Steve Lipsky said:Thank you Lou, I do respect your opinion, as well as all the other posters.
Perhaps my disagreement can be seen a little better with the below diagrams. No matter what my opponent leaves when he misses, be it this:
or this:
or this:
within 3 or 4 shots, all the above tables will look like this:
I know a lot of you are around some amazing players, and so I am really perplexed why we're having this disagreement. You give an opening to Jose Garcia like any of these 3 tables, you WILL be sitting for a long time. Same thing for any of the top Chicago players you're around, Lou. Same thing for YOU, Lou.
I'll just say it this last time, and then let it go: If you expect to leave any of the top 3 layouts to a strong 14.1 player and get back to the table sometime soon, you're in for a surprise more than you think.
I guess I just don't see the value in comparing two runs of the same length based on if the first 3 shots were hard or easy. That's pretty much how I see this debate.
Still, I respect all of your opinions and will try to think about this some more to see if they grow on me.
Thanks,
Steve
Perhaps the basis of my response is rooted in a separate, but related subject, but here goes anyway: I think, given the conditions the vast majority of pool players across the country play under, even for a top player, the outcomes don't have to turn out as you describe. Why? Because, unlike those that play in a 14.1 milieu, where playing conditions and equipment are recognized to be an integral part of how the game should be played, most of us are playing under much more difficult conditions, with less than optimal equipment.
Consider the conditions many players play under: the balls, though Centennials, are often many years old and slightly pitted from those occasions when a mechanic hasn't properly pounded in all those little nails to keep the pocket liners in place. Though the balls may be cleaned regularly, they've probably been in use for many, many years, are not polished, the precise same size, and all that. The cloth on the table, though Simonis and vacuumed often, is frequently approaching a year or more in age. And then there's the pockets. Better players seek out tougher equipment. And so there's a chance they're playing on tables for which the word touchy does not begin to do them justice. All shots must be shot perfectly -- touch a cushion on the way in, and the ball will not drop.
Soooo, the TV or jukebox is blasting (or maybe both). The waitress, bartender, houseman, other customers are oblivious to what you're doing and frequently walk in front of your line-of-sight as you're about to backcut a break shot on that one ball with the big slice in it over an area of cloth with a slight but noticeable tear in it from the idiot who was on the table the night before demonstrating masse and jump shots to his girlfriend and towards a pocket that spits more than a merchant marine.
My point is that most players aren't playing in a room where 14.1 is the norm, the sweators all sit respectfully on the rail, the music is muted, the Simonis changed regularly, the pockets tough, but fair, and the year old Centennials cleaned and polished daily. Under those kinds of conditions, my answer would be yes: given the situations you outlined, the balls will drop, spread nicely, and you're in for a long spell in the chair. But under the much more common conditions I described above, no. No one has to like continuing a run.
Lou Figueroa
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