I doubt it. According to At Large stats, the breaker won the game 50% of the time. That means that the breaker had no advantage and the break, for practical purposes, was trivialized in the formula for victory.
Count me in the other camp. I thought this format was much more intense than in previous tournaments, though I felt bad for Shane (and any player) who counts the break as a big weapon like he does.
Not the point, my friend. When this change was announced, I argued that such a sudden and dramatic change of the break rule midseason was a mistake as it did not give players sufficient time to prepare for it. I really wanted to be wrong on this point, but it seems I was right. Also, as a player, how hard do you want to prepare for this break rule when Matchroom seems to change the break rule over and over.
But wasn't the break rule very similar to the Euro Tour? Many, if not almost all participants, played that tour before. I also think, prepping for the break itself is not rocket science to Open/Pro level players. Karl even had a video explaining before what he expects everybody to try to do: 1 in the side and trying to kick the 9 afterwards.
The Eurotour is played on looser equipment. A couple of Eurotour players told me that nine on the spot came about because of the easier equipment used on Eurotour. Yes, Eurotour players are all used to nine on the spot, which has been in use for years And, yes, the Matchroom Tour is looking more and more like a European Tour, but I doubt that is the long term plan.
I didn't watch as much as I wish I would have, but whatever I saw looked exciting to me, lots of strategic/safety battle. One example: I tuned in to Dominguez - Filler at 5-5 or 6-6 and Dominguez missed some safeties by not even an inch and Filler kicked across the whole table. You could see how they were both grinding.
Which, by the way, is how my father, who had no interest at all in billiards, got hooked on Snooker. Once you realize how the minds battle, it gets very interesting.of course, everybody is entitled to their opinions
I can understand your point. However I’ve always thought that the object of the game was to pocket all the balls and win the game.
You are correct, but using a template with the one on the spot, where the wing ball is wired and they know pretty much where the one will end up, leading to 4 or 5 stop shots to win, while surely effective, is boring to watch. Imagine golf where every putt on the green was a 20ft. straight in...tough for the general bangers, but the pros would work it until they could do it with their eyes closed.
Stu, I think what MR is trying/doing is whats needed.
It depends who they are trying to please. The top pros? The rest of the players in the event? The pool fans watching? Or the average joe/sports fan watching? I don't think there is a format they can come up with that will please everyone.
Making the pros look ‘too good’ isn’t a good thing either for the average Joe and his wife casually surfing the channels for something to watch. They see pro pool on tv and naturally assume that they never miss and change the channel.