Amber Chen beats Allison Fisher in Canada
- Thread starter pt109
- Start date
Tough loss for Allison, winning 6 of the 10 games. But she gave away two games with pretty easy misses in the first set. Chen broke 4 times -- successful once, a B&R, and also won on 2 of her other 3 breaks. Allison broke 6 times; successful thrice, with 1 B&R and 5 wins on her break.
quite emotional at the end there, but also a bit confusing it seemed. even the commentators didn't know when she had won. it's time the spot shot went away.
chen has a peculiar stroke, like a reverse follow through where she pulls back instead. weird but it seems to work for her. nice win.
chen has a peculiar stroke, like a reverse follow through where she pulls back instead. weird but it seems to work for her. nice win.
How did she win with a Maple shaft?
first we bitched about no pro pool. then we got some pro pool and we bitched about the format. i didn't like it either at first but i've come to like the tension of the s.o. fans seem to love it and that's most likely their target, non hardcore fans. there will always be dcc, the world's and the open with more traditional formats. no need to get panties wadded up. 
i'm generally clueless about custom cues but that is a southwest, right?
quite likely. they are very popular in asian countries China especially.
The Taiwanese seem to be the only ones who know SWs are for playing.
they tend to go for the Jerry-era stuff too. must have some rich pool players over there.
Though it's a shame to decide any event with a shootout that tests just one of many skills pertinent to good play, each contestant knew in advance that to avoid it they'd have to win both sets. Neither managed it, so there's nothing unfair here. As I've said before on numerous occasions, I like short races, which, as we see every December at the Mosconi, magnify the tension.
It's always nice to see a new face in the winner's circle. Well played.
It's always nice to see a new face in the winner's circle. Well played.
I’m not saying it’s unfair, but it’s just a sad way to end any legitimate tournament. How about spot shots to determine who breaks followed by a 1 game sudden death? Spot shots to determine who wins is ridiculous, and I’m not saying this because Allison lost.
The announcers as well as the winning player herself weren’t even aware enough of the spot shot format to know when she had won.
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I'd prefer a lag and then a one-rack playoff, which would duplicate the format once used at the International Challenge of Champions.
Personally, your logic falls apart for me here in that they play football in a sudden death manner to finish the football game. The shootout isn't really pool to finish the pool match, in my opinion.
The worst part (and I watched part of this tournament in person) is that it's a waste of time. 80% of the shootout is time spent waiting for the referee...not that they are slow, that's not what I'm trying to say...Rack em up after 1 single shot gets old fast.
Let them play pool.
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Ditto. I think penalty kick shootouts are more comparable to spot shot shootouts. In each case, many of the core skills that define excellence in that sport are irrelevant to the tiebreaking procedure. In soccer, that means passing, staying onside, making a run, headers, offensive and defensive positioning, tackling, set pieces, stamina, etc. In pool, it means everything other than shooting the tiebreaker shot.
I can't improve on "let them play pool" so I won't even try.
skiergd011013
Well-known member
not a fan of the shootout thing. It just doesn't feel right in a pro tournament. It seems like it is more crapshoot luck than winning via skill and strategy. The commentators, and chen herself, didn't even know when she won. Should be one deciding rack like the good old days.
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Not qualified to be a bonafide critic so I offer my suggestion which I intend to be constructive. They play two sets to four and if they each win a set then they have a spot shot contest and the winner of that is declared overall winner. Not positive, but the primary purpose is to speed up the game. Why not have a race to 5 or 7 which negates a tie and the winner is the winner. I believe that would be faster that the spot shot contest and in keeping with using all skills within each pool players arsenal. Of course, they could have the spot shot contest first which makes, arguably, as much sense.