Break Stats -- 2023 Spanish Open Pool Championship (9-Ball), June 2023

AtLarge

AzB Gold Member
Gold Member
Silver Member
Here are some aggregate break statistics from the 2023 Spanish Open Pool Championship played June 20-25, 2023 at Pazo De Feiras E Congresos De Lugo in Lugo. Spain. Pay-per-view streaming was provided in the USA on DAZN. This was a 256-player 9-Ball event, produced by Matchroom Sport, with double elimination down to 64 players (32 on the winners' side and 32 on the one-loss side) and then single-elimination to the end. Dang Jin Hu won the tournament, defeating Marc Bijsterbosch in the final match.

On the matches I watched, the commentators were Phil Yates, Michael McMullan, Jeremy Jones, and Karl Boyes; the referees were Marcel Eckardt, Desislava Bozhilova, Ben Taylor-Fuente, and Scott McMillan. The main announcer/interviewer was Hannah Wilkes. The MC was David Gutierrez.

Conditions -- The conditions for the streamed matches included:
• Diamond 9-foot tables with 4" corner pockets;​
• Simonis 860 Shark Grey cloth;​
• Aramith Tournament Black balls with a black-spots cue ball;​
• racking template;​
• referee racks with the 9-ball on the foot spot (2-ball not necessarily in back location);​
• winner breaks from behind the head string in a box approximately 8" to either side of the long string;​
• no illegal-break rule, but referees enforce a forceful-break requirement;​
• no shot clock until the Last 16, then a 30-second shot clock (60 sec. after the break), with one 30-sec. extension per player per rack;​
• foul on all balls;​
• 3-foul rule in effect;​
• jump cues allowed;​
• all slop counts; and​
• lag for the break in each match.​

These stats are for 11 matches (179 games) from the single-elimination portion of the event (Stage 2, last 64 players). These were all of the matches on Table 1 on Friday and all of the matches on the "TV Table" on the weekend. These matches were 17.5% of the total of 63 matches played in Stage 2 (single elimination). All Stage 2 matches were races to 10 except for the semifinals to 11 and the final to 13. These 11 matches are listed here in the order in which they were played.

Friday, June 23
1. Wu Jia Qing defeated James Aranas 10-9 (Last 64)​
2. Mario He d. Gary Wilson 10-6 (Last 64)​
3. Skyler Woodward d. Shane Van Boening 10-8 (Last 32)​
4. Eklent Kaçi 10-3 (Last 32)​

Saturday, June 24
5. Ko Pin Yi d. Naoyuki Oi 10-4 (Last 16)​
6. Woodward d. Kledio Kaçi 10-5 (Last 16)​
7. Woodward d. Ko PY 10-0 (Quarterfinal)​
8. Dang Jin Hu d. E. Kaçi 10-2 (Quarterfinal)​

Sunday, June 25
9. Marc Bijsterbosch d. Pijus Labutis 11-10 (Semifinal)​
10. Dang d. Woodward 11-5 (Semifinal)​
11. Dang d. Bijsterbosch 13-12 (Final)​

Overall results
Successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Match winners -- 81% (89 of 110)​
Match losers -- 72% (50 of 69)​
Total -- 78% (139 of 179)
Breaker won the game:
Match winners -- 69% (76 of 110)​
Match losers -- 42% (29 of 69)​
Total -- 59% (105 of 179)
Break-and-run games on all breaks:
Match winners -- 25% (28 of 110)​
Match losers -- 20% (14 of 69)​
Total -- 23% (42 of 179)
Break-and-run games on successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul):
Match winners -- 31% (28 of 89)​
Match losers -- 28% (14 of 50)​
Total -- 30% (42 of 139)

Here's a breakdown of the 179 games (for match winners and losers combined).

Breaker made at least one ball and did not foul:​
Breaker won the game: 91 (51% of the 179 games)​
Breaker lost the game: 48 (27%)​
Breaker fouled on the break:​
Breaker won the game: 2 (1%)​
Breaker lost the game: 3 (2%)​
Breaker broke dry (without fouling):​
Breaker won the game: 12 (7%)​
Breaker lost the game: 23 (13%)​
Therefore, whereas the breaker won 59% (105 of 179) of all games,​
He won 65% (91 of 139) of the games in which the break was successful (made at least one ball and did not foul).​
He won 35% (14 of 40) of the games in which the break was unsuccessful (fouled or dry).​

Break-and-run games -- The 42 break-and-run games represented 23% of all 179 games, 40% of the 105 games won by the breaker, and 30% of the 139 games in which the break was successful (made a ball and didn't foul).

The 42 break-and-run games consisted of 1 4-pack (by Woodward), 7 2-packs, and 24 singles.

9-Balls on the break -- The 42 break-and-run games included 3 9-balls on the break (1.7% of all breaks).
 
Last edited:
Miscellany from the data for the 2023 Spanish Open Pool Championship (9-Ball):
[This relates only to the 11 streamed Stage 2 matches I watched, not to all matches in the event.]

• The most balls made on a single break was 3, done 7 times. The breaker won 4 of those 7 games, 2 by B&R.

• The average number of balls made on the break was 1.1 (this includes dry and fouled breaks). On successful breaks (made at least one ball and did not foul), the average was 1.3, and the distribution was 71% 1 ball, 24% 2 balls, and 5% 3 balls.

• Number of innings:
39% (70 of 179) of the games ended in one inning – 42 games on the breaker's first inning (B&Rs) and 28 games on the non-breaker's first inning.​
21% (37 of 179) of the games ended in the second inning.​
40% (72 of 179) of the games went beyond the non-breaker's second visit to the table. The game with the most visits to the table ended on the non-breaker's 9th visit.​

• 30% ( 53 of 179) 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) – 30% (42 of 139)​
- By the non-breaker after fouls on the break – 40% (2 of 5)​
- By the non-breaker after dry breaks – 26% (9 of 35)​

• The player who made the first ball after the break:
- Won the game in that same inning 55% of the time (96 of 176)​
- Won the game in a later inning 21% of the time (37 of 176)​
- Lost the game 24% of the time (43 of 176)​
[Note -- total games used here are 176 rather than 179 to eliminate the 3 games in which no ball was made after the break.​

• The loser won an average of 4.6 games in the 8 races to 10 (excludes the longer semifinals and final). The closest matches were three that went to hill/hill -- one in a race to 10, one in a semifinal, and one in the final. The most lopsided match was one 10-0.

• The average elapsed time for the 8 races to 10 was was about 106 minutes. The average minutes per game for all 11 matches was 6.8. The elapsed time was measured from the lag until the winning ball was made (or conceded), so it includes time for racking and commercial breaks. Commercial breaks were taken only in the Last 16 and subsequent matches. They were significant in those matches, generally occurring after every 3 games in a match, and lasting about 3 minutes each.

• The match that was both longest in elapsed time, at 172 minutes, and highest in average minutes per game, at 9.1, was Wu d. Aranas 10-9.

• The match that was shortest in elapsed time, at 64 minutes, was Woodward d. Ko PY 10-0. The match lowest in average minutes per game, at 5.8, was Dang d. Woodward 11.5.

• Breaking fouls averaged 1 for every 35.8 games, other fouls 1 for every 6.0 games, and missed shots about 1 for every 1.4 games.

• One or more safeties were played in about 54% of all games and in 70% of games that were not B&Rs.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top