points rarely takes us more than an hour. I avoid slow players. Not worth the aggrivation.

The videos being posted on YouTube and Google (the former being more iPhone friendly <hint, hint>) will do more to popularize the game than any limited TV exposure. Can't educate viewers with one old monthly rerun of a tournament or exibition match.

Poolmouse

 

[powerlineman80]

Boring to watch? I'll tell you what is boring. A powderpuff break, with a wing ball going in the pocket 85-90% of the time and the one ball in the side 40-50% of the time on brand new equipment with pockets big enough to fit 2 billiards balls on the pockets.

DITTO!!!!

To me straight pool is the toughest. I think you learn more from it than any other game. I think it makes you better than any other game. More times than not you have to shoot bank shots and combos which will help you in 8 or 9 ball, etc. Most people hate straight pool because you have to play alot of safties and is tougher than they think it is. Its my favorite right now and probably always will be.

I play a member here every Wednesday and we generally play every kind of game you can think of every night (8, straight, and one pocket). Thing is he romps me in straight pool but its still fun because I'm still learning. I can hang with him in one pocket and we both learn off of each other and thats what matters more than anything. Most bangers want to just play 9 ball so they can always have a chance to win. I'd rather get stomped and learn than to stomp someone and not learn a damn thing.

 

[Fatboy]

Too slow?

lol

Watch this match from 1993 (The Miz VS Oliver Ortmann) that dmgwalsh posted in the straight pool forum - the game is anything but slow - it is exciting - and it is VERY entertaining.

Ortmann Vs Mizerak

The game is also the best foundation to have for your complete game.

It is the game's best teacher.

Many people think that its easy, because they have never played the game before. It is the most frustrating, yet useful tool used to build your game. The past few months, (other than full rack banks) it's basically all I have been playing.

Wow what a great match the one shot after the bad break was amazing.

The reason 14.1 isnt very popular is because its a niche market, only a % of pool players like it and only a % of people overall play pool thus 14.1 is a % of a % of the population and therefore has a very small but dedicated audience, and a smaller % of players(some of us are 14.1 railbirds). But those who love it, really love it, but again with the numbers and overall interest level being high among a very small number of people makes it a less popular game, its just a numbers game, it is also regional too, in N.Ca where I started playing I never ever saw it played once.

You could sell alot more how to play 8 ball videos than 14.1 videos, having said that I want to shoot and market a 14.1 video and market it for my love of the game not for $$$.

 

[curly]

I think straight is a game where there's a lot of creative thinking and decision making. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it seems like a very easy game until one tries to play it. I also think it requires long periods of concentration during an inning which the other pool games don't require. If you run 30 or more balls, your at the table concentrating for probably 15 minutes or more. Many experienced players (older) have difficulty concentrating for long periods hence the decision to play more 1-pocket. Pool has always weakened to the media to make the game quicker. There's many sports on TV that take 2-3 hours to play a game and straight is probably in that same time frame. I guess in pool there are many types of games to play which makes the media pick the shortest one and then edit the hell out of it! One hour program with many edits. That looses the drama of the game JMHO.
Curly

 

[Cameron Smith]

I think part of the issue has to do with peoples pre-conceptions as well as what you are taught. Around here, I know a lot of people who have had it ingrained in to their head that 9 ball is the highest challenge pool has to offer as you must play each ball in rotation. They don't like 14.1 because, as mentioned earlier, it seems too easy. I remember one person stating "it's not hard to run a rack". But he clearly doesn't get it.

We do not live in free thinking society, people tend believe what they are told to believe. Right now most pool players are told that 9 ball is the best game to play. Using the same reasoning that is employed in order to arrive at the aforementioned conclusion, Straight pool seems like a beginners game.

Whenever I introduce a new player to 14.1, they love it. Public perception needs to be changed in order for straight pool to become popular. But therein lies to problem.

It will take a lot more than a few tournaments to get people playing it.

Personally, it is my favorite game. Unlike any other pool game, two mismatched players can have a competitive game through the use of handicaps which is great for amateur leagues.

 

[ajrack]

Slow?

If you were playing $100 per game and $5 per ball in the score difference in a race to 100, (if the final score was 100 to 75, that makes $225 to the winner), I think many more would be playing or trying to play.
Play for $ per ball will liven it up a bit!
A race to 100 for $20 or $50 is boring.
I played a guy in Houston many years ago for $50 for a race to 125 and $2 per ball. I ran 88 right out of the box, he then got up and ran 125!!! I still think it was a great way to play straight pool.

 

[predator]

Forget the TV ratings, let's see why most pool players don't like it.
The plain truth is that most of us players suck at 14.1 badly. The game reveals all of our weaknesses, we are unwilling to accept that our game is really that bad. Instead of learning how to play properly, we claim it is "slow and boring" and quickly return to daily routine of 9ball or 8ball.