Break Stats -- 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship, December 2018

[AtLarge]

Break Stats -- 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship, December 2018

Here are some aggregate break statistics from the 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship played this past week in Doha, Qatar, with free live streaming provided by Dariusz Goral on YouTube. This was a 128-player event. Players were divided into 16 groups of 8 players, with double elimination in each group to eliminate 4 from each group. Then the last 64 players played single-elimination rounds to the end. Joshua Filler won the event.

Conditions -- The conditions for the streamed matches included:

- Wiraka 9-foot tables;​

- blue Simonis cloth;​

- Magic Rack racking template;​

- Aramith balls with the measles cue ball;​

- alternate breaks from anywhere behind the head string;​

- rack your own through the round of 16 players, then referee racks, with the 1-ball on the foot spot and the 2-ball at the back of the rack;​

- the break is illegal (and non-breaker has an option to shoot) unless at least 3 balls pass the head string or are pocketed;​

- foul on all balls;​

- jump cues allowed;​

- no shot clock through the round of 16 players, then a shot clock for the final 7 matches; and​

- all slop counts.​

Four matches were streamed in each of the 17 designated match time slots over a 7-day period (including a national holiday, with no play). I watched 14 of these matches -- 2 from the group play, 1 from the round of 64 players, 4 from the round of 16 players, and the final 7 matches (Quarterfinals through Finals). These 14 matches represented just 6.3% of the event's total of 223 matches played, but included 73% (11 matches) of the event's final 15 matches.

[Note: These stats exclude 5 games from these 14 matches because of streaming problems -- the first 4 games in the Van Boening/Melling match and the first game of the Filler/Ouschan match. So the total number of games tracked was 236 instead of 241.]

Fri., Dec. 14, 2018

Shane Van Boening defeated Marek Kudlik 9-1​

Sat., Dec. 15

Takano Tomoo d. Wu Jiaqing 9-8​

Mon., Dec. 17

Van Boening d. Cheng Yu-Hsuan (Kevin) 11-7​

Wed., Dec. 19

Van Boening d. Chris Melling 11-5​

Joshua Filler d. Robbie Capito 11-1​

Carlo Biado d. Wu J. 11-9​

Wu Kun-Lin d. Petri Makkonen 11-6​

Van Boening d. Chang Jung-Lin 11-8​

Alex Kazakis d. Corey Deuel 11-8​

Filler d. Albin Ouschan 11-6​

Biado d. Wu K-L 11-4​

Thurs., Dec. 20

Biado d. Van Boening 11-6 (SEMIFINAL)​

Filler d. Kazakis 11-10 (SEMIFINAL)​

Filler d. Biado 13-10 (FINAL)​

Overall results

■ Successful breaks (broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul) -- 83% (101 of 121) for match winners, 84% (97 of 115) for match losers, and 84% (198 of 236) in total​

​

■ Breaker won the game -- 76% (92 of 121) for match winners, 51% (59 of 115) for match losers, and 64% (151 of 236) in total​

​

■ Break-and-run games -- 55% (66 of 121) for match winners, 43% (49 of 115) for match losers, and 49% (115 of 236) in total​

​

■ Illegal breaks -- 12% (15 of 121) for match winners, 9% (10 of 115) for match losers, and 11% (25 of 236) in total​

Here's a breakdown of the 236 breaks (for match winners and losers combined).

Legal, made at least one ball, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 144 (61% of the 236 games)​

Breaker lost the game: 54 (23%)​

​

Illegal, made at least one ball, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 3 (1%)​

Breaker lost the game: 17 (7%)​

​

Fouled (no breaks were both fouled and illegal):​

Breaker won the game: 0 (0%)​

Breaker lost the game: 6 (3%)​

​

Legal, dry, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)​

Breaker lost the game: 5 (2%)​

​

Illegal, dry, and no foul:​

Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)​

Breaker lost the game: 3 (1%)​

Therefore, whereas the breaker won 64% of all games (151 of 236),

He won 73% (144 of 198) of the games in which he broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul (successful breaks).​

He won 15% (3 of 20) of the games in which he broke illegally, made at least one ball, and did not foul.​

He won 0% (0 of 6) of the games in which he fouled on the break (whether wet, dry, legal, or illegal).​

He won 29% (2 of 7) of the games in which he broke legally, dry, and did not foul.​

He won 40% (2 of 5) of the games in which he broke illegally, dry, and did not foul.​

He won 18% (7 of 38) of the games in which the break was illegal, fouled, or dry (all unsuccessful breaks).​

Break-and-run games -- The 115 break-and-run games represented 49% of all 236 games, 76% of the 151 games won by the breaker, and 58% of the 198 games in which the break was successful (made a ball, legal, no foul).

With alternating breaks, B&R "packages" of the normal type are not possible. But we can still look at the breaks of a given player and see how many he ran on his own successive breaks, and we can call these "alternate-break packages." The 115 break-and-run games consisted of 1 alternate-break 8-pack (Wu Jiaqing), 1 6-pack (Chang J-L), 3 5-packs (2 by Filler, 1 by Biado), 2 4-packs (Van Boening and Biado), 7 3-packs, 14 2-packs, and 29 singles.

9-balls on the break -- None. With the Magic Rack, the 9-ball tends to remain close to its original position.

 

[AtLarge]

Miscellany from the data for the 2018 WPA World 9-Ball Championship
[This relates only to the 14 streamed matches I watched, not to all matches in the event.]

• The most balls made on a single break was 4, by Takano Tomoo. He missed his next shot and lost the game.

• The average number of balls made on all breaks was 1.4. On successful breaks (legal, made at least one ball, and did not foul), the average was 1.5.

• 70% (166 of 236) of the games ended in one inning – 49% (115) won by the breaker (B&R) and 22% (51) won by the non-breaker. 6% (15 of 236) of the games lasted 4 or more innings.

• 58% (138 of 236) of the games were run out by the player who was at the table following the break. These run-outs were:

- By the breaker after successful breaks (B&R games) – 58% (115 of 198)​

- By the non-breaker after wet but illegal breaks -- 50% (10 of 20)​

- By the non-breaker after fouls on the break – 100% (6 of 6)​

- By the non-breaker after dry breaks – 58% (7 of 12)​

• The player who made the first ball after the break:

- Won the game in that same inning 73% of the time (172 of 236)​

- Won the game in a later inning 11% of the time (26 of 236)​

- Lost the game 16% of the time (38 of 236)​

• For the 11 races to 11 (i.e., excluding the Finals race to 13 and the 2 double-elimination races to 9), the loser won an average of 6.3 games. Two of the 14 matches went to hill/hill; in 2 of the matches, the loser won just 1 game

• The longest race to 11 in elapsed time, at 124 minutes, was Kazakis d. Deuel 11-8. The shortest race to 11 in elapsed time, at about 52 minutes, was Filler d. Capito 11-1. The elapsed time was measured from the lag (when shown) until the winning ball was made, so it includes time for racking and timeouts.

• The average elapsed time for the 11 races to 11 was 94 minutes.

• The average minutes per game for all 14 matches was 5.5.

• The match highest in average minutes per game, at 6.5 min./game, was the Kazakis/Deuel match. The match lowest in average minutes per game, at 4.3 min./game, was the Filler/Capito match.

• Breaking fouls averaged 1 for every 39.3 games, other fouls 1 for every 12.4 games, and missed shots about 1 for every 2.8 games.

• About 23% of the games involved one or more safeties.

 

[AtLarge]

The 14 streamed matches I watched involved just 15 different players. 9 of them appeared in streamed matches just once, 3 appeared twice, 2 four times (Filler and Biado), and 1 five times (Van Boening). Here are some stats for each of the 3 players who appeared at least four times (they finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd/4th in the event).

Successful breaks (broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul):

• Van Boening -- 87% (33 of 38)
  Biado -- 95% (36 of 38)
  Filler -- 84% (31 of 37)
  3-player total -- 88% (100 of 113)
  Other 12 players -- 80% (98 of 123)
  All 15 players -- 84% (198 of 236)

Illegal breaks (whether wet, fouled, or dry):

• Van Boening -- 5% (2 of 38)
  Biado -- 3% (1 of 38)
  Filler -- 14% (5 of 37)
  3-player total -- 7% (8 of 113)
  Other 12 players -- 14% (17 of 123)
  All 15 players -- 11% (25 of 236)

Breaker won the game:

• Van Boening -- 71% (27 of 38)
  Biado -- 76% (29 of 38)
  Filler -- 78% (29 of 37)
  3-player total -- 75% (85 of 113)
  Other 12 players -- 54% (66 of 123)
  All 15 players -- 64% (151 of 236)

Break-and-run games, on all breaks:

• Van Boening -- 53% (20 of 38)
  Biado -- 58% (22 of 38)
  Filler -- 51% (19 of 37)
  3-player total -- 54% (61 of 113)
  Other 12 players -- 44% (54 of 123)
  All 15 players -- 49% (115 of 236)

Break-and-run games, on successful breaks:

• Van Boening -- 61% (20 of 33)
  Biado -- 61% (22 of 36)
  Filler -- 61% (19 of 31)
  3-player total -- 61% (61 of 100)
  Other 12 players -- 55% (54 of 98)
  All 15 players -- 58% (115 of 198)

 

[AtLarge]

Sorry I neglected to put "stats" in the title of the thread on the Main Forum list of threads.

 

[AtLarge]

At least one ball was made on all 6 of the fouled breaks. So, in total, the breaker failed to make a ball on the break in only 12 of the 236 breaks (5.1%) that I tracked in these 14 matches.

 

[AtLarge]

Here's a comparison of stats for the streamed matches I watched in the WPA World 9-Ball Championships of 2014, 2015, and 2018. The equipment and breaking rules were essentially the same all 3 years, except for the use of a shot clock for the final 7 matches (Quarterfinals and later) in 2018.

Breaks on which at least one ball was pocketed (includes all wet breaks even if illegal or fouled)

• 
  2018 -- 95% (224 of 236)
  2015 -- 97% (329 of 340)
  2014 -- 98% (249 of 255)

Illegal breaks (whether wet, dry, or fouled)

• 
  2018 -- 11% (25 of 236)
  2015 -- 5% (16 of 340)
  2014 -- 3% (7 of 255)

Successful breaks (broke legally, made at least one ball, and did not foul):

• 
  2018 -- 84% (198 of 236)
  2015 -- 88% (300 of 340)
  2014 -- 89% (226 of 255)

Breaker won game -- on all breaks:

• 
  2018 -- 64% (151 of 236)
  2015 -- 62% (210 of 340)
  2014 -- 61% (155 of 255)

Breaker won game -- on legal breaks:

• 
  2018 -- 69% (146 of 211)
  2015 -- 63% (205 of 324)
  2014 -- 62% (153 of 248)

Breaker won game -- on illegal breaks:

• 
  2018 -- 20% (5 of 25)
  2015 -- 31% (5 of 16)
  2014 -- 29% (2 of 7)

Break-and-run games -- on all breaks:

• 
  2018 -- 49% (115 of 236)
  2015 -- 37% (126 of 340)
  2014 -- 35% (89 of 255)

Break-and-run games -- on successful breaks:

• 
  2018 -- 58% (115 of 198)
  2015 -- 42% (126 of 300)
  2014 -- 39% (89 of 226)

Average number of balls made on the break:

• 
  2018 -- 1.4 on all breaks, 1.5 on successful breaks
  2015 -- 1.7 on all breaks, 1.8 on successful breaks
  2014 -- 1.5 on all breaks, 1.5 on successful breaks

Games ending in one inning:

• 
  2018 -- 70% (166 of 236)
  2015 -- 55% (188 of 340)
  2014 -- 56% (143 of 255)

Approx. percentage of games with one or more safeties:

• 2018 -- 23%
  2015 -- 34%
  2014 -- 38%

Average minutes per game (includes time for racking and timeouts):

• 
  2018 -- 5.5
  2015 -- 6.2
  2014 -- 6.9

 

[Island Drive]

Does Simonis have more than one type of pro cloth If so....which was used this year? Also, this year, was the blend 80/20?

 

[AtLarge]

Does Simonis have more than one type of pro cloth If so....which was used this year? Also, this year, was the blend 80/20?

The website of the qbsf (Quatar Billiards and Snooker Federation) said "Simonis 860 Cloth (Tournament Blue Color) shall be used for all Tables."

But I neither heard nor read anything else about the cloth, so I cannot say for certain whether it was 860 on all the tables. It could have been 860HR (the "high resistance" version of 860). It certainly didn't appear fast enough to be 760. (Those are the 3 well known Simonis pool cloths.)

As to the blend, all I know is what is on some websites (including Simonis') -- the wool/nylon blend is 90/10 for 860 and 70/30 for 860HR and 760: https://www.iwansimonis.com/en/page/21-pool-cloth