8 Ball Should Be The Choice.........

jimmy-leggs

jimmy-leggs

A GREAT DAY
Silver Member
In order for pool to be a successful and profitable sport 8 BALL has to the game of choice.The population of people that play leisurely and would watch it on T.V. far out weighs 9 ball.
K.T.(or who ever was telling him what to promote)was right when the I.P.T. was founded.People who play socially,which I understand is around 45 million people in the states,the majority play 8 BALL.So why would anyone of those people want to watch professional players on T.V. playing 9 ball.For the average JOE not understanding the game.
I know alot of you are not going to agree with me but lets be realistic the MAJORITY of the world plays 8 ball so for it to be popular,and in the mainstream you have to market it that way.
just my 2 cents.
 
i disagree. 8 ball, whilst it may have a great tactical element to it, can be boring to watch for a lot of people. no big shots like say nine ball. no whizzing the whiteball around the table as much either.
 
I agree completely. The only thing worse than playing 9ball is watching it on tv.

8 ball is a good tv format. Watching some of the IPT matches reinforced that for me.

The games were quick enough and way more interesting than 9ball
 
jimmy-leggs said:
In order for pool to be a successful and profitable sport 8 BALL has to the game of choice.The population of people that play leisurely and would watch it on T.V. far out weighs 9 ball.
K.T.(or who ever was telling him what to promote)was right when the I.P.T. was founded.People who play socially,which I understand is around 45 million people in the states,the majority play 8 BALL.So why would anyone of those people want to watch professional players on T.V. playing 9 ball.For the average JOE not understanding the game.
I know alot of you are not going to agree with me but lets be realistic the MAJORITY of the world plays 8 ball so for it to be popular,and in the mainstream you have to market it that way.
just my 2 cents.
Click to expand...

I fully agree. Here here!

Ks293.jpg
 
worriedbeef said:
i disagree. 8 ball, whilst it may have a great tactical element to it, can be boring to watch for a lot of people. no big shots like say nine ball. no whizzing the whiteball around the table as much either.
Click to expand...


worriedbeef, (what the heck is does that mean anyway:confused: :) ),

I agree with jimmy. More people will be able to relate to something they do themselves, and let's face it, more of the "masses" play 8 ball than 9 ball or one pocket, etc.

As for your coments, those shots will happen in the 8 ball rack when whitey gets out of line and the shooter has to come with a shot.

Pool is such a BEAUTIFUL game / sport anyway. I just don't understand why it's not more popular than it is.

Wonder if that Beckham dude will switch to pocket billiards someday....
 
Rotating 8

9-Ball is easy to watch as the viewer knows what the next shot is going to be. However, it is too "easy" for most pros who can run 5-6 games with out blinking an eye.

8-Ball is the game everyone plays. It is fast and far too easy for pros. So I think that combining the two makes the best game.

I suggest Rotating 8-Ball. Each player has to make his colors in rotation and bank the 8. Now there is a tough game, can be identified with and admired, reasonably fast, and it is unlikely that one player can dominate for very long given the layouts.

Put that on a shot clock (like chess) and you have one hell of a match with the pros racing to shut off the clock.

If there was a no saftety rule that would give everyone something to argue about. Lets see, on every shot at least one of the shooter's balls must move at least six inches and come within one inch of a pocket or its ball in hand for the opponent.

Can't ya see it now!
 
Last edited:
JoeW said:
9-Ball is easy to watch as the viewer knows what the next shot is going to be. However, it is too "easy" for most pros who can run 5-6 games with out blinking an eye.

8-Ball is the game everyone plays. It is fast and far too easy for pros. So I think that combining the two makes the best game.

I suggest Rotating 8-Ball. Each player has to make his colors in rotation and bank the 8. Now there is a tough game, can be identified with and admired, reasonably fast, and it is unlikely that one player can dominate for very long given the layouts.

Put that on a shot clock (like chess) and you have one hell of a match with the pros racing to shut off the clock.

If there was a no saftety rule that would give everyone something to argue about. Lets see, on every shot at least one of the shooter's balls must move at least six inches and come within one inch of a pocket or its ball in hand for the opponent.

Can't ya see it now!
Click to expand...
Wow, that sounds like a game I played last weekend at the bar, except we were playing bank last pocket
 
I like the shot clock because it is more like a football game. The players would need to be aggressive and would need to move around quickly. This would add some excitement.

Did you see that face plant? :D
 
good points

i think you all made some good points.ive said this before and i think it would work,let the viewers watch 8ball for awhile and slowly but surely introduce them to other games and how they should be played correctly.....kinda like kids that start riding lil dirt bikes and years later they have a new harley in the garage.... i know i never really cared about one pocket until i saw the game being played by great players!
 
8 ball

When I did a report for my speech class I found some statistics on pool, I will have to see if I can dig them up again.

8-ball is the most played billiards sport anywhere, followed by 9-ball at least according to what I found.

Anyway if I find it again I will let you all know.
 
worriedbeef, (what the heck is does that mean anyway ),

Pool is such a BEAUTIFUL game / sport anyway. I just don't understand why it's not more popular than it is.
Click to expand...

agree completely :(


I agree with jimmy. More people will be able to relate to something they do themselves, and let's face it, more of the "masses" play 8 ball than 9 ball or one pocket, etc.

As for your coments, those shots will happen in the 8 ball rack when whitey gets out of line and the shooter has to come with a shot.
Click to expand...

take the IPT. a lot of the matches could have been construed as quite boring to watch - not to the pool fan like you and me, but to your average joe. most of the shots appear very simple and when it's played well by the pro's... well. it just looks too easy and boring.

plus there's not much safety people can appreciate. 9-ball safety is simpler to understand and easier to visualise and watch. 9 ball is the game for the masses i think.

anyhow, whilst the choice of discipline is relevant to pool becoming good to watch on tv, i don't think it's what's held it back so far. more like tv production and money.
 
JoeW said:
9-Ball is easy to watch as the viewer knows what the next shot is going to be. However, it is too "easy" for most pros who can run 5-6 games with out blinking an eye.

8-Ball is the game everyone plays. It is fast and far too easy for pros.
Click to expand...

IMO, a good measure of how easy a game is for the pros is the composite average percentage of BnRs.

Surprisingly, if you go to the IPT website and take a good, long look at the 2006 season statistics, the average Break and Run percentages for the top echelon of IPT players when they won the game is ~30%... which is about the exact same percentage that Phil Capelle found when he analyzed ~100 matches of 9-ball played by the pros... very interesting!!!!

That suggests that the difficulty of the two games is very similar... that is, if you support my premise. ;)
 
cigardave said:
IMO, a good measure of how easy a game is for the pros is the composite average percentage of BnRs.

Surprisingly, if you go to the IPT website and take a good, long look at the 2006 season statistics, the average Break and Run percentages for the top echelon of IPT players when they won the game is ~30%... which is about the exact same percentage that Phil Capelle found when he analyzed ~100 matches of 9-ball played by the pros... very interesting!!!!

That suggests that the difficulty of the two games is very similar... that is, if you support my premise. ;)
Click to expand...
I DO support your premise,I just think the t.v. veiwer would rather watch 8 BALL because that is what THEY are playing.
 
jimmy-leggs said:
I DO support your premise,I just think the t.v. veiwer would rather watch 8 BALL because that is what THEY are playing.
Click to expand...
I agree, jimmy... it's too bad the IPT folded before it got some extensive TV exposure here in the states... cuz... had the coverage been done right, the commentators could have shown via diagram what the player's run-out plan was... and if the the player didn't get out, where they went wrong. And they could have explained in advance why a player played a safety... and why they played it that particular way.

It could have been an excellent learning tool for the masses... too bad it failed.
 
JoeW said:
9-Ball is easy to watch as the viewer knows what the next shot is going to be. However, it is too "easy" for most pros who can run 5-6 games with out blinking an eye.

8-Ball is the game everyone plays. It is fast and far too easy for pros. So I think that combining the two makes the best game.

I suggest Rotating 8-Ball. Each player has to make his colors in rotation and bank the 8. Now there is a tough game, can be identified with and admired, reasonably fast, and it is unlikely that one player can dominate for very long given the layouts.

Put that on a shot clock (like chess) and you have one hell of a match with the pros racing to shut off the clock.

If there was a no saftety rule that would give everyone something to argue about. Lets see, on every shot at least one of the shooter's balls must move at least six inches and come within one inch of a pocket or its ball in hand for the opponent.

Can't ya see it now!
Click to expand...

I think if you made the game that tough the "masses" would just think that the pro's don't play as good as they thought.

I do think 8 ball is better than 9 ball but I would love to see banks or even one pocket get a shot at TV. People can appreciate the difficulty of making banks, they don't see why it's so tough to shoot straight in shots (and have no appreciation of what it takes to have easy shots).

Obviously one pocket would be a tough sell and it would need to be given enough time to educate the masses (hell most pool players I know don't even like the game, though I can't figure out why), but they did it with snooker. That game takes some explaining but it's very popular in Europe.
 
I gotta say about nine ball, it is by far the best as far as the tv viewing experience

you almost always know what the player is shooting, how, and why...

you can see the patterns develop and almost see what the player sees

you can record a nine ball event with minimal technical expertise/equipment and it still shows pretty well

The IPT 8 ball coverage was tough to follow even with the outstanding production and Straight pool has way too many subtle shots and angles for the viewer to appreciate

If pool production standards ever reach something along the lines of BBC snooker then I say Straight pool is the way to go, but for now, Nine Ball
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top