Alcaide vs. Lely Ridiculous Shootout
- Thread starter Cornerman
- Start date
Coin tossing would be less stressfull 
There has been a massive shift in the play since last tournament.
Look at the following:
Break and Run percentage.
Balls made on the break.
Number of consecutive break and runs.
Men or Women, young or old...everyone was doing better. Why?
I understand that the only changes in conditions are that the same cloth is being used as in the last tournament. Which means there's no break-in process. It is all slow nappy cloth from the get go. Whereas, last time, day 1 and 2 has a lot of slide. Fuzz on rail would change the way the ball would grip the rail, thus making it far more speed sensitive. A lot of people had difficulty getting the angle they wanted off that rail. Also, they are using Diamond lights directy over the tables. At the Venetian, they had the lighting up high on the rigging above. They used these diffused minispot lights (dunno what they're called). The table layout looks better too. LESS distracting it appears. At the Venetian, they were in a more clustered format, with people walking around and so much more movement in people's view. Maybe the referee's are less intrusive this time? That could be another factors?
That's about it from what I can tell not being there.
How can the field change in the break and run dept so much in just 1 month since the last tournament? Almost makes no sense. There have been way more 7-packs this time. Many of the women were getting 2, 3 and 4 break and runs in a match. That didn't happen last time. Last time, they had to struggle and would barely get 1 B&R per match.
I'm puzzled. Did the level really get that much higher in such a short span? Did having one tournament under their belt improve familiarity with conditions that much? Was it a money motivator? Did the reality of the huge payouts to the top players sink in to the rest of the field and they woke up?
Last tournament, making a ball on the break was difficult even for the best of the best. Manalo, who had one of the best breaks would not string 7 racks together because he'd fail to make a ball on the break. Heck, most of the time he wouldn't string more than 3 at best.
Look at the following:
Break and Run percentage.
Balls made on the break.
Number of consecutive break and runs.
Men or Women, young or old...everyone was doing better. Why?
I understand that the only changes in conditions are that the same cloth is being used as in the last tournament. Which means there's no break-in process. It is all slow nappy cloth from the get go. Whereas, last time, day 1 and 2 has a lot of slide. Fuzz on rail would change the way the ball would grip the rail, thus making it far more speed sensitive. A lot of people had difficulty getting the angle they wanted off that rail. Also, they are using Diamond lights directy over the tables. At the Venetian, they had the lighting up high on the rigging above. They used these diffused minispot lights (dunno what they're called). The table layout looks better too. LESS distracting it appears. At the Venetian, they were in a more clustered format, with people walking around and so much more movement in people's view. Maybe the referee's are less intrusive this time? That could be another factors?
That's about it from what I can tell not being there.
How can the field change in the break and run dept so much in just 1 month since the last tournament? Almost makes no sense. There have been way more 7-packs this time. Many of the women were getting 2, 3 and 4 break and runs in a match. That didn't happen last time. Last time, they had to struggle and would barely get 1 B&R per match.
I'm puzzled. Did the level really get that much higher in such a short span? Did having one tournament under their belt improve familiarity with conditions that much? Was it a money motivator? Did the reality of the huge payouts to the top players sink in to the rest of the field and they woke up?
Last tournament, making a ball on the break was difficult even for the best of the best. Manalo, who had one of the best breaks would not string 7 racks together because he'd fail to make a ball on the break. Heck, most of the time he wouldn't string more than 3 at best.
Bola Ocho said:
I see a few things here:
1) The folks who played in the NA Open got used to the cloth during THAT tournament, so now they've got more of an idea how to play on it this go around;
2) Assuming they didn't recover the tables, the cloth is now nicely broken in from the last tournament. From what I've read and heard, that slow-nap cloth starts off REALLY slow and as it's played on, it tends to speed up some, but obviously not to the point of, say, Simonis 860.
3) Folks are just practicing a hell of a lot more and are at the top of their games?