832
- Thread starter Fatboy
- Start date
I just don't ever see the discipline becoming mainstream again. These guys can all run over 200 balls on a Diamond, so what's the point? Maybe there's a version of 14.1 out there that would be palatable to pool fans, but it's not a version that those longing for 14.1 tourneys would recognize.
Something like a 10 or 15 second shot clock 14.1 on a tight Diamond. Maybe with a shot clock and tight pockets, early round matches could be to 100. Under a tight shot clock, deep pattern knowledge would actually be worth something. As it is now, if you give world class players time they tend to figure out a decent pattern. Same with one-pocket. A real knowledge advantage is only realized if utilizing a short shot clock.
I enjoy watching some of the old-school 14.1 matches, but I think they are best left in the past unless the game is repackaged.
The attention span of the average human these days isn’t going to make straight pool interesting to watch Imo
832 is the correct number
I'm not really for repacking anything. Either one likes 14.1, or one doesn't. Hell, I like Derby rules requiring jumping with one's playing cue, but that's just me. Your points are fair, but the main one is that this discipline is of a bygone era unlikely to return.
Having said that, I saw two inexperienced players playing 14.1 on a bar box a month or so ago. How offbeat is that? They told me they saw the game on the Internet and thought it looked cool.
Maybe gawd will roll the stone away from this game's tomb yet.
Or not.
These are the fringe games within the fringe sport of pool. There is almost zero interest....and that's not ever changing. Even the average person who plays pool regularly will never play these games and can't run a rack of 9 ball. When they go Vegas for league in say the BCA, they won't even go watch the pros for free.
I for one relish the fringe aspects of pool. The gamblers, clowns and pros...the money. What other sport can you play vs the best in the world in a $200 or less tournament?
Pool is better than it has been in a long time. Myself I'm pretty much done....Zero action here=zero reason to stay in stroke. Probably gonna dump the 9 foot Diamond with Littman light....7k cash and I got access to a cart to move it. My cues are going in the box with me so someone can find them in 100 years and wonder just WTH they are.
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then the problem lies within the average human, not the beautiful game of straight pool...
but i agree, your analysis is probably correct. there won't be big money in straight pool anytime soon (or one pocket for that matter, despite it being the best game of all cue sports). for straight pool pocket tourneys to happen we need rich patrons that can pony up the money.
you need the participants to pony up much bigger entry fees to build big prize pools. then you get some interest building.
think poker tournaments:
local ones 50 to 100 dollar entry gets all sorts of players
state wide 300 to 1000 get lots of both more in 300 sizes
1000 and up to 10,000 get lots of both pros and amateurs and some really weak players. (getting thousands of entrants)
over 10,000 just mostly top pros and still some bad rich fun players
pool tournaments over 500 entry fee all pros as its totally skill based and no amateur can cash.
see the difference .
think poker tournaments:
local ones 50 to 100 dollar entry gets all sorts of players
state wide 300 to 1000 get lots of both more in 300 sizes
1000 and up to 10,000 get lots of both pros and amateurs and some really weak players. (getting thousands of entrants)
over 10,000 just mostly top pros and still some bad rich fun players
pool tournaments over 500 entry fee all pros as its totally skill based and no amateur can cash.
see the difference .
Maybe the thing I like best about pool is that when you play it YOU get to play. I want to play more than I want to watch pros. Yes, I like watching them sometimes and like watching matches online. But if I’m in Las Vegas for the CSI/BCA stuff I’d rather play. Whether a mini tournament or going to Griffs. Yeah, I’d watch the pros some, especially a one pocket action match, but I’d generally rather play.
When in Denver last weekend we went to an Avalanche game. Hadn’t been to a pro game in any sport in a while. Cheap seats like $50 each purchased online fairly close to game time. Beer and a pretzel like $24. To sit there and watch. I like hockey but please. To do that often? Not for me.
Ma, it's ability to be done on the cheap, gives our game extreme latitude on where the Eskimos can go.... and do go.
Yeah I just meant like fast pace rotation.
Maybe a good example would be being older I enjoy an Old school defensive and hard running low scoring football game. The younger generation thinks thats terrible and wants to see a 42 to 40 Throwing the ball every down game.
All are welcome to come play at my events.
Straight pool could be fun again if they added one bank or a multi rail kick shot to each rack mandatory. If no banks were made you have to bank the break ball or play safe. One pocket enthusiasts would like the occasional safety wars and hundred ball runs would become a lot more rare. There would always be at least one exciting shot per rack. What would be a good name for such a game? Maybe Straight pool plus. Or Bank 14.1.
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pool players know the pecking order, especially in games like one pocket, and especially when they have to pony up 10k. i don't think there would be enough entrants to even call it a tournament. maybe 7-8 players. poker is different for obvious reasons
I think it is simply a matter of attention spans getting shorter across the entire population due to social media and other forms of digital entertainment, so a game that is reliant on running large numbers of balls in one inning, no matter what limitations you put on that, is not going to appeal to watchers, whether in person or on TV.
Watching 14.1 appeals to us hardcore fans, sure... But we are not the ones that Matchroom is making a profit off of, as far as televised events and whatnot.
The truth of it is that prolly 5x (or more) the number of people play poker regularly as play pool.. When you have such a difference in participation numbers, there's a lot of room for the dead money to find a level of competition that the pros/shortstops are not gonna be interested in. I doubt you find many pros grinding out $65 tournaments at small casinos, but lesser players will play multiple in a row.
And the money is so good in poker.. They don't have to. The equivalent of a poker "shortstop" can grind out a pretty decent living at $5-$10 or $10-$20 NL, which the lesser players aren't gonna go anywhere near.
As opposed to pool.. Where anyone outside the top 20 players in America have to grind every mid size tournament they can find, and the next 200 or so below those top 20 is hitting up every tournament they can, of any size. And are still living on someone's couch.