alternate breaks

Unknown

Unknown

just another banger
Silver Member
what do you guys think about the alternating breaks? its nice to see so many close matches, but i would much rather see the players put together some packs. also when i was watching one match one of the commentators brought up the fact that alternate breaks can be in the favour of lesser skilled players because they are getting the chance to be at the table every second game (atleast) where as if it were winner break they could possibly be sitting for much longer.
 
This has come up many times, and there is always a split opinion. Some like the packs players can put together so the other guy is frozen out. Others like the tennis style approach where each player 'serves' and tried to hold onto the rack where he breaks. I personally feel watching someone win easily with a six or seven pack is for exhibition. It shows awesome skill but it is not a contest. Matches should be two people competing against one another battling it out for supremacy. I wouldn't be interested seeing Roger Federer winning 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 with 'winner serves' and I feel the same should apply to pool (or any sport for that matter). I think most sports do share out the advantage. Tennis, table tennis, darts, and football come to mind. I mean should a team that has just scored a touchdown have the ball kicked to them so they can rack up 'touchdown packs' ?
 
guess i never saw it that way, but i think i still prefer winner breaks. one question how common is it for money games to be played in an alternating break format?
 
Unknown said:
guess i never saw it that way, but i think i still prefer winner breaks. one question how common is it for money games to be played in an alternating break format?
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It's a long way to travel and expensive. It gives each player a fair shake & puts the control of the situation more in their hands. I made a similar statement with the IPT situation, there were allot of racks run by the breaker. It's no different than a player situation here in the states. I would drive 600 miles one way to play in a tournament if it was a race to 9 or better but a race to 5, too much luck. When you start throwing in other factors like alternate break, loser brakes these are factors that will always favor the better player and make the outcome more realistic.
In the final I think it's a race to 17, winner break would be exciting there. Once the event is over the feedback from players and TV production will be determining factors. Even the small round robin groupings are concern to some.
When an event is put together with this type of organization, the players and the spectators are treated special, like the game itself is.
 
When they first announced this years event would be alternating breaks I was initally against it. But now after seeing the increase in hill-hill matches I don't think it's entirely a bad thing. On the other side of things, it has definitely benefitted some of the weaker players, perhaps this is why we are seeing an unusually high number of upsets in the group stages? Another problem is that a match can become very boring when one player falls well behind, if you fall behind say 7-2 in a race to eight you can kiss your ass goodbye!
 
always mixed feelings on this subject,

one problem I have with alternate breaks, nobody can get into a good enough groove to start breaking really well, we've seen alot of crappy breaking in this tourney which has resulted in some long, slow matches filled with push outs
and safeties
 
smashmouth said:
always mixed feelings on this subject,

one problem I have with alternate breaks, nobody can get into a good enough groove to start breaking really well, we've seen alot of crappy breaking in this tourney which has resulted in some long, slow matches filled with push outs
and safeties
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Yeah maybe make it longer races with winner break, but I find great enjoyment in watching the roll out tactics. When I see a top player make a mental error on a push it tells me allot more than running out open balls.
 
The biggest problem I have is that good breakers are
being penalized, all the time and effort they put
into that shot at the expense of the rest of their game is now being
nullified.

Cory Duel started to master the soft break, what
happened, they ban it all over the place. His creativity is penalized by those who can't do what he does.

I don't like this trend.
 
sniper said:
If you fall behind say 7-2 in a race to eight you can kiss your ass goodbye!
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Too right. If you are 7-2 behind, accept you've played a bad game and deserve to lose. You shouldn't be able to come back without your opponent doing anything about it.
 
I agree with aleternate break in group stages, but not in the knock out stages...let alone the final.
Big comebacks become near impossible. The essence of 9ball is one's ability to string many racks together.
Why are they (Matchroom) so afraid of winner breaks anyway? Last year we've seen only 2 or so 5-packs. It is very unlikely that we would see many more this year, because as I understand...the pockets are about 1.8 balls wide???
 
predator said:
I agree with aleternate break in group stages, but not in the knock out stages...let alone the final.
Big comebacks become near impossible. The essence of 9ball is one's ability to string many racks together.
Why are they (Matchroom) so afraid of winner breaks anyway? Last year we've seen only 2 or so 5-packs. It is very unlikely that we would see many more this year, because as I understand...the pockets are about 1.8 balls wide???
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No one likes to travel across the globe and have a large package put on them right out of the gate. But once you get to the round of 64.....race to 11 winner breaks, double elimination and play it out like the US Open. Nothing better than seeing someone come from the losers side to win and event, now thats exciting.
 
Also, consider that for this tourney the decision to implement
alternate breaks was imposed at the last minute, if I'm not mistaken, the
players were under the assumption for months that alternating was for 1st round only.
 
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