I enjoy watching 9 or 10 ball when the video quality is good and the traditional colors for the calls are used. Otherwise, you are right- it is too confusing- I often can't tell which ball they are setting up for (particularly the strange new colors for the 4 and 5)
9 ball is here to stay correct?
- Thread starter Positively Ralf
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I enjoy watching the pros play bar table 8 ball. Yes, they often get out, but they have to negotiate some challenging break outs and play very good position.
This is my favorite bar table 8 ball match- masterful performance by Deuel.
Matt_H
New member
I'm sure Darren Appleton played an 8 Ball cash game, a few years back, where a red & yellow ball set were used on a 9 footer. For some reason it's not something that's taken off and I'm not sure why other than for call-shot purposes. However, the market for bespoke NFL, NBA, NCAA etc balls perhaps indicates that not everyone purchases a set of balls for rotation or call-shot games.
Nothing is here to stay. We just think we are living in the most exciting times ever. 9 ball as currently played is choking the art of pool. Watch half dozen games and you'd have to rewind to dozing off spot. The game itself plus the most boring humans on earth not earning enough $$ need sponsors. Folks want entertainment. Not masochistic therapy. A League of Earl's would do it overnite.....even 9 ball would survive then....put a table in a home and it comes to life.
You may no be in the minority. I'm with your view. Most home tables likely see 8 ball by far I'm willing to bet. Live pool on tv is not given much time so games like 9 ball are called for 1 to 2 minute games. Streaming has opened some doors but ya have to shell out for it. Watching SVB play Orcollo run to 120 in 3 days for $30 would drive me to the bottle. That's where we are at. When I started in 60's pool was all in parlors. 14.1 and 5-9 for gamblers. Yes we made the 5 a $$ ball. Imagine that. Now it's all in Homes and thriving. So pool is in a hard spot. 1 camera, boring walking dead competition, dress code from homeless sales.
Most bars make $0.50 to $1.00 per rack..............
This reminds me of a saying I used to utter every once in a while:: "There is not enough oxygen, at sea level, to read patents and stay awake while doing so".
I always describe 8B as a shot selection game and 9B as a shot execution game. My mental abilities on the table are much greater than my playing abilities (as I'm sure most are that way), the result is, I'm more favored to run an 8B rack than a 9B rack at any given time.
I don't see why it needs to be just one game. An annual pool calendar where there's different seasons for different games gives the variety that helps attract different viewers and helps emphasize different skills. I think of tennis. While the rules for that sport are always the same, the pro calendar features stretches where the tournaments are played on different surfaces leading up to a major that caps that part of the year and the respective surface's string of tournaments, like clay court season leading to the French Open and the (rather brief but tradition filled) grass court season leading to Wimbledon. You could have an 8-ball season, a 9-ball season, even a short straight pool season for the traditionalists.
Nyquil
Well-known member
9 ball will be around for a long while imo. Something special about that diamond like shape of the rack and the sound/volatility of the break shot. The ball layouts can yield some challenges even for the pro's. A lot of the best "highlight reel" moments are from 9 ball matches.
soyale
Well-known member
i think we should let 9 ball be the break and run contest that it is. Packages are awesome to watch, hell leave the one on the spot and let em rack their own. Early 9s all day. See who flinches first.
As for ten ball, i think it should be the counter balance to 9 ball. Early ten spots. I personally really enjoy the call shot call safe format, and i feel taking away standard 2way shot opportunities changes the game significantly enough from 9ball to warrant its existence (whereas otherwise it just seems like triangle rack 9ball).
i think 61 rotation will end up being the “next” game, when and if the tide does shift. with the death of television and the dawn of the age of streaming, people’s viewing habits will change and programming will change to keep up. like sands through the hourglass.
hell, in america, there is no more such thing as affordable housing and doesn’t look like there ever will be again. maybe we will reach another depression age and 14.1 will take off again.
i’ll hold my breath!
As for ten ball, i think it should be the counter balance to 9 ball. Early ten spots. I personally really enjoy the call shot call safe format, and i feel taking away standard 2way shot opportunities changes the game significantly enough from 9ball to warrant its existence (whereas otherwise it just seems like triangle rack 9ball).
i think 61 rotation will end up being the “next” game, when and if the tide does shift. with the death of television and the dawn of the age of streaming, people’s viewing habits will change and programming will change to keep up. like sands through the hourglass.
hell, in america, there is no more such thing as affordable housing and doesn’t look like there ever will be again. maybe we will reach another depression age and 14.1 will take off again.
i’ll hold my breath!
I agree with letting 10 ball be a more regulated version of 9 ball. No early 10, call shot and a bit more difficult break makes it a different game for most of us average players. And still entertaining to watch or play.
However, I’ve mostly seen 10 ball played as call shot not call shot/call safe. Call shot/call safe takes the two way shot out of the game.
All that being said, 9 ball is my favorite game to watch. Even short races with a shootout to settle ties. Everything about it seems to favor the rhythm shooters with fire power and I find that entertaining.
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soyale
Well-known member
I said this in my post.
leave that for 9 ball, which is more of a chance game. Yes, it takes away 2way shots (which are a part of EVERY other game), but it also takes away the agony of your opponent missing and getting a lucky hook. it takes away playing safe and making the ball on accident to where you just safed yourself.
Like i said, it gives tenball a reason to exist other than just being a more boring 9ball. It forces a new strategy and set of probabilities on each shot. I’d like to see that rule used more often, i think it would catch on.
Otherwise why not just play 9ball?
Also, in the current WPA 10 ball rules, i cannot interpret any good reason to ever play “safe.” I went so far as to send them an email about it but never got a response.
For the record, I’m in complete agreement with everything you’ve said. I’m even a fan of call shot/call safe for taking more luck out of certain games. Your points are the same points I have frequently used, in an effort, to keep 10 ball from becoming a watered down version of 9 ball. Different games that should be kept different.
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Wise man gave me education on 9 Ball Bar Tournaments, at 50 cents a game going into feed bar box.
He said when bar is advertising they are adding money,
when you calculate money going in too bar table.We crucch number in 60 player field, bar said there were boosting prize fund $500.00, they did and pocketed about $300.00.
So the clam was pure
, bar added in real dollar nothing.Did well with microbewsve pizza, pop, ice tea, beer, wine & hard booze.
I'm probably looping this point but I'd rather be boring than see this lost. Rotation and one hole for that matter, should be played to the last ball which would determine who breaks. The scoring should be a running total like most major sports. Time limited or total points or both. Many other scoring variations plug right in.
Playing 15 ball racks in this manner also affords the player everything (maybe not the various breaks) that'll come up in rotation and is the motherlode as far as shooting practice with your buddies goes.
Thing I notice about 10 ball is the equal distribution of balls. Often, the outs are far simpler than straight pool.